How do I even progress now. There's hostile fuana everywhere so I can't get out and scan stuff, and now I'm staring at a ghost leviathan guarding a whole area. What am I supposed to do? Fight him in my prawn?

How do y'all scan them, when I try they swim away before I finish and I can't keep up with them and then the scanner percentage resets?

For those who are not able to make it this weekend. Here is the lore for the crusade GW is hosting!
A tremor rattles through the craft, from bow to stern. Surely we have not translated into realspace, you think to yourself. The journey was meant to last months, not mere days. You make your way to the bridge where it is immediately clear that you have somehow left the Warp. You demand answers from your staff and receive none. They are as shocked and ignorant to the greater situation as you are. One moment they were on a relatively peaceful journey through the Warp, minds and bodies shielded from the insanity around them by the Gellar Field, the next moment they were forced into realspace.
As hours tick by with maddening speed; you begin to develop a picture of the situation. Before you sits a handful of lush and verdant worlds. Seemingly (and shockingly) untouched by the ravaging tendrils of the horror designated Leviathan, from which you were fleeing. Initial scans show the system does carry a name, though even after extensive scrying and aggressive attempts to break security protocols, all that is ever returned is REDACTED. The system is under quarantine by the Administratum, which matters little to you. You are here and with every passing hour; more craft arrive.
An unspoken detente has emerged between the voidcraft that have arrived. No attempts to hail one another have been made, no noosphere updates, no vox calls, nothing. At last check, over two dozen craft sit, seemingly dormant. However, each one is steadily moving towards an area that is empty on all astrocartographs. Despite this, there is clearly something there. At first, you felt it. Deep in your soul, a subtle and longing drive to be there…. Wherever ‘there’ is.
As every voidcraft moves towards the allegedly empty area, you see it. Its surface reflects little light. What augurs and scans the varied ships use return suggestions of subsurface structures and weak bio-signatures, although most unaccountably fail to register the world at all. But it is there.
Its presence is verified by a sudden burst of vox traffic from the surface. Auspex scans immediately identify it as a rescue beacon commonly used by Adeptus Mechanicus Data-Hoard Forges when under attack. The beacon makes clear the importance of the data-hoard on the surface. It is of integral value to the Imperium and thus it is of great value to any enterprising commander, regardless of affiliation or loyalty to the God-Emperor.
You have a choice to make; do you assist this Command Entity (as it refers to itself in the now repeating vox traffic? Or do you take advantage of this situation and take what the Command Entity has?
You give the order without even considering the options at hand, ‘All forces, prepare for landing’. The bridge explodes in activity around you. You smile as your subordinates enact your will. The planet makes itself known in your mind.
Occultaris awaits.
2.0 Factions Selection
To provide an interactive and engaging event, we will allow each Commander to select one of the two Factions; the Tenuous Allies or the Ravaging Hordes. These factions are meant to encourage players to work together to complete Priorities and Missions throughout the event, while also allowing each Commander to craft an individual narrative for their own Order of Battle.
Each Commander should select one of the following Factions. This Faction is essentially your ‘team’ for the Narrative.
2.1 Tenuous Allies: Commanders selecting this faction form an uneasy alliance with other factions on the surface of Occultaris - you have answered the call and will assist the Command Entity. Whether it be to honour the historic alignment of your force, protect the weak, or with the intent of claiming an unspoken reward after the campaign; you will help the Command Entity with whatever it may require of you.
2.2 Ravaging Hordes: Commanders selecting this faction are unswayed by the mewling cries of the ‘Command Entity’. Whether required by the dark powers you serve to reave the Imperium clean of life or driven by your desire for knowledge, wealth, or power; you decide to descend to the surface and destroy this Command Entity.
Please note that the faction you select is not inherently tied to the faction you play. For example; an Adeptus Astartes Commander would usually ally with the Adeptus Mechanicus; however, you may be unconvinced by the distress beacons and have decided to purge this ‘Command Entity’ in the name of the Emperor. Additionally, perhaps you are a mighty Ork Boss. This Command Entity seems like a git, but it’s given you the chance for a proper scrap. You appreciate that, so you decide to help this silly yumie sounding thing out. You’ll take what you want after properly krumpin’ anyone on the surface trying to attack your new benefactor.

Scenario 1: Every country in the world agrees to eliminate all forms of pollution and achieve complete sustainability by 2030. This leads to a significant reduction in climate change effects and the preservation of natural resources. However, advanced technology becomes limited, and global economic growth slows down. In response to these limitations, there is a surge in innovation focused on developing sustainable alternatives and green technologies. This leads to a new era of clean energy solutions, efficient transportation systems, and eco-friendly infrastructure. As a result, the world experiences a remarkable transformation towards a more environmentally conscious and sustainable society, primary colors in cities are green , grey and brown because everything is now built of wood, stones and decorated with plants, everyone use white clothes and sandals (basically live like elfs with limited technology) (phones are pretty normal but cameras and power is less because we really don't need it)(this also apply to other technologies that are not required to do so)
Scenario 2: A series of 100 islands suddenly appear in the Pacific Ocean. Some of these islands are as large as Japan, while others are smaller or bigger. However, any electronic device stop working when near these islands. In the center of the Pacific Ocean, there is a massive circular island inhabited by magical creatures such as dragons and griffins, in the waters there is a leviathan and a kraken (basically fantastic beast would be living in this new region called "Central Pacific Pacific" . The discovery of these islands leads to a global fascination with magic, but it also disrupts global communication and transportation systems due to the electronic interference. (The central island is the size of the US and is surrounded by these 100 islands that actually move around "orbiting the central island" ( since any electronic will break, only technologies like handheld guns and tools will work). ( all this new area will need to be charted since GPS doesn't work and is imposible to take an orbital scan of the area for some reason)
Scenario 3: Scientists develop a breakthrough in medical technology that allows humans to live up to 150 years with excellent health and looking like their 20s . This leads to a significant increase in the global population, and then to a stabilization, but the initial increase in populationn will be putting a strain on resources, food production, and infrastructure. Governments struggle to adapt to the demographic shift, leading to increased competition for limited resources and potential conflicts during the first 30 years. Then the world goes as usual (with possible wars or not)
Scenario 4: An alien civilization makes contact with Earth and offers advanced technology capable of solving all global problems, including hunger, disease, and energy scarcity. However, accepting their offer comes with a catch: humanity must abandon all forms of warfare and violence, adopting a strict policy of non-aggression. The aliens' technology includes a global defense system that ensures any act of violence is instantly neutralized. This new era of peace brings immense benefits, but it also raises questions about human nature and the loss of the ability to defend oneself against potential threats. The world grapples with the moral implications of surrendering the right to use force for self-preservation and the potential consequences of relying solely on external protection. (An examble, anyone can go into your house and steal and destroy things, you can not stope them, but they will be judged and sentenced harshly, the problem comes with all implications of "zero violence", a wolf is attacking you? So bad you cand hurt him, it will be judged and put to sleep but if you hitted it now there will be consequences!!!)
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Updated May 2023
I recently changed Reddit accounts and it's been about a year, so it seemed prudent to repost this for visibility. :)

Link to the Below Zero guide

https://subnauticamap.io/ - This is an interactive map of the crater. However, be warned that it will show the general location of things you need to find. This can be toggled but if you have zero point of reference for the places mentioned in this guide, this map should provide one.

General tips are at the bottom, however, they rely on you having played at least part of the way through the game so I don't recommend checking them until at least part 3, AKA "Going Traveling"

Subnautica is a game primarily about exploring your environment while overcoming the trepidation that the game sets up in you over doing so. Although there isn't a perfect guide to being able to clear the game, there also isn't an unambiguous path of progression for the player, either.
Consequently new players often find themselves at an impasse in terms of progression and where to go. The following is a no-nonsense, straight to the point guide on how to progress, but it's not a bible. You can do most of this just by exploring and wandering around.
A blind playthrough is critical to the first time player experience. This is often true of every game but for Subnautica it makes or breaks the whole story - you need to have no idea what the hell is going on the first time you clear the game. If you spoil it for yourself you will regret it, please believe me in this. This guide is meant to give you a nudge when you find you don't know where to go next, it's not really meant as a walkthrough, even though it can be used as one. Do yourself a favor friends, don't go wandering /subnautica or the wiki too much and this guide will not lead you astray. It is written specifically for brand new players.

The Beginning

When you first arrive on 4546b, you find yourself with basically nothing. You're hungry, thirsty, your lifepod is broken and your cookies are gone. The Aurora is burning (and you nearly did too) but despite all that, you're alive and this planet is about to get some Ryley in it.
The environment around you has most of what you need to get started. The metal scrap strewn around the shallows provides an easy source of Titanium while you can break limestone and sandstone to get the minerals you need for your starting tools. You'll want the quartz you find for glass.
Although you have a number of options for making equipment, at this stage I don't recommend using resources for the air pump or pipes. Truth is they don't really have much use; they create a breathing line from the surface for when you're diving, but they're expensive and there's better alternatives in your near future.
Once you have a scanner and knife, take the time to scan everything you can. All the local wildlife can be scanned and most of the flora.
Your objective at this point is to build a repair gun, knife, seaglide, flashlight and scanner.

Branching Out

Now that you've got your basic tools and you can get around a little, it's time to begin exploring. At this point you've seen the deeper waters on the edges of the kelp forest.
It's time to go take a look.
The red grassy plains have what you need to progress to deeper waters. You'll want to explore the wrecks there. There are four grassy plains surrounding the shallows at compass points and cave systems exist in three of them which will become relevant later, but are largely out of your reach for now. It is out here that you will find fragments necessary for an important task you must complete soon. Raiding the aurora will require the laser cutter you learn to make here. You'll also want a propulsion cannon, which you can find the fragments to near the side of the Aurora. DO NOT GO AROUND THE BACK OF THE AURORA. SERIOUSLY. You are not prepared for that level of giggling insanity yet.
By now you've fixed the radio and may have triggered the sunbeam event, in which case you will want to go follow that. Give yourself the full span of time to go to the island and explore unless you'd prefer to explore after the event, but don't let yourself get distracted by what you find there and miss the ship arriving. The signals you've been getting are important prompts and need to be checked out when possible, so make sure you take the time to do that. Also, when you go to either island DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. There is a real risk of it phasing through the ground and becoming inaccessible and then you'll end up on this subreddit asking how to get it back like the other 5 guys a week. Seriously.
Also note that bringing an ion cube to the top of the mountains caves will let you do something interesting up there, but I won't be specific. A scanner room at this spot is ideal not just to track the reaper leviathan on the eastern side of the island but there is quite a lot of shale and lithium here as well, which is probably something you're gonna want.

Going traveling

At this point you should have a seamoth, your basic tools, a laser cutter, propulsion cannon and lead suit. You are prepared. It's time to go to the Aurora... but only if you've gotten the communication from Alterra with the captains door code. Otherwise, you must wait for that radio event. You can go explore the ship anyways of course, but not having the code means you can't get into the captains room, requiring you to go back and get it later. So it's up to you. You can open the door anyways if you get the code off the internet or something but since the game gives it to you anyways, you can always wait for the prompt. If not, the door code is 2679
If you have a cyclops I don't recommend taking it, since reapers hang out at the front and back ends of the ship. However, a seamoth is small enough to fit through the broken superstructure of the ship at the front and thus avoid this danger. There are two ways to access the ship and although it seems impossible, you CAN in fact climb up to access the open one. Otherwise, you can use the prop cannon to move the debris out of the way of the door near water level. Be sure to take the time to explore inside and use the carry-all bags to leave stuff you want to keep from the ship out the front so you can come back and pick it all up later. There's lots of useful stuff in there.
As a side note here, the leech-like things that annoy you in the reactor room are called Bleeders. I hate Bleeders personally, but I noted that if you grab one with the propulsion cannon and fling it into the wall out of sheer spite then other bleeders will be attracted to the body, which makes grabbing and doing the same to them quite easy. Clearing the entire room of those little #*([email protected]'s only takes a couple minutes.
You can get the codes for various rooms inside from the PDA's you find. Also note that some doors can only be opened once you repair them. Sometimes the Aurora glitches and these repair sections don't work but because the ship has two entrances, you can always go around the back to clear the whole thing, which is... annoying. If you don't mind being patient, leaving the Aurora and doing other things for awhile will reset the wreck, allowing you to come back later and potentially be able to repair the doors then.
The codes for the ship are:
Cabin No. 1: 1869
Captain's Quarters: 2679
Cargo Bay: 1454
Lab Access: 6483

Time to go down

With the Aurora repaired you have the ability to wear things other than the lead suit, so it's time to chuck that in the trash 'cuz you won't need it again. It's time to get the outer wrecks in the zones beyond the shallows and hoo boy ain't that gonna be an experience.
The cyclops is your friend here. But what's this, you don't have a cyclops? Well, that's okay. You may have found one of the engine fragments on the aurora in the cargo bay but if you missed it, it's not really a big deal. Your next objective to build one is to go explore mushroom forest and the underwater floating islands for the fragments you'll need. If you've been following your radio signals you've probably been to the aurora rendezvous point by now, but if not, take the time to go thoroughly explore that island. One of the PDAs you need to find the next place is not at the degasi base, but on one of the paths of the island near an arch of rock. You'll need to explore the island thoroughly to find it. Make sure to scan everything and bring back plant samples if you have a seabase. You can use plant pots to keep food trees on your cyclops for easy access to food without worrying about curing everything all the time.
Once you have the cyclops, you need to take the time to upgrade your seamoth to depth so you can explore the various wrecks, supplement your PDA database and establish yourself properly for long-term operations. At this point in the game you should be aiming for or already have:
A seabase, even a basic one. A couple corridors with lockers are invaluable for storage and operations and the scanner room is MISSION CRITICAL. If you haven't built one yet, get on that!
A seamoth, either at or being upgraded to 500m depth
Knife, flashlight, repair gun, seaglide, scanner, laser cutter, propulsion or repulsion cannon, rebreather
Be sure to check everything, then check it again! It's easy to miss things on the island. Be sure to check the buildings on the tops of the hills there too. Although it would be nice to be able to plant land beacons (hint hint, Unknown Worlds), it's not feasible for marking out the precursor gate on the floating island so unfortunately, it's not of much use unless you have your base on one island or the other. I don't recommend the floating island for this for reasons which will become apparent later in the game.

Looking into the abyss

If you've explored most of or all of the wrecks and no longer have missing technology, it's time to go deeper. If you've been following your PDA signals you need to check out the degasi bases and follow their story, as they lead you to a large, deep cave which is the path to deeper places you need to explore.
There are several inlets to the place you need to reach. Northern Bulb Zone where it meets Mountains has a large entrance. Blood Kelp Zone and Trench both have entrances. The last one is in deep grand reef, where the final Degasi base is. I personally recommend either Deep Grand Reef or Bulb Zone but the latter has the most accessibility.
Raiding the final Degasi Base before exploring this cave system will get you the orange precursor key which you'll need to access something hidden at the southern end of the caves near blood kelp trench's entrance. While working down here I strongly recommend making liberal use of beacons as navigational guides if you're new to this place. It is VERY confusing and looks very same-y if you haven't spend a lot of time here.
Deep inside the caves you'll come upon a chamber with a massive skull sitting on a chunk of land in the middle and access to a slightly lower part of the cave system which is not green. This is the Cove Tree Cave and the brine there will not hurt you the way the green brine does. This leaves you able to free dive there to gather materials without needing to rely on your prawn.
This chamber with the skull is, in fact, the central chamber of Lost River. It is an excellent place for building a scanner station and the entire area is ludicrously rich in resources. It's a perfect place to stock up and catch up any upgrades, tools or devices you may be lacking so far. You'll want the resource stocks for later and honestly, it's just a really cool place to have a base in general.
The Disease Research Facility is in the north-eastern arm of Lost River, accessible through the Bulb Zone entrance. A juvenile ghost leviathan guards the path but as with most leviathans, operating in silent running and staying above or below it while sticking to the cave walls will get you by without any issue. If they do notice you, just pop a decoy, go full speed for about 5-8 seconds and then drop the engine to low and stay in silent running until you get far enough for the big ugly to stop bothering you.
The southern part of Lost River holds a large chamber with a ghost leviathan juvenile and houses another rather large skeleton. This area in particular is rich in large ore deposits and crystallized sulfur that you'll be needing for some big upgrades.
By the way, remember the cyclops shield? By now you're probably noticing that using the auxiliary functions on the cyclops eats a lot of power. Redundant power cells are your friend and if you feel you're worried about power costs while exploring, you lose nothing by having a buttload of spare power cells. It can pay off, being able to spam the shield for awhile and run away.
You'll want that shield for what's coming next.

Once More Unto The Deep

By now you've probably explored Lost River a bit and you're wondering where to go from here. If you've built a scanner room in the central chamber, you'll have noticed that the scanner, when at full range, shows a chamber below Lost River.
This is the inactive lava zone and it is here your answers lay.
You have two access points to reach this chamber. The North-east arm past the disease research facility and the cove tree caves. Both entrances are equally difficult to get through but the first one feels more open, if you don't mind the ghost leviathan circling around above the opening.
This chamber is rich with even more valuable resources, if you somehow haven't got enough already. The cove tree cave entrance leads to the western part of the ILZ chamber. The North-east entrance leads to the north edge of the chamber. The chamber itself is rather oval-shaped, with the western edge of it relatively empty and the eastern part containing a massive lava bubble.
If you wander around down here long enough the PDA will prompt you to take a look at that bubble a bit more closely. You will need two purple precursor keys to access the facility inside. Now that you're down here you'll notice there's a fair number of warpers, crimson rays (who are harmless) and leech-like things which will attach to the hull of your ship and drain power. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it?
Don't worry though, we got you covered. Once you're down here, go grab some kyanite and you can build the cyclops thermal reactor which pretty much eliminates the whole running out of power problem. The shield is a great way to get the leeches off your hull at the same time.
As for the leviathan, the sea dragon isn't actually a whole lot of threat. It might spit fire at you and is capable of picking up and biting the prawn but will mostly ignore you if you don't go hanging out in front of it.
With that said, treat it like any other leviathan while in the cyclops. Drive slow, keep an eye on it and if it gets curious, drop a decoy and move away ASAP. Cutting your engines once you've gotten a little distance will almost always make them lose interest.

But Wait, There's More!

If you've explored the inner depths of the lava bubble, then you have the blue key, ion battery plans and have opened the portal to the QEP. Great! Now coming down here in the prawn isn't a big deal and you don't have to drive the cyclops all the way down here to go grab resources. A small scanner base down here would be great for quickly finding what you need.
As you can probably guess, there's an even deeper chamber than this, which is the active lava zone. You can find the entrance by following the lava flows around the ILZ and keeping an eye on the floor. You'll find a large space big enough for the cyclops to lower down into.
Down here you'll find 2 sea dragons to avoid, so don't you get conservative with your power. By now you'll probably have built ion power cells and those can run your shield and sonar together for a full 5 minutes with silent running going so don't be shy about using them!
Getting into the alien base down here will require two blue keys, one for accessing the facility, the other for accessing the inner facility. It is here you will find the ion cube fabricator which requires the prawn. You can use this to open the warp gates in the facility. Six ion cubes in total are required for this. Four for the warp gates on the upper floor and two in the Sea Emperors tank. One of these leads back to the upper floor, if you find you're struggling to get back out. This gate in particular is about halfway up the tank at the back and sits on a large ledge. An ion cube is provided to activate it, giving you a way to walk out of the tank if you find you're struggling to get out.
And... that's pretty much it, really. After that encounter you'll know where to go and what to do. The paths laid out for you in the final facility lead you to the places you need to go to find the things you require.

Tips and tricks

• Keep floaters in your cyclops. When you're operating above 500m, running out of power, floaters will allow you to passively bring your ship to the surface without power expense so that you can resupply it. This is pretty much a last ditch move but it never hurts to be prepared.
  
• You can fit up to 8 basic plant pots in an observatory, which will grant you twice the amount of growing space as an indoor grow bed for the same amount of floor space while also making the crops more easily accessible.
  
• The engine comparment of the cyclops has a lower deck behind the vehicle bay which everybody ignores, but it's a great spot for plant shelves and marble melons for food security.
  
• Load your vehicles. Dedicate storage in them to supplies. Water, food, medkits, beacons, flares (bonesharks and crabsquids react to them) and spare power supplies for the vehicles. Keep this kit supplied and you will never be caught unprepared for an 'oh crap' situation.
  
• Okay, so you don't want to give up inventory space for your vehicles. The next best thing is then to fill a watertight locker or two with food, water, medpacks and maybe a couple spare batteries and power cells, then drop them someplace with a beacon next to them. Do this a dozen times in random spots around the map as you travel and now you have emergency caches you can access if you get into trouble.
  
• When you reach the point where materials gathering is easy, consider creating vehicle-creation drop points. 2-3 spots on the map with a mobile vehicle bay, a couple lockers with everything you need for a new seamoth and some basic supplies. If you lose your vehicle, it's a lot easier to make a replacement and get the mats than to get the mats to make a replacement.
  
• The propulsion gun is your friend. Use it to grab items to pick up, use it to grab cave crawlers and yeet them into low orbit, use it to pick up rocks and fling them at things you particularly don't like. Use it to collect gas pods from gasopods without getting hit by the cloud. Use it to move debris in wrecks. Bring a spare battery specifically for it because flinging things around uses a lot of power but the sheer utility of the tool makes it worth the cost.
  
• You'll be tempted to deck your seamoth out with all the toys but the truth is once you have the prawn, it's obsolete. Don't fall into the temptation of continuing to build tons of upgrades for it unless you plan to use it for a fast-fetch vehicle for things you need from far away. However, with that said, the seamoth is really the superior vehicle for wreck-diving.
  
• Keeping a second air tank in your inventory and swapping them mid-dive is a perfectly viable option. However, the tanks only refill when wearing them, so make sure to switch again once you're back in breathing space. This can and will save you when wreck diving and two ultra high quality tanks equals 450 seconds of air in total, or 7m30s of air.
  
• Speaking of air, you can use the air bladders alternate use key (F on PC - the same button for self-scanning) to get a few seconds of air out of it into your tank. It's not much - 20 seconds or so - but sometimes, that little bit extra can save your life if you're just out of reach of your vehicle.
  
• You can collect flora and fauna samples as you progress through the game and have a garden base specifically for growing plant samples from around the crater. Obviously this looks really nice (creepvine in an alien tank under the floor provides the room in your base with a nice golden glow) but is also useful later.
  
• SCANNER ROOMS. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. If you're struggling to find the magnetite, go to Jellyshroom. If you're struggling to find Jellyshroom, always remember that lifepod 17 is directly next to one of its exit points. The range upgrades are incredibly important and the HUD chip makes the whole thing work.
  
• Farm supplies! You don't need to work or power anything to grow crops. Consider dropping a foundation with some growbeds, a beacon and your farmables (gel sack, creepvine seeds, creepvine samples, acid mushroom, blood oil and deepshrooms). Now you can stock up on things like batteries, rubber, lubricant, benzene, polyaniline. Keep a few of these crops in your cyclops for planting in new spots and never run out of the stuff you need while keeping your home base nice and lag free.
  
• Creature decoys can be deployed both by hand and by prawn propulsion arm, which lets you pull items out of your inventory to 'throw'. You can also do this with the propulsion cannon by using the F key (the alternate tool use button, the same one you use to self-scan, for all you console folks).
  
• Turning off your engines greatly reduces the chance of a leviathan damaging the cyclops, even if it's right on top of you. Moving is what gets their attention. If one is swimming near the sub, cut all engines and just wait patiently for it to get a little distance, then silent running and max speed for a few seconds. Pop a decoy for good measure if you want to make absolutely sure.
  
• You can access the right side of the Aurora relatively safely by going south to Crag Zone and then banking east into the deeper parts of crash zone. Most of the reapers are up by the ship, sticking to the bottom will keep you relatively safe and net you as much titanium as you will ever need.
  
• Blood kelp zone, the sea treader wreck and the meteor crater in Dunes all have secrets that you may find interesting.
  
• Remember the Bleeders in the reactor room of the Aurora? Bring a grav trap along - they're cheap, it's disposable - and enter through the top door by climbing along the wreckage up there. Pop the grav trap in the reactor room and kill one of them with the propulsion cannon - the others will come for the body and be stuck in the trap, making picking them off much, much easier than it would be trying to find them all individually. You can just leave the trap behind. If you have the stasis gun, you can wait for them to stack up in the grav trap, stun them, then drop gas pods amidst the several bleeders and watch them get bodied.
  
• Gas pods 'o doom also work against leviathans. They work against EVERYTHING. You just need a lot of them, but getting a lot of them is really easy with the propulsion cannon (which can fire them too, by the way).
  
• Reefback barnacles are a good source of copper and silver, but beware the tiger plants on their backs. If you have a reinforced dive suit, tiger plants can't hurt you, but without one they're a pain. You can yeet them with the propulsion cannon. That trick works for drooping stingers too.
  
• Beacons everywhere. No seriously, everywhere. You'd be amazed how few people use them as much as they ought to be used.
  
• Eastern red grass plains has deep caves with a type of plant which can only be found in a few select spots on the map. Bulb Zone's lifepod has caves with some nearby and the Dunes also has some, but a Reaper is guarding them. If you do manage to find the spot though, it's GREAT for rubies!
  
• Scanner room cameras are a good way to keep track of nearby leviathans. They also force the terrain to load, which is required for the scanner room to actually pick things up. Stalkers will snag the cameras and move them around, but they're pretty useful for quickly getting the scanner room working right. The wildlife ignores the cameras too, so if you want a really nice picture of some creature you really hate getting close to, they're a great way to get it.
  
• Breed some stalkers, release them outside your base next to a pile of metal scrap and never worry about finding teeth for glass again. Barring that? Drop a random beacon in the kelp forest and wait for a stalker to collect it, follow it back to their stash and drop a grav trap.
  
• Light sticks can be good for wreck diving, as are flares. Flares provide much better lighting in large open spaces than the flashlight or seaglide. It makes them a good alternative to the flashlight in the early game.
  

• DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES.

• The following is a list of zones where one can find particular ores. It isn't a complete list, but will allow you to find everything you need in a timely fashion:
  

Lithium - Jellyshroom, Bulb Zone, Mushroom Forest, Lost River
Loose Lithium - Mushroom Forest, Mountains, Grand Reef, Shale, lost river
Magnetite - Jellyshroom is the only biome with large nodes
Loose Magnetite - Jellyshroom, mountains, cove tree cave, blood kelp zone, lost river
Rubies - Dunes, Spare Reef Caves, Lost River, Grand Reef, Underwater Islands
Diamonds - Lost River, Shale, Inactive Lava Zone, Sea Treader Path, sometimes caves
Table Coral - Shallows, Lost River
Copper - Mushroom forest, blood kelp zone, bulb zone, lost river, limestone, Inactive Lava Zone
Silver - Crag Zone, Mountains, Lost River, sandstone, Inactive Lava Zone
Gold - Jellyshroom, Blood Kelp Zone, Lost River, sandstone, shale
Lead - Sandstone, mountains, crash zone, lost river, Inactive Lava Zone
Titanium - Crash Zone, Dunes, Limestone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone
Metal Salvage - Crash Zone, Crag Zone, Kelp Forest
Kyanite - Inactive Lava Zone
Crystalline Sulfur - Lost River
Nickel - Lost River
Uraninite - Blood Kelp Zone, Blood Kelp Trench, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Grand Reef
Quartz - Dunes, Crag Zone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Red Grassy Plains
If you're reading this guide and have any suggestions for additional information, feel free to share them for the next iteration.

Good luck, survivor!

Updated May 2023
After changing reddit accounts and about a year since posting it, it seemed prudent to throw this up for visibility. :)
Few things are worse than not knowing what happened to a loved one. Which is what convinced Robin Ayou to get into a drop shuttle with a lifepod with basically nothing, then fire herself down onto an ocean planet where the only place that she could investigate was a tiny little patch of barely-even-land and pray she can survive long enough to find a way to get off the planet.
Nobody ever told Robin she was great at forward planning.
https://subnauticamap.io/belowzero - This map will provide direction/orientation for this guide, but BEWARE! It marks spoilers if you turn those on!

Touchdown

Once you've landed, you'll find some food and water to start you off scattered around the ship. You won't have to worry about getting cold, since standing next to your now-burning ship will warm you up and the meteors coming down don't actually paste you, they're mostly to stress you out.
Note that may not be the case later. The weather in this game is a serious thing.
Once you have your stuff, you'll find the drop pod on your HUD. Don't go straight to it, though. As soon as you hit the water, look for an indentation in the ground. You'll find some copper in there. Then, follow the northern glacial wall (That's to your right when you're looking at your lifepod) until you find a small cave, which will have some silver and gold. That'll get you started off nicely. Get to your lifepod, take a look at your fabricator. You'll find that the items you have blueprints for can be pinned to the top-right in your PDA by clicking on them in the blueprints tab, a useful feature when hunting for materials.
Your goals right now are your basic survival tools. Note that the kelp forest is a bad place to hold your stuff in your hand. The sea monkeys are kleptomaniacs and will gank your stuff. You can totally get it back though, it just means chasing after them a bit, which is annoying and wastes time. However, if you pull out a flare and hold it in front of them, they freak out and run away from you for a little bit.

Time To Get Rolling

Your first task, as indicated by the PDA, is to find Delta Island. This becomes relatively easy once you find a compass. If you've gone to the emergency cache you'll have the beacon blueprint so stock up on them before traveling so you can mark things. You're going to be making a lot of these but since you can toggle them it's not so bad, you'll just need a lot of beacons. Its south of where the drop pod lands. As you spread out your searching range you'll find that the sea floor drops down among twisty coral structures.
This area is called Twisty Bridges. It's the main go-to for coral samples and you'll want those. There's small bits of Alterra stuff scattered around the area. It's here you'll find mobile vehicle bay, sea truck and seaglide fragments. When you've been in the area for a bit, you'll hear what sounds like an SOS. It's worth checking that out and you'll find that this spot goes deeper than you might suspect. Makes you wonder what's down there, doesn't it?
Beyond Twisty Bridges lies the thermal spires, an area of volcanic activity and thermal smokers. Many sea truck fragments are here. The wildlife here is noisy and menacing sounding but if you don't hang out next to them they're easy to avoid. Smacking one with a blade will made it instantly turn and get the hell away from you. They don't like being hit. On the border between thermal spires and twisty bridges someplace is a small foundation platform with external grow beds for you to scan, but you can get these at Omega Station later if you're not sweating on it. There are large crevices and a few volcanic fissures out here. Beware the heat vents, but exploring those areas can pay off, later.
On the island, you'll find blueprints you need, as well as some materials like sulfur and horseshoe nuts. The latter are very useful to plant in the seabase you'll be wanting. Take care to look around thoroughly for blueprints you'll find useful, as not all of them are inside the buildings. Also, keep a sharp eye out for music disks which you'll find scattered throughout the game, especially in bases.
On the south-west corner of the island is a precursor artifact you can scan. Look for the beach with all the pengwings on it. The habitat builder can be found on a box outside Delta Station. Make sure to scan the map inside the sea base. There's also a PDA up by the comms tower.

Let's Go Explorin'

So, by now you've visited Delta Island, have had a good look around Twisty Bridges and you've probably discovered the sea monkey caves in Kelp Forest. If you haven't gone exploring in those, you really ought to. You'll find more MVB fragments there but that's also where the propulsion cannon blueprint can be found, the laser cutter, as well as a fair amount of gold and some precursor artifacts as well. Once that's all done with and taken care of, you've probably got at least a tiny seabase, but if you don't... what are you doing?
Go on, shoo. Go make a base.
...
Okay, got one now? Good! Hopefully it's someplace nice. Your basic sea truck can't get down to where you want to be going next but a depth module will take care of that. A MkII depth module will let you get to the very bottom of where you want to go. Where do you want to go? Koppa Mine. You'll find it on the western side of the island. Take care to look around when you find the door eventually, since there is a databox just inside the main doors, before you head down. It has the moonpool and will allow you to get that much earlier than you would through scanning it.
To drive the seatruck inside the mine, drive north from the entrance of Koppa mine, you'll come across a volcanic fissure in the seafloor nearby which has JUST enough space for you to fit your seatruck through it. The fissure leads right into Koppa Mine, allowing you to drive the seatruck inside!
The other alternative is actually spare air tanks. Totally a viable solution so long as you remember to refill them by equipping them once you're out of the water. You can swap them out mid-dive and extend your breathing time, which is handy since the prawn fragment blueprints you require are kinda far down there. If you're free diving in this way, note that the bottom chamber of the mine has a hole in the ceiling leading to a small cave system which will lead you back to the surface, as well as having a number of oxygen plants to keep you from choking on the way. The entrance to that is almost right next to the Delta Station docks.
Also note that Site Zero, which has useful blueprints, can be found by hugging the northern glacial wall and heading east along it. You can find it by checking breaks in the ice, one of them leads up to a small hidden cave where the base lies. But if you don't find it, you'll be directed here later. It just has some useful things to scan and a lantern fruit tree. There is a music disk here.

Way Down South

By now you've probably answered the SoS. If not, go do that. As you hang out with Al-An, he'll give you prompts to artifacts that you haven't found yet, if you dawdle in looking for the required number. At this point you should have the following:

• A sea base, even a basic one. The databox in Koppa Mine's entrance will grant you the moon pool but if you missed it, you can get the blueprint later following the storyline.
  
• Seaglide, knife, propulsion cannon, beacons, repair tool, scanner, flashlight, builder tool
  
• Seatruck with at least one depth module
  
• Prawn blueprints
  

Building the Prawn is surprisingly easy, but requires lithium, a material you probably haven't seen a lot of yet. There's a little scattered around in thermal spires, but only a little. You can find a lot at purple vents, but be careful to avoid the doom shrimp. A chelicarate hangs out here. There are other things in this area which are relevant to you which you'll want to mark out for later. There is a small seatruck crash site with a variety of fragments out here, if you find it, look around carefully for the music disk that's here.
Following the marker for the unknown pilots last position, you will find a green area rich in confusing cave systems. This area is the lilypads zone. Old girl can be found down near the signal, just look for the shimmering things on the wall, the hive minds. She's near them. Grab the seatruck defense module she has in there. Be sure to pick up the databox directly outside her base to get the stillsuit as well and if you follow the caves down where they turn blue you'll stumble on an old thermal plant of hers, where another databox lies. There's fragments scattered all over this zone as well as The mercury II stern, which lays on the border between lilypads and purple vents, as well as the bow, which is a little further in on the western side of lilypads. Be sure to explore the area thoroughly and take note of the massive crevasse near the middle of the zone. Inside the chunk of land here is Omega Lab, which will net you the external grow beds, nuclear plant, nuclear disposal as well as a couple new beds and the antenna plants. It's in this area you'll need to search for nickel later, so building a scanner station here is a good idea. Deep Lilypads holds an Al-An body part you'll require. Deep Lilypads is also the only place you can acquire the materials to manufacture benzene.
Don't go too close to the Lily Paddlers, unless you like being off your face, in which case go say hi, it's hilarious. Trust me. ;D
In order to disable the satellite for Dances-With-Reapers, you're going to need to wreck dive the Mercury II. Two of its sections can be found in purple vents, while the bow - the largest - can be found in Lilypads, west of Omega Labs floating island. You'll need the laser cutter for this. Your goal is to scan the parallel processors in the wreck, but there's all kinds of really useful stuff in there too, not to mention all the titanium. ALL the titanium. So be sure to drop beacons on these things, bring a spare air tank and bring your pathfinder tool. If you don't have the pathfinder tool, go look around in the caves full of emeralds between Phi Robotics docks and Phi Robotics itself. There is one up on a small ridge in one of those caves. If you can't find it, don't worry though, just bring flares and use them as breadcrumbs while diving to prevent yourself from getting too lost. The alien containment tank, reinforced dive suit, parallel processor can be found in these. A music disk is in the bow section on a bridge console.

LAND HO!

Aaah, glacial basin. How I hate thee. The basin is split into four sections, two for each part of the basin, north and south. South is where you'll probably end up first. You can find the docks to access this area by tracking along the northern glacial wall and continuing west until you come to the eye jellyfish. Check the radio tower next to the docks, there is a music disk there. The upper southern area is where Phi Robotics lays, as well as frost vase plants and spicy peppers. Both of those are excellent crops to grow, as they net you useful things. The spicy peppers scattered throughout the entirety of glacial basin essentially means that you'll not starve while out here so long as you're paying attention to what you're doing. Note that snow stalkers REALLY HATE FLARES. They'll make your trips out here annoying, even in the prawn, which is the best way to ensure the weather isn't a factor for you. Sometimes they're in the caves. Flares will make exploring these much safer.
You can get to lower glacial basin through the upper part, but it's a bit confusing and I prefer to access it via the glacial tunnel. Head south along the western glacial wall from the glacial basin docks and you'll find a tunnel which eye jellyfish are hanging out near. This tunnel leads directly to lower glacial basin and provides a convenient way to access the area without needing to travel through upper GB every time.
Northern Glacial Basin can be accessed by scanning the hydraulic fluid on the bridge, then repairing the bridge to cross it. DO NOT GO HERE WITHOUT THE PRAWN. SERIOUSLY. The grip arm is very handy to have out here and if you haven't found it, use a scanner room in Lilypads to find the sea monkey nests but it's not necessary so don't stress if you don't have it. Just don't use the snow fox. It's useless and handles like crap.
The iceworms here are dangerous if you stay still too long. Take your time, explore thoroughly and mark out any Alterra sites you find with beacons. A couple of these have the blueprints for the Thumper and this is your ticket to working in this area safely. A thumper will keep the iceworms away within a radius, ensuring you don't get whacked while picking stuff up outside the prawn.
Along the western wall of this zone is a small cave with three large ion cube deposits. Keep a sharp eye out for it, you definitely want those. At the north-east tip of the zone you'll find ice worm corpses you can scan that don't put you in mortal danger during the attempt.
Really funny seeing them pop up and chow down on snow stalkers, though. Pay back sucks, don't it? Al-An's body part is out here. Keep an eye out for the precursor cables and make sure to check all the caves, because the master gateway leading to Phi Robotics is here as well. The room containing the gateway leads to a small docks and tunnel with an ice wall you can cut through to easily access the middle of northern glacial basin from the docks. There is a music disk at those docks as well.

Going Down?

By now you're probably wondering where to go. Remember purple vents? The engine part of the mercury II has a crevasse leading down to where you need to go next. Once you've found the crystal caves, you better hope you picked up the defense module at Marg's base. It's sitting inside her room and sometimes gets knocked to the floor when Preston jumps you. You'll be wanting it for what's down here.
The Shadow Leviathan.
Ohhhh boy are they ever aggressive. Good news for you though, they patrol around on a set route and they don't go through the whole of crystal caves. You'll be looking for fragments here, as well as materials. Lots of gold, silver and kyanite in the crevasses in the floor of these caves. An Al-An body part, the final one, can be found at the bottom of a tunnel which is mouthed by a circular formation of crystals. Once you have it, you'll want to go even deeper to find the fabrication facility, forcing you to wander crystal caves until you find the blood crystal caves.

Oh Yeah, It's All Comin' Together

So, you now have everything you need to build your home boy a body. Once that's done, you'll be wanting to wrap up the bit with Sam. If you've explored lower southern glacial basin, you'll have found the cave with the frozen leviathan. Oh, and grab the music disk in the security bunker. Exploring this cave gets you some useful stuff. You know the little caves here with the blinking markers? Explore these with spy penglings! There's some useful stuff in some of them, actually. Including the antidote Sam hid. You can use that on the loader located on the upper part of the leviathan in the cave.
And... that's that! That's the whole game.

Tips and Tricks

• The air bladder can pull a tiny amount of air into your tank. It's not very much but those 10 seconds of extra air can save your life in a deep pinch.
  
• You can find lots of quartz if you hug the northern ice wall and roam east of west, but be careful of the brinewings. They'll freeze your ass, which can be inconvenient if you're low on air.
  
• Frost Anemone Hearts are actually a really great food source and should be picked up any time you can get them. They'll last forever in the fridge.
  
• Made your base with some helpful sea monkey neighbours? After awhile they stop stealing from you and begin trying to help you - but they don't know what you want! If you mark blueprints in your PDA, they'll try and bring you materials for that if they can.
  
• Most predators will back off if you feed them a fish before they bite you. This includes leviathans. You might still get hurt from them slamming into you or something but feeding them a fish will usually cause them to stop attacking you. This doesn't work against the shadow leviathan, it hates you and everything you hold dear. It doesn't know what those things are, but it doesn't care either. It just does.
  
• Spare air tanks are great and can be kept stocked in your sea truck, but remember to put them on to refill them.
  
• Animals will react to your behavior in some instances. Feel tree to try new things with them like feeding fish. You can even ride on glow whales! Some of them really hate flares too, like sea monkeys and snow stalkers.
  
• Surface bases are a completely viable thing in this game and some of the ice sheets have holes in them, allowing you to have a surface base with a dropped section for moonpools and water filters. Water filters will work outside of the water, but you don't get salt and they're much slower.
  
• Get the cold suit as soon as you can. It's in Phi Robotics. It changes your outside time from 2 minutes to 7 minutes, which is a huge difference. Without it, the prawn is the only way to explore the surface without constantly stressing about freezing to death. You can find the tufts of fur in snow stalker caves where the pups are, make sure you have a flare if you don't like getting nommed on.
  
• Can't figure out how to get on top of the ice sheet, but you want a base up there? Swim down deep and use the air bladder to get some height. You can build a hallway up there, then drop a ladder down into the water to make a surface base with an underwater docking section. Alternatively, you can probably get up there with the prawn and the grip arm.
  
• Speaking of the prawn and grip arm, you can totally launch yourself with it. Attaching the grip to the ground and using it to pull yourself into a jump will get you some serious air time, which is helpful for getting up small ridges on the surface. If you break the map and managed to get above it in the prawn, return to the player area. Being up there breaks progression completely and the only interesting thing is a leftover animation testbed east of glacial basin. The collision on terrain is also patchy here and it's possible to fall through the ground into the void. In your prawn. So don't screw around up there too much.
  
• Spicy peppers and coffee will both warm you up while on the surface, which makes the spicy peppers scattered all over the place pretty valuable.
  
• The greenhouse you get sent to can be found in Lilypads on an iceberg. The three large icebergs here all have things to find so be sure to search thoroughly.
  
• The crashed ship is a great place to get a lot of metal very quickly and will basically hand you a free sea base so long as you're willing to go keep picking it up. If you've already looted it all, give it awhile and check back later, sometimes new scrap shows up as the wrecks continue their eventual rot.
  
• Drop emergency caches of food, water, medpacks, batteries, power cells and flares along with a beacon and never be caught short on supplies because you went out looking for stuff and forgot to bring rations. D'oh!
  
• A small base specifically for replacing vehicles is very helpful when you lose one. Have the materials gathered beforehand and you won't have to spend a long time struggling to get them together after the bad feeling of having your stuff crunched.
  
• Be sure to look for creature eggs out in glacial basin
  
• Rock punchers are jerks and will kill stuff in your containment tank, so now you know, and knowing is half the battle. And the lives of your fish.
  
• There is no good way to scan the leviathans, but your scan progress gets saved if you don't scan other things, so letting it chow down on your seatruck and scanning it while it's distracted, then repairing your vehicle after, will allow you to get the whole scan after a couple rounds.
  
• Make scanner rooms everywhere. Solar panels and bio reactors are your friend. Nuclear power is better but not viable in early game. If you need magnetite, go to the glacial tunnel and look at the ice walls just where the tunnel curves upwards, you'll find ore fissures there with magnetite inside.
  
• Beacons, beacons, beacons. I can't stress this enough, litter them EVERYWHERE. You can toggle them on and off in your PDA, so having a bajillion around the map isn't really a problem and they're really useful.
  
• There are more precursor artifacts than Al-An mentions to you. Keep a sharp eye out, look everywhere and scan for ion cubes. Check icebergs for moulins, AKA hollow chambers inside. You'll need a laser cutter to access the ones you find.
  
• Tree Spires has a hell of a lot of uraninite in its cave systems, it's a good spot to stock up on it. Beware the chelicarate in the zone.
  
• The crystal caves are roughly the shape of a spiral. Knowing this makes navigating them a lot less mystifying. Mind you, it's still difficult. As usual, use beacons a lot. Also make sure to explore the cracks in the floor of the cave!
  
• Penglins/Pengwings drown if you leave them in the alien containment tank after hatching :( They have to hold their breaths. If you breed them, make sure to set them free.
  
• There are no large nodes for lead. You must search for galena outcrops with the scanner room. It's pretty much the only way to stock up on the stuff. The other one people have a lot of trouble with is Magnetite, which can only be found in lower glacial basin. You'll want a scanner room to find it. Upper glacial basin has a TON of lithium if you can handle the ice worms... as well as three large mining nodes for ion cubes hidden in a cave.
  
• Keep exploring Upper Glacial Basin even if you find the precursor body part. There are ice worm corpses and a slipgate out here for you to find. The slipgate links to the Phi Robotics slipgate and has a tunnel which leads directly back out to the docks that you can only cut open from the inside. There's also a music disk down there on a crate so keep a sharp eye out when you find it.
  

Good luck, Robin!

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 6 left off. You can read Part 6 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE]. The other posts in this (sub)series are indexed at the link.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…

To me, much of that language from Petyr's 'sight-seeing tour' feels immediately like a kaleidoscopic, 'rhyming' recursion of what he read when Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by:

The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

In an appendix, I attempt to map out in detail how this 'rhyming' works, but it's my hope that having read those passages, you can already 'smell' the 'rhyming', such that the appendix is skimmable overkill underlining a mostly-obvious point.
Here I'll just note a few highlights (all of which are further explained in the appendix):

• "bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" [on which the Greyjoys and their servants live] ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog"
  
• three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
  "three bare…" → "thirty feet…" [see: 'bare feet']
  
• "the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
  

  Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest. (TWOIAF)
  

• "the angry waves foamed and crashed among… a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple" created when those "angry waves… hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed… [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past
  

All That Remained

We're told that three rock islands and twelve stacks of rock, likened to "some sea god's temple", were "all that remained" of Pyke's sword-shaped penisula after the angry waves "hammered" it:

All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

This 'rhymes' first of all with Petyr's boulder "chiseled [with] the seven-pointed star of the new gods" being all that remains to "mark… the place… the Andals had landed" with their steel swords.
But it also 'rhymes' with and prefigures the "hermit's cave" (another rock formation!) being all that remains of the hermit that used to live on Petyr's land:

There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now…."

Notice that the Greyjoy rock formations (a) number three and twelve, which are highly significant numbers in Christianity (twelve apostles, holy trinity), and (b) are likened to "some sea god's temple". Petyr's hermit's cave thus 'answers' Pyke's 'temple', because hermits are traditionally associated with religion, especially Christianity. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit.)

Remained → Rained?

Consider also the lines that set the stage for the sight-seeing 'field trip' Petyr takes Sansa:

It was eight long days until Lysa Arryn arrived. On five of them it rained, while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old blind dog.

Compare with the line about the sea god's "temple":

All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

• Three barren islands remained → On five days of eight it rained (such that three rain-free — i.e. 'barren' — days remained)
  
• Angry waves foamed and crashed → days of rain + (mad, angry) Lysa Arryn (and her "storms") arrived
  
• structure: "while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old dog"
  "foamed and crashed" → "sat bored and restless"
  "among them" → "by the fire, beside the old dog"
  
• numbers: three, twelve → eight, five
  

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport

After Theon takes in the sight of castle Pyke from the deck of the Myraham, he goes below deck, where he makes the captain's daughter swallow his "seed". He then tells her he'll be leaving her behind when they reach shore and goes back up on deck to take in the sight of Lordsport:

She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.

Notice that Theon is pretty much explicitly sight seeing there (inasmuch as he "moved to the bow for a better view".)
Where Theon leaves the captain's daughter, whom he's grown bored of, to (in effect) go sight-seeing (which causes her to start crying), Petyr relieves the Hand's daughter's boredom by taking her sight-seeing (after it stops raining):

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.

Theon's view as he comes on deck to survey the approach to Lordsport seems to (further) inform some of the things Petyr sees when walks around his rocky holding holdings with Sansa. Compare this—

The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.

—and this:

Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.

I'll detail this 'rhyme' in an appendix, but I hope you can already smell it. The bottom line(s):

• "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (where his holding are a rocky point)
  
• "Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
  tacking (cog) → tacky → sticky → peat bog (sticky place to get stuck)
  

Lords Botley & Baelish

Theon then sees the castle of Lord Botley:

He saw the castle first, the stronghold of the Botleys. When he was a boy it had been timber and wattle, but Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground. Lord Sawane had rebuilt in stone, for now a small square keep crowned the hill. Pale green flags drooped from the squat corner towers, each emblazoned with a shoal of silvery fish.

The sight of the stone castle causes Theon to remember something from his boyhood that isn't there anymore (i.e. Lord Botley's old timber and wattle tower), much as the sight of the hermit's cave reminds Petyr of the hermit from his boyhood. And just as Petyr's hermit is missing, so is Lord Botley, who Theon think might come to meet him—

As the Myraham made her way landward, Theon paced the deck restlessly, scanning the shore. He had not thought to find Lord Balon himself at quayside, but surely his father would have sent someone to meet him. Sylas Sourmouth the steward, Lord Botley, perhaps even Dagmer Cleftjaw.

—but who does not.
Where Theon's sight-seeing entails a keep "rebuilt in stone" that triggers memories of Robert Baratheon's invasion, Petyr's sight-seeing entails a chiseled boulder that marks the spot of the Andal invasion of the Vale.
Where the first thing Theon sees as he approaches port is a "small" stone keep with "squat" towers, the first thing Petyr points out to Sansa as they approach land is his own "small", three-story stone tower.
It also 'just so happens' that Lord Botley's sigil—

a shoal of silvery fish on pale green

—prefigures both Petyr's current sigil—

a field of silver mockingbirds on green

—and, by virtue of being "pale green", the "light green" of Petyr's grandfather's sigil as well.
Lord Botley's name, "Sawane", reads almost like a phonetic spelling of [Samhain]. Given the 'rhyme' between the Botley and Baelish arms, this simply piles more fuel on the fire of Littlefinger being involved in some kind of religious heresy. (See my Littlefinger is Hoare-ish series.)
Finally, I wonder whether this line re: Botley's tower—

Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground.

—may have informed this description of Baelish Tower:

A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower, grazing on the thin grass that grew between the sheepfold and thatched stable. Sansa had to step carefully; there were pellets everywhere.

Dubious Protection, Animal-Ridden, Aswarm With Sh__.

The next line of ACOK Theon I continues the prefiguration of Petyr's homecoming — including quite specifically those "pellets everywhere" — in all kinds of ways:

Beneath the dubious protection of the fish-ridden little castle lay the village of Lordsport, its harbor aswarm with ships.

Where Lordsport is "aswarm with ships", the Drearfort's yard is aswarm with shit, so to speak. (Sheepshit.)
Where Botley's is a "fish-ridden little castle", the Drearfort has recently been rid of six of its sheep—

How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."

—and it's a 'dog-ridden little castle' for certain:

Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Where Botley's stronghold offers "dubious protection", "guard" duty at the Drearfort is carried out by the 'dubious' tandem of an eighty-year old man and his dogs—

He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"…Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."

—dogs who are 'dubious protectors' of the very thing they're supposed to protect most: Petyr's "vast herds" of sheep:

"There was nine and twenty [sheep], but Bryen's dogs killed one…."

Invasions & The Faith

As Theon's sight-seeing continues, we are told all about Robert's invasion:

When last he'd seen Lordsport, it had been a smoking wasteland, the skeletons of burnt longships and smashed galleys littering the stony shore like the bones of dead leviathans, the houses no more than broken walls and cold ashes. After ten years, few traces of the war remained.

The reference to "leviathans" (i.e. whales) on "the stony shore" prefigures the whale-like "blowhole" on Petyr's (verbatim) "stony shore".
And where "few traces" of Robert's invasion "remained… after ten years", after thousands of years, "few traces" remain of the Andal invasion: just the boulder "chiseled" with "the seven-pointed star of the new gods" on Petyr's own bleak, desolate, unpopulated shore.
That chiseled holy boulder is prefigured by what Theon sees next: "cut stone" and the foundation of an abandoned sept.

The smallfolk had built new hovels with the stones of the old, and cut fresh sod for their roofs. A new inn had risen beside the landing, twice the size of the old one, with a lower story of cut stone and two upper stories of timber. The sept beyond had never been rebuilt, though; only a seven-sided foundation remained where it had stood. Robert Baratheon's fury had soured the ironmen's taste for the new gods, it would seem.

Just as the Faithful of the Seven have abandoned their sept, so have the holy warriors who chiseled the "star of the new gods" on Petyr's boulder long since moved on. (Nor is there any sign of the Faith at the Drearfort nor once Littlefinger accedes to rule the Eyrie.)
(Do the "hovels" of the smallfolk here presage the "huts" of Petyr's smallfolk, as well? The "new hovels" being "built… with the stones of the old" 'rhymes' with the "huts" on the Smallest Finger being made of "piled stone". And the "fresh sod" on their roofs 'rhymes' with the "peat bog" beside the Baelish "huts".)

Spiraling Recursion

Yes, I know: I'm pointing out multiple prefigurations and resonances for many things. E.g. Theon sees his dozen stacks of rock, then his dozen fishing boats, and both vignettes resonate with Petyr's dozen families and their huts, as do the hovels of Lordsport with their fresh sod roofs, perhaps. But that's the point, I think. The books are constantly recursive. Spirals upon spirals! There's a reason the triple spiral of House Massey — a house with almost no role in the story prior to ADWD — is singled out as "an ancient sigil for an ancient house" in TWOW Theon I. I suspect spirals are where it all began, in a way, in that recursivity is the core of GRRM's project in ASOIAF. The Song is all about 'rhyming'.

END

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 8: Sylas Sourmouth & Silas Marner; Theon's Uncle & Petyr's Hermit; Petyr Pan & Wendamyr Darling

APPENDIX TO MAIN POST

Appendix

This appendix will further breakdown and detail a few major 'rhymes' between Theon's sight-seeing trips to the deck of the Myraham and Petyr's sight-seeing tour of his lands, as mentioned in the main body of the post. It's hopefully superfluous overkill as regards establishing the general resonance between the passages in question, but it may nevertheless be of interest to those interested in going down the rabbit-hole, so to speak.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by, we read:

The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…

In what follows, I'll map some ways in which the bolded language from Petyr's homecoming feels like it could be a kaleidoscopic recursion of the bolded langauge from Theon's homecoming.
(Again, in what follows, "→" means "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".)

A Dozen Stacks of Rock, A Dozen Huts of Piled Stone

"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
How so?
Consider…
bare and barren islands → farther inland

• islands → inland
  
• bar- and bar- → far-
  
• bare and (furthermore a.k.a. farthermore) barren → farther
  
• thus: bare and barren islands → farther inland
  

towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone

• towering ≈ towers → huts
  
• stacks of rock ≈ piles of stone → piled stone
  
• thus: towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
  

a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone

• a dozen → a dozen
  
• towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone (see above)
  
• families (Greyjoy and servants) live on those towering stacks of rock
  
• thus: a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
  

the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat

• the "stacks of rock that rose from the water" ≈ the stacks of rock rose from the sea
  
• "huts of piled stone beside a peat bog" ≈ the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  
• thus: the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  

And thus…
"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

The Stacks of Rock Come Round Again

• "towering stacks of rock" (where 'stacks' connotes money/wealth and where it sounds like rocks are stacked like coins) → Petyr "owned a lot of rocks"
  
• "a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" → "the tide came jetting up… to shoot [as if fired from a gun] thirty feet into the air"
  "dozen" → "thirty"
  "rock" & "water" → (implied) fire & "air"
  "rock that rose from the water" → "tide came jetting up… into the air"
  

Three & Thirty

• "three bare…" → "thirty feet…"
  three → thirty
  bare → feet [as in 'bare feet']
  
• three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
  

Angry Waves & Andals

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
How so?
Consider…

• "the angry waves" → the Andals… came across the sea"
  confirmed by the wave of Andal conquest in TWOIAF:
  

  Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest.
  

• "foamed and crashed" → "to wrest"
  
• "them" = Pyke's "towering stacks of rock" on which ironborn kings live → the mountainous Vale in which First Men kings lived
  

And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"

Angry Waves & Andals 2

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"
How so?
Consider…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"

• "the angry waves" → the Andals, who "came across the sea"
  
• "crashed" → "landed" ('crash-landed')
  
• thus: "the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
  

Consider also…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" = the angry waves crashed among…

…a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple…

…created when the angry waves…

…hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past.

• the angry waves "hammered" → the Andals "chiseled"
  
• "point of land" → "pointed star"
  
• Pyke's "point of land" was "hammered" into a dozen stacks of rock → Petyr's boulder was "chiseled" with a seven-pointed star
  
• "some sea god" → "the new gods"
  
• "some sea god's temple" → the sign "of the new gods"
  
• one (point), three (islands), a dozen (stacks) → seven (sacred numbers)
  
• thus: "the angry waves… hammered… the point of land" into "a dozen… stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple… thousands of years past…" ➔ "the Andals… chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past per ADWD Jaime I:
  

  Only no one knows when the Andals crossed the narrow sea. The True History says four thousand years have passed since then, but some maesters claim that it was only two. (ADWD Jaime I)
  

And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport Redux

In the body of the essay, I talked about how this bit of Theon's approach to Lordsport—

She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.

—prefigures in particular two passages from Petyr's sight-seeing tour:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.

Consider:
"The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (a rocky point)

• The Myraham carries Theon and the captain's daughter
  
• Theon & the captain's daughter (child-groomer and his prey) → Petyr & Sansa (child-groomer and his prey)
  
• thus: The Myraham → Petyr & Sansa
  
• "The Myraham was rounding…" → "Petyr walked with her [Sansa] around…"
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ "He owned a lot of rocks" ≈ rocky, and…
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ the Smallest Finger, and…
  
• the Smallest Finger ≈ a point of land, and fingers point, so…
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ a rocky point
  
• a wooded point → a rocky point, so…
  
• "a wooded point" → "his holdings" (a rocky point)
  
• thus: "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her around his holdings" (a rocky point)
  

And consider:
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
There's a fair bit of overdetermination here.

• a dozen fishing boats → a dozen families
  
• pulling in their nets → liv[ing] in [their] huts
  
• a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets → a dozen families living in their huts
  
• "huts of piled stone" ≈ piled stone huts, so…
  
• pine-clad bluffs → piled stone huts
  
• a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine-clad bluffs → a dozen families living in their piled stone huts
  Given that "Bog devils" are fishing geniuses who wield nets…
  
• fishing (boats) and/or nets → peat bogs
  
• pine-clad bluffs → peat bog
  
• thus: "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" → a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside a peat bog
  But also re:
  

  The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
  

• big cog → peat bog
  
• b-ig c-og → bog
  
• tacking ≈ tacky ≈ sticky ≈ getting stuck
  
• bog ≈ place to get stuck:
  

  Sansa shuddered. They had been twelve days crossing the Neck, rumbling down a crooked causeway through an endless black bog, and she had hated every moment of it. [I]f you were stupid enough to leave the causeway to pluck them, there were quicksands waiting to suck you down…. (Note the literal rhyming wordplay: pluck/suck.) (AGOT Sansa I)
  "The bogs here are impenetrable, full of quicksands and suckholes (lol)…. To assault any of the towers, an army would need to wade through waist-deep black muck…." (AGOT Catelyn VIII)
  

• so: big cog tacking → peat bog
  
• the big cog tacking "stayed well out" from the fishing boats → the peat bog being "farther inland"
  but also…
  
• The fishing boats being perforce well in (toward land) from the big cog → the families huts lying "farther inland" besides the peat bog
  Thus we might say…
  
• Well in from the tacking big cog, "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" ➔ Farther inland, beside the peat bog, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts
  and/or…
  
• The big cog stayed well out from the dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine clad bluffs ➔ Farther inland, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside the peat bog
  

Anyway, however you care to slice it, this—

"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking."

—can be read as 'rhyming' with and recursively prefiguring this:

"Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

END APPENDIX

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 6 left off. You can read Part 6 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE]. The other posts in this (sub)series are indexed at the link.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…

To me, much of that language from Petyr's 'sight-seeing tour' feels immediately like a kaleidoscopic, 'rhyming' recursion of what he read when Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by:

The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

In an appendix, I attempt to map out in detail how this 'rhyming' works, but it's my hope that having read those passages, you can already 'smell' the 'rhyming', such that the appendix is skimmable overkill underlining a mostly-obvious point.
Here I'll just note a few highlights (all of which are further explained in the appendix):

• "bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" [on which the Greyjoys and their servants live] ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog"
  
• three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
  "three bare…" → "thirty feet…" [see: 'bare feet']
  
• "the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
  

  Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest. (TWOIAF)
  

• "the angry waves foamed and crashed among… a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple" created when those "angry waves… hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed… [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past
  

All That Remained

We're told that three rock islands and twelve stacks of rock, likened to "some sea god's temple", were "all that remained" of Pyke's sword-shaped penisula after the angry waves "hammered" it:

All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

This 'rhymes' first of all with Petyr's boulder "chiseled [with] the seven-pointed star of the new gods" being all that remains to "mark… the place… the Andals had landed" with their steel swords.
But it also 'rhymes' with and prefigures the "hermit's cave" (another rock formation!) being all that remains of the hermit that used to live on Petyr's land:

There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now…."

Notice that the Greyjoy rock formations (a) number three and twelve, which are highly significant numbers in Christianity (twelve apostles, holy trinity), and (b) are likened to "some sea god's temple". Petyr's hermit's cave thus 'answers' Pyke's 'temple', because hermits are traditionally associated with religion, especially Christianity. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit.)

Remained → Rained?

Consider also the lines that set the stage for the sight-seeing 'field trip' Petyr takes Sansa:

It was eight long days until Lysa Arryn arrived. On five of them it rained, while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old blind dog.

Compare with the line about the sea god's "temple":

All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

• Three barren islands remained → On five days of eight it rained (such that three rain-free — i.e. 'barren' — days remained)
  
• Angry waves foamed and crashed → days of rain + (mad, angry) Lysa Arryn (and her "storms") arrived
  
• structure: "while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old dog"
  "foamed and crashed" → "sat bored and restless"
  "among them" → "by the fire, beside the old dog"
  
• numbers: three, twelve → eight, five
  

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport

After Theon takes in the sight of castle Pyke from the deck of the Myraham, he goes below deck, where he makes the captain's daughter swallow his "seed". He then tells her he'll be leaving her behind when they reach shore and goes back up on deck to take in the sight of Lordsport:

She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.

Notice that Theon is pretty much explicitly sight seeing there (inasmuch as he "moved to the bow for a better view".)
Where Theon leaves the captain's daughter, whom he's grown bored of, to (in effect) go sight-seeing (which causes her to start crying), Petyr relieves the Hand's daughter's boredom by taking her sight-seeing (after it stops raining):

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.

Theon's view as he comes on deck to survey the approach to Lordsport seems to (further) inform some of the things Petyr sees when walks around his rocky holding holdings with Sansa. Compare this—

The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.

—and this:

Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.

I'll detail this 'rhyme' in an appendix, but I hope you can already smell it. The bottom line(s):

• "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (where his holding are a rocky point)
  
• "Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
  tacking (cog) → tacky → sticky → peat bog (sticky place to get stuck)
  

Lords Botley & Baelish

Theon then sees the castle of Lord Botley:

He saw the castle first, the stronghold of the Botleys. When he was a boy it had been timber and wattle, but Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground. Lord Sawane had rebuilt in stone, for now a small square keep crowned the hill. Pale green flags drooped from the squat corner towers, each emblazoned with a shoal of silvery fish.

The sight of the stone castle causes Theon to remember something from his boyhood that isn't there anymore (i.e. Lord Botley's old timber and wattle tower), much as the sight of the hermit's cave reminds Petyr of the hermit from his boyhood. And just as Petyr's hermit is missing, so is Lord Botley, who Theon think might come to meet him—

As the Myraham made her way landward, Theon paced the deck restlessly, scanning the shore. He had not thought to find Lord Balon himself at quayside, but surely his father would have sent someone to meet him. Sylas Sourmouth the steward, Lord Botley, perhaps even Dagmer Cleftjaw.

—but who does not.
Where Theon's sight-seeing entails a keep "rebuilt in stone" that triggers memories of Robert Baratheon's invasion, Petyr's sight-seeing entails a chiseled boulder that marks the spot of the Andal invasion of the Vale.
Where the first thing Theon sees as he approaches port is a "small" stone keep with "squat" towers, the first thing Petyr points out to Sansa as they approach land is his own "small", three-story stone tower.
It also 'just so happens' that Lord Botley's sigil—

a shoal of silvery fish on pale green

—prefigures both Petyr's current sigil—

a field of silver mockingbirds on green

—and, by virtue of being "pale green", the "light green" of Petyr's grandfather's sigil as well.
Lord Botley's name, "Sawane", reads almost like a phonetic spelling of [Samhain]. Given the 'rhyme' between the Botley and Baelish arms, this simply piles more fuel on the fire of Littlefinger being involved in some kind of religious heresy. (See my Littlefinger is Hoare-ish series.)
Finally, I wonder whether this line re: Botley's tower—

Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground.

—may have informed this description of Baelish Tower:

A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower, grazing on the thin grass that grew between the sheepfold and thatched stable. Sansa had to step carefully; there were pellets everywhere.

Dubious Protection, Animal-Ridden, Aswarm With Sh__.

The next line of ACOK Theon I continues the prefiguration of Petyr's homecoming — including quite specifically those "pellets everywhere" — in all kinds of ways:

Beneath the dubious protection of the fish-ridden little castle lay the village of Lordsport, its harbor aswarm with ships.

Where Lordsport is "aswarm with ships", the Drearfort's yard is aswarm with shit, so to speak. (Sheepshit.)
Where Botley's is a "fish-ridden little castle", the Drearfort has recently been rid of six of its sheep—

How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."

—and it's a 'dog-ridden little castle' for certain:

Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Where Botley's stronghold offers "dubious protection", "guard" duty at the Drearfort is carried out by the 'dubious' tandem of an eighty-year old man and his dogs—

He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"…Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."

—dogs who are 'dubious protectors' of the very thing they're supposed to protect most: Petyr's "vast herds" of sheep:

"There was nine and twenty [sheep], but Bryen's dogs killed one…."

Invasions & The Faith

As Theon's sight-seeing continues, we are told all about Robert's invasion:

When last he'd seen Lordsport, it had been a smoking wasteland, the skeletons of burnt longships and smashed galleys littering the stony shore like the bones of dead leviathans, the houses no more than broken walls and cold ashes. After ten years, few traces of the war remained.

The reference to "leviathans" (i.e. whales) on "the stony shore" prefigures the whale-like "blowhole" on Petyr's (verbatim) "stony shore".
And where "few traces" of Robert's invasion "remained… after ten years", after thousands of years, "few traces" remain of the Andal invasion: just the boulder "chiseled" with "the seven-pointed star of the new gods" on Petyr's own bleak, desolate, unpopulated shore.
That chiseled holy boulder is prefigured by what Theon sees next: "cut stone" and the foundation of an abandoned sept.

The smallfolk had built new hovels with the stones of the old, and cut fresh sod for their roofs. A new inn had risen beside the landing, twice the size of the old one, with a lower story of cut stone and two upper stories of timber. The sept beyond had never been rebuilt, though; only a seven-sided foundation remained where it had stood. Robert Baratheon's fury had soured the ironmen's taste for the new gods, it would seem.

Just as the Faithful of the Seven have abandoned their sept, so have the holy warriors who chiseled the "star of the new gods" on Petyr's boulder long since moved on. (Nor is there any sign of the Faith at the Drearfort nor once Littlefinger accedes to rule the Eyrie.)
(Do the "hovels" of the smallfolk here presage the "huts" of Petyr's smallfolk, as well? The "new hovels" being "built… with the stones of the old" 'rhymes' with the "huts" on the Smallest Finger being made of "piled stone". And the "fresh sod" on their roofs 'rhymes' with the "peat bog" beside the Baelish "huts".)

Spiraling Recursion

Yes, I know: I'm pointing out multiple prefigurations and resonances for many things. E.g. Theon sees his dozen stacks of rock, then his dozen fishing boats, and both vignettes resonate with Petyr's dozen families and their huts, as do the hovels of Lordsport with their fresh sod roofs, perhaps. But that's the point, I think. The books are constantly recursive. Spirals upon spirals! There's a reason the triple spiral of House Massey — a house with almost no role in the story prior to ADWD — is singled out as "an ancient sigil for an ancient house" in TWOW Theon I. I suspect spirals are where it all began, in a way, in that recursivity is the core of GRRM's project in ASOIAF. The Song is all about 'rhyming'.

END

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 8: Sylas Sourmouth & Silas Marner; Theon's Uncle & Petyr's Hermit; Petyr Pan & Wendamyr Darling

APPENDIX TO MAIN POST

Appendix

This appendix will further breakdown and detail a few major 'rhymes' between Theon's sight-seeing trips to the deck of the Myraham and Petyr's sight-seeing tour of his lands, as mentioned in the main body of the post. It's hopefully superfluous overkill as regards establishing the general resonance between the passages in question, but it may nevertheless be of interest to those interested in going down the rabbit-hole, so to speak.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by, we read:

The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…

In what follows, I'll map some ways in which the bolded language from Petyr's homecoming feels like it could be a kaleidoscopic recursion of the bolded langauge from Theon's homecoming.
(Again, in what follows, "→" means "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".)

A Dozen Stacks of Rock, A Dozen Huts of Piled Stone

"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
How so?
Consider…
bare and barren islands → farther inland

• islands → inland
  
• bar- and bar- → far-
  
• bare and (furthermore a.k.a. farthermore) barren → farther
  
• thus: bare and barren islands → farther inland
  

towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone

• towering ≈ towers → huts
  
• stacks of rock ≈ piles of stone → piled stone
  
• thus: towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
  

a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone

• a dozen → a dozen
  
• towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone (see above)
  
• families (Greyjoy and servants) live on those towering stacks of rock
  
• thus: a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
  

the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat

• the "stacks of rock that rose from the water" ≈ the stacks of rock rose from the sea
  
• "huts of piled stone beside a peat bog" ≈ the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  
• thus: the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  

And thus…
"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

The Stacks of Rock Come Round Again

• "towering stacks of rock" (where 'stacks' connotes money/wealth and where it sounds like rocks are stacked like coins) → Petyr "owned a lot of rocks"
  
• "a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" → "the tide came jetting up… to shoot [as if fired from a gun] thirty feet into the air"
  "dozen" → "thirty"
  "rock" & "water" → (implied) fire & "air"
  "rock that rose from the water" → "tide came jetting up… into the air"
  

Three & Thirty

• "three bare…" → "thirty feet…"
  three → thirty
  bare → feet [as in 'bare feet']
  
• three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
  

Angry Waves & Andals

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
How so?
Consider…

• "the angry waves" → the Andals… came across the sea"
  confirmed by the wave of Andal conquest in TWOIAF:
  

  Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest.
  

• "foamed and crashed" → "to wrest"
  
• "them" = Pyke's "towering stacks of rock" on which ironborn kings live → the mountainous Vale in which First Men kings lived
  

And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"

Angry Waves & Andals 2

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"
How so?
Consider…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"

• "the angry waves" → the Andals, who "came across the sea"
  
• "crashed" → "landed" ('crash-landed')
  
• thus: "the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
  

Consider also…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" = the angry waves crashed among…

…a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple…

…created when the angry waves…

…hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past.

• the angry waves "hammered" → the Andals "chiseled"
  
• "point of land" → "pointed star"
  
• Pyke's "point of land" was "hammered" into a dozen stacks of rock → Petyr's boulder was "chiseled" with a seven-pointed star
  
• "some sea god" → "the new gods"
  
• "some sea god's temple" → the sign "of the new gods"
  
• one (point), three (islands), a dozen (stacks) → seven (sacred numbers)
  
• thus: "the angry waves… hammered… the point of land" into "a dozen… stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple… thousands of years past…" ➔ "the Andals… chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past per ADWD Jaime I:
  

  Only no one knows when the Andals crossed the narrow sea. The True History says four thousand years have passed since then, but some maesters claim that it was only two. (ADWD Jaime I)
  

And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport Redux

In the body of the essay, I talked about how this bit of Theon's approach to Lordsport—

She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.

—prefigures in particular two passages from Petyr's sight-seeing tour:

When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.

Consider:
"The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (a rocky point)

• The Myraham carries Theon and the captain's daughter
  
• Theon & the captain's daughter (child-groomer and his prey) → Petyr & Sansa (child-groomer and his prey)
  
• thus: The Myraham → Petyr & Sansa
  
• "The Myraham was rounding…" → "Petyr walked with her [Sansa] around…"
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ "He owned a lot of rocks" ≈ rocky, and…
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ the Smallest Finger, and…
  
• the Smallest Finger ≈ a point of land, and fingers point, so…
  
• Petyr's "holdings" ≈ a rocky point
  
• a wooded point → a rocky point, so…
  
• "a wooded point" → "his holdings" (a rocky point)
  
• thus: "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her around his holdings" (a rocky point)
  

And consider:
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
There's a fair bit of overdetermination here.

• a dozen fishing boats → a dozen families
  
• pulling in their nets → liv[ing] in [their] huts
  
• a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets → a dozen families living in their huts
  
• "huts of piled stone" ≈ piled stone huts, so…
  
• pine-clad bluffs → piled stone huts
  
• a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine-clad bluffs → a dozen families living in their piled stone huts
  Given that "Bog devils" are fishing geniuses who wield nets…
  
• fishing (boats) and/or nets → peat bogs
  
• pine-clad bluffs → peat bog
  
• thus: "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" → a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside a peat bog
  But also re:
  

  The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
  

• big cog → peat bog
  
• b-ig c-og → bog
  
• tacking ≈ tacky ≈ sticky ≈ getting stuck
  
• bog ≈ place to get stuck:
  

  Sansa shuddered. They had been twelve days crossing the Neck, rumbling down a crooked causeway through an endless black bog, and she had hated every moment of it. [I]f you were stupid enough to leave the causeway to pluck them, there were quicksands waiting to suck you down…. (Note the literal rhyming wordplay: pluck/suck.) (AGOT Sansa I)
  "The bogs here are impenetrable, full of quicksands and suckholes (lol)…. To assault any of the towers, an army would need to wade through waist-deep black muck…." (AGOT Catelyn VIII)
  

• so: big cog tacking → peat bog
  
• the big cog tacking "stayed well out" from the fishing boats → the peat bog being "farther inland"
  but also…
  
• The fishing boats being perforce well in (toward land) from the big cog → the families huts lying "farther inland" besides the peat bog
  Thus we might say…
  
• Well in from the tacking big cog, "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" ➔ Farther inland, beside the peat bog, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts
  and/or…
  
• The big cog stayed well out from the dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine clad bluffs ➔ Farther inland, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside the peat bog
  

Anyway, however you care to slice it, this—

"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking."

—can be read as 'rhyming' with and recursively prefiguring this:

"Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

END APPENDIX & END POST

Shadow-Verse
The moans of the zombies seem to draw Blaze into sleep as he looks at Larissa.
A voice in the darkness speaks to him... "It's time." It says.
Suddenly he is falling and images of colorful world's and places flash in the darkness, some clearly, others blurred or missing pieces...
A different feeling envelopes him and everything goes black again...
Then there's light and noise as his memory plays out in the dreamscape.

 Non Hostile Invasion ... ... Heavy footsteps pound the dirt.... "Run... Keep going!" 

Dark energy rips through the air and punches through dead trees.
A female voice answers. "I can't!"
Several blasts rock the petrified forest as a steady drone of demons grows louder and louder by they second.
A younger male voice yells. "They are geTTING CLOSER!"
"WE CAN MAKE IT, DON'T GIVE UP!"
A large flaming demon rumbles by overhead and impacts the ground.
"IT'S GONNA BE OK! JUST DON'T!......"
....
....
Earlier that Day...
A week after Velzix is defeated by Shadow things in Hell are almost back to the usual. Mihrab smiles at her King as he kisses her cheek and laughs.
Velzix walks in at the same time. "Is that happy laughter I hear? My king I am disappointed." He says.
Shadow looks at him. "You wanna fighta bout it? Loser has to shut up and not complain anymore." Says Shadow.
Velzix declines as he continues with his report then leaves.
Looking at Mihrab, Shadow says. "Lets go for a walk around the lost zone of Purgatory."
She hugs him. "Its been awhile since we have been there." She says.
Mihrab nods. They both grab their weapons and head out into the woods.
After walking for about an hour they reach the edge of the area where souls are sent when they become corrupted enough to become a demon or monster.
One of the many unknown changes due to Shadow neglecting his duty long ago and not creating new demons on top of other things, eventually losing the full control of the ability as the new system was put in place by God's angels and was acceptable as an alternative. The energy to create being directed more to the Lost planes.
Tho Shadow did recently create a cute little fun loving demon fox named Spark and Mihrab Created the equally adorable and fun loving Ember.
As they walk through the Lost Zone Shadow sees many young demons aimlessly wandering around and some fight as they walk past.
Shadow looks over at a wolf like demon that's smaller than most of the others and stops in his tracks.
"MELIODAR!" He says excitedly.
Meliodar turns to him and sees him but doesn't move.
"Meli-dar!" Mihrab Shouts.
He looks around, then smiles and runs towards them.
Shadow looks at Him. "Where have you been son?" He asks Meliodar.
He looks around and notices the other demons staring at him.
"What is it?" Meliodar asks them and they all look away.
Shadow rejoices over finding their son Meliodar and the demons move away.
Meliodar looks up at his father. "I've been here the whole time. I thought you guys didn't want me anymore so I stayed out here." He says.
Shadow is shocked at his words and looks around again to see the rest of the demons still looking in another direction.
"Why would you think that?" He asks him. "We love you and we missed you."
His son who was conceived on Earth with Mihrab looks up. "Velzix told me, you hated me and that you said to stay out here alone." He says crying.
"He lied! We never wanted to get rid of you. We sent every demon we could to find you. Velzix had this part of Hell to search! That ingrate." He says.
Shadow and Mihrab hug their son tightly. "You're home now." Shadow says to him.
He looks up at his parents and asks. "Is that true? Did you send everyone to look for me?"
Shadow smiles. "Yes, we did. But we couldn't find you." He answers.
Meliodar looks at his mother and asks "Did you try to find me?"
She smiles at him. "We did. I'm so happy we found you!" She says kissing his forehead.
He looks back at his dad. "But why did you hate me? Why did you say to leave?"
Shadow looks around. "I never said that. Velzix lied to you son, we never hated you..." He pauses. He looks down and says to himself. "Velzix will pay for this." ....
....
On the way back to the castle Shadow, Mihrab and their son play chasing each other through the petrified trees.
It takes Shadow a second to realize that Meliodar's behavior has changed and he is more tame and playful when he had not been before.
Shadow smiles and wonders what to do next as he thinks about Heaven and Earth...
Shadow looks at Mihrab. "Lets go try and live in Heaven... But lets do it without violence and see how it goes. Earth didn't go well last time. Maybe our luck will change in Heaven" He says.
Mihrab hugs her husband and kisses him on the cheek. "That sounds strange but lets try it." They both laugh.
The three of them are almost to their kingdom and are met with the sight of Velzix and his followers attacking the castle.
Shadow stops motioning for his family to go back the way they came as a demon turns and sees them.
Shadow charges forward cutting it in half and the demon's body falls to the ground as several more rush at him!
He continues fighting until he is completely surrounded. Meliodar swiftly appears and rips through them making a path to escape as the three of them run....
10 million of Velzix's supporters roar in the distance as hundreds follow closely on their heels. ....
The three of them arrive at the Leviathan pit and have no choice but to travel through it as more demons appear coming from all three sides.
Mihrab looks around for the other enter-dimensional barrier leading out the other side as the pursuing demons hesitate to enter the pit.
She locates the exit. "There! We can go through here!" She shouts.
Shadow runs towards it as he grabs Meliodar and leaps to the side avoiding a Leviathan as it slams into the dirt, the void in its mouth violently sucking in material as it turns toward them.
Shadow and Meliodar are about to be eaten when the Leviathan Lilly bursts from underground sending the other Leviathan flying as she fires a powerful beam of energy.
Looking down at Shadow, Mihrab and their son Meliodar. " You had best keep your promise to me Mihrab." Lilly says and then leaves as they exit the pit.
Looking around they don't see any demons but continue to run as their war cry gets louder and louder.
Then a group of demons appears to the left and begins firing energy beams and blasts at them as they push harder to reach the portal room within sight on the horizon a dead straight path through Hell itself. ...
Shadow's heavy footsteps pound the dirt.... "Run... Keep going!" He yells.
Dark energy rips through the air and punches through dead trees.
Mihrab stumbles in front of him. "I can't!"
Several blasts rock the petrified forest as the steady drone of demons grows louder and louder by the second.
Looking back Meliodar fires a blast."They are getting closer!"
Shadows helps Mihrab up. "WE CAN MAKE IT, DON'T GIVE UP!" He shouts above the masses.
A large flaming demon rumbles by overhead and impacts the ground.
"IT'S GONNA BE OK! JUST DON'T!......"
The massive shockwave of its impact decimates the area knocking Shadow and his family off their feet....
Shadows shakes his head. "What happened!?" He asks out loud confused as he scans the area in disbelief.
He sees a strange being standing on the horizon. It is tall, covered in black armor and has a long spear that it points at him.
Looking more intently he notices the crest from King Arthur. One of his black knights having been cast down into Hell where he turned into a demon and should be imprisoned due to his power and selling his soul.
"Guess he is a demon now." Shadow thinks as he looks nervously at the gateway to the portal room then back at the knight as it charges it's spear with energy.
The knight fires and Shadow throws himself to the side as the attack hurtles towards him blasting away the already broken and splintered dead trees as it rips up the ground.
Seeing the power of the blast Shadow and his family brace themselves as it passes with the force of an explosion and impacts nearby creating a massive mushroom cloud that rises miles into the sky and the shockwave batters the area.
Shadow looks up in horror at the crater and realizes the ground is still shaking from the impact of the attack.
He turns and sees a small figure running toward him, as he watches he is filled with relief. "Meliodar!" He cries as he sprints towards him pointing at a high ridge line that the Knight can't see behind.
Mihrab appears beside Shadow holding an injured arm as another blast hits on the far side of the ridge.
Tho the shockwave is lessened by the landmass it hits them hard. They brace themselves as Splinters of wood and crushed rock scream by and then are sucked back up into the rising cloud of the explosion.
The sound of millions of demons shakes the ground as Shadow pushes debris off himself and Meliodar. Mihrab crawls from under the shattered trunks of dead trees groaning in pain.
Shadow moves to help her up and puts out his hand as the demons come into view.
Meliodar raises his head as a glob of dark energy forms in front of his mouth.
Launching his attack a rapid fire stream of dense energy spikes streaks towards the masses of incoming demons taking out 100's as the horde moves like a wave engulfing everything.
Every demon fighting to be the first ones to kill the royal family.
Shadow looks at the demons as Mihrab and Meliodar take off towards the portal room.
"Its a good thing they don't actually work very well together and are not organized." He thinks following close beside his Family.
The Black Knight appears above, massive raven-like wings protrude from his back and a rain of laser like beams fall as he attacks.
Shadow grabs Mihrab and Meliodar as he makes a barrier with his dark energy. The beams hit exploding violently and Shadow's barrier fails from the onslaught... The attack stops suddenly and Shadow stumbles shaking his head as his body screams in agony.
Grabbing his arm Mihrab pulls him into a sprint for the portal room as their son runs along side them deflecting blasts and projectiles with his cloak of dark energy.
Reaching the doorway they dive inside as the knight strikes once more, the blast destroying the portal structure as they vanish through it closing the portal. ...
Sitting inside the portal room Shadow and his family lay sore and exhausted.
Looking at the dark portal arc Shadow knows it will be a few days before it is fixed giving them time to rest.
With his body aching he crawls over to Mihrab and Meliodar wrapping them in his arms.
Looking at her as he brushes her cheek. "Are you ok?" He asks worried.
"I'm fine but I think we should wait until we heal until traveling again." She replies as they all pass into sleep...
...
...
Shadow is the first to wake the next morning. Looking around he sees the portal that leads to the gates of Heaven.
Mihrab and Meliodar sleep a few more hours as Shadow thinks about the plan...
....
..
After waking up fully Shadow, Mihrab and their son Meliodar move through the portal leading to Heaven.
A portal only Lucifer and the angels are permitted to use.
They land on a grassy field surrounded by the most beautiful white buildings and walk to the nearest one.
Shadow looks around and sees the building is a church. He scans the area finding no sign of anyone as they are all inside giving praise for the day.
Shadow covers his ears hearing them all and even dulling his own sense of hearing has no effect on how it stings his mind.
Tho Meliodar and Mihrab seem fine.
Suddenly the pain stops and Shadow feels a presence he knows from meeting only once when he was created and assigned a place.
He starts to turn to look.... A powerful voice calmly tells him. " Do not look upon me yet for thee shall surly perish....." It says and Shadow freezes obeying.
There is a noticeable shift in energies and then the voice says. "You may now turn around safely and state your business here. It better be good for it is unspeakable for a demon to enter this place uninvited." The voice says calmly.
"My name is Shadow. This is my wife Mihrab. We have come to speak with you God." He says and there is a slight pause. "We seek to live in Heaven by just asking you without violence so we can finally live in peace where our Love isn't hated."
God chuckles amused. "You know what? Why don't you go ahead and do that and see if I am willing to let you have it after doing that?"
Shadow looks at God. "Will you surrender peacefully to us and give us life in Heaven?" He asks God.
God laughs. "What kind of question is that? Of course I'll surrender to you!" He yells happily.
Shadow looks at him in confusion. "But why would you?"
"The reason is because you are a Demon. Demons are evil creatures that hate all life." God laughs. "I have been watching you for some time Shadow Seed. I find this turn of events amusing and you haven't heard my terms yet.... Somehow you seek to have it and try non violence. As well as claiming to Love another demon. I will say I am surprised by things you do but they are also not unexpected. For me to give you Heaven. You first have to be one of my protectors of the universes. All three of you will become half human half demon beings. You will keep your powers but you will lose a significant amount of it to hide you from demons as you go about this Path to Redemption." He pauses...
"You will also be given a secondary energy as well that will be weak in you but as you learn to us it, it's power will grow as well... You will also not die of old age, hunger or human illness, only sever damage can kill you and if you do die you will be reborn or remade at your choosing. You three will become Eturnals and in time you will fight to protect the humans you have conquered on numerous occasions..... I will call upon you later to Protect my human creations from the demons of Hell and other evil in the universe. And be warned that the demons of Hell are looking for you, stay hidden and work in secret avoiding the demons till you are strong enough to rival them." He says.
Shadow is speechless. He looks at his wife who is smiling at him.
He looks back at God and sees him laughing. "So what's the verdict? Do you accept my terms of surrender?"
Shadow genuinely smiles as he says."Yes I do and I surrender as well!"
Mihrab chimes in. "I accept this as well!"
Meliodar looks at his father Shadow who nods. Turning back to God Meliodar also agrees happily.
"Good, now one more thing, here is a sword that can kill anything. It is called an Eturnal Blade and I custom make each one." He says handing a blade to each of them.
"Thank you." They say together.
God then says. "Oh and then being reborn, you have a very high chance of... Forgetting past lives and who you really are due to the new brain that is different. Tho it will grow used to your soul and spirit bringing the memories back as they sync over time. The same is true for being made at an adult age, tho the memories come back significantly faster than when you are born."
He then raises his hand and transforms the three of them as he said he would. "Do you want to be born or to be created at the age of 35 and 20 for Meliodar?" He asks them.
They all agree to be born and Meliodar with spend time in a lower form of Heaven to learn a few things till his parents mature and bring him into the world.
"Very good! Now this is going to be very different to you... I almost forgot... Don't listen to the darkness within and if you hear it, refuse anything it offers you. This is unknown territory so heed my warning." God says and then there is a bright flash and everything goes dark for three of them.
God turns to the many angels watching. "Lets see if they can do it. If they can, who knows maybe there could be others as well." He says to them as some seem unsure.
....
....
Blaze wakes feeling as if he is full of energy and looks over at Larissa who is looking at him smiling. "I know that look. It's about time you remembered something.
Blaze nods. "We were king and queen of hell and even had a true son. Then were made part human." He says.
Larissa flinches as suddenly the room is filled with light.

Captain Richard Miller fought off the yawn he felt building in the back of his throat for what felt like the hundredth time this mission. His P51D purred around him as he cruised along over the darkening ocean, and its stainless steel skin glinted the last of the sunset off the fuselage before the sky was a simple wash of purples and oranges. The ocean below was purely black, but for a line of orange at the horizon. Miller let the yawn come this time, made a mark on the map strapped to his thigh, and pushed the microphone to his radio toward his mouth.
"SkyEye to Base," he finished the transmission with another huge yawn.
"Go ahead, SkyEye," a voice 600 miles away responded.
"Still no joy," he reported for the hundredth time. "If they're using this shipping lane, they must be staying deep. I'm not seeing anything but water down there. Permission to RTB and try again another day?"
There was a long pause. Not good news, he told himself.
"Negative, SkyEye. Make one more pass, then meet up with your squadron bearing three-two-zero, then RTB."
Miller groaned. He had to take a piss. He wanted a cup of coffee, a sandwich, some fried potatoes, hell, even a beer. This foolery of chasing Nazis in U-boats to South America through the air was getting pointless. Either the ones that were going to make it to Argentina, Brazil, and Chile were already there, or they'd captured all the ones they were going to catch. The end result was the same; why fuck around with more recon patrols.
"Understand, Base. One more pass, then regroup and RTB." He sighed, and began tilting his aircraft this way and that, peering through the growing darkness at the water below. He almost missed it. A black steel leviathan raised its head from the depths. Water ran in sheets down its conning tower, spread over its exterior deck, and then rejoined the ocean after a fall down the bulbous sides. Miller grinned, marked his map, and got back on the radio.
"SkyEye to base, got something at grid foxtrot-79, say again, foxtrot-79. Looks like they might be recharging their air batteries."
"Copy, SkyEye," base reported. "Do not engage unless engaged first. Mark its location on your map and continue your patrol."
"Roger," Miller started, then squinted at the U-boat far below. It was far larger than any he'd seen before, or even heard tell of seeing before. It was really the size of an aircraft carrier, given the length and the width of its deck. "Base, I don't think this is a usual U-boat..." He saw a single tongue of flame spout upward from the U-boat's deck, then nothing, then a burst of flame.
"SkyEye to base, I am being engaged. I think they just launched a rocket or something at me."
"Understand, SkyEye, evade and engage at will."
"Roger." He set his finger on the trigger, smoothly rolled the throttle forward, and began to calculate his evasion from the incoming rocket. Each time, it turned to intercept him. Once it was in range, it opened fire.
"Holy shit!" Miller cursed, hearing bullets ping through his fuselage. His evasive dive and roll grew more desperate. "SkyEye to Base, that was no rocket, it's some kind of fighter aircraft. I have been engaged and am responding in kind."
The aerial game of cat and mouse began. Miller and his mysterious foe feinted, rolled, dove, climbed, sped up and slowed down as they jockeyed for position with one another. Each hoping to be the first to get their enemy in their sights. Miller won the first round. He noted the other plane's trajectory, adjusted his pitch to lead, then opened fire. Tracer rounds let him see exactly where his shots were going, and he cheered as he saw the strange fighter's left engine burst into flame and start to burn. A little yaw control later, and the right engine followed. Smoke and fire trailed behind the enemy fighter. That should have been the end of it.
Instead, the fires went out, and damaged cowling around both engines began to reform. When the engines ignited once again, it was with pure thrust that put the fighter into a steep climb. Miller, not believing what he'd just seen, shook his head to clear it, then again to focus on the fight that was not over yet. Pushing the throttle as hard as he could, he brought the P51D into a pursuit climb. He had the drop on his foe once again, but the instability of the climb as the air around the plane got thinner and thinner kept him from getting a clean shot on his opponent. He fired in bursts, potshots that he hoped would get lucky and hit something vital.
The enemy's engines once again went out. The half-backflip it then pulled off should have torn the plane into pieces. It's wings, at least, should have broken off and left the whole thing to fall into a helpless dive. But it didn't. Somehow, this aircraft rode its own inertia forward, pulled off a zero-radius turnaround, and now had Miller dead to rights. He saw the guns on the enemy fighter light up and returned fire in a lethal game of aerial chicken. The Mustang shook, rocked, sputtered, smoke began to pour into the cockpit.
A bullet pierced the canopy, and the pressure differential sucked all the smoke out. Just in time for Miller to see the enemy's engines flash to life again.
The sudden thrust should have liquefied the pilot. There was no acceleration at all. One instant the plane was coasting backward riding its own inertia and recoil. The next it was bearing down on him at maximum speed. Cursing, Miller tried to roll out of the way. The damaged flight surfaces on the wings did not react in time. The enemy's wing sliced cleanly through Miller's own... and sheared it off.
The fight was lost. All that mattered to Miller now was survival. He shouted his maydays into the radio, checked his straps and gear, then braced for the jump. He shoved back what was left of his canopy, released the harness holding him into the seat, and bailed out. He did not allow himself to free-fall for very long. Once he was clear, and saw his plane plummeting toward the Atlantic, he pulled his chute.
As he coasted down to the water, he scanned the skies for the mysterious aircraft. It circled his falling Mustang until it hit the water. Then turned to him. He feared it would try to kill him and pulled his Colt 45 from the holster on his thigh. As the plane approached, he unloaded at it. He had no actual hope of taking the thing down. This whole thing was an exercise in defiance. But his final shred of luck worked for him. The plane was perhaps a thousand yards away, engines burning, it's shriek getting louder... when the engines went out, and it spun, aimlessly and gracefully, down to the water far below.
Ten feet above the ocean, he released his chute, and dropped into the cold water. Once he'd surfaced again, he inflated his life jacket, felt around in his pockets for his emergency beacon, and began the interminable wait for rescue. To his west, in the very last orange of the sunset sky, he saw the mysterious U-boat submerge...

My world has a Winchester-style big company/corporation discover and investigate a new dimension.
Driven by the rare resources found within it as well as the technological advancements they offer, they begin to expand and eventually settle into the dimension. They send out exploration squads to research the dimension's biomes and resources, as well as catalog its fauna. This is done via a scanning device, created using the cutting-edge technology derived from the resources previsouly mentionned.
​
Many years after the company's downfall, the player discovers such a scanner and is able to use it themselves to learn about the threats and dangers found within the dimension.
​
This brings me to entity classification. The company's researchers have devised a simple classification system so the squads would be able to quickly catalog any creature they would discover, as well as being able to determine an entity's threat at a glance.
This system would classify entities by aggresivity, using three main classes. Safe (doesn't pose any danger), Neutral (will attack if provoked or in certain conditions) and agressive (will attack on sight / poses a great threat).
​
I've though of naming the "agressive category" the Caesar class, and have two other classes, the Apollon class (which contains humanoid god or demi-god entities) and the Leviathan class (used exclusively for gigantic creatures)
​
Do you have any suggestions for naming the Safe and Neutral classes, or any other feedback on my classification system ?

He swam away, only attacked me once. Chase him down for an autograph.

Mutation #370: Astigmatism / Map: Malwarfare
Mutators
SHORTSIGHTED📷Player units and structures have reduced vision range.
Units and structures have reduced sight range by 60%.

• Raynor's Scans are not affected by this mutator.
  LONG RANGE📷Enemy units and structures have increased weapon and vision range.
  
• Enemy units and structures gain +3 sight range and ranged weapons gain +3 range.
  WE MOVE UNSEEN📷All enemy units are permanently cloaked.
  
• Structures are not cloaked.
  
• Hostile Map Objective units are cloaked too.
  
• Destructible Rocks aren't cloaked.
  

-----------------
#184 Astigmatism – SOLO ALL CLEAR
Mutators: Long Range, Shortsighted, We Move Unseen
https://youtube.com/shorts/ohfmBSqacDc?feature=share
https://youtu.be/E4kVYQkl-AQ
Submit your run and I’ll provide any relevant feedback.
​
Most ranged units will outrange static defenses, so mobile detectors will be needed. Terran enemy comps will be more difficult because almost all their units are ranged. You’ll need more units than usual because some of them are gonna get hit before engaging the enemy.
Make more detectors than you normally would just to make sure that you don’t lose detection in the middle of a fight.
Aurana heals 5000 hp before moving to the next terminal, so you can macro/clear the next area if Aurana has more than 3000 hp. This is especially useful for the first suppression tower.
​
Successes [and key points]
Abathur (p0) https://youtu.be/oTYrAHHRiao [get an air army so overseers don’t get attacked as much]
Abathur (p3) https://youtu.be/IW-CIlVdaZk [a few brutalisks, then leviathans]
Alarak (p3) https://youtu.be/tQqlCd5zhhw [ascendants throw orbs at the waves]
Artanis (p3) https://youtu.be/Y_kbRiTpsOA [babysit observers]
Dehaka (p1) https://youtu.be/d0KJI_9SfdU [calldowns can handle the early game]
Fenix (p2) https://youtu.be/pwts7tyikzU [the usual but with more observers]
HH (p1) https://youtu.be/j0MCcgyqWXI [more hellbats to tank]
Karax (p2) https://youtu.be/t9fqBHgMeUI [the usual but with more observers]
Kerrigan (p0) https://youtu.be/aoV0zWxQnRw [hero only]
Kerrigan (p2) https://youtu.be/ZZtQ9Vb0rfQ [the usual but with overseers in case you can’t place omegas]
Mengsk (p1) https://youtu.be/DyEnE58iXME [the usual ESO pushing]
Nova (p1) https://youtu.be/WJGtSdwtd40 [the usual]
Raynor (p3) https://youtu.be/DG5SW0E3x-c [mass BCs and orbitals]
Stetmann (p2) https://youtu.be/nNOQxvn409k [the usual]
Stukov (p1) https://youtu.be/Mvq-slpfjdY [this was before I started using queens]
Swann (p0) https://youtu.be/jy2Xq8Te0kY [ground army]
Tychus (p1) https://youtu.be/cTjs-h-pCI4 [the usual]
Vorazun (p3) https://youtu.be/OF_ACEx-7Kc [snipe detectors during time stop]
Zagara (p1) https://youtu.be/-rg-3VRLuTw [the usual]
Zeratul (p2) https://youtu.be/X0utKdNPtkg [cannons and DTs]
​
Questions about any of these runs are welcome. Some runs will be uploaded tomorrow.

Top Manga of this week

Rank	Upvotes	Manga
1	6877	Damedol: The Useless Idol and Her Only Fan in the World Ch.1 (GANMA)
2	4883	Chainsaw Man - Chapter 130
3	4822	Each Other's Oshi by @maria_komaki
4	4208	Lovely Bakery (Oneshot)
5	4155	Damedol: The Useless Idol and Her Only Fan in the World - Polaroid (Extra)
6	3877	A frivolous-looking guy and a lot of noise by @sushijiro6
7	3869	- That Girl Who Is Always on Her Way Home With You - Ch. 4
8	3622	Go-Senpai's Counseling Session 3
9	3604	The Romcom Experiment - Oneshot by Shima Tokio (@shimaso)
10	3398	Go-senpai's Counseling Session
11	3377	The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All - Chapter 45- Battle for a Niece
12	3376	Oshi No Ko - Chapter 119
13	3146	- Koi wa Zenkei Shisei (Oneshot by 'Scum's Wish' author Mengo Yokoyari)
14	3123	Please Go Home, Akutsu-san!
15	2954	Kanojo mo Kanojo Chapter 144 - KanoKano When!? Scans [END]
16	2931	Dandadan - Chapter 107
17	2914	Damedol: The Useless Idol and Her Only Fan in the World - Party Popper (Extra)
18	2782	The Tsunderederederederederederedere Girlfriend Whose Dere Deepens Day By Day - Day 95 by @yakitomahawk & @kota2comic
19	2714	- Downer Onee-san I often meet at the convenience store - Ch. 1-2
20	2612	- Getsuyoubi no Tawawa - Ep. 431
21	2606	A girl playing a game during class (Oneshot by @pan_iwsmd46)
22	2611	Overwhelming growth (Oneshot by @horideiyasumi)
23	2419	Jujutsu Kaisen - Chapter 223
24	2308	The Tsunderederederederedere Girlfriend Whose Dere Deepens Day By Day - Day 93 by @yakitomahawk & @kota2comic
25	2249	Go-senpai's Counseling Session 2
26	2236	- Makeover (Oneshot)
27	2121	Frieren at the Funeral :: Chapter 110.1 :: Kirei Cake
28	2074	The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All - Chapter 37.2 - Rhythm B
29	1958	Frieren at the Funeral :: Chapter 110.2 :: Kirei Cake
30	1746	One Piece - Chapter 1084
31	1720	The Tsunderederederederederedere Girlfriend Whose Dere Deepens Day By Day - Day 94 by @yakitomahawk & @kota2comic
32	1687	My Girlfriend Gives Me Goosebumps! - Chapter 2
33	1647	- Berserk - Ch. 373- The Rusty Iron Rings That Bind
34	1580	Nan Hao & Shang Feng Ch. 103 - In a car
35	1519	My Hero Academia - Chapter 389
36	1524	Yesterday's Me Inspiring Today's Me - Oneshot (by @POPON050707)
37	1458	Alabaster no Kisetsu Ch.11『Goddess in Motion』Daphie's
38	1443	The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Chapter 100
39	1378	Blue Box - Chapter 101
40	1327	The Dangers in My Heart - CH. 121
41	1329	SAKAMOTO DAYS - Chapter 119
42	1337	Yancha Gal no Anjou-san - Ch 150
43	1302	- The Fox Girl Who Wants to Get Chummy With the Human Boy She Likes - Ch. 15 [END]
44	1257	Story About Mysterious Hairs Stuck in his Shower Drain (Oneshot by @loveodoro)
45	1249	- I'm Worried About My Classmate Who's Covered in Bruises - Ch. 14
46	1201	Blooming Love - Chapter 5
47	1185	Mashle: Magic and Muscles - Chapter 156
48	1271	- The Story That the Transfer Student Was My Favorite Voice Actor - Ch. 1-2.2
49	1130	Yofukashi no Uta (Ch. 171)
50	1132	Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! - Ch 94
51	1130	Setsuka-chan Is Melting -Oneshot
52	1100	Fox's Window - Part 4 (by @koikoisararira)
53	1089	When Trying to Get Back at the Hometown Bullies, Another Battle Began. Chapter 10 An exciting battle begins.
54	1064	The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You - Chapter 137
55	1063	If a Demon Lord Were to Get Married in the Countryside (Ch. 1)
56	1049	Go-Senpai's Counseling Session 4
57	962	The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins - Chapter 25
58	961	- Ranger Reject Ch. 96
59	972	- Record of Ragnarok Ch. 78 - The Sun God and the Rebellious Hero
60	1132	What Happens Inside the Dungeon, Side Story - Chapter 1
61	932	One Punch Man (Webcomic) - CH.143
62	916	SSS-Class Suicide Hunter Chapter 81 & 82 (Season 3 Start) Asura Scans
63	894	Tatari - Chapter 1
64	883	Black Clover - Chapter 359
65	843	Twilight - One Shot by Kuroi Shiro (author of Leviathan)
66	839	MARRIAGETOXIN - Chapter 48
67	821	Reincarnation Coliseum - Vol. 3 Ch. 10 - Attack and Counter Below The Surface
68	797	The Serious Student Council President is Too Assertive in Love/ Pure-Azato-Love - Chapter 1
69	782	- White Tiger and Black Tiger - Ch. 31-35
70	778	A Story About Smoking at the Back of the Supermarket - Chapter 28
71	768	Are You Really Getting Married? - Chapter 107
72	763	Vinland Saga - Ch. 202
73	762	- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken - Ch. 107
74	755	Akane-banashi - Chapter 62
75	728	Hanging Out with a Gamer Girl - Chapter 149 (Moe and Friends)
76	710	Tenmaku Cinema - Chapter 6
77	664	Isekai Ojisan - Chapter 48 (Home Hero Scans)
78	654	- White Tiger and Black Tiger - Ch. 61-70

Subnautica: Excursion takes place on, you guessed it, 4546b! You play as a worker in Alterra who goes into the void to scan and take back fossils at the bottom of the void for credits. The more credits you earn the higher the ranks you get into. Then on day 5 of the game all of that will be flown out the window! Why? Because an unknown leviathan attacks the place you and your co-workers work. You escape in a modded Seatruck and with no other place to go you have to dive into the void (This is where the actual game begins) Since you are underwater at the depths of 5000 meters you can’t use solar panels so your PDA gives you the fossil extractor, which you put the before mentioned fossils into the extractor for energy. But you are not the only one that survived. There are signals that lead you to your co-workers and when you rescue them in your Seatruck you unlock multiplayer. If you rescue one you unlock 2 player mode, and if you rescue 2 you unlock 3 player mode, and finally if you save the last co-worker you unlock 4 player co-op. You and your friends will dive even deeper in search of a way out of the void while escaping leviathans and deadly biomes.
Can you make it out?

Or for how long?
Also does anyone have their discord?

Hi
I collect some obscure rpg books so I though I'd fling my current want list out into the wild;) Its a mixture of old obscure games, small press printing, rpg's sold at conventions, lulu books no longer in print etc.. there are a couple of books on this list that should be "easier" to find than the others.. In a lot of cases I have tracked down the authors of the books, but even they don't have copies left (or they only have their copy left) Its best to email me [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) .. even if you come across this list years from now the email should still be valid as I've had it forever..
​
If you have any questions about a particular rpg book please feel free to post as well.. I have managed to get some cover scans of some of the books. Of course I have prob missed some.. so if feel free to make suggestions as well! (for those interested I have set up a facebook page where I list some of my books.. just search "Obscure and Rare Roleplaying Games"
Thanks for your time!
Brette:)
​
12 to Midnight (US)
Last Rights of the Black Guard (stock#TWL001)
Weekend Warriors
ADP Systems
The Armstrong Malison
The Cross
The Preachers and the Cross
Adventure Games Publishing (US)
Adventure Games Journal Monthly Chronicle #1,2,4
Imperial Town of Tell Qa: Northern Bastion of the Falling Empire (1st print)
Wilderlands of High Adventure Map 9: Western Karak
Adventures Unlimited (US)
Adventures In Fantasy (playtest edition) (I have a copy of this.. would like a better copy)
Adventurers' Guild
Arcane Tome of the Illustrious Mage
Bestiary
Character Portraits
Sage's Tome
Tome
Sword Tag
Adversary Games
Omega File, The
Alternate Reality Publications/ Dana Jorgensen
World of Barador RPG, The 1st ed
World of Barador RPG, The2nd ed
Attack International Wargaming Accociation
Book of Dragons
Quirp Quarp, The
Thieves Quarter
Avant-Garde Simulations Perspectives
The Age of Chivalry
The Age of Chivalry tac cards
Kevin Barthaud
Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne (Ashcan Edition)
Robert Beatty
Weapons and Warriors
Better Games (US)
Avengers of Justice
Black Dragon Games
In Search of the Abominable Snowman
Blackhawk Games (US)
Uuhraah!
Black Paperclip Games
Red Skies Under Betelgeuse
Uncanny Abode and Final Resting Place of the Mysterious Mervin H. Floyd, The
Board-Craft Systems
Necromancer's Lair
Daniel Hugh Boggs
Dragons at Dawn First Suppliment
Dragons at Dawn and Twilight
Brass Dragon Society
Heart of Evil, The
Ice Follies, The
Myroun Island
Rescue of Ardene, The
Pursuit of Saytar, The
Michael Brines
Sir Pellinore's Book
Sir Pellinore's Favorite Game
Sir Pellinore's Game
Simon Burley (UK)
Golden Heroes (1st ed, little stapled book)
Calypso Systems Inc
Evil-Colored Green
Society of the Green
Temple of Cheelaka, The
Chaosium
Authentic Thaumaturgy (1st print, 1st ed)
Beyond the Mountains of Madness (hardcover 1999)
Cthulhu Dark Ages (Gencon 2015)
Old Hrolmar - A Stormbringer City Guidebook
Cheshire Games
Phase VII (needs all parts)
Cliffhanger Games (Tori Bergquist)
Adventurer!
Contested Grounds Studios
Avenues & Alleyways
Cold City Dossier
Luke Crane
Blossoms are Falling, The (white cover with chinese characters on)
Creative Cartography Ideas (US)
Classic World (early print)
Fortress, The (early print)
Crucible Design (UK)
23rd Letter (limited ed)
Crustacium Games
Creeks and Crawdads (2nd-3rd)
Never Cry Crawdads
Cubicle 7
Rookhaven (lone wolf rpg)
Cumberland Games & Diversions
Fief (1st ed)
Risus- The Anything RPG
Risus- The Anything RPG (Excessively Deluxe Edition)
Ring of Thieves
John Dankert and Jim Lauffenberg
What price glory?
Anthony DiGiacomo
Functional Role-Playing:The Dice-Less System
Dinosaur Games
Multiverse Sorcery (brown cover)
Multiverse Sorcery (green cover)
Docs Games
Berzerko Tower / Doc's Maze
Blades of Boardum!
Dinky Kingdom
Lost Tomb of Antigorne / Sacrifice to the Blood Diety
Siege Wheel of the Blue Goblins
Small Space
Edward J Dobrianski
100 Level Dungeon
Fantasy Monsters & Robots
Dragon Star Creations
Ss'ar'Ak's Secrets - A Mage's Companion
Draken Games (UK)
Quests for Adventurers
Dreamworlds Production (UK)
Dreamworlds Fantasy Combat System
Dungeon Quest Publications
Domain of Xantree
Castle Out of Time
Dungeons Deep Design
Cabal King, The (Gary Con II Ed)
DW Creations
Under Siege
Winterfall Core Rulebook
Winterfall Players Guide
Tim Eccles (UK)
A Private War - Players' Guide (first print)
Empty Room Studios Publishing
Dreamwalker (Revised ed)
Entertainment Concepts
Adventures of Kaldarius the Mage
Patrick ervin et al
Godsfall Quick-Start Rules
Fallen Publishing
Operation: Fallen Reich
Operation: Fallen Reich Life Board
Fantasy Enterprises
Book of Treasure, The
Fantasy Factory
DeepDelve
Deepdelve expansion Kit One
Overland Encounters Cards
Underground Encounters Cards (1st-4th Levels)
Fantasy Flight Games
Rebellion Day Game Kit: Rescue At Glare Peak
Final Redoubt Press
Echoes of Heaven (Harp, Hero, Rolemaster) was lulu
Firebird, Ltd. (Kevin Dockery) 1983
MuggerHunt
Todd Fluhr
Polis!
Gamemaster Guides
Barbarian Enflands, The
Character Dossier
Monsters, Aliens and Fantastic Beings (combound)
Gamers Liberation Front
Rescue the Princess
Games Publications
Solo Dungeon, The (1st ed 1978)
Gas Spore Publications
Lair of the Scarlet Elite, The
Laurence Gillespie (Canadian)
Viking and Valkyrs (vol 1 and 2)
Grendel Roleplaying (Paul Spence) (this is all for red shift RPG)
Adventure Book #1
Alien Sourcebook
Character Sheets
Frontier Guide
Personae Guide
Star Atlas
Starship Guide
Vehicle and Equipmment Guide
GRP Enterprises
Tome of Treasures
Martin Hackett and Peter Bennett (UK)
Abbeta: Fantasy Role-Playing Rules for the Twinflare Solar System
Hams, Ernest Thomas
Kabal Boxed Set 2nd ed
Martin A. Hayes 1980
Stone of Sandor, The
Hess Games
Seagate (Orange Envelope)
High Levels Adventure Inc
In Quest of the Hand of Vecna
Hillman-Gleeson Publications
Superadventure Boardgame (1st ed 1982)
Crusaders the Superadventure Game (2nd ed 1983)
Crusaders the Superadventure Game (3rd ed 1985)
Hogshead Publishing (UK)
Realms of Sorcery (red leather, comes with cert)
Clem Hoofer
Hawgbilly!- The Swine & Sorcery RPG
Horizon International Inc (PO Box 28513D Salt Lake City UT 84127)
Witchery in Elcaro (1983)
Island Campaign
Dylan Hyatt
Valour Shield
Imagination Unlmited (US)
Beasts Men & Gods (1980 or 1982)
Ice Tower
Pitiful Poseur Productions (Jesse Harringto)
BRAINS: Hardcore Punks Against Dead Guys (1990)
Advanced Brains: Hardcore Punks Against Dead Guys : the Role-playing Game (2012)
Die Consertive, Die (2 editions)
Jon Gilbert and Mike Brunton (UK)
Of Teddies and Toenail Gin
JPS Services
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Ok so I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to 40k lore. So, most of what I’m about to say comes from people way more knowledgeable about the subject then me. However, I've seen a lot of post similar to this, so I thought I combined the information into one MEGA-post. I’m simply going to present the evidence on the table and let you guys make the determination. Feel free to read if you want or just leave your opinion down below:
THE STRENGTH OF TERRA DEFENSES:
As for the defences of Terra here's a couple quotes that give a good break down of its defenses:

• Codex (Custodes 8th ed):

"Were some courageous or foolhardy invader to approach the Sol System, they would find themselves assailed before they had even cleared the Mandeville point – that region of a system’s outer boundaries beyond which it is safe to translate from warp space to the real. The system’s halo-belt plays host to massive star forts, garrisoned by dedicated regiments of Astra Militarum and empyrically tethered in place. The rest of the outer system is densely laced with thousand-mile-wide fields of void mines, prowling system monitors and huge, vacuum-hardened hunter servitors of terrifying aspect.
Were the invader to overcome these hazards, they would find resistance stiffening the deeper they pushed into the system. Heavy naval patrols from the Battlefleet Solar thunder through the darkness, their craggy silhouettes presaging death to any who fall beneath their sights. Monitor-shrines, dock-fortresses, fighter bases and countless weapons platforms dot the darkness, their lumen winking like artificial constellations. The Grey Knights, the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus all have holdings within the Sol System, boasting suitably ferocious defences. Moreover, since Guilliman’s Throneworld Decree, Terra and her sister worlds can raise greater forces in their own defence than ever before.
When coupled with the efforts of the Solar Watch, and the presence of the Imperial Fists’ mighty battle station Phalanx hanging in geostationary orbit above Terra, it is clear that the defences of the Sol System are all but impenetrable to invading armies. Yet there are subtler threats to the Golden Throne, and it is against these that the Adeptus Custodes must be especially vigilant. (...) Every world and moon in the Sol System – barring a few mysterious exceptions – is ringed with habitats and docking platforms, while all those whose surfaces are sufficiently solid play host to sprawling hab complexes, manufactora and city-sized fortifications.
Thus the Adeptus Custodes maintain their own presence, and perform their own patrols and monitoring sweeps throughout the Sol System. It is they who supervise the vetting of the countless Imperial citizens who pass through Terra’s monolithic space ports every day. It is they who enact surprise sweeps and inspections of the Sol System’s defences, following no set pattern or schedule beyond their own intuition to prevent any from predicting and avoiding their vigilance. The Custodians seed listening devices, spyservitors and dictalarcenous subroutines through the hives of the throneworld and beyond. They gather and analyse every scrap of information they can from even the darkest reaches of the Sol System, feeding ship names, population movements, labourers’ shift schedules, demagogues’ sermons, vox intercepts and more into macro-cogitators the size of battleships. The data prophecies that emerge from these vast engines aid the Captain-General in his command decisions on a daily basis, and help the Ten Thousand to be ever vigilant.
Despite this, the Adeptus Custodes have always proven equal to the duty of overseeing the palace’s defence. It is they who patrol the colossal and seemingly endless walls, who stand guard over the sanctums and armouries, who patrol the petitioners’ highways, the famed space ports and the vast fortifications. They inspect the endless miles of orbital guns and defensive silos, and maintain a wary guard over the hidden vaults deep within the palace which contain secrets so dreadful that they could bring about the fall of Humanity were they ever released. And yet, the Adeptus Custodes find the manpower and dedication to do so much more. For thousands of years, their shield hosts have mustered in secret and set out aboard requisitioned warships to strike down threats identified by the roaming Eyes of the Emperor. Bands of Custodians have regularly patrolled the Sol System, serving as rotating garrisons for military facilities based around Luna, Venus, Pluto and numerous deep-space star fortresses that watch the approaches to Terra.
The Adeptus Custodes have also long liaised with the Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter, who still maintain their role as joint guardians of the Sol System, and whose immense star fort – known as Phalanx – has often held a protective orbit over the throneworld."

• Carrion Throne:

"Except this was not empty space. Over to their left, the vast curve of an orbital plate gently turned, its withered grey armour stretching off into darkness. Defence stations loomed further up, each the size of cities, studded with gape-mawed novacannons and graviton world-enders"

• The Imperial Knight Companion:

"In the skies above the planet, gigantic orbiting manufactorums burn bright with the fires of industry, void-lifts ferrying trillions of tonnes of cargo every day down to the surface or up into space. Mars is also the port of the Battlefleet Solar, the largest of the Emperor's warship armadas, numbering thousands of vast and ancient battleships each with the power to kill a world."

• Wolfblade:

"He considered their approach. He knew that they had passed countless fortresses and fleets as they had swung in from the ultra-solar jump points. They had passed the armoured moons of Jupiter and the forge world of Mars. They had been subjected to hundreds of challenges and scans and they had been boarded twice.
It had been a long drawn out process but it was only to be expected. The world down there was better protected than any other planet in human history. There would not be a Second Battle of Earth if the terrible lords of the Imperium could help it. Even now, the sky was filled with satellite fortresses: great weapon installations with enough firepower to destroy battle fleets. The whole of sublunar space was crowded with warships. For once in his life, Ragnar felt insignificant."

THE STRENGTH OF HIVEFLEET LEVIATHAN:
As for the strength of this new western fridge of Leviathan. What we know is that it much larger than the eastern fridge that attack during the "3rd Tyrannic War". Going so far as to call the eastern fridge as nothing more than the vanguard of the fleet. Needless to say, outside of special case scenarios, the larger the fleet the stronger it is. Given that we can use the eastern fridge's strength as a baseline for this new fleet's strength. How strong was the previous fleet? Well, the previous fridge of Leviathan was comprised out of three main tendrils: the Baal tendril, the Tarsis Ultra tendril and the Octarious tendril. In order to defeat the Baal tendril required:

1. An alliance between several companies of BA and the Mephiston Dynasty/Anrankyr the Traveler. This included the release of the Dynasty’s C’tan shard & the emergence of the Saguinor.
2. The use of an ancient Necron super weapon called the Magnavitrium. It’s use couple with the Necron’s massive solar reflectors resulted in the destruction of a Gas Giant by the name of Aeros. The explosion of Aeros and the subsequent shockwave resulted in the loss of several planets worth of biomass. Summary from the Lexicum:

“Anrakyr next organized an alliance with the Blood Angels, and together the two factions were able to defeat the Tyranids in a desperate act of Exterminatus. This was achieved by activating the ancient Necrontyr weapon known as the Magnovitrium (or the Starflame to the Necrons) and using it to ignite the core of the gas giant Aeros. While the Flesh Tearers(under the command of Gabriel Seth) and the Sisters of the Sacred Rose (under the command of Sister Superior Amity Hope) made their final stand on Lysios, the Blood Angels and Necrons worked to secure relay dishes on Phodia necessary to activate the Magnovitrium. On Tartoros, the Necrons and Death Company moved to secure the great solar mirror to reflect the energies of the Starflame across the entire System. During the battle, a Transcendent C'tan and the Sanguinor used by the allied forces proved instrumental in victory."
With all the preparations set, the Magnovitrium was activated and shot out across the system like a spear of fire, incinerating everything in its path. The Tyranids were scourged from the system. However, many Imperial soldiers, civilians, Sisters of Battle, and Space Marines were lost despite their advanced preparations to take shelter. Only the Necrons emerged unscathed as they had phased out just after activation. The Imperial forces withdrew thereafter, having burnt away enormous amounts of biomass for the Tyranids and inflicting painful losses.”

1. The recalling of the Blood Angels successor chapters to Baal. This ended up amounting to: 29k SM, 21 battle barges, 94 strike cruisers, Hundreds of escorts. And of course the X factor of the Sanguinor.
   
2. Ka’banda rocking up with an army of deamons and basically dealing with a moon worth of biomass.
   
3. The Hivemind getting factory reset by the opening of the Great Rift for like a week.
   
4. The arrival of Guiilliman and a Indomitis Crusade fleet.
   

As for the other two tendrils. The Tarsis Ultra tendril was defeated by injecting the hivefleets Nornqueen with a virus that kick into overdrive the Tyranid's adaptability. Turning there swarm into piles of goo. And the Octarious one as we all known just got done soloing the largest ork empire in the galaxy. Needless to say, hivefleet tendrils are strong and most people make the mistake of comparing them to splinter fleets. Which can literally be just a dozen or so bioships as appose to the literal millions of bioships contain within a tendril. As if I'm not mistaken the Baal tendril during the Cryptus Campaign at the height of its strength was stated to having millions of bioships.
On top of this overwhelming endurance hivefleets also possess the three most devastating traits of the Tyranids: vanguard organism, adaptation and the Shadow in the Warp. We already know that there are genesteler cults in Terra and I feel most people have a good grasp of how dangerous these cults can be. However, genestealer aren't the only vangaurd organism at the hivefleets disposal. Lictors are perhaps some of the best infiltration units of any faction. The eons of experience the Hivemind has with evolution are so great. That finding adaptation to circumvent imperial detection is child play for it:

• The Devastation of Baal:

"More adaptations heaped on top of more. Unlike a natural organism, which loses certain gifts in favour of others as evolution pushes it down a particular path, the lictor’s advantages were retained, new gifts stacked atop the ­others. Its genetic structure was incredibly complex. Within every cell was billions of years’ worth of adaptation, culled from every lictor, coiled up one over the other. Anything useful to its role, no matter how inconsequential seeming, it retained forever.
Every machine and psychic ability the Imperium had geared towards detection, the lictor could evade. The hive mind had consumed far more advanced races than mankind. Infiltrating Baal was child’s play. There was no need for it to employ a fraction of its considerable talents."

Beyond that we also have the Tyranids notorious "Shadow in the Warp" ability. Being the psychic footprint of the Hivemind enveloping the warp. The Shadow can make it significantly harder or even impossible to use psychic communication, travel or powers. It can also make it significantly more difficult for psychic entities to manifest and induces psychopathy using psychic signals, with the effect worsening the more psychically attune the individual is. With only the strongest will individuals capable of overpowering its affects. These effects are well documented, however the Shadow in the Warp has less well documented affects that none the less are relevant for this topic. In the novel "War in the Museum" Trazyn is wondering how Lictor manage to escape its containment. The Magos he's with explains thusly:

• War in the Museum

”Tyranids project a psychic energy, Trazyn. A shadow in the warp. Especially Hive Fleet Kronos. You artificials can’t feel it, but it disrupts more than psychic patterns. Technology, arcane devices, even languages can come under its effect. And what “remains of my organics tell me that the shadow has fallen on Solemnace.”

If the authors remember, we might even see the Shadow in the War affect arcane technologies like the ones under Mars or Terra. It might even have deleterious effects on the Golden Throne itself. Finally, we get to the Tyranids trump card their adaptability. Look I get it the Tyranid's adaptability is perhaps the most overblown thing in the setting behind the ork's WAAGH. However, what do we actually know about it? Well according to "Xenologist" Tyranid adaptability works a little something like this. The Nornqueen at the center of the fleet using the data it's collected from the battlefield creates a new batch of nids it thinks will have traits/behaviors that can help overcome the problem at hand. Then through process of trial and error the Nornqueen perfect their design, with failed designs being archived for potential use in the future. This process has even been shown to work with the bioships of the fleets. As hivefleet Gorgon was able to render Tau Ion cannons completely ineffective against their own ships and Leviathan was able to do something similar with their ships against the BA fleet. Encasing themselves with a vile secretion that quickly froze into diamond-hard armor. Now there are downside to Tyranid adaptation which include: over specialization, slower rate of adoption with larger organism (which force the fleet to predominantly be made up off smaller organism) and the fact that the Hivemind has a hard time adapting to thing that are widely different from each other at same time. So because of that the Hivemind tends to be causios with it use of this ability. However, when the prise is getting rid of humanity homeworld, the Astronomicon and their spiritual leader. I think the Hivemind likely wouldn't hold back.

• X-FACTORS

1. How would the Emperor & the Hivemind interact.
2. What would happen if the Void Dragon were release.
3. How would the human Webway get be affected by the Shadow in the Warp.

Ugh! Where am I?
I'm on a bed, but where? My home? It's so dark, I can't see anything.
I could hear a petrifying wailing sound reverberating from outside. It sounded like the dying roar of some horrifying nightmare predator, a leviathan who eats not only flesh but everything that ever exists. A deep whistling sound accompanied it, like a Venlil as equally leviathan constantly laughing at all the creatures and structures beneath him. The blinders blocked the view of the window, but I could hear it rattling periodically as if something sinister was trying to pry it open. Naturally, sounds like these made my fur puff up in terror.
I remember the first time I experienced this bone-chilling phenomena. My first time living in the human homeworld, Earth. A storm, no, a hurricane, as the humans called it, passed by where I was living. The sounds I heard then were enough to knock me out of my consciousness, but the destruction I saw after was what made me move back to Venlil Prime. There is no way I'm going to live on a planet that seems to occasionally come alive to eat up its own residents.
That means I'm on my home planet, right? So what's with the hurricane?
I swiped over the bed with my paws to find the remote that controlled the blinders. Pressing the button did nothing but make a click sound, as the blinders remained as they were. Is the power out?. With a groan, I got up from my bed and felt my way around the room to reach the window and open the blinders manually.
As I opened the blinders, I instinctively closed my eyes, expecting the sudden change in brightness to flash my eyes as my room was facing the twilight sun. But that didn't happen. It was still dark, just slightly less so as a tiny amount of the outside's ambient light phased in through my window. The window, what happened to it? I could see the wind raging violently outside as it banged against the glass, but the glass itself was caked in some sort of black dust. Most of the black dust collected itself on the windows corners, but enough of it stuck to the surface to blot out any details I could make of the outside world.
With a shaky paw, I touched the window's handle to open it, before I realized how dumb of an idea that would be and stepped away from the rattling window. With the scene slightly brighter, I could make out the features of the room. Rounded corners, Venlil-designed tables and chairs, The Human Exterminator poster, this is my room alright. But the hurricane raging outside tells a different story.
"Wha- cough cough cough!!"
It's only now I realized just how parched my throat and mouth were. My tongue felt like sandpaper, so did my throat, as every time I tried to make a sound, my windpipe would clam up and cut off not only my voice but also my breathing. My mouth was drier than the Northern Desert, and I felt like I would shrivel up any moment.
Water. I need water.
Navigating the dark room with what little light I had, I wobbled to the kitchen sink and turned on the tap. Dry metallic groaning sound was all I got as the tap struggled to dispense even the air trapped in it. No water too? What the stars is going on? The fridge opened to reveal a dark void due to the lack of light or power. I plunged my hands into the void to feel something in it. Nothing. Not a single bottle, can, fruit, vegetable, or even the condensation caused by the cold inside the fridge. The cabinets, drawers, and cupboards too. They're all empty. Why?
cough cough I need water, now!
I ran to the door to realize the wind has been making it shake all this time too. Very hesitantly, I unlocked the door and turned the door handle to open it. Some primal part of my brain was screaming at me to not do it, telling me that the roar of the hurricane was that of a hungry predator, and opening it would spell doom for me. But I knew better, or at least I thought.
The wind slammed the door into my snout, making me reel back in pain. But that was nothing compared to the sheer volume of black dust that rushed in with the wind, hitting my left eye and entering my ears before I could react.
Now temporarily deaf and blind in one eye, I tried to close the door I so foolishly opened. But the door wouldn't budge, my flimsy Venlil arms were nothing against the predatory strength of nature itself. So I leaned against the wall watching the hurricane ravage my house, knocking over furniture, throwing around anything not pinned down, as if it was enacting some kind of revenge.
I have to get out. I need water, now more than ever
Pressing my ears and squinting my one good eye, I braved the wind and pushed myself out the door, and immediately regretted it. Even through my clogged ears, the whooshing and whistling of the wind threatened to bust my eardrums. I could barely see anything a few feet ahead of me. And what I could see seemed devoid of colour, either because of the lack of light or the black and white dust that seemed to envelop the world. Although, calling the world colorless would be wrong, because there was a faint red glow to it all. However, the worst of it was the wind itself. As if being strong enough to almost knock me off my feet wasn't enough, it was as cold and sharp as daggers made of ice. I could feel the wind cutting and chipping away my fur where it hit the hardest, and even scratching my skin where the fur was thin.
This is all irrelevant, I need to get some water from somewhere.
I wrapped my tail around my leg, held my ears down with one hand to prevent it from flopping in the wind, and used the other hand to cover my right eye from the dust. I trodded over across the street, my goal being the silhouette of my neighbor's house I could see with my extremely limited vision. I wanted to scream to them for help, but my dry throat wouldn't let me. Even if I could, I doubt they would hear me over the two leviathans' roar and laughter. That's not all, dust has been gathering between my teeth and dry mouth, making even breathing difficult. Sometimes I wonder if the entirety of Venlilkind is cursed for not having a nose.
As I got closer to the house, I could make out more of its details. The entire roof of the house was missing, its windows broken in with only one of them having its blinders swaying uselessly. The left side of the house was in a much worse shape than the right, with the wind mercilessly beating against the left side the hardest, all paint, wall and tiles were chipped away, leaving only a broken frame behind, as if the hurricane took thousands of small nibbles of the horse until nothing was left. The door was pulled off its hinges and now laid on the floor. Most of the furniture in the house was missing, with only a mattress pressed against the wall of the bedroom as the wind struggled to blow it away. Black dust piled up in the corners of the house, some of them reaching knee-high. It was clear no-one was here. Since the roof was gone, the interior was brighter than it was at my house. Finding the kitchen was easy, and I soon found myself in front of the sink filled halfway through by the mysterious black dust.
Turning the tap on made a few drops of water drip down onto the sink. Finding hope, I cupped my hands under the tap. That hope got immediately crushed as instead of water, viscous black sludge flowed out on my hands.
"Yu- cough cough … what… cough cough cough"i
I reeled back my hands in disgust, immediately turned off the tap and wiped off the black sludge on the walls. The tap shook as the sludge was unable to get out, until the tap got blown off its sink and the sludge started spraying out of the pipes.
Not wanting to stand a second in this horrible, disgusting house, I ran out into the streets, and then into the next house, and the next, and the next, over and over. Every house was the same- abandoned, dilapidated, some with its roof missing, nothing in the kitchen and taps dispensing either nothing or the black sludge.
What the stars is going on? Where is everybody? Why is it so dark? Where's the sun? Why is any of this happening?
Dehydration was starting to take a hold of me. I felt dizzy. The icy wind was digging into my left side, making my skin and fur feel more worn down. I could feel eyes looking at me, and faint voices between the howl and roar of the hurricane. I chalked it up to hallucinations caused by my dehydration and trudged ahead, water being the only thing on my mind.
I came across a mostly intact convenience store. Its door and windows were gone, its shelves toppled over by the wind, black dust piled on the corners and walls like the houses. I frantically ran into the store, hoping to find a bottle of water to quench my thirst. But the store was empty, anything that used to be here either got taken or blown away by the wind. Not even a single vending machine in sight.
Where is all the water, damn it?! Am I actually going to die like this?
My knees buckled under me. Exhaustion, dehydration, or desperation, I don't know. The wind whistled louder. It was laughing at me. The Venlin leviathan was taking delight in my suffering, knowing I didn't even have the energy to curse at it.
Suddenly something large and heavy crashed through the front, almost missing my body. After the dust it kicked up got blown away, I saw what it was. A vending machine, with all its contents still in it.
A blessing from the stars! I'm saved!
I almost dived into the machine, pulling bottles after bottles, cans after cans of water, soda, juice, and any liquid I got, chugging them down instantly like a thirsty Mazic.
Oh what bliss! I've never tasted anything more delicious before! I'll never get to experience such euphoria!
My eyes rolled back in my head as I fell paralyzed into the machine before everything turned black.
—————————————————————————————
Black dust shifted from top of me as I woke up. The hurricane still raged on, although the outside haze that obscured my vision was more translucent now. The red glow was stronger than before, giving an ominous look to the outside world.
I still felt thirsty, but not as thirsty as before. I reached into the vending machine and pulled out a bottle of water. This time I drank it slower and not like a crazy madman. I washed my left eye and ears with the water, restoring my vision and unclogging my ears.
The vending machine seemed to have broken through the wall into a human clothing store that was also mostly intact. Whatever clothes that didn't get blown away got buried beneath the black dust. Digging through the dust pile, I found a jacket that I draped over myself. A pant was also among the pile, and after a few mishaps, I managed to put it on. Human clothing was a bit large for my body, so I tore up some of the clothes and used the rags to tie the clothes tightly to my arms, legs and body.
Finally, I have some protection against the needle-like icy wind. But my face and ears were still exposed. After a few more digging, I found a round stretchable hat that covered my ears as it hugged my head tightly. As for my eyes, I had to find some sort of goggles. The human clothing store didn't have it, and even if it did, I assumed it'd be for forward facing eyes.
The convenience store should have a section for gardening supplies. I should look there.
I was right. The convenience store did have a pair of Venlil goggles buried in the dust beneath the shelves. I donned it along with a makeshift mask I made with the rest of the rags to prevent the dust from entering my mouth when I breathe. With these, I was ready to once again face the hurricane. I figured I should head for the city, with the hopes of finding some people.
Walking proved to be more difficult with the clothes on. The loose fitting nature of the clothes made them act like sails on a primitive aquatic sailing ship as they got puffed up by the wind. Several times I got pushed around by the wind, and I had to steady myself by walking along the walls of whatever building I could find. At least I could see clearly, now that the dust couldn't blind my eyes.
Often I looked up into the sky. Black clouds were swirling above me, sometimes several of them would come together to form a predatory binocular eyed face. Maybe that's what was giving off the "being watched" feeling. I felt mesmerized looking into the "eyes" of the cloud, despite its frightening features. The sky was also the source of the red glow, with the light coming off of the clouds being the strongest above my head. I wonder what it was. Flares? A spaceship? Or the leviathan predator that had been roaring all this time?
I reached the city shortly despite the hurricane's relentless attempts at pushing me back. However, what I found wasn't the bustling congested civilization I hoped for, but the ruins of it. The tall glass buildings that defined the city were gone, toppled over other smaller buildings by the wind. Cars and tubes wedged themselves into apartments and complexes they crashed into. A spaceship the size of a manor blocked the highway, its rusted shields and panels being torn to shreds by the wind.
Just as I approached the ship, the wind got even stronger. The predator leviathan roared the loudest it roared yet as the wind swept me off my feet and pinned me against a wall. The spaceship rolled over as even its weight was no match for the hurricane's infinite strength. It broke through some buildings before the wind picked it up and blew it away like a wad of paper and the spaceship disappeared into the swirling faces of the clouds.
Satisfied with its meal, the predator hurricane let up its assault, and the wind went back to its usual state. I could feel the ground beneath my feet again. I walked through the now unblocked highway, taking in the unbelievable destruction I just witnessed. The clouds above me thinned as the red glow turned into a glare, casting short shadows where the red light couldn't reach.
I looked up again at the source of the red light. Clearer now, but still blurry, it was a small red orb. What could it be, I wondered. Something terrible gnawed at the back of my mind. Wiping off the dust accumulating on my goggles, I scanned the still intact buildings around me. I ran my paws over the pavement. It was stampede-proofed. I'm still on Venlil Prime.
But I still couldn't shake the feeling. After I walked some more, I found a 5-story apartment building relatively unharmed by the hurricane. Maybe I can find people here.
"Hello? Is anyone here?", I shouted as I entered the building.
No answer.
I called out some more until my throat started hurting. Nothing. The empty halls of the building echoed my words back at me. I banged on the locked doors, and searched the rooms where the door weren't locked. There was no-one here, only me.
Where am I? Where is everyone? Am I the only person who exists in this world?
My goggles fogged up as tears fell from my eyes. The prospect of being all alone in this entire world terrified me. I balled up into a corner and whimpered, knowing no-one will hear me.
Even the leviathan predator stopped roaring. Even the leviathan Venlil stopped laughing. I truly am alone now.
No! There has to be something. Some answer to all this madness. I have to look further!
With that tiny speck of determination in mind, I got up and climbed up the stairs, taking a short rest after each flight as I was still somewhat exhausted. The roof would give me a proper view of my surroundings. The skies were mostly clear by now, making the red glare more intense than ever.
I looked north, to where the sky would be brightest and where the twilight sun would be, it wasn't there. I looked south, where the sky would be darkest and where the stars would be, they weren't there either. That's when the full realization hit me, and I grasped what the gnawing feeling in my mind was. I looked up at the red orb above my head, which was glowing brighter as it was no longer obscured by the clouds, and discerned what it was.
The Sun, no longer on the horizon but directly above in the sky.
WHAT IN THE STAR'S NAME IS HAPPENING?!!

50 years since the invasion of Terra, humanity's resistance has gone from red hot to Cold War. Information is the primary way of fighting. The humans have been recruiting and preparing. Far from home, a group Terrans must fight thier way back in a brutal galaxy.
All praise to u/Bluefishcake
Ok so decided to split the first chapter so here's chapter 2
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Mother Gaia's Revenge
Chapter 2
Bait
The sounds of X'rya Speilman's wailing merged with the claxon of the omni-pad alarm as Captain X'rya Orlon shot awake, practically driving her first through the omni-pad. In the 10 years since, Captain X'rya had built a reputation as the Imperium's most ruthless pirate hunter. She has bounties on her head from a dozen disgraced noble houses. Using the family name she so despised to leverage herself a picket ship and a crew of cutthroats. She made sure each of her crew grew up on Terra or lost someone to the slave trade.
Since she began patrolling the dark reaches of space, she'd saved more than 400 sentients from the slavers. Just not the two she wanted. She had her suspicions on where she might find her boys. She once voiced her hunch to her superiors, a stern talking to and an assignment on the ass end of the periphery was her reward.
From the beginning of her pirate slavery hunting crusade, someone else was out here wrecking havoc on everyone. Consortium, Alliance, Imperium all they ever found was debris fields full of floaters. No survivors to interrogate. Never a hull, nor black boxes to analyze. They were taking the wrecked ships after raiding them. Then, a year ago, poof. Nothing. Anywhere. Something had scared the pirates and slavers into hiding and it wasn't her.
A second ping from her omni-pad brought her out of her morning stupor. The Huntress had been requisitioned by an agent of the interior and her personal militia pod. It seems similar incidents have been discovered all along the periphery. The only difference is, they're targeting exclusively noble ships, and brutalizing the nobles they find. The skinned, dismembered corpses of hundreds of highborns have been found in the debris fields. Such savagery far surpassed anything the Ulnas did. This sparked her interest. Whoever they were, they were bold. And given who they were targeting, she didn't necessarily want to find them. Nobles this far out can't be up to anything good.
"Worthy new prey." she thought.
The omni-pad protested her neglect a third time as she finished brushing her teeth and pulling on her jumpsuit.
"What is it Tak?"
2nd Lt. Morita Takeshi, coms and navigation for The Huntress, and husband to half of her crew spoke.
"Our, esteemed, guests require your presence on the bridge."
His disdain for the spoiled little highborn and her goons was evident in his heavily accented Shil.
"What now?" She groaned.
"Seems we're coming up on a wrecked leviathan class space station."
That caught her attention. The word humans would use is mother ship. A huge mobile drydock designed to repair and house a fleet in theatre. They'd been phased out over the last century. Most were believed to have been scrapped. All this time the mystery raiders never left a derelict to investigate. And a whole space station? Normally pirates target cargo transports or pleasure yachts. A pirate crew that could wreck a major space station was concerning. Then the thought occurred to her,
"What is a leviathan doing way the fuck out in the Varathal system?"
Varathal was an old mining system devoid of life, picked over and abandoned hundreds of years ago. Occasionally used as a hideout for the Lowlifes of the galaxy.
"Looks like we'll find out. Almost in visual range, Captain."
"Be right there."
She said as she maglocked her sidearm to her hip, and stepped to the door.
With a whoosh of the door she stepped out and was met by the Huntress' Marine contingent. The Helkam Sgt. Veler Zeth greeted her with a cup of kaft.
"Cap'n "
"Sergeant"
She stated as she took the cup. Giving a short nod to the other marines behind the sergeant. The captain turned to walk with the Marines following silently behind the pair. Corporal Rathal, a black Rakiri of the Fireclaw clan. And trailing her, the Shil'Vanti twins, Brunhilde and Lagertha. Two of Tak's three wives. Captain X'rya thought they were humans when she first came across their personal files. The names of famous human warriors had become quite popular in the decades since humanities, introduction, to the galaxy at large.
"Think we'll finally get off this tin can, Cap?"
Asked the Helkam woman eagerly.
"Feeling cramped sergeant?"
"It's already a small ship, throw in five extra interior cunts, and it's gonna get tense."
"Well you'll get to stretch your legs. We're coming up on a wrecked leviathan station."
Stunned silence was the response, followed by an almost in unison,
"Shit"
from the four marines behind her.
"Apparently our, special agent, has her panties in a twist trying to get over there."
"So she's in a mood, oh joy."
The doors slid open to reveal the bridge of the Huntress. It was an older model but sturdy and reliable. The patina on the thermacast gave the old girl soul. X'rya had no idea what its name was before and she didn't care. The Huntress had been her home since right after the funeral.
For the last six galactic standard months, the affable peace she'd found onboard had been broken by the presence of the Interior. The Shil'Vati nobility secret police. The unholy spawn of corruption, cruelty and nepotism. A prime example stood before her now. Special Agent of Her Imperial Majesty's Interior, Shilae of the Noble House Shanxi. At 6'2, she was a short, narrow assed, flat chested, brat not even a year out of the academy.
"You're late Captain-."
The agent started.
"Actually, it seems I'm right on time. Scream, how far out are we?"
The Captain said, cutting the agent off.
"10 klicks out ma'am."
1st Lt. Screams Through the Void, the Huntress' Gearschilde helmswoman answered in her mechanical voice. Her body was mostly purple thermacast cylinder capped with a string of red lights around her head with thin black steel appendages.
"Are they broadcasting anything, Tak?"
"Just a faint distress signal, we should be in visual range right about now."
"On screen."
X'rya commanded as she stepped into the center of the command deck in front of the view screen. The debris field was enormous. The massive blocky structure had one side completely torn off. The floating wreckage sparking in the void looked like a thousand stars living and dying as they caught and refracted the light of the local suns.
"Scream, what are we looking at?"
"The section of the vessel containing the drydocks has been completely removed."
"By the Deep, what can rip something that big in half?"
The agent asked breathlessly, her fear evident.
"Sergeant Veler, boarding party. Scream, prep the shuttle. I'll take the helm. Stitch, Gizmo, suit up and have your bags packed. We might have a little field trip for you two."
The Captain ordered over the shipboard coms.
"Yes Ma'am!"
The Gearschilde rose and strode out after the Marines. As the Captain settled into the helm seat, it felt right. Behind the controls is the only other place she really felt she belonged. The crackle of the ship's coms shook her from the comfortable feeling.
"What do we got Captain?"
The sultry voice of the Huntress' medical officer, Stitallia Vorelli, a diminutive, Roman Catholic Shil woman asked.
"Half a leviathan, huge debris field with a lot of floaters. Just need you at the ready."
"Copy" was the only reply.
"Did you say a leviathan?"
Came the sing song accent of the ships Nighcrew engineer. Gizanth Morita, Tak's 3rd wife. Cackled over the coms.
"Yes Gizmo but don't get your hopes up. You won't be going until the wreck is cleared."
"Ah, c'mon Cap. I've always wanted to get my hands on a relic like that."
"As good as you are babe, I don't think even you could fix this."
Her husband soothed.
"Right, I'll bring a roll of duct tape."
"Giz..."
"2 rolls?"
"Just sit tight til you're called, Private."
"Aye aye Cap'n."
Gizmo answered in a more serious tone before the coms went silent.
"I'm going to get us to the other side of the debris field. Tak, scan for life signs just in case. Agent Shanxi, we're going to need your Militia to help clear the station."
"What?"
The little greenhorn said trying to regain her composure.
"Sorry. Special Agent Shanxi. You'll need to pilot your teams shuttle. Your team will take the lower decks. The Huntress' Marines will sweep the bridge and secure the stations blackbox."
The Captain said in a cold commanding tone.
"No, my militia will take the upper decks. Your girls will clear what's left of the lower structure and meet in the middle."
Special Agent Shanxi said with a facade of self assurance.
"Fine, but you'll still have to fly them in. I'm out of pilots."
Barked the Captain. The agent glared but said nothing, turned and exited the bridge. Once gone, X'rya let out a groaning sigh. Tak turned from his console to look at his Captain, clearly wanting to say something. X'rya could feel his gaze and answered.
"I know Tak. I hate them more than most but we don't have any evidence to justify your suspicions."
"Captain, a year ago all signs of pirate activity simply stopped. No debris fields, no distress calls, nothing. Then, 6 months ago we got requisitioned by an interior agent who, despite her youth and inexperience, somehow knows the location of every debris field in the periphery. Even in areas of space where there is no traffic. She's dirty, and she's a threat to us all."
X'rya couldn't disagree. Something did stink about the whole situation but without proof there was little they could do. Just prepare for the worst.
"I know, we'll keep a close eye on them."
Was all the reassurance she could offer the lone male on her crew. Jerry would know just what to say or do. He was good like that. But he's gone and all she could do now was protect the little family she forged among the stars.
"Shuttle 1 ready for departure."
Screams Though the Void called out, bringing X'rya back to the moment.
"Shuttle 1 cleared."
She called back.
"Shuttle 2 ready for departure."
"Shuttle 2 cleared."
The pair of shuttles moved silently through the void. Closing in on the tattered structure, Screams robotic tone rang out over the coms.
"Ma'am we have visual on something painted on the side of the station, transmitting image now."
The view screen on the bridge showed the side of the purple thermacast station slowly rotating in the sunlight revealing a large white humanoid skull with one red eye. A gaping maw with pointed teeth twisted into a sinister grin and a great big red bushy beard. With some kind of writing underneath.
"What in the deep is that language?"
Agent Shanxi asked over the open line.
"It appears to be Terran script. Cursive English to be exact."
Answered Screams Though the Void.
"What does it say?"
Asked one of the militia women. X'rya couldn't remember her name nor did she care as she read aloud.
"Fear the Beard"