What Lies Beyond The Realms

Young, beautiful, and without an ounce of magic?Lyra Lewis, a courageous eighteen-year-old princess, has lived a life of oppression under the rule of her abusive Sorcerer stepbrother and neglectful mother. She meets a mysterious man at a palace banquet-a Faery unlike any she's ever seen before-but before she can say anything she's taken away by a dominating Lycan king with dark intentions.As her stepbrother stages a violent coup, the faery comes to her rescue, setting off an epic journey of self-discovery and adventure. As they navigate through fantastical realms, Lyra learns of the dark secrets of her family's past, and the powers she may inherit on her nineteenth birthday. With the faery by her side, Lyra must confront her fears and embrace her destiny, no matter how dangerous it may be.

In Beyond Realms: Navigating the Metaverse, the authors explain concepts and features of the virtual world of the metaverse. The book starts with a conceptual understanding of what the metaverse entails, giving examples of popular apps. The authors delve into the intricacies of virtual economies, shedding light on their transformative potential for internet users. Subsequent chapters navigate the complex terrain of virtual currencies, digital assets, blockchain technology, that act as a bridge between virtual and physical experiences. From the early concepts of virtual currencies to the emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the integration of blockchain technology, the authors meticulously explore the foundations and advancements that underpin these digital ecosystems. This book is a comprehensive guide to the metaverse and its use cases, unraveling the multifaceted layers of virtual economies and their role in shaping online businesses and social interaction.

The gods may have been restored to their rightful seats of power—but the end of the Time of Troubles does not mark the end of all strife Although the gods have regained their powers and no longer walk in the mortal world, there is still little peace between them. When their deeply engrained power struggles erupt once more, ex-comrades Mystra—formerly known as Midnight and recently elevated to godhood—and Cyric are bound together in conflict. Cyric, now the god of strife, murder, and the dead, has become even more obsessed with power and revenge. No longer content with just the Tablets of Fate, he wants the Forgotten Realms all to himself—and to rule them in the name of evil. Only Mystra, the new goddess of magic, has the ability to defeat him and restore the balance that has been lost.

In None so Fit to Break the Chains Dan Swain offers an interpretation of Marx's ethics that foregrounds his commitment to working class self-emancipation and uses it as a guiding thread to interpret the different aspects of Marx’s ethical thought.

Praise for Healing: The Path to Freedom: "What Michael has apparently discovered and teaches is that how we interact with life, moment by moment, particularly our feeling experience, is visibly at the core of everything. From the broken things to the extraordinary things, it is nowhere else but the place that no one thinks to look--literally in ourselves. The remarkable, almost unique aspect of Michael's work is that everything he does and teaches points you back to the truth of your own tangible experience. If you want to entertain the possibility of real change, this can be an excellent place to do it. If you seek to preserve your status quo, well, this may not be the place. The work is not easy, though it is simple and clear. It's also not necessarily a quick fix, though some experience rapid results. Expect change and be prepared to see that life is not (only) what you thought it was. In today's increasingly small world, sticking one's head in the sand is becoming a less and less viable option as hiding places become hard to find. Michael's work is all about strongly engaging life and finding the only reliable refuge: your true self." -- Marc Glassgold

The edited volume Audiovisual Media and Identity Issues in Southeastern Europe is an attempt to meet the challenges of text-based scholarship, to break medial one-dimensionality dictated by textuality and to shift the focus to the aural and visual dimensions of identity in a part of Europe heavily marked by the dynamics of political, cultural and social change, particularly during the last decades. The objective of this endeavour is to examine identity in Southeastern Europe by means of its communication media, specifically that of the photographic image and the sound recording. How are identities communicated? How are they performed and made physically perceptible? Brought to a point, the primary issue is one of how people perceive themselves and their environment on the basis of communication media, seen through a lens of different disciplines (social anthropology, ethnomusicology, media studies, sociology and history) and methodologies from the point of view of scholars from Southeastern Europe and their Western European colleagues. The book pursues a distinct comparative and historical perspective, examining the media representations from socialist and pre-socialist periods in relation to the role media play in the postsocialist discourse. Another focus is laid on local media representations and their impact on local self-images. This distinct historical and local approach allows new insights into how identities are constructed, performed and negotiated in the light of media, resulting in different forms of interpreting, re-appropriating and re-evaluting the past and traditions. This opens up questions on the role of media in relation to cultural policies and their potential to preserve or to transform local cultural heritage. The book is also an important contribution to the field of postsocialist studies in anthropology. It sheds a distinct cultural view on postsocialist transformation processes. Through a wide range of examples and first-hand results of basic field research from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Albania and Slovenia this volume provides an opportunity for a comparative reconsideration of similar phenomena across national borders. It may serve also as a methodological reference work for scholars who are interested in the different ways of how to develop and practice “media reflexivity” in their own field research.

The storm of war has engulfed the Realms. Five years suffering the ravages of the hellish Rifts and their brutal spawn, the Rifters, has brought a long peace to the edge of ruin. Thrust into the heat of the turmoil is Zaid Mon Awes, Paladin of the Dragonscarpe. With a doomed love already weighing heavily upon him, Zayd is set the impossible task of training for beautiful Elementalists who could hold the key to winning the war - if they don't kill each other first. But when murder and betrayal sees Rifters let loose on the once unconquerable Dragonscarpe, the vengeful Outcast Velcca, architect of the turmoil, reveals the truth of the Rifts, and Zayd discovers that the only hope for survival lies in a past deliberately forgotten - beyond the barrier to the terrifying Last Realm.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, this book explores premodern, modern, and postmodern moral perspectives to identify the problems and challenges facing moral thinking in the 1990's and beyond. This book introduces and clarifies these various moral viewpoints through a multi-faceted discussion which examines morals from philosophical, social, and psychological perspectives. The primary focus of Wanderings centers on what educated and common people have thought and said about what is good and bad in premodern, modern, and postmodern spheres of thought. In this spirit, the moral views of ancient Egypt, ancient Israel, certain Greek philosophers as well as several modern philosophical and postmodern ethical attitudes are discussed. From the modern tradition, the book describes key thinkers in connection with egoism, utilitarianism, relativism, and absolutism. Issues of difference, diversity, power, empowerment, otherness, and domination are just some of the issues examined in relation to postmodern moral attitudes. Along with moral viewpoints, the book also examines how our value systems have developed and continue to develop.