JCSpark

From now on, every annoying ad will be a little respite for your eyes and mind.

The first kingdom is rich and powerful, filled with wealthy, prosperous people, the second is humbler, but has its fair share of wealth and power. The third kingdom is struggling and poor, and barely has an army.

The kingdoms eventually go to war over control of the lake, as it's a valuable resource to have. The first kingdom sends 100 of its finest knights, clad in the best armour and each with their own personal squire. The second kingdom sends 50 knights, with fine leather armour and a few dozen squires of their own. The third kingdom sends their one and only knight, an elderly warrior who has long since passed his prime, with his own personal squire.

The night before the big battle, the knights in the first kingdom drink and party into the late hours of the night. The knights in the second kingdom aren't as well off, but have their own supply of grog and drink well into the night.

In the third camp, the faithful squire gets a rope and swings it over the branch of a tall tree, making a noose, and hangs a pot from it. He fills the pot with stew and has a humble dinner with the old knight.

The next morning, the knights in the first two kingdoms are hungover and unable to fight, while the knight in the third kingdom is old weary, unable to get up.

In place of the knights, the squires from all three kingdoms go and fight. The battle lasts long into the night but by the time the dust settled, only one squire was left standing - the squire from the third kingdom.

And it just goes to show you that the squire of the high pot and noose is equal to the sum of the squires of the other two sides.

Original credit to /u/Gaphumbala

A collection of blueprints I came across on the BigR.

Part 1

Part 2

This was one of my favourite discussions on the big R, so I thought I'd carry it over for posterity

OP (u/Exodia251)

Could someone with a strong enough will survive looking at any of the old gods with their mind intact? I don't know if all of them have the insanity factor or just cthulhu, but I'm mainly curious about our underwater priest boy

EDIT: I appreciate all the well written responses! From what I'm understanding it's not just seeing them that causes insanity. It's not being able to comprehend that beings of such size and potential exist on our universe. Or knowing you have no way of sharing the knowledge you have earned without people thinking you've lost your mind.

Response (u/[deleted])

I think the idea is that humans have set beliefs in how the universe works, but these creatures defy our understanding. They exist in a way that isn’t supported by science and I think THAT is why ppl go mad. I heard a fantastic explanation a while back, which went something like this: “If an ant had the ability to speak like a human being, it could theoretically communicate with us and request things of us. The ant is regarded with a kind of rudimentary respect since it clearly is more intelligent/capable than the other ants. We talk to the ant, the ant talks to us, we tell it about the universe and how we understand it, and everybody has a great time! Of course, we humans can’t spend our entire lives hanging around this one ant, so eventually we leave it to its own devices and move on. For us, that was a neat little experience! We humans sally forth on our eternal trudge through our bizarre, massive, endoskeletal lives. But…for the ant? Well, the ant just experienced things that it can NEVER communicate to other ants. Ever. It will never be able to give voice to what happened because the other ants don’t have any ability to comprehend the things it saw or said to us. It will live out its days in swirling madness, surrounded by its compatriots but utterly alone, seemingly insane, frothing about some non-pheromonal method of communication that involved ejecting vibrating air from its mandibles? What? The other ants just shrug and go about their lives, unconcerned with the world above, but that one, single ant, who dared to look beyond the veil, is permanently and completely changed.” That…my friend, is the madness. Not a matter of will, but of reintegrating into a society that cannot, will not, and is incapable of, understanding what happened to you and how the universe looks to you now.

Edit: this is what I was thinking of, thanks fellow Redditors! https://i.redd.it/6rstedlo0rb71.jpg