Witchy Times Illustrated No. 7 “Opossums, Death Masters” Dec. 4 / 1898. A fan newspaper for the game Red Dead Online.

[demianwasright]

Witchy Times Illustrated No. 7 “Opossums, Death Masters” Dec. 4 / 1898. A fan newspaper for the game Red Dead Online.

Discussion

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Credits.

All elements are property of their owners

This is a fan made newspaper

No relationship with the developer or studio

Research & edition darkpranic

Story & illustrations by miquiztli

Research & edition by Akai

Typefaces

Barchella Drumal

Georgia

Baskerville Old Face

Beyond Wonderland

FoglihtenNo07

Blackadder ITC

Arbatosh

This is a fan made newspaper started in the fictional land of Red Dead Online world

Its purpose is to entertain at the same time of having fun exploring the world

Hope you enjoy it, thx for reading!

Offices

Witchy Times

Heartlands, New Hanover

US

[demianwasright]

Editorial.

Our seventh issue, dear reader! not only we complete the first cycle with it, we also achieved it in a place that was beyond my expectations, with the opening of our offices, archive, library of sources, guest passes to our design space and our two editors, I’m more thrilled than ever about what the future holds for our newspaper and its stories.

Right now, blindly following our internal guide system we are navigating this space, looking for our next story, and as luck would have it, we found it in an unusual place, next issue will feature my first nemesis in these lands, the Wolves.

My very first encounter with the magnificent beast occurred the next day after my arrival to Thieves Landing from northern México, on that morning going in route to Blackwater, I stumbled on a wagon being attacked by a full pack of Gray Wolves, just at the edge of the Tall Trees mountains; A single woman bravely keeping at bay the six large Wolves.

Without much thought; I draw my revolver and shoot at the Wolves until it was completely empty of bullets, at the same time, missing all of my targets, that, just to see half of the pack turned towards me; by pure instinct trying to make a hasty escape to take cover and reload my gun, I ran towards a patch of trees that were near me, the Wolves were faster; one bite my back and another torn my leg, at that moment I was just able to set 2 rounds in the chamber; without loosing another moment I shoot the closest one, fortunately hurting it enough to make it back down. Then I heard the scream coming from the wagon, one of the Wolves got to the brave woman.

Then the Wolves retreated. Probably thanks to a combination of me successfully shooting one of them

and the tragic resolution of the original conflict; they decided to leave, retreat back to the mountain, leaving her in a terrible state and me without the use of one of my legs.

I limped back to her and did my best trying to assist her, but the bite was deep and in an unfortunate place, she died quickly and almost painlessly.

After that, everything was a blur, just remember barely finding my way to Blackwater to find the doctor offices closed, having to cure myself in a tent outside town with some snake oil and other tonics bought in the general store. The winter was painful that year; to this day my leg still walks funny and on cold days it always reminds me about that day.

That was my first encounter. Granted, it will not be my last, with each, I am learning more and more about our furry companions and competitor hunters.

Now a year later I find myself repeating my cycle, just this time instead of fighting Wolves I’m in the position of needing to talk about them and hopefully help to save them.

Today I’m just happy and grateful to be here and enjoying a nice hot beverage during one of my favorite times of the year, and my hope is that you are in the same spirits too, until our next issue.

As always, wishing you a Witchy ride.

Akai, Darkpranic & Miquiztli

Editors at Witchy Times

[demianwasright]

Opossums, Death Masters

They are known as humanity’s saviors, mysterious creatures from the night, masters of death, dear companions, nature controllers, the chicken of the poor, and the never deserved label, pests; our guest of honor for this week’s Nature Portrait is one of the smallest companions that we find during our travels, the humble Opossum.

Sometimes confused with rodents, this animal in reality is a marsupial, a mammal with a pouch to nourish their young until they are ready to migrate to the back of their mother, where they will travel as they learn to fend for themselves.

Not the fiercest nor the fastest, this little survivor will use a lot of ingenuity and some special tricks to navigate the dangers of this world. One of their most impressive abilities is to die and come back to life; this is, in reality, a half-truth because although the Opossums looks, feels and smells dead, his heart is still barely beating; The Opossum is so convincing that most predators will turn around and leave it be, preferring live meal than one that is already in poor condition.

This strategy paired with their nocturnal lifestyle and their incredible adaptability to different environments has made this species endure for hundreds of years.

They are concentrated in the south side of the 5 states, even though in recent years they have been migrating more and more to the northern region of the states, now even some small colonies are appearing in the Ambarino region, something unheard just some years ago, this according to Mr. Jones, an experienced trapper from the state.

The expansion is probably due to their close relationship with us, now that slavery ended, people that were previously in forced servitude out of necessity resourced to have Opossum as a large part of their diet due to the easy nature of this
species, making them especially simple to hunt without any specialized tools or weapons, something that slaves were prohibited to use. Coupling this with our relentless expansion in the land, we can easily presume that we have contributed to the increase in numbers and regions where this friendly trickster is found.

A friendly spirit to the Natives; you can find pre-Hispanic legends all over the continent, from the tales of how the Tlacuache, (name given by the Aztec’s people to the Opossums) saved humanity by stealing the fire from the gods, unfortunately losing the fur on its tale in the process; with this sacrifice the people of that region have a great debt of gratitude to this little fellow; To how for some Natives warriors, Opossums are great teachers and use their wisdom during battle, sometimes pretending to be dead until they are in a position to strike back.

Using the Opossum’s magic is a mix of patience and balance, normally this is to dive deep into ourselves and let the world spin until it is ok to return to it. In some regions, the tail is used in a fertility conjuring, giving it as a tea to the aspiring mother.

As a naturalist, we are more than obsessed with one of our most useful and interesting neighbors. The Opossums have been by our side since immemorial times, from pre-Hispanic and native cultures having legends and a special closeness to them, to Presidents and Generals having them as companions, we are their great source of substance and at the same time their worst predator, being responsible for most of their deaths from hunters, medics, horses and wagons, magic seekers, fur traders, naturalist experiments or just kill for fun, target practice, fear or even pure evilness. They rarely live more than a year.

This is especially tragic because there is clear evidence that they are one of our best allies in this green earth. Opossums are great to keep pests under control, they can eat as much as five hundred ticks a day; also, scorpions and venomous snakes are in their menu, thanks to their immunity to the snake’s venom.

That not being all, opossums also compete with rodents for space and resources, making the space less ideal for such pests.

Opossums are great cleaners of our scraps. They can eat rotten meat, bones, fruit and vegetables, preventing the appearance of larvae and putrefaction, and by doing so, preventing illness and death for us.

With the size of a normal cat and almost impossible to transmit the terrible rabies, this mammal had one of the most interesting tricks, as mentioned before, when the Opossum is afraid to a degree, it will enter into a state where it will appear dead by retracting its lips to expose the teeth, foaming from the mouth, its breathing and heartbeat will decrease to an almost stop, and it will secrete a foul liquid that will surely dissuade any possible predators, except for us, obviously.

Next time that you encounter an Opossum during your travels, you would be wise to share with them a delicious apple to thank them not only for gifting us fire magic, but also for making our shared lands a nicer, safer and cleaner place to be.

Until next time.

Drink of the week.

This time we bring you perhaps not the most appetizing idea for a beverage, this is not necessarily a drink for your spirit but more for your body, this concoction is designed as a health enhancer and revitalizer that can help warm your body in a cold day and also bring you back from a cold or other severe illnesses.

Ingredients:

1 pound of lean beef

1 pint of cold water

1 spoon of salt

Optional:

Peppermint, Mint, Rosemary and Clove

or traditionally

Onion, Carrots, Celery

Preparation method:

First mince the beef and add it with the pint of water onto a pot, put it on a small fire and let it heat up for over 2 hrs, after that, strain the tea in another pot leaving only the liquid. Then add the salt and the optional herbs; put the pot back in the fire and let it come to a boil for ten minutes, serve in a cup and drink once it’s cold enough.

Hope you enjoy it