Eldritch Mlems

I recently heard about Mothership from some YouTubers and decided to run a one-shot for a couple of guys in my Pathfinder 2e group. I was really impressed by the way that a more rules-light system naturally encourages more player engagement and creativity. We will probably end up playing a lot more of it in the future.

Bandit and Scooter

I [18NB] am starting uni in Edinburgh, Scotland tomorrow. Since I'll be living a good distance away from home, I was thinking of buying some pride merch and stuff.

However, it has crossed my mind that safety could be an issue. I wouldn't have thought that Edinburgh would have issues, but I think it's best to ask Lemmy: On the whole, is Edinburgh a safe place to be myself?

Archived link

Estonia has revealed that Moscow was behind a series of cyber attacks targeting several Estonian ministries in 2020, in a rare move that publically accuses another state actor of a cyber attack.

Four years after Estonian ministries’ IT services, including the foreign ministry, were hit by cyberattacks, Tallinn identified the members of Unit 29155 of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU) as the perpetrators, the prosecutor’s office stated in a press release on Thursday (5 September).

This is the first time the Baltic country has attributed a cyber attack targeting the state to a perpetrator, the statement adds.

“The Prosecutor’s Office sought the arrest of three GRU officers and they are wanted internationally based on the arrest warrant issued by the Harju County Court,” a press release from the Foreign Ministry reads.

"Will Ferrell and his close friend, former head writer at SNL, Harper Steele embark on a cross-country road trip together after Harper comes out as a trans woman. Watch Will & Harper on September 27 on Netflix." (from the YouTube description)

I highly recommend Path of Night

Explanation: I'm the only person who runs D&D in my friends groups, so I get to play in other games under other Game Masters, but have a LOT of D&D character ideas I will never get to try.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/41581791

https://archive.is/LUjWU

I'm not complaining, mind.

I'll be up all night with this little minion. The other cat is wearing a tin foil hat look at this new fashionable attire.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/28400822

https://mastodon.world/@exocomics/113087039277391570

Archived link

A spokesperson for Raiffeisen said that the Russian court move ruled out a sale of the bank, although they said it would have no impact on the Russian bank’s operations [...]

“We can still appoint management and give instructions to the Russians but we cannot sell the bank,” they said.

[...]

Although Italy’s UniCredit also has a business in Russia and is also under pressure to leave, RBI is far larger and has become a test of Western resolve to end ties with Russia.

Russian authorities had made it clear to RBI, which has around 2,600 corporate customers, 4 million local account holders and 10,000 staff, that they wish it to stay because it enables international payments,

[...]

RBI is a critical financial lifeline for millions of Russian customers who want to send euros or dollars abroad. Western regulators want this to change. The European Central Bank is demanding the bank pare back its Russia business.

With sprawling industrial holdings, more than 18 million customers from Vienna to Moscow and 44,000 staff, Raiffeisen is a financial linchpin for Austria and much of eastern Europe.

Russia has become an even bigger money spinner for the bank since the Ukraine war started in 2022. Russia accounted for about half of the group’s profits in the first three months of this year as fees on payments abroad spiked.

[...]

Two sanctioned Russian oligarchs have become part-owners of the UK's largest oil producer after it completed a deal to buy a German firm.

LetterOne, the investment company part-owned by oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, now owns nearly 15% of Harbour Energy.

LetterOne itself is not sanctioned, and the two Russians have no contact with the firm and don't receive any share of its profits.

Harbour Energy is the largest oil and gas producer in UK waters. It has bought most of the oil and gas production assets of a Germany-based firm, Wintershall DEA, from the chemicals giant BASF.

Major Russian banks have called on the central bank to take action to counter a yuan liquidity deficit, which has led to the rouble tumbling to its lowest level since April against the Chinese currency and driven yuan swap rates into triple digits.

The rouble fell by almost 5% against the yuan on Sept. 4 on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) after the finance ministry's plans for forex interventions implied that the central bank's daily yuan sales would plunge in the coming month to the equivalent of $200 million.

The central bank had been selling $7.3 billion worth of yuan per day during the past month. The plunge coincided with oil giant Rosneft's 15 billion yuan bond placement, which also sapped liquidity from the market.

"We cannot lend in yuan because we have nothing to cover our foreign currency positions with," said Sberbank CEO German Gref, stressing that the central bank needed to participate more actively in the market. The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency on MOEX after Western sanctions halted exchange trade in dollars and euros, with many banks developing yuan-denominated products for their clients. Yuan liquidity is mainly provided by the central bank through daily sales and one-day yuan swaps, as well as through currency sales by exporting companies.

Chinese banks in Russia, meanwhile, are avoiding currency trading for fear of secondary Western sanctions.