A Campain Develops

A campaign develops

The two groups have two different make ups and different numbers.  One seems to have more Non player character potential and the other more epic adventure and goals.  The two groups are only just beginning.  

There is a quest for sorcery going on, two of the five aspects of that subplot have been realized, the character has made the journey by exalting and having to move on to different things, the Twilight Quest.  The Zenith Quest involved speaking to a Sidereal mentor and talking about geomancy, the Thaumaturgical  discipline, but when asked about the process, the Sidereal stated that he accomplished everything with a sorcery and was just getting a better feel for the places. The message was that the old ways are over for him, the sciences can be accomplished faster, better and more accurately with sorcery.  His other quests will be the Dawn Quest of Humility where he will be required to mind some mortals and keep them safe.  Boring, but sorcery is about long hours of research and not everything is accomplished as quick as a bang.  His night quest is to face a fear.  And in this case he is going to be attacked at the end of his Dawn quest and lured into a Shadowland, by a very powerful historical ghost, Marama herself.  The next session she will alternately terrorize him and adulate him.  While she was alive she was strongly conditioned to please Solar Exalted, but she hates them so much, it was her that began the process of Creating Marama's Fell, the biggest Shadowland in creation.  She was later killed by Black Sun the Nigcaste who then assumed her position and made things much worse.  This IS Marama though and she is trying to please her master the Black Sun by acquiring a solar exalted.  She will lead him to fight and have him expend all his essence before she reveals herself.  The Eclise Quest is the crucial one, the one that determines whether he gets sorcery the sacrifice is about power, he will be offered a way to gain power quickly and become a Death Knight or he will choose another path and have sorcery.  The character exalted trying to get power.  He was passed up for Exaltation by the dragons and it weighed heavily on him, so much so that he broke as many rules as he could to get that power.  He has to choose, power achieved through work, or power achieved quickly.  His choice.

The is another character in his group that wants a nemesis, one that is very strong and he specified who, part of the subplot is that you choose who it is with.  Since the person was mortal, the question was how to make a mortal bottom dweller of the underworld a threat and the solution was to Exalt him, not as a solar and he his too old to be a terrestrial, nor would that be powerful.  He can't be a Death Knight because he is not dead, so Infernal Exalt, because he wants revenge and feels humiliated.  He is going to be a criminal minded Infernal Exalted.  The flip side of the Night Casteand a counter point to the character.  He runs for his power, he runs very fast everywhere, because his patron is the Silent demon wind, whose touch strips the fresh from her victims, demon or otherwise.  

The third of the group has missed two sessions and I am worried.  Her character had the most loose ends and e most potential of the seven or eighth character stories.  Beautiful for a GM.  There was a natural Death Knight thread, a blackmail thread, and an innocent dangling too.  Hope she comes back.

The other group has two Dawn Castes which means natural fighters a Night caste also a physical Character and a Twilight crafts person who is no slouch in combat.  The potential for them is to go epic.  Battles, with undead, battles with dragon blooded.  One potential theatre for them to begin is to explore the ruined and partially destroyed city of Brahm's Gate, in between Inhajal and Wallport.  There is a permanent gateway to Yu-shan along a bridge made of the five types of Jade and Moonsilver.  The bridge was the hallmark of the city and it was mostly abandoned during the Contagion; most of the populous died in that plague, but the Fair Folk invasion finished them off.  Where the Unshaped went, Creation unshaped too.  Most of the bridge is no more, the great Quays where the Aerial and Sea fleets docked are no more.  The natural Harbour and the Golden River are still there though and they make a great place to build a new place.  The river mouth and the region where the bridge used to Stan are deep in a Wyld zone.  When the Sword of Creation was activated, one of the targeted locations was just to the north of the city.  The result of the strike changed the Dragon lines in the area, weakening some and strengthening others, the result of this was that a few months after the Sword's usage, many low power manses detonated destroying them and a number of reduced strength manses, further resetting the Dragon lines further.  The Unshaped fled the region, but a number of them were caught in Creation for too long and were affected and the true unshaped Wyld rejected them.  The shaped became the Fair Folk and a few of them set up in the area.  Pure Wyld was erased by the Sword of Creation, but some remains of it were scattered and fragmented into the area.  Where the Wyld energies existed and the things the unshaped touched, Creation vanished, but where the Sword struck, Creation reasserted itself.  

This will be their playground the second group.  The Shadowlands of the second Field of Marama's Fell is just to the north and there are five Domains of Fairfolf in the region, centered around the blasted fragments of pure Wyld.  The Sword Strike is also a spot that is filled with eerie structures like Shaped and Unshaped alike, frozen in unlikely poses forever.  There is a Gate to Yu-Shan stuck in a pocket of stability within a pocket of unreality, unclaimed by any Fairfolk, because the rigidity of the Wyld interpretation here. Between the lines there are fragments of better times past, chunks of city, bits of blasted bridge, intact homes, a first age street leading nowhere.  

The antagonists will include a battery of Death knights, Five contingents of Fair Folk, and a host of Dragon Blooded looking to make good on the wealth of the area.  And four Solars, and all the mortals that they drag into the mix.  

Dominate me!

The trouble is that it has been so ingrained in me that force and sex do not mix that when it is requested I find it difficult.  

The two do not mix.  I have too many friends where people have forced them to have sex.  The word is rape.  That word encompasses so much pain and unhappiness that I decided a long time ago that I would not even approach it.  As a big strong individual I hold back a lot.  I don't push through crowds and I don't use my strength on people.  I know that when I am angry my internal power and energy go to the surface and people see it and they are afraid, because I could throw people.  So sex.  If I wanted to fuck people and might were right I could take what ever woman I wanted, but I never have, nor will I ever do that; because that is not sex, it is domination, subjugation and it is violence.

Sex and love are more about caring than procreation.  Making love is about putting the other person first and foremost.  It is about thinking about them before you think about yourself and specifically in sex.  It is not about violence and it is not about force.  Or is it?

We look at the world and almost every man is bigger and stronger than every woman.  We collectively remember a time when men went out and earned the only paycheck in a household.  We remember a time, before we formed memories, when the man of e household set the rules and enforced them.  The Man was the ruler of the household and woe to any that crossed him. Women in that situation did not want to be dominated, perhaps, some did, but I think that if they were given a chance they would pick freedom of choice.

So today's men are sensitive to a woman's needs and society backs us up on this.  Women should be given the freedom of control in e bedroom.  Yay, feminism wins!  

FULL STOP. Feminism wins.  Feminism has not won, women are still not being treated precisely like men in equal and comparable circumstances.  They are regions that are male dominated that do not need to be.  There are places that women dominate the workforce too.  Women still take care of the majority of the household duties and the child rearing.  More women are their own bosses and more women wield real power in the workplace.  Women are empowered in all aspects of their life.  Which leads us back to rape, some men take back that power by physically dominating women and crushing their empowerment.  This is wrong.  It is all wrong.  It is wrong that men take the power they feel they have lost through force.  It is wrong that women are not treated equally for equal contribution and it is wrong that women have been so empowered in their lives.

Let me take that last one again.  It is great that women are empowered but it sucks too.  The power should be shared not surrendered.  Women should not have all the empowerment in the home life, they should half of it.  They don't get the recognition for it, any of it, most of it—at work and especially in the home and woman dominated work areas are less valued by society.  Secretary, Nurse, Homemaker, Domestic help, Retail, Teacher.  Construction, Doctor, Management, Salesman, Scientist, Professor.

My girlfriend, whom I love, who I have had more sex with than any other person in my life ever, my girlfriend of two months, told me a couple weeks ago that she does not want to be in control in the bedroom.  She is strong, physically and mentally, she is the mother and principle caregiver to two children, she has her own business, has published her own book and she is empowered completely, but she does not want to be in control in the bedroom.  So I had a conflict.  I love this girl and I want to please her and I don't want to hurt her and I never want to rape anyone.  Except she wants me to.

The phrase is called Overcoming Resistance.  That is what happens when women are raped; the man overcomes their resistance and has his way with her.  My girlfriend was asking me to overcome her resistance; she wanted to feel dominated.  She has control over her entire life and has had control of her entire life, but with me she wanted to feel without control.  I pushed on her shoulders and she pushed back.  I out weigh her significantly, but she is strong.  She is the strongest woman I have met for her size, she lifts weights every day, eighty to one hundred pound weights called children.  I am much stronger than her, I can lift her up.  I hold her down.  I overcome her resistance.  

We men, who are stronger and bigger than most women, don't want to hurt anyone, we don't want to force anyone and we don't want to rape anyone.  People don't communicate well, in the bedroom, we accept what happens there like it is what is supposed to happen there.  We have our preconceived ideas about what people want and they rarely match up.  My girlfriend and I kiss a lot, before, during and after sex.  Kissing is like a democratic process, there is give and take and unlike other muscles tongues are fairly evenly matched.

We trust each other, that is the thing.  We love each other.  For her birthday last week I had a surprise for her.  We were kissing and I grabbed her arm and pushed her down. Her eyes lit up.  I reached out and brought out from my pillow a cuff and secured her wrist.  Surprise and pleasure.  The next wrist followed.  She then squirmed and resisted.  I tightened both cuffs and pulled her arms up and away.  Her smile was so intense.  When I grabbed and cuffed her ankle, the shock mixed with pleasure was priceless.  She wanted this more than she knew.  I liked it more than I thought I would.  Mostly it was that she wanted it that much that I wanted it too.  She tied me up later, I let her because I trust her.

It was different.  When you love the person and they want to be dominated, when they request it, it is something that I can do.  I love this girl and I will do anything for her, including break my vows, but then did I?  It was consensual and we are adults and when she expresses that her hand hurts the cuffs are off as quickly as I can find the Velcro straps.  

A new start, Part 2

[Exaltation is an extremely personal thing for an Exalt, it usually comes in times of stress like in the heat of battle, but sometimes it occurs in times of profound awareness]

Orxia had been placed on the Temple's front door in the dead of night nearly sixteen years before; the Temple guards swear that one moment the porch was bare and the second the basket was there.  It was not unusual for babies to be left on the porch, but this time it was.  The Temple of Ahlat, its swept horns out, the temple of the Cattle God and the God of War for the South was guarded exclusively and inhabited exclusively by Ahlat's amazon warriors; there were no men permitted to live in the House of Ahlat, save Ahlat himself.  There he grew up, thought to be the son of a former Bride of Ahlat who died in childbirth, thought to possibly be the God's own son, and allowed to stay where no man has ever been permitted to stay.  

Orxia did not pursue a martial training growing up, he did not interact at all with the amazon populous of the Temple as he lived and breathed the often neglected corner having to do with books and learning.  He particularly obsessed about the section on crafting and that of wood crafting (it was not a great selection, but the books were dense and were written in the language of the Old Realm).  He read a few other things, very dry things like the proper ratio for mixing Jade to steel to make the most durable, the most hard and the most flexible Jadesteel.  He read up on how Orichalcum was smelted, and he read up the building of fortifications, but it was woodcraft that was his passion.  

He was out scouting for the best woods to make his next experiment when he encountered something so profound and mystical that the very fabric of creation came apart in his head and he understood everything.  That was when he Exalted, but the expression for all to see occurred later.  To this day he does not know how he got back into the temple or found his way to his workshop, but he did and once there he closeted himself within and took neither food nor drink for nearly a week.  When he was finished the visions that he was seeing and the words that were said to him when he was in his fugue, we're finally recognized.  The Unconquered Sun had spoken to him, "Build up my armies and destroy my enemies!"  

The visions of Factory Cathedrals and Sun-forges cleared and were replaced by another extraordinary vision, Ahlat was bowing before him as a servant before his master.  He was thanking the Unconquered Sun for the honour of witnessing the Solar Exaltation.  He got to his feet and bowed his bull like head towards Orxia, "Greetings Prince of the Earth and at once Orxia.  The world is different now from the last time I witnessed the exaltation of Solars.  It is no longer safe for you to walk under the sky unless it is with fear.  Please accept Sanctuary in my home for a time and I hope to be able to arrange some protection for you."  With that he left and allowed Orxia to fall asleep.  When he awoke he saw the thing that he had crafted in his daze of exaltation.  It was a great black bow made of the darkest Ebony shaped like the horns of the mighty Ahlat.  The wood was pressed together with thin sheets of Orichalcum that provided the bow with the strength and flexibility.  The sheets twisted around the horn tips to create a golden cap and the individual sheets of Orichalcum were twisted into a fine wire that formed the bow string.  The string loop back to the other arm of the bow and untwisted into the very same sheets of the bow.  Inspecting them carefully it was clear that if he could take the bow apart there would be one hundred sheets of Orichalcum, each a continuous loop that formed the lamination in the bow and the string, but moreover, each sheet of Orichalcum also formed an image or prayer significant to Ahlat as it passed through the bow itself.  The Bow was a prayer to Ahlat and the Unconquered Sun both together.  The bow was perfection.  

A few days later, or was it a week as he was not sure how long he had slept, Ahlat came to him telling him that all had been arranged and he was to rendezvous in the North of the Country next to the Shadowland, the Bayou of Regret, that another Solar Exalt would arrive to pick him up.

When he got to the spot, a strange moving Cyclone approached and dissipated revealing a non descript man carrying a golden bow and wearing golden armour.  This could only be his savior.  The Nameless Wolf spoke with him briefly to discover his name and his story and then to say that his journey was long and required a lot of concentration.  He was told in the morning they were headed to the Varang States to pick up a Dawn Caste headed there from the West and he would appreciate it if he would take first watch while he slept.

In the morning, the Nameless got up and started speaking words of the Old Realm that described how Creation was going to provide Wind and Air to support him and his charges and bring him where ever he decided and he was surprised when the Wind and the Air obeyed him.  He and the Nameless began a journey that took them south, but deep into the countryside and away from the lands he knew best, but past where he exalted in a couple hours, a journey which took him days.  When the Sun set, they were well south of Harbourhead, the Nation of Ahlat.

***

The coastal lands of the Varang States receive plenty of rain, the warm temperatures persist most of the year and the conditions are great for crops of all kinds.  South of the hills the rains drop of, but the land is still fertile and rich.  The land is still claimed by the Varang city states and as such by the Realm as a satrapy.  They grow orchards of citrus fruits and almonds.  They grow wheat in great fields and often see three harvests in a year when things are good.  The Guild travels to these towns hoping to get the bounty of these harvests and bring the people stuff that they have difficulty getting there.  The Inland sea is not for to the north but still it is hundreds of kilometers away and salt is precious here, first it is needed during the hot summer months as a seasoning and it is useful warding the shadowlands near by.  After Calibration, the weather cools slightly and the winds pick up from the north bringing rain.  When the monsoons are strong, the rain washes away the wards that protect the towns and then the years are bad.  

In the cities there are two ways to make your way in life, the first is to grow produce something and to purchase what you need from what you produce.  The second way is to take from others and use what you take to do what you will.  Such people are called many things, hated equally by all, government or criminal.  In the country, things are little different, except the government is far away and the criminal element often has no check.  In the deep south, where the dessert scrub meets the dry plains, bands of outlaws and bands of highwaymen lie in wait for unsuspecting travelers, but sometimes the banditry get organized and leaders take the bands into civilized lands and the wealth therein.  

A lone traveller enters the village through the open gates and is noticed by the populace.  The mayor, such a that he is, not a hereditary leader but one who is first among equals greets the stranger and asks politely his business, but does not wait for an answer but instead asks that he join him for mid morning tea and there once the dust of the road has had a chance to settle, to then get to business.  The traveler is just that and he has heard that ere is a Guild Caravan coming here and wants to know when it will arrive, as he and his camp of roving  miners are low on supplies.  The first among equals is taken in by the story and is quite honest and open about his attentions.  A Varang horoscope maker visited a while ago and said that the town would be visited upon by an event of great significance in the next week, when e Guild caravan is due to be there and he is eager to share the auspicious news, won't he spend the night and then he can be well rested for his journey back to his fellows?  Taking no no, he introduces the stranger to his beautiful wife and children, a young woman and a young man.  They sup on fresh goat with cheese and olives from the orchard and for dessert they eat spiced and roasted almonds.  The traveler sees the wealth of the town and asks why they do not have more in the way of luxuries and the trappings of wealth?  At which the host laughs and says, but what could want else but a strong and beautiful family and the ability to entertain guest like himself?  When pressed further a shadow crosses his face and he says that such answers he has to give are better off for day than dark.  Then he gives the traveler the use of his own bed for the night and leaves him to sleep.  No wonder that this town and the area are known for their hospitality.  

The traveller slips out and up the wall, the gates, one in the North and one in the South, are closed at night and five of the town's militia patrol the walls.  He travels quickly to report to his leader.  The people there are brimming with the means of great wealth, but for all of it are poor.  The Guild is due to arrive within the next week and the leader thinks about it and then asks his scout to go back to the village and find out when the guild I'd going to be in the town and the exact layout of the town's defenses and where help would come from and how long it would take to get there.  The band of cutthroats has been steadily expanding the territories that they extort protection moneys from and this measured push into the lands north of the desert is a calculated thrust in hopes of greater wealth.

The traveller/bandit scout enters the village with a few hours of darkness left and settles to sleep in the first bed he has slept in in over thirty years.  He sleeps late.  When he rises his host has been up for hours, and breakfast has been made and eaten, but still there is a fresh one waiting him complete with freshly baked bread, a large recently harvested citrus fruit and a black bitter beverage heavily sweetened.  The best food he has eaten in months.  When he leaves the house he is greeted again by his host who informs him that the guild will be early and will arrive in the next few days and that he had better leave soon if he is going to be back before the Guild arrives.  The traveller, reassured him that his people were camped not far away and would be able to catch the Traders as soon as they arrive.  Forestalled, his host began to introduce the traveller to the leaders of the town and he quickly found that the mayor was not only gracious host in the town.  After another hearty luncheon, so quick on the heels of his late breakfast, he moved on to the question of the previous evening.  "Alas, all is not fine in this town.  The weather is nearly perfect, the soil is fertile and the crops are fine quality, but there is a darker nature to the land as well.  Nearly two hundred years ago, the lands to the south and west of here were the site of a huge battle between the forces of the Realm and the last of the Independent Varang troops, the war was long and hard fought but the final battle was a slaughter and the Varang troops were hemmed in from three sides and slaughtered as an example to all other resistance against the Realm and the bodies were left untended as a further lesson.  This created a Shadowland that we have been warding ever since.  In the Summer months the plentiful sun and limited rainfall means the wards of salt last with little maintenance, but the rainy months of winter see the wards sorely tested.  This Guild caravan is bringing the bulk of the salt that we will use for the town for the year, it costs us dearly, the bulk of our produce."  

On hearing this tale he understood and the wealth that he saw of the town was a fraction of what it could be.  He saw the people as happy but living with the uncertainty too.  He saw the dangers that would occur if the town and Guild were to be endangered.  He began to get the information that his leader asked him to get.  There was a Realm outpost not half a day to the North, and they would be able to react and come down heavy on any threat.  He found that there were three towns within a days travel in three directions that had all e wealth that this one did, but no drain.  They had more wealth.

The next day the Guild Caravan came early, days early.  The guards were throwing small candies to the crowds of kids and bits of silver too.  A traveling band of musicians were on the caravan and began to play as soon as they came close to the town.  The youngsters and teenagers were dancing in the streets.  A pot mender was offering his skills to repair pots for free and he was able to see the vast store of salt the town was purchasing.  The caravan consisted of five Yedim pulling carts and laden with packs.  Four of them carried just salt and the other carried the Guild's supplies and the other trading materials.  

After a night of dancing and drinking, the traveler left the town, knowing the caravan would leave on the third day.  He went back dutifully to his leader.  The Towns defenders were only twenty-five, but the Guild doubled those.  The Gates were closed at night and there was a Realm military outpost close by, too close by.  There were other towns with more money and more riches a little further away.  The leader was intractable.  The scout could open the gates and the guild would be the main targets if the town was so poor.  By the time the Realm found out what they did and got their orders, we will be far away from here.  Was the Scout getting weak willed?  

The traveller went back to the town sorry that he had betrayed them, but confident that they would not be extorted and only the Guild would suffer, and they had a lot of wealth, more than enough to spare one caravan. So, on the last night before the guild was to leave, the gates stood open when the desert bandits entered.  True to his word the Guild was targeted, it's members killed quickly.  The militia also was killed, but then the traveller hoped that would be it. The leader, had other plans.  He knew about the Shadowland and he knew about the monsoon rains erasing the salt wards; he counted on it.  He knew about the wealthy towns in the area and that they all had larger stronger militias.  He knew that if he killed this weaker town and made a name for doing it the other wealthy towns would give in more easily.  He knew that the Realm would seek orders from the larger garrison before attempting to engage and he knew that they would cease pursuit if the bandits made it to the dessert.  He knew all this because he was the former commander of that Realm outpost.

After the major threats to the bandits were removed, the leader sent an order and the main force.  The main force broke into teams of five that began breaking into houses twenty at a time, they killed and they burned as they went.  The traveller horrified went to the leader forbidding his actions.  "You have grown soft, I am sending a message to all that we mean business," he said and he turned his back.

A bonfire of light descended upon the village and the traveller was surrounded by a flock of flying crows burning with light.  The Traveller attack the Leader and fought a duel and defeated the leader the bandits continued to kill and burn the town.  "Child, find evil where it lurks, in darkness, and bring it into the light.  You are the judge of what is wrong, judge now," the Unconquered Sun spoke directly to him and he knew what he had to do.

Not three hundred meters a small camp was awoken by the light show.  Nameless Wolf saw the Anima display and swore under his breath.  He woke Orxia.  "Do you know how to use that bow, or is it just for show?"  Nameless fired several volleys of bright dazzling arrows into the town and began killing bandits.  Orxia looked on in disbelief, he knocked and arrow and fired pinning a bandit to a door through the head, four hundred meters away.  He chose another target and did the same.  Soon he was seeking out clusters of foes striking three at a time and killing them all.  The Nameless had run out of arrows minutes before and was just plucking them out of the air, made of his own essence.  When the last bandit had died the town was in flames, the people dead, the town dead.  

The traveller used the salt to ward the Shadowland one last time before traveling on with the Nameless and Orxia.  Perhaps, one day he would be able to repay this debt.

***

The Black beast of hell looked up as he felt the pull he was being summoned from his orgy of riot.  The lesser demons that he squashed out of spite on his journey out into the dessert.  He summoned his stead to his side, if he were to suffer he would not suffer alone, but walk he must, never ride.  As his journey began he knew that his mood would be more foul at its end, but that he would then get into Creation and he would get to kill.  Preferably his summoners first and then everything nearby.  Until some group of Terrestrial Exalted strayed too close.  How many would it be this time before he was sent back here?  A dozen or a score that he killed.  A challenge that would be nice, but it was an idle fancy.  In three days hence, some mortal sorcerer was going to summon him, but he Octavian, Demon of the Second Circle had to begin the journey three days before to get there on time.  Would his summoner be the first to die or the last?

***

The costal trader was making its first foray out of the Great River and out of the Riverlands on to the Inland Sea.  The Great River at Lookshy was nearly impossible to see across from one shore to the next after the sun rose and the morning mists cleared but before the sun created a haze.  But on the sea it was different, if there were mists it was a form of storm or an attack.  The storm that seemed to follow them, the mists that moved against the wind seemed like and attack.  The rowers rowed hard and the sail was furled as they were truly headed into the wind to escape the mist.  The Imperial Mountain was on their starboard so everyone knew they were headed south.  The mists curled around them the smudge of land on either side had been eaten by the mists and only the smudge to the south remained, well it had been there a few minutes ago, now there was mist too.  The other ships they had seen steered clear of the area like deer seeing a fellow being pulled down and killed and thanking their luck that they were not the ones this time.  The Earth fleet they had heard from a passing ships a few days ago had been called to run a blockade from the Realm south to The Lap and so the regular patrols were nonexistent.  There was some Anathema from the West that was being corralled into a trap, the poor demon ridden bastard.  Clearly luck was not on their side.  The sun was setting and the would not be rising, so close to new; the sun silhouetting the  Imperial peak, but as dark set in that landmark too had vanished.

The steady wind from the south cut off suddenly and they were becalmed, the sound of the sweeping oars eerily echoing of the mists.  Three smaller boats appeared from the gloom and shouted their hails, their voices not the slightest bit muffled.  Demands not hails.  Surrender.  The Captain looked to his friend the mercenary captain and asked, do we surrender?  The veteran of dozens of Linnowan coordinated attacks looked upon the men who threatened the boat now; they were spindly men not warriors.  They were merchants at best, but they stood uneasily on the deck with not a ripple on the sea, these were nor sailors either.  He nodded and pointed this out.  But the command the seas and the weather.  In his marrow he felt that that is all they did and it was intimidation alone, if they stood united they would have to leave.  They were demanding an unconditional surrender and had not even inquired about the cargo— they were either exceptionally well informed or were after something else, the men on the ship, but these were not slavers.  The captain ordered the oarsmen to push harder and the mercenary captain ordered the men to arms.  He took up his bow and sent an arrow over to the closest boat as answer clearer than the boat captain's.  Cowed they seemed to retreat.  

There was a swirling to the mist.

A single tentacle swept out and across the deck of their ship, unerringly plucking a sailor off and into the water and down.  Perhaps they commanded more than the weather, but still his call was correct; they were not after the cargo, but were for the crew.  The tentacle came up for more and the bow was dropped and out came his sword.  He knew that all most battles took was first blood to win or lose and the Creature had that, only a show that it was not invincible nor intractable could save them now.  His first blow bounced off its rubbery flesh, his second scored a deep cut and a black corruption spilled out of the wound.  His soldiers rejoiced and attacked with a fever.  The mercenary pulled back to assess the monster and to see any weakness.  There seemed to be none, but how was it coordinating it's attacks so well without eyes.  There! Out in the sea a dark globe just off in the water away from the attacks.  Taking up his bow he sent a shaft towards the eye and the creature blinked and the tentacles all retreated they were saved.  Complacency loses just as many battles as overconfidence.  A lone tentacle snaked around his ankles and hoisted him up into the air, his temple struck the deck as he fell and far above the deck he was shaken to unconsciousness.

Death did not come.

He woke in a cage build for lobsters and a burning pain in his muscles.  It was still dark or was it dark again.  The mists were gone and they were on a quay to some village on the sea.  At the base was of the dock was a large bonfire where many of the ships crew were strung out and their innards were being coiled at their feet in some bizarre sacrificial rite, from their moans it was clear that the cultist knew their stuff.  He offered a quick prayer to the gods of the sea for a quick death for his men.  The ships captain was receiving that quicker death.  They were exsanguinating him his blood into a caldron in the fire burning as they chanted words.  Creation altered in sharp relief, the darkness of the night seemed brightest sunlight compared to the hole that was ripped in it.  The portal opened to a scene of a brightly lit dessert and a man black as night.  He stepped through with a giant wasp all yellow and jewel strewn, but it was the man, nine feet tall covered with spines that dripped with oil.  He hefted a black bronze maul and swung it with ease the cultists who succeeded summon this terrible beast enjoyed their adulation not a second before their heads were all crushed and a spay of oil splashed over the quay.  Where it touched e old corrupted the land, burned the wood and rusted the metal.  The cultists we're dead in seconds and the sacrifices next.  "Who is strong enough to stand and fight," challenge issued.  The beast began smashing crates and the occupants spaying oil everywhere.  The mercenary pushed against the weakened boards of the trap and freed himself and grabbed what was near by and attempted to stand all cramped up.  "I will stand against you!"  His words gaining strength and confidence as his cramps disappeared and confidence reached his voice.  "Destroy my enemies where ever they lie," resounded inside his head as images of legions headed out to fight great forces of whom Octavian was but a lesser lieutenant.  

The measured stare of Octavian turned to a smile of great joy, a challenge at last!  One of the Solar Exalted here, a new one to be sure.  His fiery glow sent a quake of fear back into the corner of his soul.  The great golden lion that the Solar's anima took shape was impressive akin to one of those thrice cursed Celestial Lions.  He smiled though, this was a new Solar, unsure of its power and be-fret of allies, after this battle he would be happy to go back to Malfeas with this tail how the Solars were back and how easily they were to crush beneath his feet.  He swung his maul down and it connected briefly on this one's sword before being deflected aside.  It stepped back a measured pace before launching a single testing stroke.  Its mortal blade struck deeply through his hide that was 'tough as hell' and bruised him something fierce.  The bellow he yelled out was in glee that this challenge was going to be awesome.  He stepped into the solar and unleashed a flurry of swings that would bring low any foe that he had faced in a thousand years the mortal sword pushed two aside and the next three bounced ineffectively from the wooden planks he used off handed.  Anger coursed through him now, but it was the next action that gave him pause the essence poured off the solar as river water pours off a mountain and he attacked him relentlessly a whirlwind of blows that he had not seen since the first battles thousands of years ago.  He was thankfully the blade was mortal as it only score a few shallow cuts, if it had been Orichalcum, he would likely be reporting back in Malfeas with nothing to show for it.  

Pin pricks hit him from behind as some arrows penetrated his hide. This was a trap carefully orchestrated with Mortal sorcerers to fool him.  Two more anima banners bloomed on the hill, a Wolf and a charging Bull like that of Ahlat the underling of the Unconquered Sun.  Three Solars, what a tale to tell!  The youngest one here was clearly out of essence and would be the easiest to crush.  He sent his steed to distract the two others so the could end this one's life.  He attacked and he attacked but each time his attempt was tossed aside and each time his foe summoned up enough to attack him once more.  A death by a thousand cuts was still death and the arrows continued.  Off to the south another anima bloomed to life that of a crow that signaled the end of his steed's time in Creation.  To the north on the sea there was another bloom of light from a ship out to sea.  More arrows pounded down like a hail of steel.  The little one, the new one leapt up now and swung his mortal sword cutting deep into his flesh … he was back in Malfeas.  What a tale he had to tell, the Solar Exalted were back, let the games begin again!

A new start. Part 1

Teshek Kairn wondered how She got to this place, the Realm soldiers facing her were the weakest of the weak, but still they would if given a chance raise the alarm and sent the Wyld Hunt down upon her and her doom.  The Green jade Dire Lance bent dangerously back, almost to breaking, as she swung it toward them.  The shaft straightened quickly and snapped towards her foes and the tip split the foremost soldier's helmet in twain and splattered brain matter in a wave at it descended though his neck before bending back as she swung it away again.  The four remaining closed in around her and attempted to claim the glory of bringing down one of the Anathema.  They attacked but the bouncing shaft covered with intricate carvings of boars and boars being hunted deflected their downstrokes easily to the side.

Oh yes, it started with that Audit nearly a year ago that had uncovered a coup for her, a dragon blooded boldly stealing from the tax offices.  The trail was convoluted and difficult to parse, but ever keen to advance her position over her peers she had persevered.  The trail was complex and the trail was made clear after months of careful research.  Thinking back, if she had bothered with the Soirées that the head auditor had invited you to, you might have made the connection between your boss and the personage that you were auditing.  If you had you might not have been here in Greyfalls, the butt hole of Creation, as compared to the Realm and the Imperial City, where your daughter Lin was attending school.  Now you would never likely see her again, even if you lived through this day.  

The thought had knocked off your senses, "focus" you tell yourself and swing a poorly executed swing whirling the artifact spear overhead as warning, it sweeper though the air driving the mortal soldiers back.  It was an accident but the effect was satisfactory, they had withdrawn a bit and joined together.  The were regrouping for another attack but were now out of range with a large waving spear pointed at them.  

The year long trip deep into the Threshold of the world, along the Great River past the great heathen cities of the River Provinces, Lookshy, Nexus, Great Forks and a large number of boring towns.  The river that stretched thousands of kilometers and was still fully navigatable by the ocean going ships.  Arrival in Grey Falls on that same ship in waters that were still deep and traversible.  The falls were grand, greater than anything like it in the Realm, but she felt that her life was over.  The Auditors house here was small one Dragon Blooded Administrator and a handfull of minor auditors just like herself.  The rules were lax here and the accounting mistakes numerous and filled with improper penmanship.  It was intolerable.  The Dragon Blooded fop was the worst, Wandering Chrysanthemum, spent his Nights in bars and teahouses and did not arrive until late.  

After a month there Wandering Chrysanthemum called to her to attend her at his estate.  Protocol required that she attend and be prompt.  Thoughts passed through her mind about what cause or what plans he had on her.  Clearly he wanted her for sex, but was there more?  One does not refuse a Dragon Blooded and one does not refuse your Dragon Blooded boss.  Dressed in her finest clothes, the current fashion of the Realm a year ago and from what she saw, years in advance to what was here, and strapped her fine blade to her side.  Wandering Chrysanthema was dressed as he was at work, the bore.  

At once he suggested a walk in the gardens outside his estate, for privacy, he said.  It occured to her that he might be there to kill her and that her reassignment was just a way to further that end, but that was silly.  If she was going to be killed, a dark ally in the Imperial City would have been quicker and that it had not happened was also a surprise.  Her daydreaming allowed her to miss what he was saying, sweet words of seduction probably, but they were words about her daughter and about accidents that happen all the time to patricians in schools where Dragon Blooded might Exalt.  "… you must look at your time in Greyfalls as an opportunity.  Mortals and Patricians alike are as numerous as flies in a slaughterhouse.  You are everywhere and ignored think of this as a training time, a place to pick up more skills and become more useful and maybe in time you will be able to attend your daughter's gradua—erk.  This is unexpected!"  You turned to see a Green Jade spear poking through his stomach, and then fall with him to the ground.  

Drawing your blade you rush to your Master's aid, who seemed to be offering you a better job while similtaneously threaten you.  You sword flashed out and the assassin stepped back.  Your second slash came down as his own RedJade slashing sword parried and sent her own blade clattering away in to e shubs, broken in two.  The Dragon Blooded sheathed in a thin shimmer of flame looked down on her in lust and made as if to take hold of her and rape her, before finally killing her.  She reached out to e closest weapon and found the Bloodied Direlance and wrenched it from Wadering Chrysanthemum's body, her 'erked' again and died.  The forest lit up with unnatural light as the spear head was jammed through her assailants head and out the back of his neck, brains and blood showering the woods.  Words Boomed out in her head, "Daughter, Find and root out the corruption from Creation, I Exalt you above others!". Images of great battles fought with Creation's enemys and e forging of great pacts of peace resound in her head.

With that memory of a few nights ago she swings the Direlance forth, it glitters in essence and whistles through the air, connecting first with one soldier and shattering the lower half of his head, pushing bone and teeth deep into his skull, before twisting and goring a second soldier, showering the forest floor with bits of bone and blood.  The two remaining turn tail and run.  But they don't stand a chance, a twang from close up sends an arrow filled with golden essence through both fleeing soldiers with such violence that nothing remains of their heads, nor of the arrow itself.  

"Gather yourself up.  We must leave now.  I am Nameless Wolf and there are stronger troops nearby hunting you.  We must go now.  He gathers his essence and forms ancient words as a the air picks up around him and plucks him off the earth.  He grasps her hand and the whirling forest debris and leaves swirl around him and they depart to lands to the West.

***

Vael Saito had spent the early part of he night drinking with his friends, a group of miscreants and thugs; nice people if they were your friends, but the typical citizenry of Nexus were not their friends.  Vael had spent much his youth working his way up society—he had started as a barely walking youth as a beggar, his childhood as a pickpocket and his teenage years a burglar, first sneaking into working class hovels but later moving to middle class apartments and tenements.  He has yet to use a proper entrance, unless he had no other choice, usually a hasty retreat.  Each new spring he challenged himself to an additional story of building to steal from, the key to the challenge was the height and not the haul.  Vael thought that if he could scale the greatest towers of old Hollow he would prove his worth as the greatest burglar in all of Nexus.  He was mistaken.  The greatest thief and burglar counted not the most inaccessible heights but the greatest haul or the most famous target.  It was about a month ago that his notions were debased abruptly.  Since then he had been brooding on how to exactly get back on track and grasp hold of the Greatest Burglar of Nexus.  

Guild Heirarch was about as famous as famous was in Nexus, without trying to rob from the council of entities, something all considered suicidal at best, and what better Heirarch to steal from than that one that made Jade artifacts; he must be the most wealth one, right?  There was no plan made really, no more than the one that he made with his friends and most of that plan involved a lot of drinking, bragging and drinking.  There was even a, not so insignificant, wager on the table too.  Most of the wagers were that he would not get so far as to even attempt, by climbing up the outer compound wall, as he was doing now, he had won enough to cover drinks when he got back.

The compound was surrounded by a four story wall with no windows on the outside.  The top of the wall was patrolled by the personal guard.  The edicts of the city stated that on pain of dismemberment, no one should ever bring an army into the city.  Most merchants had a very large personal guards that skirted the size of what might be considered an 'army' by employing several mercenary companies at once, none larger than a talon of troops, about 125 and by leaving their home with no more than a scale from each company, 25 troops.  Inside their compound, things were different, they could have a full army in there if they could support them and if they never left all at once.  Vael knew that inside the compound there was at least five Talons of troops, effectively an army.  Such overconfidence!  

Four stories was a breeze for him, but not being stupid had kept him alive up until this point and so he employed a grappling hook too.  Scaling the wall was child's play.  Avoiding the guards too; they had become complacent.  Selecting the best place to reach the main building involved a little tightrope walking and the perfect leap to a balcony— that was tricky, it was fifteen feet away and five feet overhead, but bouncing on the tightrope gave him extra spring and he was able to grasp one edge of the balcony at the apex of his leap.and quickly climb into it from there.  A little rest was earned.  Surprisingly the fifth floor glass door was locked from the inside.  He placed his thin shiv in the crack of the door and pried it wider before forcing the lock a jar and he hastily stole into the room.

It was a trophy room of sorts, in the dim light he made out wild animals mounted on the walls and hanging from the ceiling.  He also noted that there was a White Jade Power bow on the wall and a scattering of jewelry mounted on the wall.  But it was the Bow that drew his eyes.  To be the Greatest Burglar one had to steal from the famous and steal big.  This was a big haul.  A Jade artifact was probably worth the entire compound and the troops within for a full year of service.  That would secure his reputation.  He approached the bow and saw that it was secured to the wall and there was a thin thread attached to the bow that disappeared through the wall.  Vael examined the thread, a thread of metal it turned out and not knowing what it did, he nicked the thread with his shiv and grabbed the bow.  The thread snaked back into the wall and a resounding gong crashed thought the house.  "Fuck," he muttered under his breath and pulled on the bow hard.  It's mounting would not give and he was forced to concede that he had been out played.  The jewels would have to do.  He pulled on the jewelry and stashed them in his grab bag and headed for the window.  The doors room burst asunder, and five mercenaries rushed through one, but he paid them no heed, as the other door exploded off its hinges and the Heirarch stood there with a blade of white jade, taller than him and nearly as thick.  He sensed the murder in his eyes, and smelt the rich smell of freshly turned earth that accompanied many Dragon blooded of his aspect.  He kept through the balcony door and decided to forgo the safety of the tight rope and instead decided the risk a quick death from a fall than a quicker death from terminal beheading.  It was words that he heard as he fell, "Child, Seek the truth in the Darkness," and the images that flashed before his eyes as he prepared to die where no of his life, but of someone else's; cultists praying to dark gods and offering human sacrifices and of his knives filling the air of the temple killing the cultists and leaving the innocent safe and unharmed.

Vael did not his the cobblestones of the courtyard in darkness, but rather he rolled across them unharmed in the brightest light.  Rolling to his feet he saw though the courtyard and training field that everyone had been rousted from their beds and were armed and amoured, ready for a fight.  There was also another surprise, his life long friend, being paid for his services, most likely informing them of his attempted theft.  Vael recalled that his life long friend had been one to bet heavily on his failure on this venture.  He recalled that there is no honour among theives.

Escape.  If only he could reach the large tree limb above his head, a good ten feet up and vault through its branches, he might be able to evade them for awhile and regroup his thoughts and find a way out.  He leapt, which surprisingly put him well past the lowest branch, but up on the tallest one.  That top branch of any tree whose leaves blow wildly to and from in the slightest breeze, that branch that the smallest sparrow bends wildly when it lands upon it, he was crouched low on it steady as the ground below.  The collective gasp below was pierced with a cry of ANATHEMA!!  Vael's next leap soared past the wall and he landed in the lightly crowded streets of Nexus at the hour of midnight.  There was no hiding here, the arrows from the mercenary bows marked the path of his leap.  He quickly entered the closest sewer entrance to flee to safety and wait out any chase.  The sewers were deep and dark normally, but tonight they were bathed in light and the crocodiles scattered before him and took flight.  The stench was pleasantly reassuring that meant he was still alive.

The next day he emerged and heard the news, the Emissary and the Council of entities had made the city off limits to him and any members of the Wyld Hunt, he had hours to the only home he had ever known.  He had never been out of his district of the city much and never outside of it.  Were there food stalls in the wilds and were there really savage beasts like in children's stories at every turn.  The grief was so much that he nearly missed the whispering of his name.  Vael, you must leave the city now, do not dawdle.  He stepped in to the ally to seek out this figure.  It was a woman, perhaps, she was tall or short, maybe, but she spoke with a slight accent, or not.  Shrouded in darkness the stepped forward and grabbed him hard and leapt.  The city rushed by himand him away from it.  A few seconds and he was further than he had ever been and when they landed a minute later, Nexus was nearly a smudge several kilometers away.  "Find allies and learn to use your powers, you are so much more than you were before. Be more". With that she leaped again, away from the city, she disappeared as she rose, first becoming a tiny dot then no more.  

A cyclone a moment later sank to the earth and dissipated.  Leaving two figures, both with the complexion of the Realm, one with a Green Jade Direlance and e other with a bow and armour made of gold.  A spirit hovered at the ear of the one in gold and he nodded as it dissipated into essence.  "You are Vael Saito, you are to come with me Night Caste, there is a Wyld hunt nearby and they know where you are.". And he waited for no response as he began to speak words of power and the air began to blow and swirl around him, picking him up and his companion.  "I am Nameless Wolf and this is Teshek Karin, friends" he said as he reached for his hand and they rushed quickly to the West and chasing the Sun

***

Yushido Doku had done the best that he could with his life, but the best was not good enough for his family.  The Yushido Gens of Lookshy was among the most prominent families and were famed for the quality of soldiers they produced as well as for the numbers of Dragon Blooded who Exalted from the family.  Indeed he was the only one of his brothers and sisters who did not Exalt of his parent's children ever, stretching back some two hundred years.  As if to say that Doku was a fluke, his yonger brothers and sisters exalted earlier than the norm.  Still, he trained hard in hopes that he might have a late Exaltation; it never happened.

Disappointed he still entered the Lookshy Field Services and trained later as a medic.  He excelled as much as any Yushido had succeeded in the past centuries, except that he was constantly reminded that he had failed to meet the standards of the Elemental Dragons and was destined to die unremarked upon.  That did not deter him, for he had a plan.  He was going to excel as a Thaumaturge, a mortal sorcerer of a type.  He studied and worked hard to attain levels of expertise that many dragon blooded would never know, but constantly he was reminded that in a land filled with dragon blooded, only they may hold higher positions.  With his great knowledge, it was a dragon blooded with half his knowledge who was considered the teacher and he merely the assistant.  He watched the instructor continue to make simple mistakes and teach mortal and exalted Thaumaturges flawed theories and simple wrong ideas.  Only when he taught students correctly did they accomplish impressive things, but then the teacher was the one that was given credit.

Research is a long road for one who is not exalted, but for the patient and the discerning and the persistent great things can still be accomplished.  Through his travels he encountered many mortals who had been gifted with enlightened essence by spirits and gods and in one case sorcery.  Doku knew that what could be accomplished with sorcery, could also be accomplished with Thaumaturgy, if the proper rites were known.  So the search began.

The enlightened teachings of the Immaculate Order stress the pinnacle the Terrestrial Exalted are and they stress that unnatural enlightenment of anyone's essence is a form of Blasphemy to the Elemental Dragons, as such all research in this area is controlled and in the most restricted libraries.  The teacher of Thaumaturgy began to rely increasingly on Doku's knowledge to teach the course and as such began pass many of his teaching preparation off to him and this meant he was given access to the libraries of Thaumaturgy, which occupied a single shelf in the primary library of Sorcery.  Which also contained the forbidden arts, as luck would have it.

The first time that he entered the library, he was on his best behavior until they got used to his presence.  He used this time to learn when the library was at its busiest, in the night hours nearest midnight, and when it was the quietest, dawn through mid morning.  He also learned that every season the library was closed for the entire night the first day of the last week of the ascending month.  He also learned that the guards on the library were more likely to check for removal of restricted books at the start and the end of their watch.  Most importantly he learned the favourite foods of the guards at the door and if he brought the food accidentally to the door and surrendered them to the guards, as food was not allowed within, the guards we're less likely to search him when he left.  

Over the months years he slowly spent his time researching means to enlighten a mortal's essence, the only clue was three references to a book of knowledge that talked about the relation of Thaumaturgy to Sorcery.  The only time he could safely search the forbidden books of knowledge was when the library was locked once a season, all other times drew looks from the patrons.  The worst part of this process was that the books of forbidden knowledge were written in the Language of Spirits and the Gods.  And teaching himself to read that language took more time, which he had to do around the regular duties he performed, including regular training sessions in the Lookshy military.  

Years past and he learned to use his time to steal and replace books of forbidden knowledge.  Finally his research enabled him to uncover the name of the book that he was searching for and on subsequent polite searches, he uncovered its location and as it were to happen, the last week of Ascending Air was in a few days.  Doku was planning to be locked in the library the entire night and read this ancient tome.  As he approached the library he noticed two strange things, the first that there was a new guard in the door and he was Dragon Blooded.  The second was there was a lot more students out side the doors and many of them were exiting to library.  The Guard spoke in a booming voice that the library was to close in an hour and would reopen early the next morning.  Yushido Doku slipped into the library amongst the bustle more easily than normal and set forth for his usual hiding spot.  If this was going to be like other closings, the guards will do a half hearted search of the library and boot out the obvious and not check too hard.  The new guard suggested that it would be hard this time.  He was not wrong.  

The guard shone a bright light down each aisle as he patrolled the library and Doku had to remain very still as the light passed by him.  After he heard the doors of the library close and lock, he began to relax.  He pulled himself out of his hiding spot and moved quietly to the spot where the book, his quarry was located.  He withdrew the shelf and brought the book into the well lit portion of the library for reading.  He put the book down and cracked the book open close to the section he was looking for.  The Old Realm script was difficult to read, but he began as he only had a few hours to read undisturbed.  The silence was broken by a very loud clearing of throats.

Doku turned his head looking over his shoulder to find the various heads of the Gens of Lookshy calmly looking at him.  One said, "Are we disturbing you?"  It was very clear at the library was cleared this night for something other than the usual.  There was a broad map spread over one of the tables and gold icons spread out to cover the map. The map was of the River Provinces and the icons represented sightings of Solar Anathema, there was over two dozen icons spread out.  "What are you doing here, Yushido Doku," said his Grandfather. He came forth to look at the tome Doku was reading.  Doku knew that reading the forbidden texts would give a Dragon blooded a harsh disciplinary hearing, and that a mortal would be summarily executed.  Sneaking into the library when it was closed was as good as admitting his guilt.  He snatched up the tome and backed away knowing what would be coming next.  

One of the Generals strode forward, stopped and assumed a martial arts pose, his skin greyed and his features hardened to the appearance of rock.  Weapons were forbidden, even to the generals in the libraries, but this General's weapons were his hands.  He struck out quickly with a strike of his fist that would alternately either punch through a wall or break every bone in a body while turning the organs inside to liquid.  Doku's last moment failed to occur when a voice resounded inside his head, "Child I Exalt you, Bring the light back to Creation."  Images of great libraries and flying wonders filled his mind, great buildings and other indescribable wonders.

The dimly lit library halls brightened considerably, a large Clockwork apparatus spun over his head made of Golden Light.  The assembled Gens stood in shock and awe mixed with fear.  The force of the Gens' punch, while not killing him out right or even harming him, knocked him off his feet and through the air where he impacted with the far wall and was knocked right through the thick stone wall.  

Stunned by both not being dead and being called to duty by the Unconquered Sun, took Doku a few seconds to pick himself out of the rubble.  He turned to see the two Dragon Blooded guards at the doors to the library regarding him with fear and superstition.  It was the cry from within the repository of knowledge, "Anathema" that got both Doku and the guards moving.  Doku stood and began chanting words in the Old Tongue at them as if to cast a spell and they ran away from him, Doku then sprinted the opposite way and out of the Citadel itself.  He thought, 'Ten Dragon Blooded behind me, only 49,990 before me, piece of cake' as he dove into the darkest ally he could find, instantly lighting it into the brightest lit one.  'Down,' he thought and into the closest sewer entryway.  He had never been in a sewer, but reasoned it emptied into the sea and the sea was a lot safer than the place he was in now.  

His run, then slide and eventual fall into a main line that indeed lead to the sea was rewarded by a fifty meter plunge to the sea below.  The brakish water, where the sea and the massive out flow of the river mixed went up his nose and caused him to cough and sputter.  The light of his anima had faded considerably; the glowing clock work had vanished the bonfire of light around him had also vanished, but his caste mark still glowed like a beacon for a fog shrouded night—which this was not.  Defenseless in the water he realised that there was a sorcerer heading his way using Stormwind Rider.  He was doomed.  The re-ordering of Creation that was a spell slowed to a stop over top of him and the Pilot stopped and asked, "Twilight, will you join us?"  His caste mark dimly glowed a ring on his forehead.  An Anathema of the Night Caste.  Without waiting for an answer his two companions reached down and plucked him from the cold waters and the Night Caste Sorcerer, continued his path to the shores of Calin, a hundred kilometers away.  When they landed, he greeted him more properly, "This is Teshek Karin of the Eclipse Caste and Vael Saito of the Night Caste.  I am Nameless Wolf and I am tired from concentrating these past fourteen hours, decide amongst you three who will take first second and third Watch while I sleep."  Where upon he through himself down on the ground and fell fast asleep.  

Doku took first watch so that he could reassess his life. he opened his book bag and expected to find the ancient tome to be ruined, but it was undamaged—the pages crisp and dry and the ink unsmudged, while the bag was ruined and waterlogged.  "Where will I be going and what shall I do there," he asked the air.  And the sleeping prone figure responded, "You are going to Nowhere and there you shall learn and help me out."

weak week

I moved on Saturday by hand and by foot.  I walked my stuff to the new location a couple of blocks by myself and that was a joy add to it last week.  that is me putting the cart before the Horse.  last week Monday I got sick, Strep Throat again.  The day was total crap and then it started Raining on my way home-- I stopped at the Walk in and I could barely stand or talk.  the doc swabbed me and gave me  prescription and I got the meds and went home.

Natural20 was coming over, Monday Nights and alternating Thursdays and Fridays.  I told her that I was sick and it was my throat.  she told me that she still wanted to see me.  She told me that she thought that I was getting "sore throats" when ever she asked me to give her endearments.  I told her I was sick both times, but.  So she came over and saw that i was really sick, so this time she gets a pass and because I saw her Tuesday and Thursday too.  been awhile since someone has tried to take care of me.  

It got worse I was supposed to miss one day of work because I was infectious, but I was getting worse.  Wednesday I wanted to go to work, but I could not fool myself.  Work started calling even though I called them every day, the night before.  So I had to come in the next day.  I went in and showed them my prescription and went home.  I was getting better but it was so slow.  I looked at my prescription and it said it worked as a bacterial growth repressant.  A What??  

I actually went to work on Friday.  I should mention that since Monday noon I had not eaten real food and I could not swallow liquids because my throat was so sore.  but I went to work anyways.  Tough physical labour pushing a heavy rototiller all day, still a sore throat, but heavy cream filled tea got me through the day.  got home by bike exhausted.  I went out because i was feeling better than i had all week.  but when I got back i was dead tired.  The next day I was sick again, but I was not sick again just still sick.  I called telehealth and they told me I needed to go back to the Walk in Clinic.  but first my new landLady said she wanted to meet me @10am so I went to Tims for some 3 cream tea x2 so i could have water in me and something to digest.  At 10, the landlady called to say she could not get out until 3pm so I went to the walk in.  while I was there I got another call saying my landlady was waiting for me.  FUCK?!?  saw the doctor and he said I should be in penicillin and to toss the rest of my prescription away.  

Now the move is over and it is nearly 36 hours since i started the penicillin and my symptoms are almost gone.  off to work tomorrow.  lucky me.  hydrating again and I just ate my first meal since last Sunday.

Closeted spaces

Closets are this places that you keep you clothes and so that you don't have to see them.  Sometimes closets come as wardrobes, most closets were wardrobes and closets were where you put your out of season clothing.  For some people reverse that entire statement.  For me this has always been difficult.  If I can't see my clothes, I won't wear them.  

I have had friends try to tell me that the reason why I can't find someone is because of the way that I have my clothes collected together.  I think that statement my friend made was funny because I knew how his wife grouped her clothes.  My friend was telling me that if I was going to live in his house I was going to have to buy a wardrobe to put my clothes in.  Every time I put my clothes away in some sort of wood paneled monstrosity, I know that I will wear a few of those clothes to death and when I move out I will find that favourite that I thought I had lost, properly put away.  I will think that I don't have that many socks or underwear and I will buy more.  But later open a drawer and find a stash of ten or more properly put away a year ago.  

The word is put away.  Out of sight.  About five years ago I found a different way, I moved into a spot with a tiny closet and I put my big heavy winter coat there.  Then I bought myself a bookshelf to put in the room and it was a big room, so I bought three bookshelves.  I put my book on the shelves and I put my clothes on the shelves too for the next sixteen months I had no trouble finding clothes and putting them away.  I wore clothes that I wanted to wear, not just the ones I could find, because I could see all my clothes, they were all accessible.  Nothing was hidden anywhere so everything was accessible at a glance I could know what I would wear.  I even added a pole between two shelves and could hang up more dress shirts.

My friend who said that 'I' had to hid my clothes away had a walk in closet.  She could open her door and walk in and look at what she wanted to wear, essentially the same as me, just mine where I have my bed as well.