Nameless Returns

The adventure for the people not present …

Nameless joined with the group because of the sudden alignment of goals; namely that the war caused Shadowlands to pepper the land where the battles raged and a big bad enemy surfaced who may have manipulated the events in the north to her favour for centuries.    

He admitted as much, that he had been manipulated.  But now he was going to change that.  And he had heard that there were other Solars who perhaps knew more and he thought that he should join up with them and change the world.  

The first step was to make peace with the dragon-blooded and their Allies, or at least a truce to be turned into a peace and from there an alliance.  The next step was to tackle the Deathlord directly.  Things did not work well in that way  initially because the allies of the Cult of the Illuminated, the Sidereals have a myopic vision of reality.  Are you sure?  Could they not be Solars acting against us?  Or We would know if there was a super powerful intelligence directing Marama's Fell; we have informants in the underworld you know.  Or, but you have no proof of what you say, nothing that we can bring to Heaven.  

The hard part was how to make contact with the Realm and get them to talk to the Anathema.  How to get them to see when they were raised from birth to believe the Anathema were the worst of the worst; the greatest danger Creation has ever faced.  And after a humiliating defeat.  Twelve thousand Dragon blooded and forty-eight thousand mortals killed in battle or murdered after routing.  There was little opportunity to get their attention to open the dialogue.  

Well there was one thing that might get one Dragon Blooded's attention.  Tepet Arada had lost his daiklave in battle with Deepwater Siaka.  She now used it and fought with it.  A trophy to her and a symbol of the hard choices that had to be made in hard times.  And she was not going to give it up.  Nameless tried to explain what she would be helping people in the whole of Creation through this sacrifice.  She countered like the sacrifices she already made.  And they re-countered that she was powerful not beyond where she would be in the millennia to come.  It came down to taking her sword would mean that she would be less capable to fight in the next battle and she might fail because her weapon was not up to the task. 

They relented and promised at the first opportunity they would enchant a blade worthy for her, one that her current blade was not.  And in the meantime, the Messenger, gave her the artifact he had taken from other Dragon Blooded.  

With the sword, the Nameless and Messenger headed to the Realm to find Tepet Arada to try to make contact.  The first step in that was to contact his Circle mate that was lodged in the Realm, Yaage Fahi.  Contact was made and the Nameless was able to learn the location of Tepet Arada.  He also learned that there was a force attacking in Amber River, attempting to overwhelm the Slave nation.  Nameless stated, "your information is old.  We are not attacking." 

Yaage queried, "you are not attacking with a force of ten thousand walking dead?"  

Nameless-, "It is not us, it is that Deathlord!"  The meeting ended as mobilizied troops headed toward them going to board ships to head to Amber River to fight the "Anathema and their Undead"

The Messenger spent that night far away learning what he could about the Realm's political situation.  

In the Camp of Tepet Arada, Nameless dropped in to speak with the General at bath time.  He stated his case and explained his failures and how he was manipulated by a dark foe called The Black Sun, a Deathlord who controls Marama's Fell.  He told him that neither the Realm nor he should be enemies in the face of that evil.  And he then presented him with his ancestral sword, Relentless Wind.  He parted ways, saying that he would be in contact with him soon.  

Talking to the Practitioner he asked what could be done about the devastation of Amber River, which seemed about to fall into the underworld at a moments notice.  The Nameless base him to do as much as he could to diminish the threat to the land.  Powerful magics were prepared and the spell was unleashed that scoured away all the small Shadowlands that had peppered the landscape.  Nothing could be done for the massive encroaching Marama's Fell, which had swollen to engorge a third of the Satrapy.

Will the Heroes be able to stop the invading undead and figure out the curse to the lands of the North.  Will they get proof that is incontrovertible, that even the Bronze Faction could dot dismiss?

Pity party

The pity party is not something that really appeals to me.  I don't want to get together and cry about how my friend's parents died two years ago in a car crash.  It was terrible, but it was two years ago.  I am sorry that your parents are not immortal like my parents; I think I might say that to him next time he brings it up again.  

Callous, cruel.  But true.  Wait.  He will tell me that my parents are not immortal either.  I will look at him like he has grown a second head.  I know that, I will respond.  My point is that he is not the only one whose parents have died or will die.  Everyone dies.  You are allowed to be shocked if it happens suddenly, but you are not allowed to bring it up forever.  It is what happens in life: you, we all, die.  It is a shame when a child dies.  When my charge died, Alfie Moreno, of Muscular Dystrophy and I was shocked, even though I knew it would happen, because that is what happens.  He died when he was 13.  Dying of a heart attack is also a shock, but usually you see it coming.  Not always.  Poor eating.  Obesity.  Smoking.  Heart attacks are not usually a surprise, and if you don't make huge changes in your life, you will die with your second heart attack.  My friend's father was in that case, so his death was not really a surprise, just that it was not a heart attack.  

People get old.  Old people die.  See life above.  The older you get the closer your get to your death date.  Funny thing about aging is that you are also more likely to reach an older age than a child is, but you are still going to die.  

Why this topic?  My father just told me that he has a serious case of Melanoma.  I took the news calmly.  I had already assumed that he was hiding minor skin cancers lesions for years.  I have known that I was, if I lived long enough, going to die from Skin Cancer.  I accepted his eventual death, and I have accepted mine.  I apologized to Natural20 a few times.  She plans on living until 124.  I don't.  I might have only 30 more years.  That is how much older my father is than me.  I expect I will not live that long.  I don't court death any longer.  It is just a fact that I have gotten more sun than my father did 30 years ago and let's face it damage from the sun will be worse over the last 30 years than the 30 years before.  

I know that barring accident or violence, that is my end.  I also knew my father's end before he did.  That he was hiding from me that he had skin removed from his arm; I assumed skin cancer; he never said.  In either case I knew he was going to die.  It is all part of life.  Nothing to worry about.

Nothing to pity.  

The effects of cancer are what happens before you die.  You don't really die of Skin Cancer.  You die of Brain Cancer, lung cancer, liver Cancer, lymph cancer, et al.  You try.  You treat the skin cancer, but it comes back.  And you need to keep on it.  Body examinations every month until you die.  

Maybe they will be better at detecting cancer early and better at treating it over the next 20 years.  Maybe.  I intend on spending my life with with Natural20.  But I will still apologize often. 

I will not engage in the pity party that my friend revels in as he keeps his Parents's death alive.  I would rather keep the memory of my Father alive.  I am a Psychopomp, and we Psychopomps, are stoic and private.  We don't make a big fuss about anything, especially Death.  My grandparents funeral was just close direct descendent and siblings.  My other Grandmother died and it was just our family.  

No pity Parties.  I won't even tell anyone except you.  

The Talk

It happened a week ago.  I got the talk.  Natural20 framed it by saying that she did not know why she was putting off talking about this, but she had, so she must have been worried.  Natural20, for those who do not follow me, is in an open marriage.  That means that she can screw around outside the marriage with her husband's permission.  He does the same.  It is quite sensible, I mean confining yourself to one partner forever while romantic is not really something at most people can do, for a variety of reasons.  Like most couples stop having sex for a variety of reasons and when they do it becomes mechanical.  Sometimes relationships change and sex becomes a casualty.  Sex is fun and it is addictive but also a simple way to build a relationship.  Natural20 and her husband stopped having sex, but still loved each other and they had children.  So they looked out side the marriage.  That is how I met her.  

We had sex a lot.  I have a few sexual issues that make life for my sexual partner  better than they would be for a normal couple.  I am demiromantic, which means I can't orgasm unless I am completely comfortable.  So no pressure and completely in love.  Early in a relationship that means long duration sex.  Hours, on one erection.  Which is great for the woman.  Most guys can't last forever; I can't last forever either, but I last longer than most men who have not taken drugs.  Which is a great situation for a woman that has had too little sex in the past couple of years.  But she did not count on falling in love with me, it was a betrayal to her husband, whom she loved most after her children.  

It was when we had begun sleeping together, you know actually sleeping.  She could not sleep a wink with me until she realized that she had been slowly falling in love with me and was refusing to accept it.  When she finally accepted it, she slept soundly in my arms.  And that is how it has been ever since.  She would sneak out— boldly stride out saying that she was going out to socialize with her friends, and seek me— make love, cuddle, eat dinner, occasionally see a movie, but almost always end naked in my arms curled up.  

She wanted to talk to me because her husband wanted to have sex with her, again.  I am theoretically Polyamorous.  Both of them are Polyamorous.  I feel I am theoretically Poly because I feel if I could breech the friendship level with most woman, I would feel comfortable having sex with many women, but the demisexual friend layer is exceptionally thick.  So thick that my last girlfriend and I were friends for well over a year and worked together and a friend suggested to me that we might work together well.  Do you get that?  Lots of pushing and lots of time.  When it happened, I was hooked solidly.  And we made love once a week— because we lived 250kms apart, but it was glorious.  Then she stopped answering my texts and I found out that while she was making love to me she was fucking her other boyfriend, whom she told me did not turn her on and who repulsed her. And that her life had been sexless.  Fucking him four or five times a week.  

I tried to handle the conversation maturely.  She was married to him.  And her continuing to see me was dependant on him being happy.  And she loved her children and there is no way she would ever end her marriage for me.  I love her and I wanted to see her.  And we had been talking of our future together.  So I told her that I would do anything for her and keeping her husband happy was part of the deal, so I agreed that she and her husband should have sex if he wanted to.  

Sex is this thing that most people don't understand.  Really.  It is not about orgasms.  It is not about being naked together; it is about binding your lives together emotionally.  The orgasm is almost the ultimate form of pleasure for women, maybe men too.  But it binds the man and the woman together it forges a bond.  It creates the feelings of love.  Natural20 and I bonded over sex, me wanting her more than anything more than anything else; making her feel wanted.  I was afraid that her husband wanting her would mean that it would becoming to an end.  I mean if I slept beside her every night, I would have sex with her if not every morning and evening, than one out of two.  It really knocked me back.  I was afraid that she and her husband having sex together was the end of us.   I did not mean on the spot but the end of us in the longterm. 

My entire week I was down and upset.  I was considering preparing for the worst and looking back at OkCupid again.  Except I was too busy for dates and really, it has taken over a year to commit to Natural20 as much as I had and I was not living in the ideal location to date more women.  LittleSmoke is even worse than Smallville, because you are just twenty kilometers too far for most people to date you.  And.  And.  And, I did not want to.  Becuase I love her.  I don't want anyone else.

So as she was supposed to come and see me, I was finding the I was withdrawing.  And I was ambivalent about seeing her.  I loved her but I dis not want to be hurt by her when she told me that she did not need to see me anymore.  And then it would have become a self for filling prophesy; if I ignored her and she had sex with her husband more than me, it would happen.  And what could he do that I could not do?  He can cum.  He can orgasm without fail.  I can't.  I know that is something that she wants.  As WiseWomanOnTheMountain said, an orgasm from a boyfriend is proof that you enjoy your time with your mate, no orgasm suggests otherwise.  Which is funny, because she is the one that put it into my head that orgasms are bad, whine using the Rythumn Method.  She told me that she used the Rythumn Method only during her love affair with her husband and had four children.  So, I have not had an orgasm with her in over a year.  I have not showed her that I really enjoy sex with her, she just has to take my word for it.  And my actions.  

So I was bummed out.  I did not want to see her, but I did really want to see her; I had been looking forward to her visit all week.  I saw her walking to visit me.  I realized how much I wanted her and how much I loved her.  Despite everything.  We were going to make dinner and eat and chat and maybe make love.  But the kitchen was full and so we went directly to my room.  And I decided to show her exactly how much I love her. I decided that Everytime she told me that she was hungry I would make love to her until she was no longer hungry.  Any smart man knows that a woman who is hungry, is a woman that you should feed; to fail can be dangerous, but I realized that I can do something her husband can't, I can can show her exactly how much I want her.  I can show her more often and longer.  I know what I need to do, I need to orgasm, but I also just have to show her strongly and persistently.  I drove away her hunger three times over three hours.  I just need to let her know how much she means to me and I can't retreat.  She is not MPTR, she is Natural20.

I just can't for get that, she is my Turkey Princess.

Exalted: Summer planning session

End is nigh

Maybe not.  Three players left this week, one I forced out, Jag if you are watching.    I have to plan adventures now because I am so busy.  Yesterday I worked 12 hours, 8-8 alone.  I had help for an hour while I got tools and loaded equipment, literally, I got tools and loaded equipment.  And then he said they were tired and left.

Such is work.

Next game Nameless may make an appearance.  

Here area the players:

The Practitioner: Solar Circle Sorcerer, with the gift of Brigit.  Essentially he can cast any spell in existence and can make any other he desires.  That is it, but it is enough

Vael/Messenger Night/Day caste the story driver.  His redemption quest drives the story.  The result will change everything forever.  Power of invisibility and can get into anywhere.

The Nameless Wolf the first Character in this series, night Caste Archer/sniper focused on destroying the Black Sun and restoring the Shadowlands.

Leaf, Zenith Caste, longtime friend, very little direction.  Wants to be a scholar and start an acting school but are these things important in the face of destruction of the world?

Deepwater Siaka PC/NPC the heavy hitting character in the mix can obliterate armies, but has social potential, but not now.

NPC Stalking Jaguar, holds all the key information for Vael's Redemption Quest, can negotiate with heaven directly.  

NPC Nix, wealth asset management, legendary resources

A bunch of other NPCs like Ayelet, Vars, Ayed, Yaage, Blazing Ashes, and others.  

Nameless and The Practitioner both want to end the menace in the North.  Messenger does too and wants to be human again.  So it is clear that what they need to do. But they are not powerful enough to take on the Black Sun directly. Their best option is to seek allies.  They won't seek out other Deathlords, so thier options are the very gods themselves.  This might mean Whitewall or Yu-Shan. Soon Whitewall will be in danger.  They might go after Messenger's Celestial Monstrance and try to examine it.  They may need more than what they have to do that.  They will have to contact people that have superior knowledge.  Who would that be?

The best option would be Autochthon, but he has been missing for millennia, then Gaia, following that a greater good, but the Unconquered Sun is absent, the Maidens are aligned away from Solars, Lytek might be able to help, or point to someone who could.  

A trip to Whitewall.  They might chose to head to Whitewall, in this case they would encounter a strange site, the Holy Road, providing lights, warmth and protection from Creatures of Darkness waning.  If they do travel along it, it will be for the last time.  During the time there in Whitewall, maybe during an audience with the Syndics, the joint project of the Black Sun and Amber Spider with Adorjan will be completed and the Holy Road will fail, only for a bit, but the bit will be enough as the road will fail for a minute, then an hour then it will collapse all at once.  The road's failure means that it won't slip into the Shadow land right away but that it will quickly fail.  And this Winter it will likely fall, the fields attacked at harvest and the walls soon after.  The most important City in the North falling, the Black Sun will reveal itself… well not likely, Marama or the Thrice Damned Ichaban, or a Deathknight.  Or someone called the Fourth Syndic.

All the while the players nickel and Dime the shadowlands from the south.  They will fight the expendable Deathknights and the Envoy's of the other Northern DeathLords.  Wallport is in jeopardy too.  

In the north the survivors of the Tepet Legions and the freelance Dragon Blooded still infiltrate the region, as are the marauding units of dead looking to kill and attack mortals and dragon-blooded alike.  They move in units of 25 and 50. 

The Locusts.  Their are five sites of emergence.  The South near An-Teng, the East south of Farhold, the West on Abalone, the Earth near on the Western Slope and the North near where the PCs are, where ever that is.  

In Creation, in the North, the Black Sun has not revealed himself to the world.  The Death Lords have looked down on him and dismissed him from the start when he was their messenger and so they don't know where he has landed.  Lost of his memories, he lacked purpose, his regaining of his purpose was gradual and something he kept secret.  The other 12 still summon him and they still treat him poorly.  They have dismissed him.  They have looked at the Fell with unguarded desire, though.  The only reason why they have not pounced is that it was ruled by powerful ghosts that defied them, empowered by Solar Circle spells.  Now that the master is back home and ensconced and the Shadowland is expanding, they are even more intrigued.  The war with Tepet Legions was hidden within cats paws and everyone has been fooled, except the Solars.  The Realm is convinced that the Anathema are using Undead troops and the information has been kept a close secret to avoid mass panic.  The expansion in the underworld has been unexpected, but the Death lords see it as a side effect of the intensity of the battles with Tepet Legions and the Solars—the Black Sun has been keeping his evolvement tightly secure. When appearances have been necessary he has used the appearance of the Thrice Damned Ichiban as his own.  More than once has allowed spies from other Death lords to see this for themselves at great cost.  The effect is that they other Death lords are oblivious.  

So when the party encounters a strong force of undead coming to the Shadowland, ten Death Knights: three Dusk, one Midnight, two Twilight, one Eclipse and three Day caste.  The force is designed to penetrate the depths of the Shadowland and find the leader and negotiate with them.  The forces also include a full legion of elite war ghosts.  The mission is meant to start negotiations for joint control of the Shadowland with the Lover Clad in Raiment of Tears.  Ten Death Knights represent a major commitment for her. And the War Ghosts too.  They carry a monstrance in their cargo.  The Laver believes that an alliance with the forces of Marama's Fell are worth at least one Death Knight.  The force will be making a lot of noise, it will be travelling slowly and not being offensive and not trying to draw attention to itself.  There will be Day Caste scouts and the leader will be the Midnight Caste but the three Dusk Caste controlling the army. The Zenith will have Emerald and Labyrinth Circle.  One of the Twilight will have Void Circle, the other expertise in crafting undead things.  

Brief interview session with the Nameless let me know what he is looking for in the game and the direction he is looking to take.  He says he wants to broker a peace treaty with the dragon Blooded of the Realm.  The war is sending each battlefield into the Underworld and this must stop.  He wants to broker an end to hostilities with the Bronze Faction of the Sidereals.  He wants a change of focus onto the entirely new and real threat and the real threat to Creation, the Deathlords and The Black Sun in particular.  

The Sidereal Bronze Faction is Skeptical to say the least.  Their flaw of only being able to predict what happens in Creation and with blinders to what happens outside of Creation means they do not really understand what is happening with the Death Lords and they are more willing to blame the enemy they know.  What they know is that before the fall of Thorns there was a circle of Solars working there just before the fall and that Mask of Winters has two or three circles of 'Solar Exalted' working for him.  They also know that the Solars employed the undead in half of all their engagements and conquered half of Amber River and Serrat with these forces also threaten Wallport even now.  They point out that often an attack on a military force was two pronged, a force of Solar Tiger Warriors scattering troops and raving bands of undead picking off the routed survivors.  This last tid bit is news to the group.

Luckily, the Solars have a couple of aces that the Bronze faction is not aware of.  The first is Vael.  A living breathing corrupted Solar with first hand information on a Death Lord.  The second hopefully is they will have a captured monstrance and that will be something most damning of the idea that the Solars have done all this.  The last piece of information is that the Solars are brokering the piece deal.  This is actually the weakest because the Sidereal do not believe that Solars are not controlling the undead yet.  The Immaculate Order, effectively an arm of the Sidereal Bronze Faction will not believe that Solars can be trusted, especially when they discover that Yaage, trusted aide, was Solar Exalted.

Tepet Arada is willing to talk.  The pasting that he received on the field and that his forces have almost been destroyed completely.  He does request that he is able to recover his Ancestral Sword.   Tepet Arata has the feeling that he was played into this situation and he is feeling that he was pushed into this position that he is now in; disgrace.  He went into this looking for another feather for his long career, but instead he was handed a fall.  The lone anathema that he hunted in the past with few resources was now organized and efficient with well trained troops.  In the past, he hunted them down relentlessly and whittled down their defenses, this time they were waiting for him and it was a trap.  Moreover, the one time he did engage his the enemy he had the overwhelming numbers and he still lost decisively.  Tepet Arada has been humbled.  When he finds out at the plans from the get go were exposed by a spy in their midst, a solar posing as an immaculate monk; he is less angered and more humbled that the best could not even see the it.  

House Tepet is not aligned with the Slave States in any way, which is one of the reasons they were sent there in e first place.  If Arada openly declares a truce with the Anathema, his house will lose a lot of good will.  The politics of the Realm will melt down even further.   

House V'Neef

The house may split and break apart.  The house is not any way of a contender for control of the Realm being the youngest so the elders of the house may decide to strike a deal with the Anathema, however, most will not.  This is because they are the youngest they have a lot to lose and they may lose the merchant marine control to house Peleps

House Tepet

Three lines of the house were nearly destroyed in the last few months in the legions.  These houses lost over half their strength, twelve thousand dragon-blooded. With only about eight thousand remaining of their experienced troops.  They have another twenty thousand Dragon Blooded but they are the very youngest and have practically no experience leading.  Moreover, the lion share of their mortal troops have been killed so this is moot.  They have been toying with the idea of deploying full dragon-blooded legions, but only now has this been considered possible as the numbers of experienced officers were committed to the regular legions.  48000 mortals were killed in the recent actions.  Resupplying these troops are what is holding back this house.  They are currently suffering from an inability to see a dragon blooded as holding the lowest levels in an army.

House Sesus

Deeply connected with the Realm, House Sesus will not ally with the Anathema at first, as the situation changes with the world.

House Ragara

The banking house for the Realm, they will not join up with the Anathema as they will lose everything.  

House Peleps 

In charge of the Navy and they have not suffered the degree of loss that Tepet has suffered and they will not change sides or consider it.

House Nellens

A house of mortals and a house that is at odds with the rest but they will not put themselves at odds with the rest of the houses in the Realm easily.  They will secretly look into what ever they can get though.

House Mnemon

The early leader for control of the Realm, Mnemon has Creation at the Heart of her policies, with the Realm leading of course.  In canon she did not so much as ally with the Deathlords as investigate them thoroughly and investigate where the Empress truly went.  She may turn to the Solar Anathema for that reason alone.

House Ledaal

The Catala branch has spent centuries investigating Shadowlands and they will be quick to find support, for people doing something similar, but they will not support the Anathema in this desire as they believe in the Realm.  They are concerned first about the spiritual and the health of the realm but not to the economics nor the strength.  If they solve the Deathlord problem and the Shadowland problem. They would see the Solars as the next greatest threat, unless something else should pop up that was worse.

House Cynis

Closely linked to the Slave trade, this house will not profit from a close association with the Solar Anathema.  If there is any advantage it would be minor

House Cathak

As the other major player in the Realm military left, they would be against any alliance with the anathema.  The honour that exudes from house Cathak on the other hand would make that alliance a greater possibility if the Solars could prove that honourable nature.  However, the weight of evidence is against them.

If the Solars want an alliance against the Deathlords it would be hard fought and it would not succeed, but they would get some support from the Realm Great Houses, but the support would be limited, but it might be enough.  Among all the Great Houses there exists a numbers problem.  Most of each hose is composed of newly exalted and recently exalted members with no artifacts and no power.  Half of the Dragon Blooded in the realm is under one hundred years old and the largest chunk of those under fifty years old. The rest that holds power and prestige is between 100-400 years old.  Weakest quarter of the population is between 20-50 years old and that comprises about 250k exalted members.  They have no hopes at gaining power and prestige at all in their life.  If the Solars can convince a small portion of those to join their cause they will have a much higher chance at success.  At least until the Empress returns and uses her ancestry charms to assert loyalty.  

Fifteen of the Cult Solars have Tiger Warrior Training and a few of those have the more advanced form, a few of the Solars have Legendary Solar Curriculum and the more advanced form.  This means that in five weeks 7-9 thousand Exalted Tiger Warriors could be made and put into the field with Solar Commanders.  In the space of a year that would mean about 100k troops trained.  And that only if they were creating basic level troops.  A twelve week program would create about 40k crack troops that could fight the worst fights, but turn those Dragon Blooded into experience indebted soldiers with out individuality.  On the other hand tough times means hard decisions.

 

Khadr's Millions

Hey Omar Khadr got a 10 million dollar settlement because the Canadian government violated his rights and freedoms.  Well duh.  Because his rights and freedoms were violated.  They were violated for most of his teenage and early twenties life.  They were violated by his parents, the Government of Afghanistan, the Government of the United States and by the Canadian Government.  

How were they violated?

Omar Khadr was born in Canada, this makes him by default a Canadian citizen.  His father took him to His native Afghanistan and enlisted him in the army at the age of 13 or 14, making him a Child Soldier.  A child soldiers are essentially internationally illegal, because most countries thought that it should be so, including the United States and Canada.  In 2001 the Afghanistan government perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States dubbed 9/11 after dated that it took place.  Later that year, the United States invaded Afghanistan and there was an attack where 14 year old Khadr was stationed.   In the attack the American soldiers overwhelmed all the soldiers and shot Omar in the back and he dropped a hand grenade that subsequently killed an American Medic.  For that the Americans packed him up and shipped him to their military base in Cuba where they treated his injuries and then tortured a confession of terrorism out of him and then put him on trial.  He was found guilty on the basis of his confession and a plea deal allowing him to spend half of his sentence in prison in Canada.

First he was a child soldier.  He was a equal to a grade nine student when he joined the Army.  In Canada he would have been in high school when he attacked and killed the medic.  The Americans might paint him as an evil terrorist that was involved in the planning of 9/11, because lets be real, that was the only terrorist attack in 2001 and he was charged as a terrorist.  Maybe they said that he maliciously targeted the Medic with one of those grenades that sticks to the person you throw it on like in those video games all 14 year olds play.  After being shot in the back.  Maybe the Americans shouted out that they were coming in peace and not to shoot at them, they were coming to free them.  I am sure that only person to die in that attack was the medic, no afghan soldiers died that day.  I mean that would be the difference between an armed assault on a military base and a terrorist attack.  

Terrorists are people who attack civilian targets.  They attack unarmed targets.  They seek to cause terror by killing or hurting the a lot of people quickly.  Mostly they kill themselves in the process but generally they get killed performing the attack.  They try to kill, but the killing is really secondary to the insecurity that the attack spreads through the community.  This is the goal of terrorism.  The result of the 9/11 terror attacks was that people avoided flying.  More people died in additional car accidents than died in the attacks.  More American soldiers died attacking Afghanistan than died in the attacks.  Americans felt insecure in the world and felt that people were generally against them as a result of the terror attacks.  And the American response to the 9/11 terror attacks inspired more terror attacks than the number of people that died in those attacks.  Americans attacking Afghanistan and Iraq essentially destabilized the region for decades to come.

Omar Khadr dropped a grenade in response to the American attack on the compound. I say dropped because he was injured; he had been shot in the back. This suggests that he had been trying to get away.  Hand grenades are not a targeted effect weapon; they explode and injure everyone in range.  The medic died, that is too bad, but it was in the job description when they invaded the country.  Throwing a hand grenade suggests desperation rather than calculated intent.    

I am suggesting that he was not a terrorist.  He was a child soldier and he was being attacked by American soldiers who had just shot him, unless it was a self inflicted injury?

He was shipped to Cuba, to an American base there, because if he was shipped to American soil, he would have rights.  In Cuba he had none.  It is like he was still in transit.  And they tortured him.  And there were other foreign nationals staying there with Omar.  There were Australians and British people and many others, but their governments called the Americans and asked them to release their citizens and they were released and sent back to their country and tried or not tried for anything.  But the Canadian government, first with the Liberals and then the Conservative leadership, did nothing.  They knew that the Americans were torturing Omar and they chose to let it happen.  The confession acquired from the torture was the evidence they used to convict him along with the testament of the medic's coworkers.  Do you think that Omar's coworkers were allowed to testify on his behalf?  Do you think that a casualty list of the battle was read into the court trial about how many of Omar's colleagues were killed that day?  My point is that it was all one sided and there was a plea bargain involved where he accepted a lesser charge to avoid more torture and solitary confinement.  

He gat a settlement.  It was not the first or the only settlement from the Canadian government from this time period.  Other Canadians were detained in Syria and tortured on our government's behalf, even asked questions that the RCMP supplied to the torturers.  But theses cases were short and they were all returned to Canada quickly, you know after a year or two.  Omar Khadr spent his teenage years and most of his twenties in prison being tortured and in solitary confinement, arguably torture, with the full knowledge of the Canadian government.  

Ten million dollars is probably too little, because ten million is pocket change for this country.  The fine should be punitive, it should reflect the seriousness of the breach.  They trampled on his unalienable rights granted to him as a citizen.  The Americans should pay as well, because they imprisoned a Child Soldier and charged him with terrorism when by that logic they should have charged every POW they ever captured, before or since, with Terrorism.  Also, the American government did not declare war on Afghanistan.  They had provocation, but they should have declared war anyways.  The last time they declared war was in World War II.  Think about that.  If America feels that they can just invade a country, and all the West follows suit, are we the terrorists?

My real point is that a punitive settlement should actually hurt the party that did the damage.  If a country is not forced into major discomfort for violating a persons rights, they may feel that it is something they could do when ever they feel there ideals are only worth the paper they are written on.  10 million is worth a debate in the media, but it will not hurt anyone.  10 million out of the Liberal and Conservative Parties campaign budgets on the other hand.  10 million doesn't impact the Canadian government at all.  100million would impact the Canadian Military a tiny bit, but the impact would be on all of the people of Canada mostly.  Ten million split 4:1 from the party re-election funds would send a message to all political parties about running over people's human rights and the rights of Canadians.