Nick has made numerous posts where he's mentioned, "Okay, I need to tell you guys what happened." And he never tells you.
There is a reason for this. After and during World War I, there was a vast influx of great literature and poetry as soldiers tried to comprehend the madness of what they believed to be the last Great War in history. Art was the method for many to cope with things as they happened.
After World War II, it was many years before anyone wrote about their experiences in poetry or in fiction. I'm probably wrong about this, but I remember an English professor telling me about this at one point. His theory was that there were things in World War II so terrible, that trying to describe them was impossible for the people who lived through them. At that time, anyway. Some years later, they would write about it?
This is not a great metaphor. I just can't be sure about that fact. I'm pretty sure it's true though. In any case, Nick can't tell you this story, because it would kill him to do so. So while he's occupied, I will try and tell it.
At the point where Nick last left you all, I had recently intervened on his behalf against Rogue Nemesis. And then Rogue Wizard made the foolish error of letting Usurper out.
I've said my piece on what Nick is now. And on what he became. But he wasn't some kind of legendary destroyer at this point in his career. He was a tired, lonely little man trying desperately not to die. And I very much wanted him to survive.
To segue into my own past for a moment, I want you to consider the option of being born in a hole. From day one, in this underground bunker, you are told you must fight. Battle is your purpose, war is your domain, and you will fight to the death when you are told. This was not in some third world country. This was in the American Midwest. For as long as there have been people flinging their minds into the aether for understanding, there've been Demons there to manipulate them. I had been reincarnated in this place, and my duty was clear: ensure that the coming demon invasion during the 2003-2004 period would be a complete success. All throughout this time though, I have another pressing memory. I had lost an eye you see, once long ago. And I could remember the man who took it. I knew somehow that I would see him again, and I would sometimes tell the story of the swordsman who took it to the others. I wasn't the only one who'd incarnated with this group of people, but for the most part, they were a bunch of ordinary people who wanted to grasp for power. They did not understand why I wanted to find this one person so much. But my fellows who'd remembered their past life beyond our world understood completely.
To remember the Other Side of the Veil so fully is to remember a place that feels like perfect freedom. And to relive the past with an old enemy like that...there's nothing like it. Not even sex compares. Except maybe sex you've had with someone who'd been in one of those lives. The matched euphoria of a wonderful memory in the past matched with the euphoria of the present. It's a tickling sensation of Deja Vu and wondrous pleasure that I can't really describe.
Of course, the older people who'd incarnated here would tell you that you need to get beyond such memories and live your life in the present. They're right. But no such older, wiser people were with us in that bunker built by ancient and mad survivalists who'd found the path of the demon appealing.
When I felt "Nick's" presence as his mind found our war, I had to find him. So I projected to his nearest possible location. What I found was depressing. I had lived for projection and the unearthing of ancient secrets. "Nick Dwyer" had lived for video games and dreams. I had lived for War. He had lived for silliness. Had we done battle then it would not have been even close to fulfilling. It would have been like crushing a child. I was driven by my emotion back then, not by my reason. Reason would be something I would understand later.
And thus, I have explained why I saved him when I did. It was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made, when I think back on it. It had been made for all the wrong reasons, but what can you do?
And now you're wondering: Usurper WAS who "Nick" was in his most recent lifetime. Why didn't I just attack after "Nick" let him out of his cage? I'll explain THAT after my next post.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
We Were Bastards
The title says it all. We were a bunch of vicious bastards when it came to fighting. At the end of my last post, in the comments, I described one of the terrifying creatures that we captured and domesticated for our use.
During our first campaign against the Higher Planes and the Astral Plane of Earth, when we encountered our enemy's superior force, we unleashed all of those creatures I described, (We will refer to them as Shock Weapon A,) at the exact same time. All of them. Some were deployed much as you would deploy a landmine, others from the air, and some were just launched forward into their ranks. Enemy casualties were light, and we lost almost all of our Shock Weapon A's, but having never encountered us before and suddenly seeing a number of female troopers and officers ....well, you know. So after that battle, the Higher Planes reorganized to meet us with all of their female troopers and officers away from the front lines. Now, the reason this is important, is because Higher Planes armies tend to go for a utopian ideal of equality whenever they can, which means that the gender ratio is about 50/50. They basically rerouted about half their force away from us.
It was very stupid of them. In a massed army formation, Shock Weapon A is effectively useless as it can be easily overwhelmed. Attempts to implant its eggs in others end up being almost worthless, as it basically has to blind fire a very specific tentacle and hope to whatever it's mindlessness hopes for that it hit a female target in the right place before it dies. And AFTER it hits, any one of their medics could easily remove the Shock Weapon A spawn if they had their brains screwed on right. But the image of someone having that THING explode out of some woman's body was trapped into their minds. This was good terror. We'd changed their line of battle completely without ever losing a useful asset.
Because then, we attacked them with the entirety of our stock of Shock Weapon B. Shock Weapon B was a small, eel like creature that specifically targeted men. Specifically, it would go through a man's urethra for the massive protein creating stores inside their testicles. When it was done eating its way through, it would go through the target's body and out the nearest orifice to either find it's next victim, or go home if it was full. And keep in mind, their entire front line at this point was made of male troopers. And all of this was happening at the same time that we performed a conventional assault.
They beat us in the end. They even found spells that made them invisible to Shock Weapon A and B. But they couldn't destroy us, and they learned very quickly to respect our power. As I mentioned, we were complete bastards.
So how DID I end up as a human alive on Earth? The same way Nick did. He hasn't really talked about all of this, or if he did he spent a lot of time glossing it over.
One of the major criticisms of the concept of reincarnation that I have heard is the idea that if we all constantly reincarnate after death, with the sheer dramatic increase in the amount of humans and other life forms on earth, there's no way that you could make up the difference in the amount of souls. Too many "new" souls have come into play for a wide variety of souls constantly reincarnating to make sense. What I would say to them is that they fail to take into account the possibility that souls from OTHER places than Earth might jump back and forth. This is the reason that groups pop up with memories from other places, times, and worlds.
Before the 2002-2004 conflict that Nick and I were involved in, both sides determined that they needed an edge. Having people bound to the earthly plane of existence, and thus having a direct plug into the natural energy of the planet, and thus having a lot more firepower that they could deploy on the astral plane...seemed like a damn good idea. And it was. It was this decision that decided the way the war would end for both sides.
Nick is the Outlier. Most people from other worlds who reincarnated on earth did not become Shamans. They became Sorcerers, or other mystics whose sole desire was to garner power for themselves. They remembered the sheer amount of cosmic FORCE they could unleash in other worlds, and feel constrained by how little they can unleash in this one. I myself, am best described as a Mystic whose chief vocation is Sorcery. The majority of us are grasping for what we used to be. What we wish we could be again. We want to break free of this earthly shell called a "Body" and shake the pillars of heaven with our might.
Based on the notes that Nick left behind, I'd say that this lust for power is the majority of the reason we are where we are now.
The reason I'm saying all of this, is because while I previously believed that us Demons were the Lord and Lady Godking and Godqueens of Bastard/Bitch Conduct...reading Nick's notes has forced me to consider handing the crown to someone else.
We were bastards. They are worse.
During our first campaign against the Higher Planes and the Astral Plane of Earth, when we encountered our enemy's superior force, we unleashed all of those creatures I described, (We will refer to them as Shock Weapon A,) at the exact same time. All of them. Some were deployed much as you would deploy a landmine, others from the air, and some were just launched forward into their ranks. Enemy casualties were light, and we lost almost all of our Shock Weapon A's, but having never encountered us before and suddenly seeing a number of female troopers and officers ....well, you know. So after that battle, the Higher Planes reorganized to meet us with all of their female troopers and officers away from the front lines. Now, the reason this is important, is because Higher Planes armies tend to go for a utopian ideal of equality whenever they can, which means that the gender ratio is about 50/50. They basically rerouted about half their force away from us.
It was very stupid of them. In a massed army formation, Shock Weapon A is effectively useless as it can be easily overwhelmed. Attempts to implant its eggs in others end up being almost worthless, as it basically has to blind fire a very specific tentacle and hope to whatever it's mindlessness hopes for that it hit a female target in the right place before it dies. And AFTER it hits, any one of their medics could easily remove the Shock Weapon A spawn if they had their brains screwed on right. But the image of someone having that THING explode out of some woman's body was trapped into their minds. This was good terror. We'd changed their line of battle completely without ever losing a useful asset.
Because then, we attacked them with the entirety of our stock of Shock Weapon B. Shock Weapon B was a small, eel like creature that specifically targeted men. Specifically, it would go through a man's urethra for the massive protein creating stores inside their testicles. When it was done eating its way through, it would go through the target's body and out the nearest orifice to either find it's next victim, or go home if it was full. And keep in mind, their entire front line at this point was made of male troopers. And all of this was happening at the same time that we performed a conventional assault.
They beat us in the end. They even found spells that made them invisible to Shock Weapon A and B. But they couldn't destroy us, and they learned very quickly to respect our power. As I mentioned, we were complete bastards.
So how DID I end up as a human alive on Earth? The same way Nick did. He hasn't really talked about all of this, or if he did he spent a lot of time glossing it over.
One of the major criticisms of the concept of reincarnation that I have heard is the idea that if we all constantly reincarnate after death, with the sheer dramatic increase in the amount of humans and other life forms on earth, there's no way that you could make up the difference in the amount of souls. Too many "new" souls have come into play for a wide variety of souls constantly reincarnating to make sense. What I would say to them is that they fail to take into account the possibility that souls from OTHER places than Earth might jump back and forth. This is the reason that groups pop up with memories from other places, times, and worlds.
Before the 2002-2004 conflict that Nick and I were involved in, both sides determined that they needed an edge. Having people bound to the earthly plane of existence, and thus having a direct plug into the natural energy of the planet, and thus having a lot more firepower that they could deploy on the astral plane...seemed like a damn good idea. And it was. It was this decision that decided the way the war would end for both sides.
Nick is the Outlier. Most people from other worlds who reincarnated on earth did not become Shamans. They became Sorcerers, or other mystics whose sole desire was to garner power for themselves. They remembered the sheer amount of cosmic FORCE they could unleash in other worlds, and feel constrained by how little they can unleash in this one. I myself, am best described as a Mystic whose chief vocation is Sorcery. The majority of us are grasping for what we used to be. What we wish we could be again. We want to break free of this earthly shell called a "Body" and shake the pillars of heaven with our might.
Based on the notes that Nick left behind, I'd say that this lust for power is the majority of the reason we are where we are now.
The reason I'm saying all of this, is because while I previously believed that us Demons were the Lord and Lady Godking and Godqueens of Bastard/Bitch Conduct...reading Nick's notes has forced me to consider handing the crown to someone else.
We were bastards. They are worse.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Who Am I?
I want you to disregard everything you think you know about the world for a moment. Imagine a world that exists alongside, possibly above and below, but mostly parallel to this one. Forget what you learned in the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) for a moment, and briefly ignore everything that modern science tells you. Except maybe String Theories. Those might help you.
I suppose the point I'm trying to get across is that this isn't about religion. You'll find your share of old men in robes spouting dogma, but religion doesn't cover it. This isn't about science and the people who think that everything can be quantified, proven, and tested with one hundred percent accuracy, although you'll find people who'll say that there are universal concepts you can get behind. This is about Magic. I'm not some goth chick who'll throw a "K" at the end of it to make it sound more mystical and dignified. There are hard and fast rules, but for the most part it's a crazy cosmic turkey-shoot of give and take and hit and run. Not necessarily in that order, but lets cut the pseudo-philosophical bullshit, shall we?
My story begins in deepest pits of hell. Not fire and brimstone, goat-men with pointy horns hell mind you, I mean an actual cosmic location that exists alongside the religious hell we all believe in. At the end of the day, the hell of religion is something that exists because all of us believe it exists. The hell I'm from exists because we fucking live there, and there's nothing metaphorical about it. It was somewhere in the great scheme of dimensions below the planet Earth, and a little to the south.
Some of the greatest warriors in history came from places where it should be impossible to survive. The Mongol Hordes came from a place in Mongolia where the ice consumed them from the moment they were born, and lived on horseback until the moment they died. They took over half the planet because at the end of the day, you can only live on nothing for so long before you'd kill to have SOMETHING.
And so it was with my people. We lived in a barren wasteland, where crops barely grew and there were monsters that would laugh if you shot them. How does anything survive in a place like that? I wonder sometimes. What I know for certain is that reality was not nearly so rigid as it is in this world. Magic flowed freely, and survival comes easier if you can flash fry something with your mind. There were never a lot of us, but the ones that survived were warriors beyond compare. We were versed in magic and the fighting arts, and the beasts of our world became our tools and weapons. We were what Nick has referred to throughout as "Demons."
People think of "Ivan the Terrible", the Russian Czar and conqueror whose alternating madness and genius transformed that nation into a force to be reckoned with, and they don't realize that "Terrible" is a bad translation into English. The proper translation is "Ivan the Awesome." Awesome is a much misused term in our day and age. It means to be filled with Great Awe at something. Awe relates to being overwhelmed with emotion, positively or negatively. This is why they mistranslated him as being Ivan the Terrible. English-speaking scholars from beyond Russia only remember his evil, but none of his good. They forget that often, old Ivan was quite Amazing.
I was a demon. And I was awesome.
Any questions? Because I'd like to move on and talk about how I ended up on earth as a human when I can.
I suppose the point I'm trying to get across is that this isn't about religion. You'll find your share of old men in robes spouting dogma, but religion doesn't cover it. This isn't about science and the people who think that everything can be quantified, proven, and tested with one hundred percent accuracy, although you'll find people who'll say that there are universal concepts you can get behind. This is about Magic. I'm not some goth chick who'll throw a "K" at the end of it to make it sound more mystical and dignified. There are hard and fast rules, but for the most part it's a crazy cosmic turkey-shoot of give and take and hit and run. Not necessarily in that order, but lets cut the pseudo-philosophical bullshit, shall we?
My story begins in deepest pits of hell. Not fire and brimstone, goat-men with pointy horns hell mind you, I mean an actual cosmic location that exists alongside the religious hell we all believe in. At the end of the day, the hell of religion is something that exists because all of us believe it exists. The hell I'm from exists because we fucking live there, and there's nothing metaphorical about it. It was somewhere in the great scheme of dimensions below the planet Earth, and a little to the south.
Some of the greatest warriors in history came from places where it should be impossible to survive. The Mongol Hordes came from a place in Mongolia where the ice consumed them from the moment they were born, and lived on horseback until the moment they died. They took over half the planet because at the end of the day, you can only live on nothing for so long before you'd kill to have SOMETHING.
And so it was with my people. We lived in a barren wasteland, where crops barely grew and there were monsters that would laugh if you shot them. How does anything survive in a place like that? I wonder sometimes. What I know for certain is that reality was not nearly so rigid as it is in this world. Magic flowed freely, and survival comes easier if you can flash fry something with your mind. There were never a lot of us, but the ones that survived were warriors beyond compare. We were versed in magic and the fighting arts, and the beasts of our world became our tools and weapons. We were what Nick has referred to throughout as "Demons."
People think of "Ivan the Terrible", the Russian Czar and conqueror whose alternating madness and genius transformed that nation into a force to be reckoned with, and they don't realize that "Terrible" is a bad translation into English. The proper translation is "Ivan the Awesome." Awesome is a much misused term in our day and age. It means to be filled with Great Awe at something. Awe relates to being overwhelmed with emotion, positively or negatively. This is why they mistranslated him as being Ivan the Terrible. English-speaking scholars from beyond Russia only remember his evil, but none of his good. They forget that often, old Ivan was quite Amazing.
I was a demon. And I was awesome.
Any questions? Because I'd like to move on and talk about how I ended up on earth as a human when I can.
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