Tales from Cucuzadeh, Part I

As told to this humble bele by Ciallmhar Prestarnir.

If you treat your horse poorly, your horse can drown you, but if you treat your horse well, then you will be blessed with many horses.

This tale dates back to the times when a horse was the difference between life and death. Horses were a sign of wealth, prestige, and honor.

Once many years ago, there were two brothers, Yowann and Xurxo. Xurxo was kind and generous, while Yowann was lazy and greedy.

When their father gave the brothers their first horses. Yowann paraded around on his horse in front of all of his friends, collecting compliments. Xurxo fed his horse, named his horse (Ruta), talked to Ruta, groomed Ruta, made a small shelter for Ruta. That night when the boys went to bed, Yowann tied his horse, (which he still had not feed or named) to a small bush, while Xurxo, put Ruta in his shelter, talked to him, comforted him, before falling asleep.

In the morning Yowann’s horse was gone, while Ruta was in his shelter. So Yowann, angry at his horse, went stalking about to find him. Yowann found his horse frolicking in a bend in the great river. In a fury, Yowann charged out to grab his horse, but his horse deftly danced away. Again and again Yowann grabbed at his horse and again and again, his horse moved away just out of reach, this went on and on all day. As darkness crept up, Yowann was exhausted, in vain final effort he lunged at his horse, and once again his horse easily moved just out of reach.

This time Yowann realized he made a mistake, the water was deep, and fast moving, exhausted Yowann was swept away to his just rewards. Xurxo and Ruta searched for many days and nights for his brother Yowann, sadly to no avail.

Ruta and Xurxo were inseparable. Ruta gave Xurxo many fine steeds, and Xurxo treated all of his herd with great kindness and respect, as Xurxo did all living beings. When Xurxo became chief of this people, he continued to act with great honor, bringing about a golden age for his people.

As I Sit,…She’ll Never Tell.

As I sit here, I see the tendrils of chaos slowly creeping about, here and there, slowly consuming everything and everyone. Where will it end, only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, I feel the need to do something, anything. But nothing seems to matter, nothing seems to make a difference. What can I do, only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, tension rising, anxiety building. The desire to know, to do something, to feel something, but what, when, how. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, exhaustion overtaking me, my mind weary, my body weak, I feel my self slipping away, is this good, is this bad. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, darkness surrounding me, the dark flames of chaos, the cold grip of fear and uncertainty. I want to hide. I want to run. What to do. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, on this pyre of broken dreams and lost promises. The cold icy grasping hands of chaos tear at me, pulling me here and there. What will happen, what will be. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, the cold darkness in the distance, getting closer and closer, the hard sound of inevitability ringing in my ears. Is this what I hear. Only she Knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, the songs of lament and despair play on the wind, the drums of war, the pipes of death, the dirges. Should I cover my ears, should I raise my voice in joy. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

As I sit here, on a throne built of skulls and bones. Sipping the mead of spring’s honey, gnawing on summer’s fat bounty. Enjoying fall’s harvest. Should I worry of winter’s touch. Only she knows, and she’ll never tell.

Morrigan Invocation from Love and Light

When I Met Her

I was exhausted,

I had no where to go,

I was in a big city but I was alone.

I found a park

in a secluded spot I found a tree

I crawled under it and fell asleep

I don’t know how long I was asleep

but she woke me up.

“They won’t let you sleep here.”

“I know a place.”

“Follow me.”

So I did.

We walked a short distance,

to a small entrance,

we had to crawl in

it was dark

but she talked to me,

so I could follow her voice.

she told me

“it would be safe”

“not to be afraid”

so I followed her,

but I was afraid

Finally, I could see some light,

we entered a room that was lit

the ceiling was so low we had to crawl through

we finally came to a hole in the ceiling

we went through it

we emerged into a furnished room

as I entered I saw an old lady in the corner, she was working on a blanket

and sitting at a table laid out with various foods, was a beautiful and regal lady,

the young girl hugged the old lady,

and then kissed the regal lady

before disappearing into the shadows of another room

The regal lady smiled at me, and said

“you can join me for some food”

“or you can take some and go and rest”

I thanked her profusely and grabbed some meat,

entering the room the regal woman had pointed to

I found a huge soft bed, but I continued on

in the room beyond I saw a smaller less soft bed, but I continued on

I continued on

until I found a cot laid out with a thread bare blanket

I grabbed the blanket and crawled into a hole that was in the floor,

I found a corner of this area,

and fell into a deep sleep

I awoke to the young girl’s voice

“wake up, lazy head”

I opened my eyes to her big brown eyes staring back at me

they sat atop a wide toothy grin

instantly I felt a happiness and calmness

The Night Everything Ended

We had been together for a long time, sometimes it seemed really long, other times I felt like I barely knew my husband.  I suppose that is the way it is.  We were sitting on the couch, the dogs were laying in their chairs, all was quiet.  Then suddenly, the door flew off the hinges, it just blasted in, I was terrified.  The dogs were fleeing to us.  In strode three large men, in masks.  I again felt the cold grasp of fear on my heart, I couldn’t move, but I could feel myself shaking uncontrollably.  I thought I felt my husband shaking too.  Oh God, my protector, my rock, my love is scared.  The men moved quickly, surrounding us.  My hubby kept saying in almost in a chant, “just leave, you will ruin everything”, “just leave, You will ruin everything”, “Just leave, You will ruin everything”.  One of the men, slapped me and screamed shut up.  My hubby stopped for a moment, and then in a quick and calm voice said, “Please, good sirs, take your leave, I have worked for so long, and sacrificed so much for all of this, you will ruin it all.  All my sacrifice for nothing, except your avarice.  Please, I beg you, Just leave.”  The men almost in unison laughed, for a second I thought I almost saw a moment of sadness on my husbands face, before the most evil grin swept over his face, suddenly I became even more fearful.  The next words I heard out of my hubby’s mouth were, “I warned you…”  The flash of flesh, blood, light, and dark swept before my eyes, I kept closing my eyes and then forcing them back open, but the only thing I could think of was the screams, those god awful screams, they had to be killing my loving hubby.  When everything finally went quiet, I was too scared to open my eyes, then I felt hands on my shoulders, I screamed, then I heard a voice, as sweet as honey, calm like a gentle breeze, it said, “baby, it’s me”.  I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was my loving husband was covered in blood, I gasped, are you ok?  I screamed.  Yes yes, this is their blood.  That is when I noticed it, my loving husband, was no longer the pudgy 50-year-old that was balding with graying hair, he was the man I married 30  years earlier, svelte, dark brown hair, chiseled cheeks, no crows feet, smooth skin.  I blinked, thinking the stress of the moment was affecting my vision.  but no, here was a vision of my hubby, the man I fell in love with, young, virile, and so powerful.  I coughed out, what happened?  He said in a desperately sad voice, they ruined it all.  I’m sorry.  They ruined it all.  Before I could speak he was gone.

It was the night everything ended.

Pain

Pain is one of those things…

for some it is a simple paper cut

for some…

who have been shot

stabbed

beaten with sticks or stones…

it really hurts

but the most painful of all…

is being left

left alone

no one wants to be deserted

no one wants the love to stop

no one enjoys that pain

please don’t leave me

please don’t hurt me

please

please

PLEASE

I know I don’t deserve your love

but I need it

Please

I need your love

all I can offer you is my

unconditional love

it is my sole gift

I love you

I miss you

please love me

don’t leave me

don’t desert me

what ever I did

I AM SORRY

Please

I LOVE YOU

I NEED YOU

DON’T LEAVE ME

DON’T STOP LOVING ME

 

Quiet Time

The fog makes sounds hang in the air

a light drizzle covers everything in a glisten

a thick blanket coves the sky in a dark gray

no one is around

no birds are singing

the whole feel is ancient

this comforts me

this makes me happy

this makes me feel safe

The Concept of Prestige in Strategic Level Wargames

The concept of prestige in wargaming has long been established to abstractly represent the prestige a country or faction gets when certain objectives are attained, the value of prestige varies greatly amongst the different games including being the sole determiner of victory in some to be completely absent in others.

Perhaps the best use for prestige would be to use it to enhance factors in diplomacy.  As appearances are quite important in diplomatic matters such as treaties, pacts, and agreements of all types.  Once particular concept I would like to see, and the meat of this meandering missive, is gaining different amounts of prestige for the same action in regards to different political blocs, and a country could be part of multiple blocs.  The blocs would be countries and/or factions that share Geopolitical, economic, regional, religious, ethnic, historical, and linguistic ties.

This would help the ai to simulate political scenarios better.

The End of AeroMaly Flight 3702 (draft)

The following story is purely fictional (albeit loosely based on a real event).

As the aircraft leveled off, the captain felt a tremor in his hand, he knew that was par for the course, the doctor had told him, they would happen, only occasionally at first but increasing in frequency and severity as time passed, but that would all be a distant memory if he succeeded.  So many arrangements had been made, so many palms greased, favors called in, favors promised.  His Boeing 777 had extra fuel, and less cargo, it would be a close thing, but he knew he could make it, all the calculations had been done, he had flown this flight a dozen times or more in the simulator he kept at his home.  It was now or never.  He reached down and typed in the new flight plan into the flight computer, the co-pilot didn’t even notice, off day dreaming about some blonde no doubt.  The big lumbering plane slowly started to respond to the new orders.

By the time anyone realized that AeroMalay flight 3702 was missing, it would be on the ground, so far from the original flight course, no one would ever find it.  Captain Shah knew that dying in the frozen desert of Antarctica would be preferable to a slow disabling death that he would otherwise suffer.  Yes, others would die, maybe even everyone on the plane, but he would be famous, world famous.  Sure it was self serving, but the insurance man assured him that his family would still receive the insurance payout in case of suicide, so little else mattered.  On top of that, a certain group would pay for each khaffir that died, so a bonus, the Captain was not an extremist himself but Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid is awash in money, at least that is their claim.

Captain Shah, smiles, gets up locks the cabin door, and slowly slides up behind First Officer Fariq Ahmad, slices his throat open quickly and holding him down through the agonie, softly apologizing for everything.  The die was cast, the operation in motion, everything was going smoothly.  Captain Shah cleaned up the blood as best as he could, it wouldn’t matter in a few hours.

Captain Shah sat back down, and waited, he knew that the flight would take hours, long tedious hours, but that was the way of some things.

The End of Democracy

Empires Fall, we all know this,

but democracies are supposed to be the guiding light for all of mankind,

what has happened to mankind’s last best hope for freedom?

We have voted democracy out

in favor of a benevolent overseer.

all of our needs are to be met with a simple government order

no work neccessary

no worries

But it never works like that

there are no free meals

we voted for a benevolent overseer,

we elected a narcissistic, cruel, short-sighted tyrant.

a good liar to be sure,

so many thought him the messiah

so many were wrong

what once were green fields,

lush with the fruit of our labor

are nothing more then a dusty wasteland

a monument to our hubris

our laziness