Azerbaijan speaking to his servitors of the Birth of the 7 Witches of the Coven of Light

     It was never the desire of Azerbaijan that the 181 women of the great Library of Knowledge should depart from their purpose yet it was, as things often turn out, their end. For over 300 years the women held to their charge ensuring the hope of a return to the lofty level of scientific capacity which mankind once enjoyed. They labored together in symbiotic connection speaking and listening, sharing and understanding the unending volumes of knowledge implanted within their collective psyches. There was not enough time to catalog nor to order the data which Azerbaijan had stolen from the repositories upon Earth prior to their departure. Once they had arrived he had nearly lost all of it when he fell into the rest which was required after that great transit. So it became necessary to quickly find a storage facility capable of holding this valuable cargo so that nothing might be lost. After some time and consideration it was determined that only within the minds of a number of females might they save the information for future generations.

      He knew that there would need to be alterations made to the women and in that he felt compelled to inform them of the irreversable path upon which they which would accept the chage now set foot upon. Calculations and models suggested that 181 individuals would be capable of providing the necessary storage and fault tolerance for all of the data long enough to convert it into a proper medium to facilitate long term storage. This task would take a long time in order to complete. Far longer than any of the women would be able to live. So their lives were extended at the cost of some other elements of their humanity. None of the women could ever reproduce for the process left them sterile. The sacrifice was great, but the times being what they were produced a number of heroines which stood to the fore in order that all which followed might have a hope to return to greatness and, should any dare, a day which would see them triumph over the soul-less ones.

       Sadly as time progressed and the project to move the knowledge into its final vessel came to a close the women left in the service of “The Coven”, as they had come to call it, discovered that without the demands of the knowledge that they once carried and the constant communication between one another ordering and sorting the myriad messages and texts they were completely and utterly empty. Empty, devoid of any part of that once demanding vocation. To many it was as if the voices of thousands of persons had suddenly been silenced. Some went insane and did unspeakable and horriffic acts, for their powers of telekinesis and telepathy were phenomenal. Yet others, when they saw what was done by their sisters could not bear the stresses and destroyed their sisters and themselves. Yet others held that though their task was complete and that this test was sore upon them the day would again come that they might assist humanity. Yet was there one group of these mistresses of the mind that determined that they would take the reigns from Mindanto and forge mankind in a direction which they felt should be his end. For they were the most powerful of these women and they did see themselves as beyond humanity and above any judicial sanctions which men might place upon them.

      So the Sisters of Malice moved out into the recesses of the world and, using the forces of the Aegris Well did mask their covens from even Azerbaijan. Although he would have longed to put and end to this sad end, yet he could not for there remained a force of women which yet succomed not to insanity and sought to serve still if they might. And these Were to become known as The Sisters of Light. It was they which he embued with the power to overcome the other more powerful women of the Sisters of Malice. However not in one or just a few did this power lie for it had been determined that they were not yet capable of maintaining a connection to humanity if that power which they used was believed to be unstoppable. So he fashioned them that in gorups of 7 they could never be overwhelmed by any mental force save that of his own or they which were of the Collossi. An now, though they might be destroyed yet have some of these dark creatures found those means by which they might embue their forces into objects of great value and strength unto that day when a hapless mind comes in contact with them and once more they live .

    What? A machine reads the works and checks for the copyright? Well, there is a piece in the work about machines taking over on the dwarven home world. Perhaps the machines will like that message and tell their friends. Till then itz on to book one and its re-organization. Book one is holding me up. I have book two all put together and ready to start fleshing out and I cant get in the groove with book one. I suppose I need to head back down to the Donut Bank where I can drink coffee and write like a mad man. I dunno what it is about that place, but whenever I go there I can crank out the underpinnings of a full book in the space of a morning or I can chop out 2 or 3 chapters of first pass test in that time. Odd. The place just gets me rolling.

Well I am well into the editing process of “book two” more accurately referred to the Development of the People – Fragment Two of the Demon’s Wrest Chronicles. Now that certainly ‘sounds’ impressive, but in fact it is simply a snapshot of a small portion of the two races that share the world of Maenatae and more specifically the Sardistian Reaches with the remnant of humanity in or about the year 24993C (24,993 years since creation) which is around 21,200 AD here at home. Yeah, that is way off in the future. I suppose that my writing of events so far into the future makes me a sort of “glass half full” kinda guy. Many see doom, gloom, apocalypse or what have you in our future. I see mankind rather in the light presented in the inspired and divine writings of Exodus. We rise to heights of glory and enjoy the most savory of fruits and then forget how we got there and who it is that allows us refuge at such lofty heights. So we fall into the abyss. It is at the time of lost hope that men define themselves as reaching out to the Creator. We seek forgiveness and an opportunity to once again lie against his breast. We look to rise again to be what we might if we are permitted.

The Flame of Love

         Mankind has a gift which rarely does he access. That gift is the spirit which was gifted him at creation. A particular notion comes to mind when I think of what we are capable of as a people…  

“And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”  Genesis 11:6

This work is in no way a complete look at such an expanse of time rather it chronicles a number of key events so that I might order events properly for the other works that I have in mind later. You see, I have so much rattling about up there in my head that if I do not record it then I am likely to not properly reference it later when I write the books I have in mind dealing with the latest of the Dukes of House Scarlotti, Vincenso Marcuso Scarlotti.

      More on this as the edit draws to a close.

The Demon's Wrest at sunset

          The greatest mystery can often be traced back to a single unique event that foreshadowed a much greater event or series of events. So it is with the chronicles of the Demon’s Wrest. The events which transpire behind the cold grey dwarven forged walls have not their own ilk to thank for their current and mysterious condition. These events were forged upon the breaths and gestures, minds and motions of an endless sea of humanity striving and scraping with all the feverish energy of a hatchling breaking into a new and compelling world.

         There exists no simple means of explaining the action of the epochs which have dragged men to this point atop a rocky precipice poised to take flight into that domain which awaits or to fall to a certain and thankless doom. And seeing that we stand there as a race and thereby having the knowledge of a history which has prepared and shaped us to this end, in no simple means, grants unto those facing that doom anything more or less than simple realization. Realization of responsibility and a faith in the genetic memory reaching back across generations of leaders, visionaries, statesmen, poets and rogues. Indeed men of all walks and all fashions of craft who, through their undying effort and determination, strove to make their mark upon the granite capstone of the seplchre of all mankind. And in doing so perhaps that individual may discover that it is in him that we as a creation not only feel the shifting stones atop that pinnacle of destiny, but that in that moment feel the ground move away beneath them as they take flight and wing all of us, even to our earliest ancestor, into the arms of destiny.

        Samuael comforted AZJ in those difficult times after the failure of the enclave to subordinate him to their combined will. Azerbaijan had a destiny and it was this destiny which propelled him having seen the living God and realizing that even he was a very insignificant creature in the grand scheme which played out in the Mind of Mindanto. Samuael reminded AZJ that in faith he rested his hopes for not only men, but for an after life and an existence that should take them above the calamity of the soulless taskmasters now suppressing all of mankind. Many times AZJ had sought to escape the confines of the mental prison in which these of his linage had bound him, yet together they had held him in restraint. It was through the teachings of Samuael and his New Testament Brotherhood that AZJ found the strength of inner being that allowed him to make that final connection to that great and unfathomable mind which encompasses our every fiber. In not only the  making of that connection, but in the understanding of it AZJ was able to connect to that element of his own mind that had escaped him up unto that point. It is not enough to be shown a thing, but rather one must digest their own condition and in so doing become one with it and gain all of the benefits which were held in secret against that day of understanding. Despite his agreeing to allow further strands of his own genetic combination to be extrapolated upon, and in so doing accept the root hatred of the sin against mankind, AZJ steeled himself for the act of accepting his own forgiveness and embracing the possibility of salvation for deeds too terible to bear. It was in Samuael that he found the grace and compassion indeed the connection necessary to reach across that great void and determine to pull himself out of despair. And in that moment of personal salvation, be granted an everlasting and ever present immortality bound to the material as a minion of the Most High. Doing the work and cleaning up the mess which he himself had a part in, but preparing a means for escape and redemption of the race of men in some distant land in a day of His choosing.

                     So to the surprise of all which held him in captivity and beyond their scope of understanding Azerbaijan, AZJ, subject specimen AR2163G-L2R gathered unto himself the chosen of Mindanto and from within the vision of a mind that sees all transported they who are name the Favored to the continent of Barjia. Upon the planet Maenatae, in the system of the Giver, which is  nestled in the arm of Saer’daerin within the galaxy of Glohs’O, nearest the heart of universal galactic cluster which rests in the Mind of Mindanto.

                                “certainly you are not surprised by that which you yourself have seen? Your powers, great as they might be are a foretaste of that which shall come to men upon that great day of deliverance.”

                                          Samueal T. Glenn, Minister New Testament Brotherhood to AZJ (circa 6941)

                                                                             12 minutes after the jump

Here to there - Portation Device

     I wrote to you earlier of a time long since passed and of a man that carried the burden of mankind’s redemption and hope for salvation to the new world. You see, Samueal T. Glenn was not a man unaware of who or what he was. In a time when others denied such things as angels, heaven or hell Samueal was fully aware of much more than any man in a very long span of time of just how real these concepts were. Samueal was the first aquiescence of the handlers and management study group of specimen AR2163G-L2R (Better known as Azerbaijan release 37) . Azerbaijan, referred to by most as A-Z-J, was the latest in a long line of experiments to achieve what would be a means or transiting mankind from one location in space to another using focused thought. Up until this point the creations which enabled such travel were greatly limited in the capacity in which their fields might embrace travellers. Additionally these former creations were unable to individually transport a subject safely without a similarly configured con-struct at the destination. It was hoped that AZJ would be able to transport specimen to locations across the vastness of space not only without a destination portal, but without having already been there. All of the testing and analysis up to this point had been successful, but the closer that the team came to their goal of independent unobserved transit the more mysterious and difficult he became.

    “He goes someplace during those tests. I don’t know where and from the looks on his face I don’t think I want to.”

                                 Daniel Khar’nefellin, Senior Genetic Analyst, Awakener class II

      So at some point along his journey AZJ refused to continue any further testing until he was allowed to meet with one Samueal T. Glenn. Once it was determined who Samuael was and where he was he was brought to the facility 58.7 km west south-west of Astara with all possible haste. As imposing as AZJ was at 15 foot 8 inches in height and some 618 pounds Samueal walked into his chamber sat down opposite him and asked if it would be a problem to shake hands with him. Never after that moment did they ever speak to one another where any could hear them. It was well known that AZJ could speak to the mind of others, however it was believed that he could only speak to them and not hear them speak back. Many who beheld the two staring at one another for hours upon end felt there was a problem with the two of them and it was not until almost the very end that the handlers discovered that they two were communicating on a much more advanced level than simply speaking thoughts of sentances to one another.

      “Samueal, there is a God.”

       “Yes, my friend I am aware that there is a God.”

       “No, Samueal, I mean I have seen God and I know that he exists”

                               Telepathic exchange caught on the scan monitors in the room of subject specimen AR2163G-L2R

                                               5886:218/0921 – monitor date

The truth is captivating, and mysterious.

            I have discovered, hidden within the scriptures of the Living God a number of mysteries. I have also discovered a number of things which it was intended that we should know. These thoughts, although placed within the open for us to discover are often misunderstood or even ignored by those of our ilk gifted with presumed wisdom. However, there is a fact which those of us who have played any RPG are well aware, wisdom and intelligence are not the same attribute. Truly we as a race of creation have become quite intelligent. The infrastructure which we have placed about ourselves to manage the temperature of our dwellings, workplaces and conveyances represent only one small portion of the complex and intricate system of helps that permeate our civilization . With gossamer wings of super-science and master works of creativity wrapped about our fragile technical and advanced existence we go about the actions which we see as necessary or needful on a daily basis. Seemingly unaware of the razors edge upon which the myriad components which make up our society operate teetering upon the actions of a world led by the short sighted and self centered. Someone neglects to pay for their resources as the system has prescribed. Another group responds by withholding various commodities critical to the continued status quo. Financial markets respond with tremors of confusion and signals of the beginnings of insulating themselves from harm. Food becomes short in areas where so many have neither the capacity nor the will to see to their own sustenance. Dominoes begin to topple. 

Into the Engine beyond the mar of time

        Sometimes I marvel at the civilizations which have gone before ours. Some greater than ours, by the reckoning of available information to support a presumed historical record, in the sense of initial creativity. The notion being that it is far greater a thing to be the one to build the first primitive  spark of civilization than to have simply refined your model upon the backs of the countless ghosts which trod before. Insightful and creative minds will build upon the successes of their predecessors and the result can become greater than the parts could dare assume. However, a scientific principle that I remember from my earliest days in college comes to mind, “Garbage in… Garbage out.” When the creators of a system ignore elements of the model upon which they create their new example then they are doomed to fabricate the flawed and untenable. When we build a model civilization upon lies, propaganda and ignorance then we reap the recipe of corruption.

       It has been said that the Earth is billions of years old and the universe older still. It has been suggested that all of the species and conditions which exist upon the planet and within the environs about it are completely random. It has been suggested that mankind has no soul and that we are simply genetic constructs much like those which we once formed to practice the menial tasks which we have forgotten the barest of technical details. Yet I say to you that mankind is more than he has let himself down to. Not more than he once was, but certainly more than he would have his peers believe. And why this great lie? Why suggest that random happenstance is our forefather? Simply this if a lie is whispered in the morning light the truth, though shouted throughout the day, shall never be accepted as anything but an opinion. The truth which I speak to you now wells up from antiquity and though presumed dead it is very much alive. For I have read its pages of enlightened grace and tried it mathematically and logically and yet have I been unable to disprove these mysteries. I see mankind in his true dawn as a marvelous work of creation capable of so very much. Capable of falling from heights which we cannot begin to comprehend yet rising to forge ahead against all odds. Determined and brave in the face of the enemy, fighting for life and hope with faith as a bulwark against calamity and despair.  In this, the perceived final hour of mankind I bring hope to those that perish at the hands of the soulless and the wicked. Original man will return and right that which he first brought to calamity not with the coming of the Collossi, but rather in his departure from his origin. A sanctuary where once walked among him Mindanto, calling to him in the morning as dew rolled from the leaves of this loveliest of habitats. We shall once again return to this place and when we do the discovery of Eden will be overwhelmed by the arrival of original man.

                                         Excerpt: Departure Statements  – Samueal T. Glenn, Minister New Testament Brotherhood (circa 6932)

                                                                            33 minutes before the jump from earth

Squishin' Some thoughts outta my head

  I envision there being three parts to each greater book that is written concerning the histories and development of the peoples. The first I have all but completed and that is the one I mention that is penned by Benito Castinelli. In this work Benito, a servant and chronicler of the last days of common man, lays out a few of the things that we know of the brethren (human, mae’n and khrn). This work is to give the reader a window to the difference that make up the various races and a bit of the history that got them to the place that they are in. My plan is to have a Mae’n (Aelvin) and a Khrn’aadin (Dwarven) release of this work also. In these future works the perspective will be from that of the given alien writer as opposed to that of the human writer. My primary concern at this time is to complete the human perspective and get it out so that I might ensure that my time lines and story lines all mesh well. For the part that has made this work the most difficult has been interconnecting the myriad of stories, tales and adventures that I have created into an orderly accounting of the history of each race. Additionally it has been challenging to link all of the races together considering their own personally unique time lines and activities contained therin.

   So you can see, this is a bit of a challenge linking all of the personal stories of the varied characters and then the challenges of each of the individual peoples – their hopes, dreams, failures, challenges. Couple all of that together with the need to re-edit the product after I get  it all written out and there are some serious hurdles. All that said painting the mural taught me something very important and that is, you gotta clean your pallette and  prepare it daily. When I was in the process of painting the mural in the MAN CAVE (the painting that took me a little over a year to finish) I found that there were days that I really did not want to get started. HoweverI realized that I had started this thing and if it were ever to be completed I needed to keep working. So I would sit down daily and clean all of the dried paint off of the palette and get it ready to load new colors or at least fresh paint on to in order to continue painting the images at hand. Once the cleaning of the palette became a habit I found it much easier to produce in times when I was “not in the mood”. And so I come here to this blog and ramble on and on about this and that. To the visitor this unedited tripe may become a bit difficult to follow, but within the words are a story – as is often the case. And until I get myself a full time editor I suppose that I can use whatever readership is available to look at these works on the ole Border Aethereal and comment on them.

Rob and Devon

Family is like an investment at the stock market. You put some capitol in and you hope that the business is successful. So far this business is still emerging. They are great guys even if they are in the alliance. These guys are just starting out in the adventure of life. Fortunately the smiles on their face are real and these smiles belie a couple of good natured guys that don’t mind growing old, but refuse to grow up. A couple of good looking young fellows they do have one thing propelling their good looks above all others. They are not related by blood. I assure you they are blood to me. Stay outta trouble youz guyz.

Now came the time for gathering. Gathering of all clans and all people and all creatures to be ported through the great portal to Phae’dor. But what of our brethren who we have not heard from in these long years? Shall we simply leave without at the very least wishing them well, perhaps checking to determine if they might at last join us as it is this act which might make us complete once again? By this time the world of Maenatae had become a very dangerous place for the Mae with so many energies out of control. Wild arcs of energy no longer content to exist within the border ethereal shot out at random vectors along the path of their travel to strike the unwitting or unprepared obliterating them in an instant of unspeakable agony. Any trek to the Entrance of Clan Daerbaah’s stronghold would be extremely dangerous and it would be unlikely that any would return. It was decided that no one should be allowed to leave as it would certainly be a death sentence. However, the notion of death or woe is often not of consequence when it is love that is considered and so a small host of Mae under the leadership of Draevan of Cae’laestra, a mighty warrior and father of the lovely Gaena’Vierra now of Daerbaah, set out with many brave followers in the harshest of conditions and against all odds to persuade the returning of the people to this their last best hope. It was told to his Mate that should they not return to not search for them rather to mourn them in the Glenns of Phae’dor.

Though the trek was dangerous Draevan was very crafty and knew many ways to avoid the uses of channeling in combat. This he applied to his trek and lost no one on the journey to the stronghold. But desire to once again greet his daughter now long joined to Clan Daerbaah and the longing to somehow convince the people of their folly clouded his judgment and the ability to see a foe in these now foreign people. Kjaykes was alerted to their presence and their desire to meet with him once they arrived on the outer escarpments and came forth to the great gate to destroy them and any threat that his people might abandon him in his destiny. He greeted Draevan not with the hand of a relative, but rather with wild majicks and arrows. Realizing their peril and that none could escape this place with its formidable defenses he told the tale to his trusted warhawke and set up a counter attack to allow it to escape with an account of this his last battle.

When the warhawke Dascille returned to the great city of Paelas’C Haes’cillae it told the handlers all of that which had befallen the valiant Mae on the escarpments of the Stronghold of Daerbaah. When this horrid act was relayed to the council Matriarch Ma-Primae Vaesah Fleas’c she hung her head and began to cry. It is said that this was the moment that the heart of Mae was sundered. It is a moment never to be spoken and this knowledge gathered from the Mae is one of the most poignant pieces of their history that we have. For its gleaning has not been without loss of life on both sides. The record is mentioned here by me with an admonition, never to mention this woe before the Mae. Never to let them hear us speak of it. For this moment and this anguish is the moment of our sundering from our people. Although not the same instant to be certain and not the same action do we not feel yet today this weight of woe which they too felt? Do we not yet dream of our lost home and the horrors beset upon our kin? It is an event that we do not speak of, a terror that though we ignore we know lingers at the edge of vision. So as we do not speak of our own sundering, yet do we remember it, let us do out of respect and understanding of the Mae.