A dark-skinned man clad in a red linen shirt walked into the Goldshire Inn. His chain leggings made little sound as he sat down in front of the fire. He could barely hear the battle cries of the various duels outside the Inn, something that he had grown tired of shortly after entering the Inn itself.
Across from him sat nobody, and that was how it almost always was for him. He rarely travelled with others, though those that he did he kept in touch with when he could. Instead, he reached into one of his belt pouches, and removed a simple leather-bound journal. It looked new, probably recently purchased in Stormwind. He removed a pencil and began to write.
This is the story of Därtzen van Grüden. I was born twenty-three years ago, in a Weastfall farmhouse, now a burned-out ruin of a better time. I had a family once, a mother, a father, a kid sister, but now, they are all gone. Killed or kidnapped on an otherwise ordinary summer night.
I still relive that night in my dreams, less often with every month, but still, it comes to me. The warm embrace of my mother as she put my sister and I to bed. The game Mëlinda and I always played as a way of staying up later. The stern look from father that always showed a hint of anger, as well as love. The scream of my mother as she clutched my sister and I in the corner. The look of glee in the eyes of the masked man as he advanced. The futile attempt mother made to spare our lives. The cries as they look Mëlinda away. The loneliness as I wept for mother and father. The smell of smoke. The crackle of fire. My brief but futile attempts to drag their bodies from the house. The burning sensation as I leapt from the inferno into the grass. My sorrow as I felt truly alone, and was.
But, I've grown. I've made a place for myself, not much of one, but a place just the same. I've fought back. First in Northshire, then in Elwynn, then in Westfall, Moonbrook, and the Mines. I've taken the fight to them. I've had setbacks, yes, but I'm still here. I'm still fighting. And that, well, that makes me who I am. I am Därtzen van Grüden, and this is my story.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Plans are made to be broken.
Well, so much for my plan to post more often. Heck, I've even got a [PLAN] post already written up, but I'm just not in the mood for it. I guess, well, that I've gotten complacent, not really wanting to post because I don't have to, or really want to, well, scratch that, I want to post, just not more then I want to WoW, or watch TV. It's about priorities, and I never got far enough into this thing for it to become a priority. Heck, my first post was back at the beginning of the Fall semester, and here it is, spring break, and I'm on like my two dozenth post.
Not a very good blog, but then again, that's about par for the course with me. I get really into something for a week or so, then fall off when nothing really comes out of it. Right now, this blog is just for me, and since I don't have any investment into it, at least, not recently, I really don't seem to have a lot of care for it.
Well, here's hoping that putting the [PLAN] tag on my last post doesn't mean that that plan is an improbable one.
Not a very good blog, but then again, that's about par for the course with me. I get really into something for a week or so, then fall off when nothing really comes out of it. Right now, this blog is just for me, and since I don't have any investment into it, at least, not recently, I really don't seem to have a lot of care for it.
Well, here's hoping that putting the [PLAN] tag on my last post doesn't mean that that plan is an improbable one.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
[META][PLAN] Resurrecting the blog
We all make plans in life. From the mundane, everyday plans of our daily rituals, to our vacation plans, our wedding plans, our retirement plans, our plans for our children, and out plans for our own life. Each and every one is an attempt to add order to the chaos of everyday life. Plans do change, though, some subtly, other more dramatically, but still, they change.
I bring this up because of my reflecting I've recently done regarding my own plans. I have many many, many plans throughout my life. From the mundane, to the life-altering, from the practical, to the fanciful. Some of them were used once and discarded. Others are used on a daily or weekly basis. Some were begun to be implemented, and then aborted or radically altered. Most, though, were thought up, and then abandoned before they could even become to come to fruition, orphaned to the whims of fate.
Now, most of that latter category are contingent on improbable or impossible circumstances, plans that could never come to fruition, or even begun, because of the conditions for implementation. So, in the interest of reinvigorating this faltering blog, hopefully one of my better plans, I will post those impossible plans. Each of these posts, like this one, will have the [PLAN] tag as a prefix, just to make it easier to navigate.
So, here' to one of my better plans.
I bring this up because of my reflecting I've recently done regarding my own plans. I have many many, many plans throughout my life. From the mundane, to the life-altering, from the practical, to the fanciful. Some of them were used once and discarded. Others are used on a daily or weekly basis. Some were begun to be implemented, and then aborted or radically altered. Most, though, were thought up, and then abandoned before they could even become to come to fruition, orphaned to the whims of fate.
Now, most of that latter category are contingent on improbable or impossible circumstances, plans that could never come to fruition, or even begun, because of the conditions for implementation. So, in the interest of reinvigorating this faltering blog, hopefully one of my better plans, I will post those impossible plans. Each of these posts, like this one, will have the [PLAN] tag as a prefix, just to make it easier to navigate.
So, here' to one of my better plans.
The War
I'm not sure why I started this, ro where I'm going with it, but here it is, none the less. Life has finally become mundane, at elast for a while. I have recently found myself conflicted though. I don't support the president, I didn't vote for him in '04, and I wasn't able to put my vote towards Gore in '00. This is the first part of my conflicting thoughts.
The second, though, is that I agree with him on one point. Just one. I agree that we need to stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. I don't agree with any of the myriad reasons put forth for the commencement of Gulf War II, but I can't see any logical reason for the US to end it at this time. You see, if we were to pull out every troop right now, we'd lose. We'd stop losing lives, even though this is the least deadly war in US history (though there is a shitload of casualties), but we'd lose the war, and a few other things. We'd lose our credibility, since if we pull out, who will trust us in the future, when we couldn't even finish what we started.
We need to stay in Iraq, no because of democracy, though that is fine and dandy, but because if we leave, the terrorists win. They gain an unstable country with millions of sympathizers, and we lose one of our few allies in the region. Sure, we're not going about this the smartest way, but we can't just leave, it would cascade into another isolationist movement like we had after WWI, and that lead to WWII, because we refused to join in. This is a worse case scenario, the best case is just a mild PR nightmare, and the Iraqi people banding together to form a strong and liberal Muslim democracy.
So, we need to stay, and we need to help support the Iraqi citizens. We need to get the Iraqis defending themselves, and to see the terrorists for exactly what they are, homicidal maniacs that don't want to see a free and democratic Iraq. Sure, we put Saddam in power, but he was the lesser of two evils, and then he became the greater evil, but we left him in power after GWI because of politics. If we can't support an Iraqi coalition government, then he might become, once more, the lesser evil. That would be a sad day for America.
So, I hate to admit it, but I agree with President Bush, we need to stay the course in Iraq, because the alternative is worse.
The second, though, is that I agree with him on one point. Just one. I agree that we need to stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. I don't agree with any of the myriad reasons put forth for the commencement of Gulf War II, but I can't see any logical reason for the US to end it at this time. You see, if we were to pull out every troop right now, we'd lose. We'd stop losing lives, even though this is the least deadly war in US history (though there is a shitload of casualties), but we'd lose the war, and a few other things. We'd lose our credibility, since if we pull out, who will trust us in the future, when we couldn't even finish what we started.
We need to stay in Iraq, no because of democracy, though that is fine and dandy, but because if we leave, the terrorists win. They gain an unstable country with millions of sympathizers, and we lose one of our few allies in the region. Sure, we're not going about this the smartest way, but we can't just leave, it would cascade into another isolationist movement like we had after WWI, and that lead to WWII, because we refused to join in. This is a worse case scenario, the best case is just a mild PR nightmare, and the Iraqi people banding together to form a strong and liberal Muslim democracy.
So, we need to stay, and we need to help support the Iraqi citizens. We need to get the Iraqis defending themselves, and to see the terrorists for exactly what they are, homicidal maniacs that don't want to see a free and democratic Iraq. Sure, we put Saddam in power, but he was the lesser of two evils, and then he became the greater evil, but we left him in power after GWI because of politics. If we can't support an Iraqi coalition government, then he might become, once more, the lesser evil. That would be a sad day for America.
So, I hate to admit it, but I agree with President Bush, we need to stay the course in Iraq, because the alternative is worse.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Big E, Little e, and Faith...
Okay, so, it's been like what, two months, plus, since I updated this thing? Well, here's a bit that I just had to put somewhere for people to see.
In today's Schlock Mercenary, Howard Taylor discussed the subject of Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Me. Now, while I may not share his religious faith, this essay is probably the best way to state my own beliefs.
I believe in God, and I'm a scientist. I know that God created the universe, and that he created it in such a way so that we, his creation, could, one day, understand it. This understanding comes from science, and from faith. But, once must realize that faith without science is blind faith, and science without faith is just as blind.
Each new scientific discovery I hear of reveals to me a new and more interesting level of God's love for us. Take the discovery of antibiotics, a way for us to not only finally claim dominion over some of the smallest of the beings God placed under us, but through the evolution (little e) of resistant bacterium, a new level of hubris.
In today's Schlock Mercenary, Howard Taylor discussed the subject of Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Me. Now, while I may not share his religious faith, this essay is probably the best way to state my own beliefs.
I believe in God, and I'm a scientist. I know that God created the universe, and that he created it in such a way so that we, his creation, could, one day, understand it. This understanding comes from science, and from faith. But, once must realize that faith without science is blind faith, and science without faith is just as blind.
Each new scientific discovery I hear of reveals to me a new and more interesting level of God's love for us. Take the discovery of antibiotics, a way for us to not only finally claim dominion over some of the smallest of the beings God placed under us, but through the evolution (little e) of resistant bacterium, a new level of hubris.
Monday, October 10, 2005
[IC] A Different Point of View
The below is an in character post on behalf of Hamsa Garmand, a half-elven marshall.
Today was a bad day. Not that it was the first time I had seen death on the field of battle. It was not the first time I had seen an elf fall beneath the blade of an orc. It was not the second time that I had won the field of battle, but lost the engagement.
No, today reminded me of the life I left behind so many years ago, the life I had thought left behind in an orc prisoner of war camp. A life that I never excelled at.
My mother was the great general, and I was just living in her shadow. She was the tactical genius, the one that could bring victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, I just deliver defeat from the jaws of victory.
A friend of mine died today. He died in a pointless battle, a battle that had been lost the moment we were ambushed. We, no, I had grown complacent. We had won, we had achieved the objective. We were on our way to claim our prize, and await further missions from our new benefactor.
Instead, I sit here, in the middle of nowhere, keeping a vigil over a dead friend. I should have seen it coming. A woman standing in the middle of the road, a choke point, with a hill on one side, perfect cover for snipers, and a forest on the other, no place to run. So, instead, we tried to talk, and it only allowed them to perfect their aim. The first few seconds were deadly, with arrows and spells raining from the hillside as we desperately tried to escape the mass of horse flesh that was rendered by the magical webbing.
I should have used that moment as a rallying point, brought us out of the ambush with the stakes in our favor, not theirs. Instead, I ran, and hid, like a mere recruit, not the major I once was, or the general my mother was. No, I did not attempt to rally until the fight was lost, and even then it did little good. Sure, it saved one, but at the cost of another, and the mission. Was it worth it?
Was it worth losing two to save one? Did it even have to come to that?
No, on both counts. But, there is a small silver lining. Where once was a group divided, on the verge of rupture, there is now a group united by experience in battle. Instead of a near blood feud, instead there is review, and tactics, and a newfound sense of frailty, and the yearning to not let a friend die in vain.
So, here's to you, my friend, my kinsman, here's to you.
May the light shine softly through the branches, and may you find peace in the land of our ansestors.
Today was a bad day. Not that it was the first time I had seen death on the field of battle. It was not the first time I had seen an elf fall beneath the blade of an orc. It was not the second time that I had won the field of battle, but lost the engagement.
No, today reminded me of the life I left behind so many years ago, the life I had thought left behind in an orc prisoner of war camp. A life that I never excelled at.
My mother was the great general, and I was just living in her shadow. She was the tactical genius, the one that could bring victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, I just deliver defeat from the jaws of victory.
A friend of mine died today. He died in a pointless battle, a battle that had been lost the moment we were ambushed. We, no, I had grown complacent. We had won, we had achieved the objective. We were on our way to claim our prize, and await further missions from our new benefactor.
Instead, I sit here, in the middle of nowhere, keeping a vigil over a dead friend. I should have seen it coming. A woman standing in the middle of the road, a choke point, with a hill on one side, perfect cover for snipers, and a forest on the other, no place to run. So, instead, we tried to talk, and it only allowed them to perfect their aim. The first few seconds were deadly, with arrows and spells raining from the hillside as we desperately tried to escape the mass of horse flesh that was rendered by the magical webbing.
I should have used that moment as a rallying point, brought us out of the ambush with the stakes in our favor, not theirs. Instead, I ran, and hid, like a mere recruit, not the major I once was, or the general my mother was. No, I did not attempt to rally until the fight was lost, and even then it did little good. Sure, it saved one, but at the cost of another, and the mission. Was it worth it?
Was it worth losing two to save one? Did it even have to come to that?
No, on both counts. But, there is a small silver lining. Where once was a group divided, on the verge of rupture, there is now a group united by experience in battle. Instead of a near blood feud, instead there is review, and tactics, and a newfound sense of frailty, and the yearning to not let a friend die in vain.
So, here's to you, my friend, my kinsman, here's to you.
May the light shine softly through the branches, and may you find peace in the land of our ansestors.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Abotion, Crime, and Social Engineering
Okay, well, as is my custom, I read Orson Scott Card's Ornery American article, which this/last week (it was date-lined the 11th, but didn't get released to the web until either today or yesterday) was on the topic of abortion, crime, and an emerging field of statistical analysis called Freakonomics. In this article, OSC discusses the book, as well as an application of the books ideas upon an aspect of society.
I recommend you go read it now, because I'm going to assume you did.
Go!
Okay, so, you've read it. Good, wasn't it? Well, if not, then, post a comment. If you agree, post anyway.
So, I agree with his analysis of the information, but since I really haven't examined the raw statistics, I can't comment upon anything but the logic of the analysis, and the logic is sound. So, the crime boom of the 70s and 80s was because of extra-marital and irresponsible sex, and the subsequent decline is because of abortion, which allowed this fetuses to be murdered before they came to term. Inadvertent policing through eugenics and murder.
Peace, but at what cost?
I recommend you go read it now, because I'm going to assume you did.
Go!
Okay, so, you've read it. Good, wasn't it? Well, if not, then, post a comment. If you agree, post anyway.
So, I agree with his analysis of the information, but since I really haven't examined the raw statistics, I can't comment upon anything but the logic of the analysis, and the logic is sound. So, the crime boom of the 70s and 80s was because of extra-marital and irresponsible sex, and the subsequent decline is because of abortion, which allowed this fetuses to be murdered before they came to term. Inadvertent policing through eugenics and murder.
Peace, but at what cost?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
