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Post by roseneghana on Jun 5, 2011 17:18:56 GMT 1
The Bells of War
For the fallen, a new bell tolls.
Their funeral pyres shriek their lamentations with their crackling heat, lighting the way for the next generations.
Forged in the fires of their dead, their cold steely eyes pierce the mists of the field, eternally searching to avenge their fallen upon those who oppose them.
Their booted feet rumble with the thunder of determination, their number stepping abreast.
Within the mist, the voice of legions grow, reaching far and wide.
Soon enough, the foe is seen, ramshackle and disorderly, their lines shaken to the core with the song of determined steel.
As one, the number charge, their line advancing.
Flames belch forth from the lines, their glare and thunder glinting off the polished, honed blades.
With a roar of men that reaches deep into the hearts and souls of both participants and observers alike, the battle is joined with an awesome clash.
As the great tide of flesh and blood and steel crash upon the line, the will and power of humanity is revealed in it's entirety.
Finally, when the carrion crows descend upon the fresh feast, the veil of mist grows from the blood soaked ground, carrying the souls of the fallen along it's embrace, shrouding the fallen from sight.
And again, a new bell tolls for the fallen, their pyres lighting the way.
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Post by roseneghana on Jun 5, 2011 17:33:09 GMT 1
For anyone reading this particular thread, please by all means comment and post on possible ideas or things you don't like. I promise I will try and be diplomatic when responding, but don't be suprised if you get a "Because I wanted to" as a responce. ;D
Blurb: That thing on the back cover.
In a world dated by ages and eras, a tale is told. This tale is meant more to remind us of where we came from, with no true meaning or moral to be had. When the players are revealed in this grand epic of a story, what will people say, what will they think?
Will you want to find out yourself? Pull up a chair, sit down by the fire, and listen to the story of love, conflict, heroism and villainy be told. I garuntee, it will not disapoint.
Prologue: Part 1.
"There are pleanty of tales, they say, stories about the time when our world almost ended. There are prophesies about the end of days, the end of all we know. But does anyone truely know the whole story?"
As most stories start, at least the ones that the story tellers spin and weave for their listeners, ours begins in a pub. It was an ordinary pub, nothing truely special about it. It is not in this place that anything truely special happens, nor is it ever likely to be. However, it is still where our tale begins, for it is here where it is told.
In one corner of this pub, near a fireplace filled with merrily crackeling flames sits an old woman. Now, this woman is wise, some would say she was wise beyond her years, at least before her years caught up to her. Truth be told, as even she would say, she was 'getting on in her years'. This was a source of pride for her, such as it was, for she had earned every line, every wrinkle upon her wisened face.
While in the flickering light of the fire, her expression was thoughtful with her gaze turned towards the warmth, it did much to cast relief upon her features. Though she was old, it was often said and commented upon that she had aged well, or that the years were kind to her, for indeed they were.
Her features still held some of her youthful beauty, and even despite her advanced age, some would still call her beautiful. Even as her audiance got her attention from her inward expression as she gazed by the fire, she smiled gracefully and with a kindness even still seldem seen in the world.
As the old "Grandmother Ren" settled back into her chair, arrainging her loose clothing tighter around her shoulders and arms, her audiance settled down as well, nibbling from plates of sweat meats and candied fruits she had set out for them on this, the cold night.
Before she began again, she gazed around the small pub that her life had brought her too, at the various items strung from the rafters for storage and atmosphere, to the various people who sat around the little fire in the corner where she herself sat, some listening with half an ear to her tale even as they ate, to the children arranged in front of her for the evening's entertainment.
"Oh yes. Right, now where was I?" She had asked this of the children, often taking the time to include them in the story telling, to make things more interesting and allowing them to feel included in their own way. One of them raised her hand, the youngest of the group that sat before GrandMother Ren tonight, and with a gesture and a nod, the young girl spoke.
"Who knows the true story?" The girls voice was still fairly inarticulate due to recently learning how to speak at all. Still, her answer was met with an expression of renewed memory from Ren, who nodded and adjusted her posture once more in her chair, smiling at the girl who looked down quickly, suddenly shy.
"Ahh yes, who knows the true story? Many people know parts of the story I am about to tell to you children. Most know of the popular parts, of the fall of civilization, the tribes and then the Great War. My tale spans all of these, yet does not focus truely on any one of these legends."
As she spoke, the people around her smiled, for it was a tale she told often, and most of those present had heard it when they too were children. It was not one she told very often, for it was a long tale to tell and since she was indeed growing no younger, it took a toll upon her every time she told it. Some would say it was because she lived it, though no one truely believed it and dismissed it as mere rumor.
"The best place to start, I believe, would be at the fall of civilization, and the eve of that Great Night; that time of deep shadow that lasted through the tribal times. It is... as they say, a wonder to behold, this civilization that was. Tall... silver towers, glistening even when dry..."
Prologue-Part 2.
The fall of civilization, the start of the long night. History tells us that this was not a sudden event, but a gradual decline in the terms of time as it was recorded. The legends tell the opposite tale, that it was not a gradual decline, but a sudden, violent casting down of those at the top, with all the others following into the darkness.
The truth is that they are both simultaneously wrong; and yet correct at the same time. The fall of civilization as we have come to call it, started when mankind created life outside of nature. It was when they dabbled in that which science had finally, and supposidly, conquered. Despite many of their kind saying that it was not a good thing, that they were entering a realm that was not theirs to interfere with, and perhaps they were right in the end.
However, they went on, forging life from the very threads that are woven into our every part. Small things at first, tiny creatures, too small to see, forged to do one task. Eventually, they started making bigger and bigger things, smarter, stronger and designing them for tasks that they could not do, or were too... unwilling to do.
Alas, this is the curse of hubris, for even as mankind patted themselves upon the back for making their greatest achievement yet, forging life itself, they charged ahead, focusing now on machinery instead of the beings they made.
It was at this point, as humanity began nurturing their own creations, mindfully avoiding the idea of 'godhood', they sought to bury their histories, their past and their nature itself. War. The very thing that haunts humanity to this day, even now. They sought to bury it, and forget about it, hoping for ever lasting peace after so long of the alternative in their blood.
Soon after the creation of life, a few decades at most as the legends say since our records of this time is... not reliable and more often than not completly gone, they made another achievement. Intersteller flight. Space ships, marvelous things of metal, wire and men.
Thus, as history goes on to say, they began their travels, exploring nearby systems with their advanced technology and their creations at their feet like pets, some of them having rank in their military.
Humanities history is filled with tales, fables and legends of creations turning upon their creators, either from rage at being made, or by becoming too smart for their masters to control. I suppose it could be said that yes, humanity had indeed learned from their legends, learned valuable lessons from those ancient fables.
Perhaps the wrong lessons in the end. Yet, it is said that the minds of humanity never stopped, never ceased creating, never stopped searching for the next-best-thing, their minds eternally locked into a "Grass is greener" mentality. History shows us that while their machines grew smaller and smaller, evolving as much as their creations did due to the riggors and hazards of their environments on the ships as well as on the planets they lived upon, humanity could not unlock that last and final frontier.
AI. Artificial intelligence. Written of in science fiction for eons and millenia, from mechanical computers based on gears, steam and clockwork, to positronic brains capable of independant thought, this eluded them for so long.
And yet, as we all know, all towers, no matter how strong, how wide a base they may have, must come crumbling down. At the completion of their latest project, forging entire worlds, they finally cracked their age old conundrum. Thus, AI was born. Inside humanities first world creation, built upon the inner surface of a massive sphere the size of Old Earth herself, they installed this creation that they had dreamt of for so very long.
You ask, this does not sound like the end of all civilization to me, well... Perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it was when that ancient foe stirred once more, rousing itself from a slumber imposed upon it by lesser beings. As predictable as the tick of a well maintained clock, it struck. Humanity, its creations far and wide resisted the ancient pull of war. They resisted and put up a good fight against it, which perhaps only urged it onward, ever forward.
Resentments hidden and buried within those creations, again as predictable as those old fables themselves describe, rose once more and lashed out. Don't get me wrong now, it was not all of these creations that struck. Mearly a few, very publicly, very suddenly and with great shock. Perhaps this was the first blow, as humanity's own history shows, that started it all.
For as seldom as these incidents were, humanity as a whole acted predictible, and caged their creations. As is within the nature of humanity, a few members spoke out, advocating rights, knowledge and understanding of the creations of humanity. They staged peaceful protests, stayed well within the laws that bound them in their civilization, but perhaps it wasn't enough.
Perhaps the timing was wrong, and humanity's heart was just too full with fear to listen. History is clear about this point in time, in the saga of humanity. Whenever a people is suppressed enough, and are angry enough, they will strike back. As history thus shows us, through countless examples of humanity's own past, and in this example, it is a bloody, savage and nasty thing, from both sides.
With tooth and claw and bone and bullets and machinery it was fought, this war. This was perhaps the starting point of it all, at least as far as history shows. As the sagas tell us, it was quick, brutal and incredibly violent. Enough so, perhaps that it woke a blood lust in the race of man, forcing them to turn on one another for deeds long since forgotten, creeds long since joined as one, or perhaps simple because they wanted, needed to destroy.
I say this as a personal thought, as I tell my tale. once the creation's rebelion was cast down and destroyed, mankind turned inwards upon itself, destroying itself in the process. Perhaps this was a good thing, for when it was all over, mankind and their creations, as powerful as they were before, were now on equal footing. Their blood lust hopefully sated, leaders of seperate groups met on neutral ground, in a crater pocked city to discuss peace.
Having had their fill of violence and war after so long, humanity finally laid down their weapons once more, with an understanding that they would at least try for peace with their creations. Having been raised by humanity and taught their ways as if they were their own, the creations as a whole did not trust humanity.
Their suspicion was indeed correct, for while 'peace' was bantered about, humanity and their creations both began rearming, rebuilding their armies as a 'just in case' measure. Skirmish after skirmish came and went with new, more devestating weapons, technology and an even greater savagry from both sides.
This is why I say that the end of civilization was both a long, excrutiatingly slow process, as well as a brutally violent one. As for the fall of civilization, there are many tales, many details that are different between them. I only tell you this, in responce to that. The truth, as they say, is perspective.
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