#the time lords power comes from their reputation and the systems built at the beginning of their society more than like

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

The thing about the time lords is yeah they’re a super powerful species, it wouldn’t be all that inaccurate to call them gods of time, but you get yourself a time lord and like 70% of the time it’s like oh this is a guy I could kick in the shins really hard and get away with it unscathed

[tanadrin]

It is the custom in that bleak city that when a person commits some notable deed, that his neighbors observe and comment upon, he may be brought suddenly by night before the Court of Eyes. In that land, there is no more fearsome and respected a tribunal, though they are secretive in the extreme, and their activities hidden from public view. For this Court meets only by night, in graveyards or ruins or forgotten places, its calendar governed by omens, rumors from foreign countries, and the dreams of its clerks. Its officers are not august magistrates, nor men of respectable families; rather, they are drawn from the ranks of the city's beggars, fortune-tellers, and mountebanks; its magicians, its prostitutes, its prisoners and invalids. It might deign, in a period of unusually lively business, to recruit a poor day-laborer, but only if his clothing is threadbare, and his face is haggard.

It is from the wretchedness of those who preside that the Court derives its authority, and the respect of the people. For it is commonly held in Orm that men of high station make poor judges. They have a reputation to be fearful of; wealth to be jealous of; and they may fear, in their private moments, that for justice to truly be done, their position must be in some manner (however slight) imperiled; and that being so, they will act first to preserve their own interests. But the judges of the Eyes, they say in Orm, could burn their city to ash in the pursuit of justice; and they would warm their hands by the flames.

This is their procedure: by secret reports, passed through the ranks of informants, the court determines whom it shall indict, discusses the charges, and the merited judgement, if the accused were found guilty; and they shall know nothing of the proceedings, until the preliminaries are concluded, and two white-masked bailiffs appear by the gaslight at their door. Having been thus summoned, many blanch; many fall silent; many protest their innocence; but none fail to appear. The bailiffs sent out to bring forth the accused are famed for their sternness and their ruthless pursuit of fugitives. The accused will be taken to the place appointed that night, and instantly the trial shall begin.

The charges will not be at first apparent to him. They are known to the prosecutor, and to the judge, and his attorney; and by secret methods, the attorney shall have prepared the defendant's case. He will inspect in minutest detail every aspect of the defendant's life, and lay bare before the judge all evidence which could possibly excuplate him, his public and his clandestine activities alike. He shall dig as deeply as he needs; and it is not uncommon that a defendant hears his advocate lay bare what he thought were his inmost thoughts and fears and desires during these proceedings. The prosecutor, in turn, shall present the testimony of witnesses, either by depositions taken under an oath of secrecy, or in person; and other evidence, and cross-examination shall take places, in perfect mockery of the solemnity and ceremony of the courts of other realms. For Orm has its law, however strangely it may be administered; and its body has been as thoroughly examined by the anatomists of its academies as that of other countries, its principles weighed and commented upon, and it is known throughout the city.

What, you may enquire, can possibly be the law of such courts as these? For the Court of Eyes is constrained by no legislators, nor is it accountable to any prince or lord. In the matter of the law of Orm, much can be said; but these few remarks must suffice for now. Firstly, that the Court of Eyes tries only deeds, for and against the public interest. In private disputes, which other countries call tort or civil law, a tradition of contracts, arbitration, and public assembly-courts, as is common to all the Dyrish states, is the norm; and save that the customs of Orm have diverged somewhat, and the lack of a formal legislature has made its application more dependent on lengthy and specific contracts, this portion of the law is not remarkable compared to Dyrland or Kurigalzu. But secondly: the Dyrish traditions apply only to disputes regarding property: its transfer, disposal, inheritance, damage, or destruction. Where theft is a matter for the state in Dyrland, it is a matter for civil suit in Orm; but in this respect, the laws of Orm are like the laws of Kurigalzu.

Then, it may be asked finally, what of the Other Courts? By what law can clandestine courts be ruled, except that of bloody revenge? But the customary law of these courts is of a very great age, having its origin a little in the Dyrish system of weregild and honor; but owing much more to the Ennismen who first dwelt in the rocky and remote place where Orm was built. Their laws were part equity, part haruspicy, and part madness; but from them principles were derived, which in time the people of Orm turned to spears, to drive out the corrupt kings that rules them, and to restrain the greed of their lords. For many times have the lords of Orm tried to suppress the Courts of the Eyes; they have hunted the alleys and sewers for their members, patrolled the graveyards and the limits of the city to disrupt their meetings, threatened all who abided by their decisions with death--ultimately to no avail. For in the end, each of these princelings found themselves brought before the same court's bench, held to account for their deeds.

This court prosecutes no cases involving simple property: not theft or vandalism or trespass, nor even simple fraud, for these are matters of private dispute in Orm. In its jurisdiction are acts which outrage the person only, or the people generally: assault and murder and false imprisonment; arson, when a threat to life is involved; but also cruelty to children, abuse of the poor, outrageous price-gouging or usury, abuse of power--whether public office or private--, and so on and so forth. But other acts which the court may prosecute for include surpassing generosity; assiduous labor on behalf of others, or for the public good; the saving of a life; good governance; even the prevention of war. For, as I have said, the accused is not informed of the charges laid against them when they are brought before the court; and the task of their advocate is only to prove that whatever said by the prosecution, is not true. And just as the Court of Eyes may seek to punish the wicked, it may seek to reward the good. Not often, as a rule; for there is much more wickedness to prosecute in the world than righteousness. But the people trust these rewards to be dispensed impartially, for they have no friends to enrich, nor any interests of their own to defend. And whether the accused is being prosecuted for a violation of the law, or for being an exemplary defender of it, they may have no knowledge at all, not even when the trial is concluded and they awake the next day in their own bed.

And after due deliberation, when the sentence is passed, all the city is informed, by rumor and hastily-printed broadsheet, and graffiti scrawled upon walls. Its execution is swift and sure: fines result in valuables suddenly disappearing, or accounts mysteriously vanishing; for serious offenses, a geas may be placed upon the offender, barring them from certain parts of the city, or certain professions, or forbidden them to go out of the house at certain hours or on certain days; or a penance is demanded, in the form of a public apology, or restitution being paid, or the private performance of some deed of penitence, which nevertheless will be known to the Court. In very grave cases, a choice of imprisonment or exile is offered; and where the Court's few prisons are, no one is exactly sure. Death is lawful but uncommon; and whether a sentence of death or long imprisonment has been passed is difficult to discern, unless the condemned reappear among the living some time later. As for the deeds of virtue the court prosecutes, if the accused should be found guilty of them, their reward is certain. In Orm, it is thought as important to hold up virtue for admiration and example as it is to condemn wickedness; and it hurts nothing, they say, if good deeds are done only out of greed, if good deeds are done nonetheless. Yet the reward may be direct; or it may be quite oblique. It may come as good fortune in business for some years after; or a sudden discovery of a trove of money; or the return of a long-lost trinket, much desired; or the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Occasionally, a letter arrives bearing the mark of the Court, appointing the bearer to a vacant public office; or a fortune without heirs will be given to them. It has been rumored that the very greatest deeds of compassion have been rewarded with magnificent transformation, secret miracles, visions of other worlds, or even the resurrection of the dead. It is doubtful that such things really lie within the powers of the sorcerers of Orm, and in that dark stone city every shadow is filled with untrustworthy rumor. But it is true that there few places in the world where it is better to do good, or worse than to do evil, than the streets of Orm.

--Uturu Lagash, Comparative Studies in Sennic Law. Library of Uru Press, 2678

[myhauntedsalem]

Where are the Seven Gates of Hell Located?

Many over the past few centuries tell that the Seven Gates of Hell or each located on one of each of the continents. The seven traditional continents are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That Means That there is one Gate of Hell for each Continent respectively.

But over the years many strange tales have arisen concerning their specific location and what happens to you if you dare to find them. Truth or fiction the tales often grow with each telling. Many forums, blogs and message boards are filled with the evil's and misconceptions of what a doorway to hell is really like and where it might be found.

The Gate to Hell in Africa many say is located in Egypt. The exact locations said by many would be gate searchers is thought to be located directly under the left paw of the great Sphinx. This Horrific Gate is known to be Called the Gate to The Underworld or After Life, the great hall of records. To this date no one has entered it or found it.

It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it's burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

The Gate of hell in Asia is located in Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, is a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and ice-covered annually. It has been claimed by local residents and visitors that the woods are host to a great amount of paranormal phenomena. It is an old ancient forest reportedly haunted by many urban historical legends of strange beasts, monsters, ghosts, and goblins, which add to its serious and sinister reputation.

Some in the world will tell you it is one of the actual seven gates to hell! The location is said to haunted by demons as well as ghosts. These demons or those that make you take your life. I found these forest to be very disturbing and in my mind what a hideous place of beauty for a infernal hole to hell to be in.

Near or under the Great Temple Mount In Israel. One if the possible gates to hell is called Satan's Front Door. Some scholars will argue that this door was once in Rome and Moved to the Holy land when Israel Became a State 14 May 1948. It is Believed it took 2 thousand legions of demons and Devil's to move the great gate because it is the most powerful and strongest doors that Satan has for gaining souls. When it Was Rome their were two gates of hell on the continent and it is believe that the great Caesar's had it originally moved there when they found it in The Holy Land originally.

In 1867, a team from the Royal Engineers, led by Lieutenant Charles Warren (later the London police commissioner of Jack the Ripper fame) and financed by the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.), discovered a series of tunnels beneath Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, some of which were directly underneath the headquarters of the Knights Templar.

Various small artifacts were found which indicated that Templar's had used some of the tunnels, though it is unclear who exactly first dug them. Some of the ruins which Warren discovered came from centuries earlier, and other tunnels which his team discovered had evidently been used for a water system, as they led to a series of cisterns.

The Gate to Hell is by many thought to be located in Europe. And it is hidden in Pere Lachaise Paris Cemetery Paris. It is said to be a great grand gate with very notable significance. this gate is said to be the one that all great heads of state must enter through when they die. And through this gate World Leaders must be judged by the Devil first and not God. Many tales tell of vampire-like entities guarding the entrance. Some believe that the Underground catacombs of Paris are the true gates but many beg to differ.

Some searchers believe that the actual Hellfire Caves Buckinghamshire, England is a indirect gate to Hell. Some call it a side door to the dark underworld of Satan.

West Wycombe Caves, also known as Hellfire Caves, located in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England, are most well known as a meeting place for members of The Hellfire Club. The caves were extended by Sir Francis Dashwood (later Lord le Despencer) between 1748–1752. They provided work for unemployed farm workers following a succession of harvest failures, and lie close to Dashwood's country house, West Wycombe Park (now owned by the National Trust). The chalk mines that were extended to form the caves had existed near High Wycombe for a considerable time. The mines are said to have a prehistoric origin, and were presumably created to extract the flint found in the chalk to make hand tools. Locally, flint is used as a building material.

The entrance to the caves is built from flint, and St Lawrence's church, above the Inner Temple, is also built using flint. Due to the extensive alterations made by Dashwood, all evidence of the caves' earlier history seem to have been destroyed. The underground "rooms" are named, from the Entrance Hall, through the Circle, Franklin's Cave (named after Benjamin Franklin, a friend of Dashwood who stayed with him at West Wycombe), the Banqueting Hall, the Triangle, to the Miner's Cave; finally, across a subterranean river named the Styx, lies the final cave, the Inner Temple. An alternative viewpoint was advanced by Daniel P Mannix in his book about The Hellfire Club. This theory suggests that the caves had been deliberately created by Dashwood according to a sexual design.The design begins at the 'womb' of the Banqueting Hall, leading to rebirth through the female triangle, followed by baptism in the River Styx and the pleasures thereafter of the Inner Temple.

This theory is not mentioned in National Trust literature and is allegedly refuted by the Dashwood family.The flint mining theory is also questionable because the Chiltern Hills flint bed overlays the chalk escarpment and does not have to be mined except by means of small open flint dells of which there are many on the area.The caves were refurbished and made suitable for visitors during the 1950s by the late Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet.

They are now open as a tourist attraction, with life-sized waxwork figures in period costume illustrating the life of the caves in the 18th century. The caves have attracted over 2 million visitors since 1951.

The Gate to Hell in South America is located in Rio de Janeiro. Harbour of Rio de Janeiro is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The actual open gate yo hell is said to be near where the world famous "Christ the Redeemer" Statue stands. Some say the entrance is in an underwater cave or hidden near the top of Corcovado Peak. Locals believe that during the festival of Carnival the gate swings open to trap those that or unaware of it's location who deserve to be taken to hell alive.

The gate has also been thought to be located at Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Angel Falls, the Nazca lines are thought by some to point the way, Galapagos, along the Amazon which is thought to originate or flow into the river Styx, Patagonia, Andes .

The North American Gate is said to be located at or very near the Tomb Of the great Voodoo - Hoodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Many say it is the doorway to the home of the eternally tortured and living dead. Many old tales tell of strange monsters issuing from the infernal gates. Vampires zombies and a host of Ghede and strange half dead beings.

[magneticmage]

Quiz Meme; OC-style

I was tagged by @rozhevisny to take this quiz.

I also ended up doing a number of my OCs. They are under the cut for length.

I am tagging @awellboiledicicle @mikkeneko @changeling-fae @higheverweave @yusukesmomjeans @dalishious and @draxen1123 but don't feel pressured to do so if you don't wanna! It's all for fun.

(Inquisitors)

Paeriel Lavellan="You're choking on how much you have to try". Accurate by the time of Inquisition (specifically around Skyhold) as Paeriel very much embodies the virtue of suledin. She can handle the amount she's dealt with but it is still a burden and she worries about how it will affect others if she slips and drops under the weight. She doesn't want more harm to come to innocents and those who are already struggling under their own burdens (mages, dwarves, elves, even the templars to some degree), and yet it is a fight that continues on and on seeming without end. Just as Solas walks his path to break the systems oppressing people, she tries to work within those same systems to better chances for those who need it.

Armashok Adaar="You were meant to". Accurate prior to his joining the Inquisition. He spent so much of his life struggling to find his place as everyone told him what to be; silent, obediant, a weapon to be protected against. He chafed and struggled to find comfort in it and yet he ultimately realized that he was his own person. No one could tell him who and what he was or was meant to be, not even his wife. So he chose for himself; To be Armashok Adaar.

Ransley Trevelyn="This isn't enough for you" Also accurate for pre-Inquisition Ransley, as he balked against his family expectations. They wanted him to marry a nice noblewoman of status and wealth. He courted them but couldn't quite bite the bullet as something about them just lacked....something. Even when he met his lover, he struggled against the fact that they had to be discreet for her reputation as a Knight-Divine. His family demanded he become a Templar, he decided the Seekers would be a better use of his talents. Always when he was told something, his innate ambition would push him for more and better things. While he can give up things as needed, he dislikes it. That last part is something he struggles with-and notably fails during Trespasser-post-Inquisition. This is a trait that Josephine can understand, though like their lover Cassandra, she tempers it in herself and him with patience.

Naranka Cadash="Because you have made mistakes you cannot swallow" Pfft. Yeah, this is very much her. She seeks redemption just as badly as Paeriel does for Solas, just as badly as Blackwell-her love interest-does.

(Inner Circle)

Kara Adaar="Because you cannot hold freedom". Very true. She's seen what freedom has cost her parents to give her a better life and plans to make the most of hers. That desire to enjoy life is shared with Sera. The desire to understand the world through the lens of ensuring that freedom for others is something she shares with Dagna.

Emilyse Trevelyan="You swallow pain and fold around it" Yikes. This is accurate to her time in the Circle, however. She spent much of her time trying to be a "good" mage, despite a number of abuses by the Templars and the Chantry. It was only when her brother visited her during his training as a recruit that some of those abuses came to light and she was brought to the Circle in Ostwick, closer to home and with the newly added bribes to ensure her safety, she did much better. However, this newfound life did not for too long as the Rebellion broke out and she was left adrift for a time before making her way with some other refugees to the Conclave at Haven. She was nervous about so many Templars, but eventually found solace and peace with Cullen as they each began to heal over their own traumas of their respective sides, and together as they began a family shortly after Trespasser.

Samrel Lavellan="because you cannot hold freedom" Interesting. He's actually one of my simplest OCs; a simple life with his clan and husband, First to the Keeper and cousin to Paeriel, is all he wants. Unlike some of my other Dalish OCs, he hasn't faced quite the same level of hardship and loss, and though he does mourn the loss of his clan, he seeks to rebuild it alongside his husband and the few survivors that managed to escape the humans' blades. So perhaps that defiance of the losses inflicted harkens back to the Dale's and the elves' refusal to submit to the Alienages, by simply standing up and saying "No, you cannot silence us" is enough? That could be a type of freedom and there is power in that refusal. Thoughts to consider more later.

Pyrmar Cadash="This isn't enough for you". Oh that's interesting. Pyrmar is one of those characters that seems super simple (ex-surfacer Carta bruiser with a notable penchant for leadership as a Champion) and, for the most part, he is. He likes drink and fun as much as any other mercenary like the Chargers. But, like Dorian, he sometimes feels inadequate in some way. As if he is meant for more; to be and do more. Most notably for basic respect and care, something his upbringing in the cutthroat nature of the Carta was missing. Dorian shows him that he is capable of love and being loved and The Iron Bull gives him the respect and belonging he lacked previously. While he can still fall orey to his baser nature at times, his heart as grown much over the years and so it becomes less common to "want more" as he used to.

(Last Court)

Aurore de Serault="Because you have made mistakes you can't swallow" Ooo. She does carry some lingering guilt and grief over her late husband's death at the hands of the Game. She struggles with the Orlesian court at times, and much prefers solitude and peaceful quiet to gossipy ballrooms and noble Lords and ladies demanding a dance, a bonding point for her and her love interests of The Silent Huntsman and the Elegant Abbess. However, it's not that she's unskilled in the Game; in fact, she's quite good at it. She simply prefers simplicity to more complex machinations. All that said, she does regret the ferocity with which she holds grudges; she had gone on to murder the entire families of those individuals responsible for her husband's death.

Marcel de Serault="You swallow pain and fold around it". Hmmm. Not sure of this one. Marcel divorced his wife to pursue a cloistered and scholarly life in pursuit of knowledge (he was once a Chevalier). Eventually he began to crave the adventure of the Game again, which is how he fell for The Wayward Bard and the Dashing Outlaw. Again, not too sure but it's interesting. Perhaps he simply internalized his losses and pain?

(Hawkes)

Knight-Commander Jasper Hawke of Kirkwall="because you've made mistakes you can't swallow" Oh cool! Jasper watches his younger siblings-three of his fellow quadrupled and Carver- go off into the Deep Roads expedition. He made the decision to stay behind to protect Bethany and their mother in case things went south. Despite assurances from his departing siblings, things did go south. After being pissed at Batrand, he sighed and went to work for the Templars. Shortly thereafter, despite his best efforts, Bethany was caught by Templars and taken to the Circle. Jasper did what he could to protect and shield his sister from the worst abuses of the Templars under Meredith's command, no matter the personal costs and enmity it earned him from his siblings and companions. It even ended his relationship with Anders around the beginning of Act 2. After Meredith was defeated, he worked with Cullen to try and reform the Templars and rebuild Kirkwall post-Chantry boom. His efforts were strained once red lyrics began to show up and corrupt his fellow templars. Despite narrowly avoiding being swept into the group while infiltrating it to gather intel, he succeeded in driving them out. When Cullen left for the Inquisition, he stepped up to continue reforming the Templars for protecting the mages. While he originally balked at the pro-mage decisions of the Inquisition, he ultimately agreed that the Chantry had abused all of its charges-mages and templars both. He began to reshape the Templars under his command to fit in line with the changing world; a choice to take lyrium, and a recovery and rehabilitation plan set in stone for all members who wished to leave, new rules and regulations in place to protect the rights and dignity of both mages and Templars, slowly making them a secular force beyond the Chantry but under the control of Vivenne's newly reformed Circle of Magi perhaps. He does what he believes to be right and for the best of his family, even if they dislike his decisions. A trait he no doubt picked up from his mother.

Lord Gray Hawke of House Amell="You swallow pain and fold around it" This is fitting for Lord Amell. While Jasper and Violet always held loft goals to pursue and Skye simply wanted to go and see the world for all it was, Gray preferred to remain at home and tend to their family. He is the one most connected to the Amell legacy rather than the Hawke self-made determination. That's not to say it isn't there; he's more than willing to help others and make something of himself, but it comes back to wanting to appease and help his family in whatever ways he could. He pines for Anders for a great deal of time, but doesn't make a move due to either Jasper dating the mage or simply not wanting to be a rebound for his brother. In the end, however, Anders surprises him (perhaps nudged on by Skye and Violet) by initiating a kiss and the two quickly develop into a stable relationship. He is even willing to leave all he'd built to go on the run with Anders and further aid him in his cause. Gray is just a cutie who wants a simple meal and a nice husband. If he gets to watch Anders shoot lightning at fools, well, who is he to laugh?

Viscountess Skye Hawke="Because you cannot hold freedom". Accurate. Skye loves her freedom. While she is certainly ambitious, it often comes down to more power means more freedom. She rules as Viscountess of Kirkwall for a time until abdicating in favor of Varric so she can pursue Tallis across the seas, but also to simply go back to adventuring and exploring. While she does not care for the Qun and its Qunari, she cares about people and her family most of all. It is one of the few tethers she did not choose but it is the one she keeps above all others. After all, even the Sky must touch the earth at some point just as a Hawk must return to its nest to rest and tend its young.

Champion Violet Hawke of Kirkwall="Because you have made mistakes you cannot swallow". Fitting given that Violet is both a blood-mage (also a spirit-healer and force-mage) and extremely pro-mage freedom, and her choices often led her to conflict with Jasper due to their views and lives. She has only ever wanted to be free to live her life as she chooses, with is how she fell for Isabela. She fell for Fenris because she's a bleeding heart who wants to help everyone as much as she can. Kirkwall left its mark on her and she's struggling to do better than what she views as a failure due to her diplomatic nature in the name of mage freedom by the time the Inquisition comes around. While just as driven by the cause for equality as Anders, she often privately struggled with her mother's death among the many other revelations and choices of her family, fearing the loss of all she called dear. Luckily Fenris and Isabela returned to her and they made a pact to live well on the seas after everything had settled down and Champion Hawke was no longer needed.

(Awakening)

Senior Warden Dion Caron="This isn't enough for you" Okay. So, Dion joined the Wardens to escape the Templars (p.s. it didn't work) and his adopted sister Victoire-Ainsley was already joining and he had promised to protect her for their parents. He's happily married to Garam and spends much of his time training recruits and fostering camaderie in the ranks of the Wardens. What more could he want? Perhaps it is nothing and the doubt is simply there as is human nature, perhaps he frets about his dwindling time in the world before his Calling, perhaps he does want more. Who can say?

Senior Warden/Warden-Constabke Victoire-Ainsley Caron of Orlais="This isn't enough for you" Pfft. Victoire-Ainsley's ambition to make a name for herself and her family (she came from a long line of Chevaliers) nearly cost her her life and resulted in her father's death. Her mother adopted an orphan boy-Dion-in the hopes it would curb some of her darker tendencies. It partially succeeded. While she did not go as far as she'd once been willing, she still acted ruthlessly and this earned her quite the name in the Game for a time. However, her fall from grace was just as bloody as her rise, and she was only spared by the intervention of the Wardens' Conscription. She lost a great deal and was now forever barred from reclaiming it. She acted out for a time and was surprised when the Wardens allowed-encouraged even-it. However the death of her husband to save them during a nasty skirmish against a powerful broodmother she'd led them against resulted in a mission successful but at a cost she hadn't wanted to pay; only her, Dion, Garam, and I senna made it out alive. Since then, she had been working towards redeeming herself, opening up to the criticism and vulnerability she'd been so afraid of, much like Loghain is when he is sent to Orlais. And so while her pride demands more of her, she focuses instead on what she can provide and tries to bite back the bile this causes. After all, this is for the best and that is enough. Right?

Senior Warden Isenna Andras="You were meant to" Isenna lived first under the Orlesian cruelty in the Alienate and then the Templars' in the Circle. It is no wonder she fights to carve a name for herself in history, to make herself her own, to be what she was never meant to even dream of. She wants to be a hero but struggles against her own inner nature to survive. She is driven by the conflict of selflessness and self-preservation. Perhaps Mhairi's idealism is enough to tip the scales for her.

Senior Warden Garam Kader="Because you have made mistakes you cannot swallow" Accurate. He joined the Wardens after passing off the wrong Carta Boss and then spent years helping Victoire-Ainsley and her brother grow their ambition and then....his unit died beyond the four of them. And all the glamor of the Wardens fell away and he realized just how far some would go and he began to wait for them to step back, hoping they would step back. Victoire-Ainsley and Dion and Isenna did. He did. But the Clarel didn't. He hopes Loughlin will do better as the Warden-Commander of Orlais. He knows he will do better and he knows his husband, Dion, will.

(Wardens)

Warden-Commander Lynera Mahariel of Fereldan="You were meant to" Ouch my heart. Lynera lost Tamlen and never quite recovered. She was forced into a Warden and then into leading the party as the Hero of Fereldan and then into the role of Warden-Commander/Arlessa of Amaranthine and she did it. She took all the pain and hurt and losses over the years, the Taint and its horrors and its strength sapping, the politics and hard decisions; she took it all and she did it. She did what was needed, became what a Grey Warden Commander and hero was meant to be. She can't even say she regrets becoming a Warden anymore as its become so central to her identity now, only mourns the things and people she's lost to get there. I think Sten-excuse me-the Arishok understands this. Perhaps that is why they both hope to never meet on a battlefield unless they are on the same side again.

Warden Isemaya Tabris="You swallow pain and fold around it" Okay that's like SUPER interesting. See, Isemaya learned about the injustices elves face early in life. It cost her her mother's life and very nearly her twin brother's as well, after all. She became a warrior to protect them (her family, her community, her home) and she was good at it. But then she saw a glimpse of a different life with Nelaros, one where she might be happy simply letting someone else deal with all the fighting and clawing and exhaustion. She wanted it, she realized, she wanted it very much. But then she lost him and Shianni was hurt and she was hurt and Vaughn was dead and the humans were so angry. She geared up to protect her people again, to be the brave warrior like her mother before her. And then....Duncan Conscripted her. She was forced from her home, alive and angry and proud, and so she expanded her family to her companions. Then Zevran tried to kill them and they let him live and she watched him like a hawk and saw the same longing for a life, for more in the absence of loss, in him. She helped him heal and learn to live again and he helped her set down her weapons and her anger for a time and then the times became more frequent and they grew closer. She told him she loved him in the brisk Haven air and he gave her a golden earring to match the old and blood-stained wedding band she still wore, and she had found peace. She continued with the Wardens, with helping him take down the Crows, with searching for a cure so they could have more time. She took her pain but instead of weaponizing it like Lynera and others did, she learned to let it go and continue on. She learned to live in spite of, not because of, her pain.

Arcane Advisor Catriona Surana of Fereldan= "Because you have made mistakes you cannot swalllow" Oof. This is definitely Catriona during Origins. Her decisions to betray Jowan, to use blood magic at Ostagar and then to continue to practice and study it despite the stigma it holds, the merging with Compassion to save Cale, to give up her dreams of marriage and freedom and let Alistair marry Anora for the good of Fereldan and again when Leliana went on to become the Left Hand of the Divine and then again as the Divine Victoria...she makes a lot of mistakes and the consequences haunt her for a very long time. While she does manage to find some good in them, or at least simply makes peace with them, they still color how she becomes in 2 and Inquisition and beyond.

Warden Cale Amell=

Teryn Fion Cousland of Gwaren=

Paragon Prince Barran Aeducan=

Warden Paragon Tatha Brosca=

(Origins)

First/Keeper Vireth Mahariel=

"Dark Wolf" Elthorn Tabris=

"Stormcaller" Alaros Surana=

Lord Azul Amell=

Lady "Nightshade" Raven Amell=

Lord Carmine Amell=

Lord Reed Amell=

Lady Marigold Amell=

Captain "Highever Spitfire" Aelynne Cousland=

Princess and Orzammar Commander Valda Aeducan=

(Canon Solo Shepard)

Commander and Spectre Annette Shepard=

(The Sibling Shepards Canon)

Spectre Riley Shepard=

Spectre/XO Roscoe "Ros" Shepard=

Spectre/Commander Joanna "Jo" Shepard=

(Shepard Cousins)

Angelus "Angel" Shepard=

Elliot "El" Shepard=

Jaden "Jay" Shepard=

Alexandra "Alex" Shepard=

Kristopher "Kris" Shepard=

Clover "Clove" Shepard=

(Starship Ryders Canon)

Pathfinder Lucas "Luke" Ryder=

Pathfinder Rebecca "Becca" Ryder=

Pathfinder Shiloh "Shy" Ryder=

Pathfinder Evander "Evan" Ryder=

Pathfinder Asher "Ash" Ryder=

(Baldur's Gate)

Cei Gloomdraft=

Faenerys Elendir=

"Sable Shades" Risaeder Rosandoral=

Saga "Muse" Musehart=

Lyr(e/a/an) Lovemoor=

Rune Mistsea=

Lucine Mistsea=

Roan Roarke=

[archiveddvrpg]

In fair Verona, our tale begins with FAUST CONTRERAS, who is FORTY-FIVE years old. He is often called FORTINBRAS and works for the MONTAGUES as their INITIATE. He uses HE/HIM pronouns.

Faust’s childhood was a relatively peaceful one, all things considered. He was the son of one of the three major organized crime groups in Chile at the time, and while he saw the violence, bloodshed, and addiction first hand, he also experienced the relative luxury of his life. His shoes never had holes in them, he always had food on the table, he had a good education and as many books as he wanted to read. Perhaps it is this even-handed existence that has given him a patient and methodical temperament in adulthood. He thinks before he acts and looks before he leaps, and it has rewarded him well; in a nation defined by being the middle-man between those around it when it comes to drugs, trafficking, and all sorts of exploits, it is best to know what you want before you sign on any dotted line. Born and bred for leadership, it was no surprise that he took to it well, and by the time he was twenty-five he had cultivated the people he knew would be with him, his inner circle, for the rest of his time as Don. It was picture perfect, as the life of an heir went; perhaps that is why it was destined for tragedy.

His right and left hands were Vicente and Mateo, cousins both and more trusted than anyone had any right to be. Together, and with the aid of their family, they built more than a familia. Together they would build an empire. They expanded the Contreras investment in drugs and took over the hospitals slowly and methodically, then moved on to poaching trade routes. Some might say they were reaching too high, and far too fast, but Faust had watched the other families grow lax as he grew into adulthood, secure in the knowledge that the status quo would be maintained. That was not good enough for a man like Faust. He wanted control, utterly and absolutely, and he would wade through blood to do it. He may have been handed the crown, but each new mission he dipped it in blood, until it soaked through his hair and into his very skin. He had never been taught the simple morality of a civilian, you see, and he had never had a gentle influence to temper him. The boy grew into a man as sharp as a blade and with a tongue as precise and deadly, and in the fifteen years of his reign, he was nigh unstoppable.

Yet all things come to an end, and Faust’s end came at the sound of a gun, at Vicente’s blood on his hands. He was coming for you, he breathed as his own gun fell from his hands, I was almost too late. In the blink of an eye, Mateo and Vicente took each other from this world, as they had all come into it together. For a moment, he considered joining them. What use was it to be the king when he had been so fucking blind? He hadn’t seen how Mateo chafed at acting in secret, how he had grown arrogant and bold beneath his notice. Nor had he seen how Vicente protected him, not only from the flash of the muzzle but from the very knowledge itself. One, too eager to act without worrying him, and the other eager to displace him. It was a terrible blow to someone who considered himself so thorough and patient, who had never been prone to hedonism or hubris. Faust Contreras had been out-played twice over, and though the rest of his familia wasn’t told the details, it wasn’t hard to deduce. He left them before someone sorrier and worse able to manage their affairs decided he was ripe for another test, leaving the empire in Chile to his own heir; his sister’s boy, who was clever and charismatic and more than anything, observant. He wished him well, in the end. A better life than Faust had conjured.

After that, he wandered. The power of his name was still enough to sustain him, for the Contreras’ had their hands in every pot in Latin America, all roads to profit running through them. He garnered some talent as a fixer, but soon he found that he had more ambition than he thought, for fixing other peoples’ problems didn’t quite satisfy his hunger. Kings are born one of two ways: wading through the gore of a conquest with their sword at their side, or with golden crowns atop their heads and rings on their skeletal hands. Faust didn’t care which he was anymore, some amalgom of both and neither, but he knew one thing: there were places on this earth he could still rule, if he wished it. That was what brought him to Verona, after all, and he’d already treated with Damiano as the ghost he’d left behind. It was easy to play to the man’s pride, to let him lord how far Faust had fallen over him, never quite realizing that it was Faust’s choice to fall, like the angels of old. The man was easy to fool, and Faust counted himself content, because Verona was a city in need of order. If there was any place that he could renew his crown, it would be here, in the midst of chaos and viciousness. The old Fortinbras was dead, he figured, out of hubris and shortsightedness. He couldn’t blame the man; both were easy to fall victim to, but he’d made his mistakes enough already. He could take this old name and make it his, and with or without the blessing of Damiano Montague, show Verona what a real King could do. It was only a matter of time.

ARMAND GIORDANO: Ghost. The moment he saw Armand, he saw Vicente’s eyes in an entirely different face. It was so startling, in fact, that he hasn’t been able to meet Armand’s eyes since. Does he know? Can he see the way he haunts Faust with every word, every look, every step in his direction? He’s not sure whether Armand cares, as focused as he is on Roman, but sometimes he wants him to look, if only to see the grief reflected back. Don’t let yourself get subsumed by it, he pleads without words, because the thought of explaining it all makes him sick. That empty devotion will lead him to his grave if he’s not careful, but how can Faust explain what it is to thread the needle? How can he show someone how to balance on the edge of a knife, between losing yourself in the needs of others and not being there when they do, in fact, need you? It’s not a selfless desire to protect that he sees in Armand, it’s a selfish one, and that scares him more than anything. 

CARLO AMARANTE: Mark. It’s not difficult to spot the indents of a collar on someone’s neck when you’ve put a dozen or two there yourself. Carlo is all hunched shoulders, all paranoia, all exhaustion, and Faust knows that look so well because he’s cultivated it. Here is a tool ready-made, and he would thank the gods for sending them into his path, if he believed in them at all anymore. Instead, he merely finds ways to feel Carlo out, to spend time with them and see where their head is at. They’ve been rode hard, that much is certain, but are they ready to open themselves up to the words of another deity? He can’t tell, but when Carlo is ready, Faust will be ready as well. I’d take much better care of you, he thinks as he watches the weight fill his eyes and the hopelessness sink in, I’d make sure you never felt the marks. 

BATTISTA TAHAN & POPPY: Protégés. Faust made his empire by being a middle-man, and it’s that same quality he now sees in these two, though for very different reasons. Poppy has the makings of a perfect money-laundering system at her feet, but she remains wild and volatile, endangering what she’s worked so hard to build. He doesn’t want to tame that part of her, but he wants to use it to build her reputation - if she’ll let him. For Battista, it’s simple: medics and hospitals are the easiest ways to traffic drugs in the world. If he would get himself a proper license, he could deal throughout Verona without detection from the police; hell, he could deal to the police in their sickbeds, but he’s reticent to do so, and Faust for the life of him can’t understand why. He’s in the mafia, is he not? He wanted to be there, did he not? Then he better get used to what being a part of the machine means, and Faust will teach him the easy way or watch as someone else teaches it to him hard. 

IVAN RAHAL: Potential. When he first realized that the Capulets were using one of the greatest technical minds in the world to run a fight club, Faust thought it was a joke. Sure, in his off time, maybe, but as his main position within their organization? It was a foolish decision indeed, and he began to wonder just how little the Capulets value that first rate mind, if they’re keeping it in a place like that. Curious, Faust began to attend those fights, and even began to win them, enough that he would interact with Ivan at any rate. Playing as though he was curious about the other side (as an Initiate, it wasn’t hard), he instead began to feel out whether Ivan was interested in crossing the adige, with methodical, careful precision. His words were not honey; they were far too pragmatic for that, yet they certainly have their charms, for Ivan Rahal still listens, and sometimes Faust thinks he catches the glimmer of interest before it’s hastily tucked away.

Faust is portrayed by PEDRO PASCAL and was written by ROGUE. He is currently OPEN.

[alexiela73]

hellooo, would it be alright if you write an genji, mccree, reaper or 76 angst (you could choose :)) where the reader sacrifice themselves for them? thank you loads! have a good day/evening/night!

So I’m looking at this like, my heart??? Why do you rip it out like this????Why must you make me rip out my own heart???? Why do you hurt these poor men like this?!???

Update: I can do better, I think. I just didn’t have a lot of time to FEEL it, so I couldn’t write it better. Ugh, ask me again later and I will write you a better one. If I don’t cry it isn’t good enough to me.

Watching Reaper now as you slowly followed him into the building, no one else would know that this creature used to be the man named Gabriel Reyes, a Commander of Blackwatch and a man who fought for those around the world. Now, he was a man hell-bent on letting loose his vengeance against the very organization he once worked for.

Most people were afraid of Reaper, of wisps of shadow that trailed him and of his temper. There were many things he did not tolerate, and death had taken destroyed his patience when it came to incompetence, ignorance or disobedience. It was more then just believable when they say that Reaper like the lord of death itself, leaving bodies in his wake.

Despite this cold reputation he’d built, you couldn’t help believing different. He was still Gabriel, in your mind. The two of you had fallen in love back in Blackwatch, but you had never once given up on him. Gabe was the love of your life, and even now, making decisions like this…you had to support him.

The building here was quiet and dark. Sombra had managed to hack her way into the system, opening the doors for you. As far as you and your squad knew, there was roughly ten guards here at the building tonight. Five were already taken down, making the rest easy pickings.

Despite the gun in your hand, you had yet to kill anyone for Talon. There had been a time of shooting someone in the leg or the shoulder to disable them, but you had yet to take a life. It was the one rule you lived by, and yet your skill in the field when it came to combat was immeasurable.

Your loyalty to Reaper was what allowed Talon to send you out into the field, otherwise they wouldn’t trust you. You weren’t allowed on missions regarding Overwatch, nor did they ever inform you of their plans. But missions like these were perfect for your skill.

Creeping up a staircase behind Reaper, he had his shot guns drawn. In your hand was a pistol and a knife, and you peeked back at the seven men following after you. Everyone kept their heads down and their guards up, prepared for an attack at any moment.

Reaper made a motion with his hand. Responding as if this were just another mission like in the old days, you split off from the group, heading down the hall in the opposite direction. 

Why were all the lights out, you wondered, as you turned on the pair of night vision that came in the form of a pair of sunglasses. They worked like a charm and even had a scope, in case I needed it. 

There was no noise behind you, though you kept checking, and you found it strange that you had yet to find even a door. After ten minutes, you made a turn and nearly collided with a body. Instantly your knife was pressed to the individuals throat, but you also felt the barrel of a gun pressed to your head. Breathing evenly, your heart didn’t even miss a beat despite this odd predicament.

Staring up into the white mask of your lover, you smirked and slowly lowered your weapon. When he lowered his, you took the moment to lift his mask and steal a kiss, not minding the dirty look he gives you. He tried not to mix work with pleasure, but who knew when your last moment could be?

Apparently, you did.

“There are no doors,” Reaper said, his voice a deep growl and he sounded frustrated. Understandable, considering you had all just gone in a big circle. Why would they build a structure like this unless…

Eyes opening suddenly, your knuckles whitened as you gripped your gun. “Reaper, we need to leave,” you said suddenly, looking around. Where, where, where were they-

“Y/n, we’re not-” Reaper began but you grabbed the front of his jacket tight and pointed at what you were looking for. A tiny circle in the wall, with a small lense. A camera.

Upon the realization that we’d just played into a trap, everyone started running for the door that we’d all come in originally. Immediately you tried to calm them, to get their attention because you had a decent idea of what awaited you outside the doors and it wasn’t a party.

“Everyone, please-” you said, but as they began to pour out the door, the sounds of bullets and the thumps of bodies hitting the ground told you your answer. You had been right from the beginning. 

Immediately you took cover behind a wall. This time, you thought, you couldn’t see how there was room not to spare people here. Already as the bullets started to finish, you saw only one of your men actually hidden with you, but on the other side of the door. None of the rest had survived.

Reaper was shaking with fury. This was not how the night was suppose to go, and he had no plans on walking away empty handed. Despite your cautions, your boyfriend seemed to melt into a dark, shadowy mist, which immediately moved out the door towards the on-looking attackers. 

Obviously, that was the last thing the soldiers had expected, and the moment he was solid amidst them all he began taking aim. Reaper, as usual, did so flawlessly. Until you realized…

Reaper had his back turned as he took on four, not realizing there was one more person behind him. That soldier seemed at a loss of what to do, of how to take down this monster who could became as touchable as air. So he did the only supposedly logical thing possible.

The soldier took out a grenade. Upon the sight of it, you roared in anger and  took the steps in threes. Finally you decided to just leap over the railing, landing on the floor with a landing but you managed to stay up, even as the jump vibrated throughout your legs.

The soldier pulled the pin and you grasped it at the exact moment after, both of your eyes locked. It took you less then a second to spin him into a head lock and smash the window behind him with your elbow.

The sound of the shattering glass caught Reaper’s attention, and he turned. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Both of your eyes met and held. As the situation hit him, something in them pleaded with you. But if you didn’t do this whole room would blow and more, and Reaper and the trainee wouldn’t make it out alive.

“I love you,” you said, before pushing yourself out the window and taking the soldier with you. It’d be your first and last life to take, and as the two of you fell the three stories, you closed your eyes.

The grenade went off before you hit the ground. The explosion was powerful enough that it rocked the building, and Reaper saw the flames as he ran to the window. Reaper didn’t…he couldn’t…

He didn’t know what to do. What to feel. There was no way for you to have survived that…There was no possible way.

You were the last thing Reaper had, the last thing that made him Gabriel Reyes. And just like that….you were gone. There was this strange sensation in his chest, but the only way he could describe it was that he felt…well…broken. Numb.

Reaper felt numb and even as the trainee ran to him, even as he tried to get him to escape, Reaper realized something for the first time.

Reaper had never truly been dead until he lost you. Now there was nothing left of him.

[theticklishpear]

(A table of contents is available. It will be kept up-to-date as new posts are added. Disclaimer: If you are planning on basing your own fictional magic system off an existing magic belief, please do extensive research into anthropology and discussions from people of that belief. Avoid direct appropriation and be respectful!)

Part Fifteen: Practitioner Tropes :: Sorcerer and Warlock

Witch, wizard, mage, sorcerer, and warlock have all had their definitions mixed and intermingled to the point of near impossible disentanglement. As we saw in Part Fourteen with witches and wizards, true definitions for them have become whatever the author needs at the moment, and whatever the world defines them as. Sorcerer and warlock have become similar catch-alls for individuals practiced in the arts of magic, but this time, they come with a history of darker deeds. Let’s take a look:

Sorcerer/Sorceress::

Sorcerer/Sorceress: a person who practices sorcery; black magician; wizard. (x)

Just by the very virtue of the word’s form, we can see that it simply denotes a person learned in sorcery, but that leaves to us the question of what is sorcery? The dictionary has us covered once again:

Sorcery: the art, practices, or spells of a person who is supposed to exercise supernatural powers through the aid of evil spirits; black magic; witchery. (x)

So while the definition for sorcerer also tells us that it can be synonymous with wizard--which we decided last time was just a general term for one who practices magic in whatever form that takes--the etymology of the words shows that they’re likely not wizards of the typical magics, but rather practitioners using whatever darker forms of magic are afoot in your world.

The Evil Sorcerer is perhaps the most common trope associated with magic-users that fall beneath this label, and often are associated with summoning/conjuring of spirits, demons, and other otherworldly entities to assist them with their spells and magic. They tend to be solitary, using their magic for selfish reasons. The ends justify the means for these characters, and they’re willing to do things that seem evil for the sake of their goals. Sorceresses gain a worse tendency to be vain creatures with goals built around their continued existence, power, and/or beauty, brought down when that physique begins to fail.

It’s difficult to separate out searches for sorcerers and sorceresses in literature given that the terms overlap with witch and wizard with some frequency. While Ursula from Disney’s The Little Mermaid is referred to as a sea witch, she could be considered a sorceress, and even Stardust’s Dark Witch Queen could sport the title of Sorceress instead, as each of them reach out to magics that are considered not those of typical good or neutral magic-users of their worlds. Most famously, perhaps, Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend has been called all kinds of things from enchantress like Circe, shape-shifter, and sorceress. And of course, Sauron of Lord of the Rings fame, while not outright called a sorcerer, dabbled in darker magics for selfish reasons and fits the bill as a big fat evil sorcerer.

Warlocks::

Warlock: a man who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a male witch; sorcerer; a fortuneteller or conjurer. (x)

Ideas of a warlock’s power are obviously widespread from simply being a practitioner of magic who is male, or a sorcerer (implying use of dark magics), or something as innocuous as a fortuneteller. The breadth of the definition feeds back into the overall idea that’s popped up again and again that these labels are whatever writers need them to be.

With wizard already as a popular term for male magic-user, warlock has tended to take on a darker turn. Its etymological roots stem from Old English phrases for oathbreaker, devil, and covenant betrayer. Warlocks have come to mostly be known for relying heavily on otherworldly entities as aids to their magic, just as sorcerers have tended toward, most specifically including demons or other evil entities.

It’s interesting to note that while the stereotype of wizard is the older figure, wizened, and showing knowledge through age, sorcerers, sorceresses, and warlocks alike have most often been portrayed as middle-aged, not old enough to have learned better, and still young enough to be brash and value themselves and their agendas most.

Warlock characters in modern literature have embraced the blue-collar option, with streetwise characters who are open to using mundane items tweaked by magic. While not usually evil, Blue-Collar Warlocks often have grey moralities and are more willing to branch out into nonstandard magics that might not have the glowing societal reputations of commonly understood and used magics. John Constantine, Magnus Bane, and even Harry Dresden have been referred to as this types of warlock.

Hallmarks of Power::

Because both sorcerers/sorceresses and warlocks tend to have associations with conjuration and dealings with otherworldly entities in addition to their spell-casting, they are most notably identified by their knowledge of arcane languages such as the generic “runes” used to write out spell circles. These circles often come with their own complex sets of rules that magic-users must obey to the letter or face dire consequences. Because of the darker nature of their magic, mistakes made by sorcerers and warlocks are more likely to result in catastrophe, whether for the area or the magic-user themselves, and more easily results in death than the magic of witches and wizards.

They often make use of a variety of magical objects, as well, even more so than witches and wizards. Their magic and sorcery is everything to them, it’s their go-to tactic for solving problems, so they have a little bit of everything to enable them to do a little bit of everything. Probably stemming from the warlock’s alternative fortunetelling background, crystal balls are generally a part of a warlock’s collection.

Both these archetypes tend to have lairs of some kind that are tailor-made to best facilitate their goals, whatever those are. Towers are exceptionally common. (They’re common for just about any magical character archetype, but particularly sorcerers/sorceresses and warlocks in order to accommodate their solitary natures.) Encroaching on their territory is not only dangerous to one’s freedom but to one’s health as well, as these characters tend to shape-shift, capture, experiment upon, or kill trespassers who might discover their plans.

Writing Now::

These labels come loaded with connotations of, if not straight-up evil, ends-justify-the-means characters who are driven to achieve their goals. There are some examples of characters under this label that don’t fit this idea such as Polgara from David Eddings’s books, and Galadriel of Lord of the Rings, so using these terms as general “magic workers” labels will be just as fine as using witch, wizard, mage, etc.

Be aware of what they mean for your world and maintaining consistency. If they refer to a certain hierarchy within your magic-users such as sorceresses being more powerful than witches, or if they define the type of magic used such as conjuration of entities being solely within the powers of a warlock, then you need to be sure that those rules remain reliable throughout.

Understand the moral values of the cultures these magic-users come from. What is considered “good” magic, “bad” magic, and what types of tasks just plain cost too much to be acceptable under any circumstances will come from your cultures, not from the magic itself. Know what your magic is capable of and then go through and figure out how those abilities align with the morals of your cultures.

One culture may not view necromancy as a dark magic depending on how the culture’s view of death and religion is structured. One culture may already believe in the idea that the good of all outstrips the good of one, making some magics that sacrifice people perfectly acceptable. You must understand this to effectively define what darker magics exist in your world, and therefore whether the categories of warlock (for instance) really fit with their connotations of moral greyness.

[dfroza]

“gold perfected by fire, so that you can be truly rich.”

A line from Today’s reading of the Scriptures from John’s book of Revelation

[Christ’s Letter to Sardis]

Write the following to the messenger of the congregation in Sardis, for these are the words of the one who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars:

I know all that you do and I know that you have a reputation for being really “alive,” but you’re actually dead! Wake up and strengthen all that remains before it dies, for I haven’t found your works to be perfect in the sight of my God. So remember all the things you’ve received and heard, then turn back to God and obey them. For if you continue to slumber, I will come to you like a thief, and you’ll have no idea at what hour I will come. Yet there are still a few in Sardis who have remained pure, and they will walk in fellowship with me in brilliant light, for they are worthy. And the one who experiences victory will be dressed in white robes and I will never, no never erase your name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge your name before my Father and his angels. So the one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is now saying to all the churches.

[Christ’s Letter to Philadelphia]

Write the following to the messenger of the congregation in Philadelphia, for these are the solemn words of the Holy One, the true one, who has David’s key, who opens doors that none can shut and who closes doors that none can open:

I know all that you’ve done. Now I have set before you a wide-open door that none can shut. For I know that you possess only a little power, yet you’ve kept my word and haven’t denied my name. Watch how I deal with those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews but are not, for they’re lying. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and acknowledge how much I’ve loved you. Because you’ve passionately kept my message of perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of proving that is coming to test every person on earth. But I come swiftly, so cling tightly to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown of victory. For the one who is victorious, I will make you to be a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, permanently secure. I will write on you the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, descending from my God out of heaven. And I’ll write my own name on you. So the one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is now saying to all the churches.

[Christ’s Letter to Laodicea]

Write the following to the messenger of the congregation in Laodicea, for these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation:

I know all that you do, and I know that you are neither frozen in apathy nor fervent with passion. How I wish you were either one or the other! But because you are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I am about to spit you from my mouth. For you claim, “I’m rich and getting richer—I don’t need a thing.” Yet you are clueless that you’re miserable, poor, blind, barren, and naked! So I counsel you to purchase gold perfected by fire, so that you can be truly rich. Purchase a white garment to cover and clothe your shameful Adam-nakedness. Purchase eye salve to be placed over your eyes so that you can truly see. All those I dearly love I unmask and train. So repent and be eager to pursue what is right. Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me. And to the one who conquers I will give the privilege of sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. The one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to the churches.

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 3 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 14th chapter of 2nd Chronicles that documents the life & times of King Asa who succeeded King Abijah:

[King Asa]

Abijah died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Asa became the next king.

For ten years into Asa’s reign the country was at peace.

Asa was a good king. He did things right in God’s eyes. He cleaned house: got rid of the pagan altars and shrines, smashed the sacred stone pillars, and chopped down the sex-and-religion groves (Asherim). He told Judah to center their lives in God, the God of their fathers, to do what the law said, and to follow the commandments. Because he got rid of all the pagan shrines and altars in the cities of Judah, his kingdom was at peace. Because the land was quiet and there was no war, he was able to build up a good defense system in Judah. God kept the peace.

Asa said to his people, “While we have the chance and the land is quiet, let’s build a solid defense system, fortifying our cities with walls, towers, gates, and bars. We have this peaceful land because we sought God; he has given us rest from all troubles.” So they built and enjoyed prosperity.

Asa had an army of 300,000 Judeans, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 Benjaminites who were shield bearers and archers. They were all courageous warriors.

Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against Asa with an army of a million plus three hundred chariots and got as far as Mareshah. Asa met him there and prepared to fight from the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. Then Asa prayed to God, “O God, you aren’t impressed by numbers or intimidated by a show of force once you decide to help: Help us, O God; we have come out to meet this huge army because we trust in you and who you are. Don’t let mere mortals stand against you!”

God defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; the Ethiopians ran for their lives. Asa and his men chased them as far as Gerar; so many of the Ethiopians were killed that there was no fight left in them—a massacre before God and his troops; Judah carted off loads of plunder. They devastated all the towns around Gerar whose people were helpless, paralyzed by the fear of God, and looted the country. They also attacked herdsmen and brought back a lot of sheep and camels to Jerusalem.

The Book of 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 14 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Thursday, february 11 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons that takes a look at the 9th Commandment:

Shalom friends, I am continuing to discuss each of the Ten Commandments since they are related to our Torah reading for this week.... The Ninth Commandment prohibits swearing falsely against your neighbor in matters of law and civil proceedings, but, on a deeper level, it implicitly indicates the responsibility to be a witness of the truth at all times. Note that the Hebrew word for "truth" (emet) is composed from the first, the middle, and the last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, thus indicating that it encompasses the first things, the last things, and everything in between. Thus, in relation to our neighbor (who is really everyone), we are to be truthful and bear witness to the truth in all our moments of life.

https://hebrew4christians.com/

2.10.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

February 11, 2021

The Living and the Written Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The holy Scriptures and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ are so inseparably bound together that whatever calls into question the integrity and authority of one correspondingly casts aspersions on the other. Let us not be guilty of saying that the written Word and the incarnate Word are in all aspects the same, but the Bible does clearly reveal Christ as “the Word... made flesh, [who] dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “And his name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13).

In carefully worded arguments, Christ time and again called attention to the fact that the teachings of the Old Testament Scriptures were actually teaching about Him. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me....For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:39, 46-47). “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Therefore, those who diligently search the Scriptures find in them sufficient testimony to Christ, and where there is faith in the witness of Scripture, there will be faith in Christ and His words. But if men reject the testimony of Scripture, they will not even be convinced by His miraculous resurrection from the dead.

Christ claimed that all of Scripture pointed to Him. On the road to Emmaus, He taught that all three popular divisions of the Old Testament traced one progressive Messianic revelation. To understand the New Testament, we must know the Old, for both tell the same story, each amplifying the other. They are forever inseparable. JDM

An email from Glenn Jackson:

February 11th

* In Heaven no tears will be shed, for God will wipe all tears from our eyes. "There shall be no death, neither sorrow nor crying nor pain." How difficult to imagine such a changed world! Tears are the sad heritage of this life. Sorrow and pain flow from a thousand sources and deepen, widen, and darken earth's sorrow. Our sweetest relationships give birth to our greatest sorrows. Our distresses often flow from our joys. Death reigns. All this will be changed, and everything that gives pain and sorrow will be barred from Heaven forever. How bright the eyes undimmed by a sorrowful tear! How strong and free our souls and bodies will be, utter and eternal strangers to pain! How bright and joyous our hearts with never a cloud or a sorrow. How full of the richest life, untouched by decay and unshadowed by death, Heaven will be! All things are to be made new. There will be no marks of age, no common things, and no freshened or repainted old things.

All things will be absolutely new. A new world, a new life, a new career, a new history, a new environment, a new employment, and a new destiny - all things will be new. World dreams, pictures, poetry, fiction, and music have all failed to give the idea of that new world and its marvellous life. To live there is rapture. Its climax is, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son" (Revelation 21:7). It is the wonder and spectacle of angels. Type and shadow, precept and promise, both in the Old and New Testaments, are tokens and seals of the saints' inheritance after death.

No truth is more necessary to man and more in accordance with God's character, none more necessary to his glory, than the doctrine of Heaven. An eternal Heaven of purity and bliss through endless years is a doctrine that enables man and honours God. The existence of Heaven and its matchless perfection is a truth based upon the advent, person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is the way to Heaven.

...."In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also"....John 14:2-3 KJV

[earlyandoftenpodcast]

(Pictured: the territorial changes of Carolina, later split into two colonies. The Albemarle region, where North Carolina was founded, is circled in red.)

We move down south for the creation of North Carolina, the first of the post-Restoration colonies, peopled by hardy outcasts from Virginia. When a dispute over taxation meshes with a constitutional crisis in the young colony, the result is rebellion. Or is it?

>>>Direct audio link<<<

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Transcript and Sources:

Hello, and welcome to Early and Often: The History of Elections in America. Episode 14: Culpeper’s Rebellion.

Last time, we wrapped up the first few decades of New England’s history, and I’m afraid I have to issue a small correction. Last episode, I said that in some towns in Massachusetts married women had on average more than 9 children each. That was correct, but what wasn’t correct was when I said that that meant over half of women therefore had more than 9 children. That would’ve been true if 9 had been the median, but it wasn’t the median it was the mean. So that was incorrect. Thanks to tumblr user Deusvulture for catching that.

Today, I’m going to begin a new set of episodes, this time about the Restoration colonies, which were created in the years after the English Civil War. That includes the Middle Colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, which were formed out of the Dutch colony of New Netherland after its capture by the English. And it also includes North and South Carolina, which were founded together as a single colony. That’ll be the topic for the next two episodes.

Well, this episode will focus on North Carolina and the next one will focus on South Carolina. From the start, the two were governed separately, even though they were technically part of the same colony. They wouldn’t be formally divided until the 1700s, but I’m just going to call them North and South Carolina, for convenience’s sake.

So. We begin in 1660. With Charles securely on his throne, England was finally escaping the uncertainty of the last two decades. Policy makers had space to look to the future and to look abroad. We’ve already seen how they accepted the Chesapeake colonies and New England back into the fold.

They also took care to strengthen the mercantile system, in order to more tightly bind the colonies to England. Beginning in 1651 under Cromwell, but especially in the 1660s under Charles II, Parliament passed a series of so-called Navigation Acts. The Navigation Acts said that England’s various colonies were only permitted to trade with England itself, and not with anyone else, for instance with the Dutch in New Netherland. And shipping had to be done on English vessels. Another act in the 1670s put a tariff on the export of tobacco. Needless to say, these policies were very unpopular in the colonies, since they were paying more in order to benefit others.

But England didn’t just want to tighten control over its current possessions. Expansion was a goal as well. The King owed a lot of money and a lot of favors, and new land in the New World would be a good way to pay down his debts without actually spending much money. Certainly they coveted New Netherland, which separated their current colonies. But they also wanted to press south from the Chesapeake, into what is now North and South Carolina. The failed colony of Roanoke had been located in North Carolina, but the region was still mostly uncolonized by Europeans.

A group of eight wealthy and well-connected men had approached Charles with a plan to colonize Carolina. One of these men was Anthony Ashley Cooper, the First Earl of Shaftesbury. The Earl of Shaftesbury had in his employ a young John Locke -- the same Locke who would go on to become one of the most important philosophers of the modern world. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Locke doesn’t really enter our story until next episode.

More importantly for today’s story, another one of these investors was our old friend William Berkeley, recently restored to his post as Governor of Virginia and currently in England on business. His older brother John, a close friend of the King, was another of the investors.

These eight men together managed to convince a somewhat reluctant King to give them an extremely generous charter for lands which stretched from Virginia almost down to Spanish Florida. Thus in 1663 they became the Lords Proprietor of Carolina, and they ruled their new province under the same legal terms as Lord Baltimore ruled Maryland. That is, nearly absolutely in principle.

However, the new proprietors of Carolina had no desire to emulate the Baltimores’ active management of their colony. Instead, they wished to operate more as real estate owners. They had the right to all this land, so why not just sit back and let others pay them for it? Let others take on the risks of colonization. Well, there were a few independent expeditions sent to Carolina, but they were slow in coming and the settlements they built didn’t last long anyway. So for a while, there wasn’t too much activity going on.

There was only one real center of population, and that was in North Carolina. These settlers lived along the Albemarle Sound, which was an estuary about 80 miles south of Jamestown. Basically it was the next big body of water if you moved down the coast. They had been there since the 1650s, so before the colony of Carolina was actually created. The settlers of the Albemarle were mostly former servants who had come down from Virginia in search of land, plus some Quakers.

I’ve mentioned before the importance of good harbors in the development of colonial America. Well, the harbors in North Carolina were terrible. The Albemarle Sound was too shallow, and its constantly shifting sandbars were a serious danger to shipping. So the region languished economically. Goods had to be shipped to Virginia before they could be exported to England, raising costs. And you could hardly even get to Virginia by land, since the two areas were separated by the so-called Great Dismal Swamp, which lived up to its name.

So there was plenty of land in North Carolina, yes, but there wasn’t much you could do with it, at least not profitably. Thus there were few migrants. The population was perhaps a thousand in 1660. And those who did come were often outcasts from Virginia. Runaway servants, debtors, etc. The region therefore developed a reputation for unruliness. A later governor of Virginia said that North Carolina “alwayes was and is the sinke of America, the Refuge of our Renagadoes”.

The region was all backcountry, basically. Isolated farms in a big swamp. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, went there on a missionary expedition, and his journals describe a rough people living in very rough terrain. He mentioned one woman who would “carry a gunn in the woods and kill deer, [and] turkeys . . . shoot [down] wild cattle, catch and tye hoggs, [and] knock down beeves [slaughter cattle] with an ax.’’ Apparently, she could ‘‘perform the most manfull Exercises as well as most men in those parts.’’ So not quite the aristocratic gentility of Virginia’s First Families.

But although the region was poor, it was more egalitarian than the other southern colonies. Three quarters of North Carolinians owned land, a huge contrast to Virginia at this point. Naturally, there were few servants and slaves. And relations with the Indians were actually pretty good, perhaps thanks to the fact that unlike elsewhere, there wasn’t a huge ongoing influx of new settlers.  

Probably North Carolina wasn’t too different from the outskirts of Virginia, the parts furthest away from the big plantations. But in Virginia those outskirts didn’t have power, while North Carolina was nothing but those outskirts. So the happenstance of how the border was drawn wound up making a big difference in the development of an independent political culture.

When William Berkeley returned to Virginia, he was tasked by the other proprietors with the administration of North Carolina, because he was so much closer. He was in charge of laying out the basic structure of government, as well as appointing a governor. Unsurprisingly, he kept very close to the familiar Virginian model of doing things. Governor, Councilors, an Assembly with powers of taxation. All that good stuff. The man he chose to be governor, John Drummond, had, interestingly enough, started out as an indentured servant. He had even tried to escape once, only to be caught and publicly whipped in punishment. But he had risen through the ranks after attaining his freedom, serving in various government posts.

The new Governor Drummond went south, to the Albemarle. There may have been some rudimentary government before he arrived, but it wouldn’t have been much.

We don’t have many records of his time in office, but he may have been a bit of a populist, as befits a former indentured servant. According to Noeleen McIlvenna, “folklore holds that he invited every man in the region to the first meeting of the Albemarle Assembly in February 1665, a gathering held under an oak tree on a knoll overlooking Hall’s Creek in Pasquotank.” And later on, the Assembly, which was unicameral, would just meet in member’s homes, since there was no capitol building. And courts were sometimes simply held in taverns as well.

You won’t be surprised to hear that North Carolina had a quite different political culture than in the Chesapeake, despite their common origins. There were no big planters to appease, so the laws reflected the interests of smaller freeholders. For instance, a law was passed limiting the size of plantations to no more than 660 acres, to prevent the formation of large estates like in Virginia. Another law was passed protecting debtors, who were after all common in the province. Laws ultimately had to be approved by the proprietors, but in general the Assembly did its own thing with little outside interference.

However, the greater availability of land and the greater political openness weren’t enough to overcome the Albemarle’s considerable economic disadvantages and the colony showed no signs of growth, dashing the hopes of the Lords Proprietor. And after a few years Drummond and Berkeley had a falling out. Berkeley removed him from office and Drummond returned to Virginia.

Berkeley’s next choice for governor, Samuel Stephens, had actually been born in Virginia in the early 1620s, but he had even worse luck. He died suddenly in 1670 and his wife quickly remarried to Governor Berkeley. Berkeley was losing his interest in Carolina, so instead of appointing a third governor he just let the Assembly there nominate an acting governor instead.

The proprietors other than Berkeley were also losing their interest in the Albemarle.

I’ll discuss this more next episode, but it was around this time that the proprietors decided to take a more active role in the colonization of South Carolina. Their hopes that others would do the hard work for them hadn’t panned out, and so they decided to fund a new settlement on their own. The south was starting to seem more promising than the north.

They also wrote, with the help of John Locke, a new, very elaborate constitution for Carolina. This constitution technically applied to the Albemarle, but in practice it never went into effect there. (It also never really went into effect in the south, but I’ll talk about that next time.) The whole thing was basically suspended indefinitely, since it was far too complex to be workable in such a small society. So without a formal constitution in place, North Carolina’s government was authorized instead by various sets of instructions sent over by the Lords Proprietor. But those instructions left a lot of gaps, since they were dealing with specific issues here and there rather than laying out broad principles of government. So basically they were constitutionally winging it.

But here’s how things worked in general, at least at the start.

There was a governor at the top, of course. In principle he would be chosen by the proprietors, but in the event of a vacancy the Council could appoint an acting governor, which happened often enough.

Below the governor was the Council. Some of the Councilors were appointed by the governor, while others were appointed by the elected Assemblymen, which gave the people a somewhat larger share in the higher levels of government than elsewhere in the South at the time. Like in the early days of Virginia, the Councilmen were necessarily fairly close to the people of the colony, and not in a social class of their own.

Below the council were the elected delegates to the Assembly. North Carolina was divided into four regions, each of which could elect four representatives to the Assembly. A few other minor posts like constable were elected as well, although there were no local governments yet, since there was no need.

All freemen could vote, not just those who owned land. And it’s unclear whether voting was by ballot or not.

So, overall, not too complicated, though perhaps more complicated than you’d expect for such a small colony. There were serious weaknesses, though. Most especially, the procedures for selecting new governors were seriously confused. These sorts of ambiguities helped turn a rivalry between two factions into a small, bloodless rebellion, which broke out at almost exactly the same time as both Bacon’s Rebellion and King Philip’s War.

The narrative of Culpeper’s Rebellion is rather confused. The two main accounts I’ve seen differ substantially, but I’ll try to synthesize everything as best I can. Just know that the sources are a bit thin and that they require some guesswork to turn into a narrative.

I mentioned that the English government was starting to to more strongly enforce the mercantile system. The colonies could now trade only with England, and only on English ships, plus they had to pay more in taxes. There were even new taxes on trade between the colonies themselves.

North Carolina was particularly hard hit, since its tobacco had to be sent up to Virginia before it was exported to Europe. Naturally, smuggling soon took off, often thanks to the help of New England merchants. Even members of the Council in North Carolina were happy to participate in smuggling. But in general, the colonists were concerned, and not just about the Navigation Acts. They were worried about taxes. They were worried that the Lords Proprietor would take a more active hand in governing the region. They were worried about falling back under the domination of Virginia. Basically, they were worried.

But for a few years nothing much came of those worries. Smuggling had allowed them to avoid the costs of the Navigation Acts, and in any case no one had cared enough about North Carolina to bother enforcing the new rules. No one had really asked them to collect customs and so the government just hadn’t.

But finally, word came down to the acting governor, John Jenkins, that the Albemarle had to shape up and start enforcing the law. So Jenkins appointed some men to collect the revenue, including one guy with the excellent name Valentine Bird. But neither Bird nor anyone else actually bothered to do their job and no money was raised. That maintained their popularity with the common folk, at least.

It seems like North Carolina was dividing into two factions. On the one side, you had most of the colonists in what might be called the anti-proprietary faction, which was opposed to the interests of the proprietors and opposed to the enforcement of the Navigation Acts. That included men like Governor Jenkins, as well as John Culpeper himself, after whom the rebellion would be named, although he wasn’t the main leader or anything.

Culpeper was a surveyor from Barbados who had settled in South Carolina in 1670. He was a member of the Assembly there, but he soon became disenchanted with the leadership in Charleston. After he helped lead a failed protest against the governor, he was stripped of all his land. So he headed north to the Albemarle and settled there instead. He continued his anti-authority streak by becoming one of the leaders of the anti-proprietary faction.

On the other hand, you had a smaller number of men in the proprietary faction. They were led by a man named Thomas Eastchurch. The proprietary faction supported the collection of customs and the rights of the Lords Proprietor. I don’t think that the proprietary faction loved the proprietors or anything. For instance, another leader of the faction, Thomas Miller, an Irish apothecary, called them “turned fooles or sotts.” It’s just that the proprietary faction saw more benefit in sticking with the current arrangement. (Plus both men had personal grievances against a large number of their fellow colonists, which may have led them naturally into opposition. It’s easy to look back at the struggles of the past and assume they were all about ideology, but personal quarrels could matter just as much, especially in such a small colony.)

In any case, in 1674 Jenkins’s term as acting governor expired and he stepped down. The Proprietors, busy with other affairs, neglected to name a replacement. Elections were held and Eastchurch, who became Speaker of the Assembly, took it upon himself to begin acting as governor, although he didn’t actually become the acting governor, which would have required approval from the Council, I believe.

So even though Eastchurch’s authority was dubious already, he went well beyond just attending to routine administration. Not only did he begin enforcing the Navigation Acts and collecting customs, he also had the former governor Jenkins arrested on no particular charges.

Naturally, this outraged the colonists, who began plotting among themselves about what to do. Pretty soon they broke former governor Jenkins out of jail. The colonists then elected him “Generalissime”. He took command of the little rebellion and together they took back control of the government from Eastchurch, who fled to England to complain.

Okay, but let’s take a step back. I called this a rebellion, but were they actually rebelling against the proprietary government? After all, Eastchurch appeared to be seriously overstepping his authority. Now, the legal situation here is complicated but I’ll try to explain it as best I can.

As far as I can tell, the actual legal situation was this: there was no actual legal situation. North Carolina was still technically under the authority of John Locke’s Fundamental Constitutions, but those had been indefinitely suspended in practice. And as we’ve already seen, the proprietors had been lax in doing things like “making sure to appoint a governor” or “formally authorizing the Assembly”. As a result, the existence of any government at all in the Albemarle was of dubious legitimacy. Things went okay for a few years, since both the colonists and the proprietors were content to just keep things going the way they were, but when that amity broke down, the constitutional problems suddenly became acute.

Eastchurch had claimed the powers of the governor, but that was arbitrary. Even the Assembly that had made him Speaker had been elected under technically improper circumstances. Of course Jenkins and his faction didn’t have any real authority either. No one did, as best I can tell. They did claim popular support, which was true, although Carolina was no democracy. I guess if they’d wanted to, they could’ve claimed to be operating under a social contract in the absence of higher authority, like the Mayflower colonists, but that would’ve just moved the dispute to the realm of philosophy.

But even if the anti-proprietary faction lacked real authority, it certainly had real power. After taking back the Albemarle they then accused Eastchurch’s associate Miller of treason and blasphemy, for some anti-monarchical things he had said. Culpeper took him up to Virginia to stand trial, I guess since Berkeley was a proprietor, but this was right as Bacon’s Rebellion was breaking out. Governor Berkeley quickly acquitted Miller, who also left for England to join Eastchurch.

By the way, John Drummond, the first governor of North Carolina was still in Virginia at the time. He became one of Bacon’s biggest supporters, and after the rebellion was suppressed he then became one of the 24 men old Governor Berkeley had executed. It was a very up and down career I suppose.

Anyway, while in England, Eastchurch and Miller met with the Lords Proprietor of Carolina and convinced them that they were in the right and that the anti-proprietary faction was in the wrong, which was probably not too difficult. The proprietors officially made Eastchurch governor and sent him back to Carolina.

But while he and Miller were sailing back, they stopped at the island of Nevis [NEE-vis] in the Caribbean. There, Eastchurch quickly met and married a widow with a “considerable fortune”. Eastchurch suddenly found that he had better things to do than try to run a dirt poor, marginal colony where most people hated his guts and so he deputized Miller to go and govern North Carolina in his stead, although this was an illegal appointment, since the Council had to approve acting governors when the real governor was absent. So again, North Carolina lacked proper authority.

But when Miller arrived in the Albemarle he nevertheless summoned the current Assembly to notify them that he was now acting governor, and then he dismissed the Assembly and refused to recall them. He began running things on his own, appointing his friends to various offices and fining people for violations of the Navigation Acts. He had his opponents convicted on various charges without proper trials. And when he called for new elections to the Assembly, he used those convictions to disqualify his enemies from holding office, as well as making other alterations to electoral procedures which had no basis in law.

So when the elections were held, the colonists ignored Miller’s changes and just elected anti-proprietary men anyway. However, Miller only counted those votes that had been cast according to his new rules, and so he declared his faction to be the victors regardless.

In response to these outrages, the settlers once again began meeting in secret to figure out how to get rid of Miller, this time partly under the leadership of John Culpeper. The rebels soon captured Miller yet again, along with his top officials. They then issued a manifesto, called the “Remonstrance from the inhabitants of the Pasquotank area concerning their grievances against Thomas Miller”, signed by 30 men. Their very first complaint was that Miller had “denied a free election of an Assembly”. The rest of the brief complaint was about taxation and abuses of office of course, but it’s notable that elections made the list.

The counties of the Albemarle then elected a new Assembly under the old rules. The anti-proprietary faction, of course, won handily. A few hotheads wanted to declare the Fundamental Constitutions overthrown, but cooler heads prevailed. They did prepare to try Miller for treason and blasphemy again, but as this was all happening word came that Eastchurch had just arrived in Virginia and was preparing to assert his authority as governor. Unlike Miller, Eastchurch had a much stronger claim to legitimate authority.

The Carolinians nevertheless prepared to raise a militia against any invading force, but then Eastchurch promptly got sick and died. And in any case Berkeley’s replacement as governor was none too keen on sending troops through the Great Dismal Swamp.

But with that threat out of the way, yet another one cropped up. One of Miller’s men escaped custody to Virginia and then to England, where he too appeared before the proprietors. He tried to paint the rebellion as an uprising of the lower classes against lawful government, which might pose a threat to English control of its other colonies. But this time the anti-proprietary faction sent representatives as well. They plead their case and pledged loyalty to the proprietors.

The proprietors just wanted this to go away. They didn’t want to waste time on an unprofitable part of their colony any more than they had to. One of the old proprietors had sold his share in Carolina to another man, Seth Sothel [SO-thul]. This new proprietor agreed to go to the Albemarle and serve as governor, which seemed to the Lords Proprietor like a neat way to resolve the issue, but while en route to North Carolina, Sothel was kidnapped by Turkish pirates and taken to Algeria. (Really. Pirates abducted the governor of North Carolina. But he’ll be back in a later episode, by the way.)

So instead of Sothel, the proprietors instead named as governor John Harvey, a longtime resident of the Albemarle who had remained neutral in the crisis. North Carolina finally, after several years, had a governor with uncontested authority who was actually physically present in the colony. They also sent instructions formally authorizing the government.

That should have resolved things, but then Miller escaped from prison, where he had been stuck for two years after he had been convicted on those treason and blasphemy charges. He too went to England, but instead of going to the Lords Proprietor he went to the Privy Council, the King’s top advisors. This was a serious escalation, and the Privy Council took the matter seriously. Well, they didn’t care about who ran North Carolina so much as about that lost customs revenue. It wasn’t much money really, but the Crown didn’t want to let them get away with it nevertheless. They delegated the matter to the Committee of Trade and Foreign Plantations to investigate.

As it happened, John Culpeper, who had been appointed as North Carolina’s new customs officer, was in England at the time and he was arrested. He was the only North Carolinian at hand and so at his trials he sort of represented the rebellion as a whole. Because he was the only major figure to be charged with anything, the rebellion came to be named after him, but he wasn’t the equivalent of Bacon or anything. There was no single leader. But it was still Culpeper who stood trial, first for the missing money and then for treason.

You’d think that the proprietors would have sided with Miller and the proprietary faction, but actually they didn’t. Men like Miller were an annoyance who made them look bad. They had supported him and Eastchurch before but they had nothing to show for it. Mostly they just wanted peace and quiet and to make money. The proprietary faction, through its unpopular misrule, had disrupted that. The proprietors preferred to work with men who could actually get support within the colony, so long as they paid their taxes.

So the Lords Proprietor actually sided with the colonists’ right to rebellion, surprisingly enough, though not with their failure to collect customs revenue. The proprietors said that Miller had not been properly in charge, and so rebellion against him wasn’t actually treasonous. If Eastchurch had ever made it back, then rebelling against him might have been treasonous, but he didn’t, and so the power vacuum had remained. This might have actually been the case, though it’s difficult to work through all the legalities, but it’s still a surprise. After all, the anti-proprietary faction was clearly the one acting in contradiction to the will of the proprietors, even if they weren’t technically rebelling.

But according to McIlvenna, it was easier for the proprietors to side with the victorious rebels, so that’s what they did. North Carolina mostly mattered to them insofar as it affected their control over South Carolina, where the money was being made. Apparently keeping the Albemarle quiet was deemed wiser than trying to teach them a lesson.

Anyway, at the trials the proprietors openly supported Culpeper and opposed Miller. In fact, during Culpeper’s treason trial, apparently Lord Shaftesbury “unexpectedly appeared at the Tryall as a witness for the Defendant.” Thus, Culpeper was acquitted and no one was actually punished. As for the customs revenue, some compromise was worked out.

That was essentially the end of the matter, although Miller pressed the issue further, accusing even the Lords Proprietor of colluding with the rebels. Needless to say, his charges went nowhere.

So what was the end result of Culpeper’s Rebellion? What, if anything, had been accomplished?

Well, I’d say that the outcome was fairly ambiguous. The colonists had more or less forced a change in leadership, yes, but in terms of policy the victory seems much more minor. They were, after all, still enmeshed within the overall mercantile system of England, and sooner or later the taxman would prove unavoidable. Nothing about North Carolina’s fundamental situation had changed. That being said, a certain degree of restlessness in the colony was perhaps useful, since it showed that the North Carolinians weren’t just pushovers. Their interests had to be taken into consideration, otherwise they could cause considerable annoyance.

Culpeper’s Rebellion reminds me in particular of the Thrusting Out of Governor Harvey in Virginia back in the 1630s. In both cases there was an ambiguous legal situation with two sides both claiming to be the proper government. In both cases a widely hated governor was ousted in a quick armed coup by the men of the region. That little uprising helped the Virginians win back their Assembly, but it wasn’t a revolution or anything.

When you compare the Thrusting Out of Governor Harvey and Culpeper’s Rebellion to Bacon’s Rebellion, though, you can see why the bloodthirstiness of William Berkeley was rather shocking to contemporaries. Obviously minor rebellions weren’t that uncommon. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they were an accepted part of government or anything, but they were clearly a somewhat regular occurance. The colonists, since they had only a limited say in government, would therefore have to go outside the law to get their grievances taken seriously. And officials, aware that the “rebels” weren’t generally looking to overturn the whole social order, would therefore be relatively merciful when handing out punishments, if only to appease the rest of the colony. The law was important, yes, but it was only one ingredient in the successful running of a colony. Which side of Culpeper’s Rebellion had been legally in the right was in fact a somewhat secondary question.

Obviously this sort of thing could get out of hand, as it did in Maryland sometimes, and in Bacon’s Rebellion. Left unchecked, a rebellion can become a revolution, after all. But excessive harshness could kill a colony’s prospects just as surely. So minor rebellions were an occasional part of life in the colonies, a threat to the existing order, but not an existential threat.

Next episode, we’ll continue the story of the Carolinas, jumping down south to the new settlement of Charleston. Plus a look at the life of the English philosopher John Locke, and his impact on the American colonies. So join me next time on Early and Often: The History of Elections in America.

If you like the podcast, please rate it on iTunes. You can also keep track of Early and Often on Twitter, at earlyoftenpod, or read transcripts of every episode at the blog, at earlyandoftenpodcast.wordpress.com. Thanks for listening.

Sources:

The Colonial Period of American History Volume II by Charles M. Andrews

The Colonial Period of American History Volume III by Charles M. Andrews

John Locke, Carolina, and the Two Treatises of Government by David Armitage

"The Sinke of America": Society in the Albemarle Borderlands of North Carolina, 1663—1729 by Jonathan Edward Barth

Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia by Warren M. Billings

History of Elections in the American Colonies by Cortlandt F. Bishop

The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1689 by Wesley Frank Craven

Declaration of Independence

Voting in Provincial America: A Study of Elections in the Thirteen Colonies, 1689-1776 by Robert J. Dinkin

Thomas Hobbes by Stewart Duncan

The English Sugar Islands and the Founding of South Carolina by Richard S. Dunn

Locke, Natural Law, and New World Slavery by James Farr

The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

Hybrid Constitutions: Challenging Legacies of Law, Privilege, and Culture in Colonial America by Vicki Hsueh

A Very Mutinous People: The Struggle for North Carolina, 1660–1713 by Noeleen McIlvenna  

Algernon Sidney: A father of the Declaration of Independence by David Kopel

Legal Aspects of Culpeper’s Rebellion by Mattie Erma E. Parker

Upheaval in Albemarle: The Story of Culpeper's Rebellion 1675-1689 by Hugh F. Rankin

Remonstrance from the inhabitants of the Pasquotank area concerning their grievances against Thomas Miller

Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy by Sharon A. Lloyd and Susanne Sreedhar

In Charleston, Coming to Terms With the Past by Ron Stodghill

Locke's Political Philosophy by Alex Tuckness

The Influence of John Locke's Works by William Uzgalis

John Locke by William Uzgalis

Colonial South Carolina: A History by by Robert M. Weir

American Nations by Colin Woodard

[myhauntedsalem]

Where are the Seven Gates of Hell Located?

Many over the past few centuries tell that the Seven Gates of Hell or each located on one of each of the continents. The seven traditional continents are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That Means That there is one Gate of Hell for each Continent respectively.

But over the years many strange tales have arisen concerning their specific location and what happens to you if you dare to find them. Truth or fiction the tales often grow with each telling. Many forums, blogs and message boards are filled with the evil’s and misconceptions of what a doorway to hell is really like and where it might be found.

The Gate to Hell in Africa many say is located in Egypt. The exact locations said by many would be gate searchers is thought to be located directly under the left paw of the great Sphinx. This Horrific Gate is known to be Called the Gate to The Underworld or After Life, the great hall of records. To this date no one has entered it or found it.

It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

The Gate of hell in Asia is located in Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, is a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and ice-covered annually. It has been claimed by local residents and visitors that the woods are host to a great amount of paranormal phenomena. It is an old ancient forest reportedly haunted by many urban historical legends of strange beasts, monsters, ghosts, and goblins, which add to its serious and sinister reputation.

Some in the world will tell you it is one of the actual seven gates to hell! The location is said to haunted by demons as well as ghosts. These demons or those that make you take your life. I found these forest to be very disturbing and in my mind what a hideous place of beauty for a infernal hole to hell to be in.

Near or under the Great Temple Mount In Israel. One if the possible gates to hell is called Satan’s Front Door. Some scholars will argue that this door was once in Rome and Moved to the Holy land when Israel Became a State 14 May 1948. It is Believed it took 2 thousand legions of demons and Devil’s to move the great gate because it is the most powerful and strongest doors that Satan has for gaining souls. When it Was Rome their were two gates of hell on the continent and it is believe that the great Caesar’s had it originally moved there when they found it in The Holy Land originally.

In 1867, a team from the Royal Engineers, led by Lieutenant Charles Warren (later the London police commissioner of Jack the Ripper fame) and financed by the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.), discovered a series of tunnels beneath Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, some of which were directly underneath the headquarters of the Knights Templar.

Various small artifacts were found which indicated that Templar’s had used some of the tunnels, though it is unclear who exactly first dug them. Some of the ruins which Warren discovered came from centuries earlier, and other tunnels which his team discovered had evidently been used for a water system, as they led to a series of cisterns.

The Gate to Hell is by many thought to be located in Europe. And it is hidden in Pere Lachaise Paris Cemetery Paris. It is said to be a great grand gate with very notable significance. this gate is said to be the one that all great heads of state must enter through when they die. And through this gate World Leaders must be judged by the Devil first and not God. Many tales tell of vampire-like entities guarding the entrance. Some believe that the Underground catacombs of Paris are the true gates but many beg to differ.

Some searchers believe that the actual Hellfire Caves Buckinghamshire, England is a indirect gate to Hell. Some call it a side door to the dark underworld of Satan.

West Wycombe Caves, also known as Hellfire Caves, located in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England, are most well known as a meeting place for members of The Hellfire Club. The caves were extended by Sir Francis Dashwood (later Lord le Despencer) between 1748–1752. They provided work for unemployed farm workers following a succession of harvest failures, and lie close to Dashwood’s country house, West Wycombe Park (now owned by the National Trust). The chalk mines that were extended to form the caves had existed near High Wycombe for a considerable time. The mines are said to have a prehistoric origin, and were presumably created to extract the flint found in the chalk to make hand tools. Locally, flint is used as a building material.

The entrance to the caves is built from flint, and St Lawrence’s church, above the Inner Temple, is also built using flint. Due to the extensive alterations made by Dashwood, all evidence of the caves’ earlier history seem to have been destroyed. The underground “rooms” are named, from the Entrance Hall, through the Circle, Franklin’s Cave (named after Benjamin Franklin, a friend of Dashwood who stayed with him at West Wycombe), the Banqueting Hall, the Triangle, to the Miner’s Cave; finally, across a subterranean river named the Styx, lies the final cave, the Inner Temple. An alternative viewpoint was advanced by Daniel P Mannix in his book about The Hellfire Club. This theory suggests that the caves had been deliberately created by Dashwood according to a sexual design.The design begins at the ‘womb’ of the Banqueting Hall, leading to rebirth through the female triangle, followed by baptism in the River Styx and the pleasures thereafter of the Inner Temple.

This theory is not mentioned in National Trust literature and is allegedly refuted by the Dashwood family.The flint mining theory is also questionable because the Chiltern Hills flint bed overlays the chalk escarpment and does not have to be mined except by means of small open flint dells of which there are many on the area.The caves were refurbished and made suitable for visitors during the 1950s by the late Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet.

They are now open as a tourist attraction, with life-sized waxwork figures in period costume illustrating the life of the caves in the 18th century. The caves have attracted over 2 million visitors since 1951.

The Gate to Hell in South America is located in Rio de Janeiro. Harbour of Rio de Janeiro is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The actual open gate yo hell is said to be near where the world famous “Christ the Redeemer” Statue stands. Some say the entrance is in an underwater cave or hidden near the top of Corcovado Peak. Locals believe that during the festival of Carnival the gate swings open to trap those that or unaware of it’s location who deserve to be taken to hell alive.

The gate has also been thought to be located at Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Angel Falls, the Nazca lines are thought by some to point the way, Galapagos, along the Amazon which is thought to originate or flow into the river Styx, Patagonia, Andes .

The North American Gate is said to be located at or very near the Tomb Of the great Voodoo – Hoodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Many say it is the doorway to the home of the eternally tortured and living dead. Many old tales tell of strange monsters issuing from the infernal gates. Vampires zombies and a host of Ghede and strange half dead beings.

[lifeinechos]

A Cult named “AF Matthew”

Preface: 

26 June 2017:

 I joined IIM Kozhikode to pursue my Masters considering:-

Engineering job at an MNC in India is low paying and has a low growth curve (Though my work was exciting, and for a fresher R&D job was a dream come true)

My family’s financial health didn’t allow me to go abroad and take admission in a great MS institute (i loved engineering), and didn’t want to settle there as well in the long run in order to pay-off the loan undertaken

So, i wrote CAT(admission test for MBA in India) and got into this college. Though i was engineer by blood, but who cares. You have to feed yourself and in India, you need an MBA to swing up the ladder. It was here i came across this legend!

5 March 2019:

I bid like all my fortune(in this case grade-points), to get allotted the subject taught by AF Matthew! Had heard a lot about him, and as i was few of those unlucky souls who weren’t given an opportunity to attend his sessions in the first year, this was long due.

And, well fast forward to the end of the session, it was all worth it! He challenged my thoughts, ideals, questioned my beliefs and swiftly moulded me. Whatever he said wasn’t at all sweet and soft. There were times when the entire world which i was a part of for 25years in my life, came tumbling down. But he had his facts, and he was RIGHT! 

He showed us the classics which was too much for a mainstream person i was, for whom a classic meant Lord of Rings franchise or Rocky Balboa Series, and then i was a transformed intelligent soul, now who could sit in a group and take part in knowledgeable discussions, and not fight based on mob-opinions. Also was I struggling with the aftermath of a life-threatening accident i had on Sept 14th,2018. I was no more a confident girl who was strong-headed in her stance and could think clearly in the midst of difficult situations. I was running from my inabilities and HE gave me the strength to face them! 

The following piece is a tribute to him and the art to which he exposed me and built a better person if not perfect. The journey is long no doubt, but i am forever indebted to have had the foundation stone laid by him.

PS, this is a reflective essay which i wove around my life based on the movies and art (highlighted and referenced in the piece) he exposed me to.

“Everyday I breathe, effortlessly I lie Roll back my tears and curl up a fake smile There THEY stand, every movement do THEY eye With my head held high, its time to push another mile”

The statue of Liberty… Yes, this is where my earliest memory of the word “liberty” takes me to. Today, as I write this piece after 30 hours of mental turmoil, I found myself in GC’s class, it would be rather befitting if once I could stand straight, look into the mirror and confront myself. Its long that I have hidden myself in a cocoon of safety and comfort, and hopefully here in this reflective narrative I am able to “woman-up” to my vices and insecurities. 3 Colours: Blue incited in me an emotion which until recently was a far-fetched dream. For the first time in my life, I felt “liberated” too much to the extent that I don’t shy away from the idea of being alone. The night of 14th September 2018 changed my life or so did I think. Now, as I look at it, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I speak out loud that it “completed me”. Empathising with Julie’s struggle to let herself free as she tried to pay off all her debts and run away from her past, I understand clearly now why after my accident I found it difficult to be at rest. Always was I trying to push people away- blaming & snapping away from someone who’ll try to give me solace.

It was a time when all I wondered was what could I ever do wrong to have had this fate. After 6-pelvic fractures, 1-shoulder fracture, 1-hip surgery and a bleeding clot that rendered half of my brain unreceptive; I feel I am in a good condition to vouch for Julie’s behaviour to untie herself from all bodily aspirations when you are not able to settle the turmoil of emotions that challenges your mere existence day in and day out. Countless times have I found myself since that day questioning my actions, feelings, thoughts and more than that the people around me. “Why me” was something that kept me up at night and tired & helpless all I could do was hide myself in my room away from the eyes that always seem to follow me. It took me long to realise that those eyes actually were supportive of me and some of them genuinely were ready to take part in my sufferings as I once again started a quest to discover myself. But even that was not enough. No matter how much have I been the admirer of the emotions with which HW Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” claims that “Life is anything but an empty dream”, there were times when everything around me felt futile. When anyways everything is supposed to end, why the struggle to end everyday with perfection? In fraction of seconds, the course of life can be changed so much that you never know if it’s the end. These months have been long, tiring and restless to the extent that I would end up scratching myself, inflicting pain just to remind myself that it would all be over soon. Everything is supposed to end and this too shall pass.

In the beginning of the end, you try to treasure onto the memories you have in order to make them last longer. Same did I experience in these last few weeks. Change is inevitable and no-one is ready to accommodate it into their lives that easily. My days in campus are about to get over and all I can see now is a life full of competitions and unnecessary races for which I am not prepared for, rather not been accustomed to for long. Then one day sitting by the edge of my classroom, lost into the serene surroundings into which my college is built; I let my thoughts take a flight just like the flapping wings of the bird I was staring at. I was no more scared to be lost. There is a world full of possibilities and it stuck me that just one setback doesn’t define your future or justify your past. I came onto terms with my life. I accepted my limited ability and sufferings that accompany the same, something which I know will eventually pass no matter how hard it seems now. Something which I was looking and searching for outside, was inside me. That thought gave me power. It gave me freedom. I accepted that the unfortunate incident was no-one’s fault and accepted the things as they are now. I forgave myself,those who were in the car with me that night and decided to move on, following my life’s route destined. The moment I faced these things, I was no more caged. Neither did I feel helpless, nor did I want to hide. Rather, I started respecting and treasuring all the more those who were throughout besides me in these unfortunate times no matter what. And then I decided lets “Leave Footprints on the sands of time”.

Yet another gush of emotions I felt was in the face of acceptance of the fact that how society has long demeaned women and have pre-decided their boundaries from the day they were born. And if you decide to over-step these “Lakshman-Rekhas” created, you have exposed yourself to the barbaric world and are immoral for sure if not unholy. The movie Caterpillar lays out one such example and shoves conservatism straight in the face. Lieutenant Kurokawa serves the right-wing parties and rapes the women on his way claiming them as the spoils of war. But once he comes back home mutilated, the desire to dominate still doesn’t seem to leave him which can be easily seen in his sexual intimacy with his wife. He seems to force again himself on her with aggression when all she does is take care of him, feed him and carry out all other “duties” that a woman is bound to carry out for her man. Well, in this case, he is the “War-Lord”. Many-a-times have I seen this in my surroundings, silently closed my eyes and kept quiet because this is how the system has trained me till date. My mother used to feed us, wash our clothes, clean our mess and all I would do was to accept it as it is because its her duty. And why was not it supposed to be? Didn’t I fill in my school almanac “Housewife” against her occupation field! The pain and cries of the women in Invisible War even more made me question the system I have been brought up in. There are facts and then there are beliefs. When and how did I start accepting, or when did my mother start accepting that she has to subdue to my father’s wills. Or when did I justified the sad reality that dress modestly else you can get molested, or worse raped! I was mere 10 years old when every morning while going to the school a man used to swiftly pass by pulling my skirt from the small gaps under my rickshaw. At that time, I didn’t even know how to behave or react. Though I knew something was not right- something that stopped me was the thought that how will I explain it to others or come out in the open. Maybe I am overthinking and wrong about my feelings! Well, now I know the reason to all these questions. The system had trained me to come to consensus with the supremacy of male gender who considers women as objects meant to be fu**ed.

When was I immodest in my simple school tunic, or where did I go wrong when I used to follow the Catholic principles in my missionary school? But in the image of Father Amaro, I received an answer to the same as well. Why is there the need to depress the bodily desires and preach in the name of religion the things which you can’t follow. Humans, so petty they are! They lead sad, depressing and meaningless lives. All they need is a religion to back them up and fulfil the void in their lives. But thousands of wars are being fought under the name of same religion and not to mention countless women get grilled under the expectations that the system imposes on them. Who’s responsible for it? But, yet again if you have power and hold a reputable position in the society, no-one will question you. Rather the voices against you will be silenced at the hands of the mob itself who want to stay in their safe, comfortable cocoons around them. Similar thing was seen in the smile of Gomez in “The Secret in their Eyes” that in its entirety meant that he is untouchable. No matter who he rapes, no matter who he kills, he is the hitman of the right-wing conservatist party and is bound to walk free as he is indispensable to the system; The system that can silence anyone, crush voices and indulge in anything to protect itself and its “ideologies”.

The manner in which the glory of war is demystified and we are exposed to this grim reality of the war, something which physically and psychologically transforms you, is shocking. The idea that the movie Caterpillar and Invisible War highlights is something that stays out of the green light and is something which the system won’t let you talk about. Lost in these wars are the futures of countless children who have witnessed it in their surroundings, suffered losses of their near and dear ones and felt pain which is unexplainable for them. But more than this what I am worried of is the loss of Innocence. At small ages they have seen things which shall scar them for years to come. The character of Chava in “Innocent Voices” brings it in light how these children constantly live in fear of death and even are hesitant to openly discuss on the idea of birthdays as that brings them closer to the D-day, when their childhood officially ends. In Baran as well, the same issue is highlighted as the plight of Afghans who live in Iran as refugees is pictured out. Feelings such as first love, innocent emotions- all get eroded under the idea of things that are beyond their control and they can’t even understand them. The mere thought gives me chills down the spine if today in my cosy surroundings I think of the continuous terror under which the children in Kashmir are living. How difficult life has become for them under the whims and fancies of a selected few who are staying true to their beliefs and justifying their actions throughout in the name of Nationalism.

It’s a common saying that “All is Well that Ends well”. As I end this piece, I don’t want to be true to the system and the common beliefs where everything is rosy and turns all fine. Rather I wish to confront myself and accept that there are insurmountable pains that lie under the lies that are spoken and preached. There’s a propaganda that is followed by those who are in power and its they who decide the rules to play their game. Amidst all this, An Affair of Love gives me hope. A woman putting out an idea of string-less and pornographic affair was more than a bold step. It challenged the beliefs where identity has to be put on such women & an affair of gossip for all those witnessing it. It was erotic and had its charm at the same time. Similarly, the tale of Yossi and Jagger was moving in the sense that their love was pure and Yossi articulated it as Jagger “died in his arms”, a phrase and scene which is defines tragedy in an ideal girl-boy movie story. It was heart-breaking and sad to find Yossi lamenting his loss as in the funeral he sings Jagger’s favourite song. Last but not the least, the character of Nora in “The Divine Order” stands for women’s liberation and freedom as she fights her way against the social norm to make a place for herself in the society. The day all these emotions shall be respected, and unheard voices given an ear, can we expect an uprising against the system.

[aruneshgoyal]

4. (Punishment)

 A quiet and remote hamlet was the village of Bhigaan, 20 miles off Sonepat town. Although, of late, modernity had started to touch the lives of the inmates in various ways such as use of tractors and machines in agriculture, a T.V. and other paraphernalia in the living room etc., there was no visible difference to the ancient caste system prevailing in the village. There was a primary school, functioning though just for name sake only.  

Another factor, which had begun influencing the lives of the inmates, was that a saintly Baba had started residing in the hamlet, having built up his Ashram on about two hectares of land. The ashram was befittingly named after the Baba as Shri Siddheshwar Ashram. Many people believed that Baba had miraculous powers. Others were of the opinion that Baba followed in the footsteps of Sai Nath Maharaj and was ordained with divine powers – both pertaining to healing and others.  

There used to be a daily ‘bhajan’ (singing aloud His glories), meditation, and yoga program in the Ashram, which many villagers used to attend fervently. There were some young rowdy people too, who used to make fun of the Ashram residents and sing aloud film tunes to disturb the Bhajan activity etc. going on in the Ashram. In spite of repeated provocations by some inmates of the Ashram, Shri Siddheshwar Baba or just Guruji, as he was popularly known as, used to keep his cool, and calm down the protesting residents too, just saying – “these young men have hot blood running in their veins. They are ignorant; that’s why they are resorting to such cheap tactics. But, don’t worry! They shall realize their folly sooner than later!”  Guruji’s books on Yoga & Meditation written in English were immensely popular amongst the foreigners, even more so from Canada, France, and Germany, and some of them used to come over to the Ashram during the ShivRatri festival, which incidentally used to be celebrated every year with great fanfare and enthusiasm in the Ashram, especially with an open ‘bhandaara’ (free food) for one and all. These foreigners would then stay on in the Ashram for a week or so before moving on to Shirdi and/or Puttaparthi. They were so fond of the Ashram cook that they used to offer him various gifts as reward for his unselfish services.  

The cook of the Ashram kitchen, incidentally, was a young man – SukhDev, who used to keep everybody around in the Ashram happy with his pleasant mannerisms besides the well prepared delicious meals he used to serve in the Dining hall. Once, around Diwali eve, Guruji asked for SukhDev. Obviously, he wanted to ensure that all arrangements for sweets and lights were in order. The Ashram volunteers on duty reported that SukhDev wasn’t around. Guruji then asked all the Ashram residents to search thoroughly in groups of three to four. Everybody went up and down, round and about the Ashram again and again, but SukhDev was nowhere to be seen. At just about the same time, the parents – BhureLal & Lilavati, and the elder brother – Jagmohan, of a young Brahmin girl – Kesar, came to the Ashram, looking for and inquiring about her. Apparently, Kesar had joined the Ashram inmates for bhajan singing after dinner, which used to be taken quite early around 7 o’ clock in the evening as per the Ashram rules, and had been missing since then. Soon, everybody put two and two together and realized that SukhDev & Kesar had fled together, but nobody dared to relate the whole matter to Guruji.  

After a long spell, Jagmohan could take it no longer, especially as his mother – Lilavati, had started beating her breasts and wailing aloud, with her hair in total disarray. He started towards the shrine where Guruji would be, still waiting for SukhDev.    After a bit of hesitation, both BhureLal & Lilavati as well as the Ashram residents gathered courage and joined Jagmohan. Everybody, of course, was just a bit uncanny and unsure about how Guruji would react to the news, especially as it not only involved village honor but Ashram pride as well. Seeing the large congregation, Guruji signaled everyone to sit down. Jagmohan got up briefly and started to speak slowly. Bit by bit, everything came out. Guruji was stunned and shell shocked to learn the whole thing but he kept his poise and asked everyone around, especially Lilavati, to keep their wits about them, start singing the glories of the Lord, and remember Him ardently in this hour of crisis as only He could set matters right from here on for one and all. He ruled out reporting things to the police at this stage as it would only complicate matters and nobody would gain anything out of it.  

However, he assured everybody that he would do everything possible from his side to set matters right and bring them to their logical conclusion. He added – “God is closely observing all of us. I know how difficult it is for all of you, especially the parents – BhureLal & Lilavati, of the girl in question – Kesar. May God bestow courage upon you! As far as I can see, all will soon be well!” He then retired to his private room in the Guru-Niwas for his evening prayers.  

On the other side, SukhDev had taken Kesar to his parent’s residence in Rajouri, a nearby village and hamlet. But, his parents – CharuMal & BhuDevi, instead of according them a warm welcome as per SukhDev’s expectations, were furious at the way SukhDev had left the Ashram in Bhigaan without bothering to tell anybody, not even Guruji, who was a fatherly figure to him and used to pay personal attention to his needs and well-being, often rewarding him with a personal gift on almost every festival, as a token of his appreciation for his selfless services (This Diwali eve too, he had sent for SukhDev not only for the preparations and arrangements for the upcoming festival, but also to gift him a woolen shawl, which he could make use of in the winter months ahead!).  

Only his younger sister – Reshma, kept smiling at Kesar all the time and gave her due attention and good company, even cracking some jokes to ease the tension writ large on her otherwise charming moon like face. After a lot of heated arguments and verbal duels between father and son (CharuMal & SukhDev), there was general agreement that the next morning (of course, it would be Diwali morning), they should all return to Bhigaan and let Guruji decide their fate in front of everybody from both sides and hamlets.

As per their agreed upon program, they arrived at Shri Siddheshwar Ashram around 12 o’clock noon. Although everybody, in general, was happy to see them back hale and hearty, Jagmohan and Lilavati cursed and hurled abuses at Kesar, calling her a whore and demeaning to their family name. BhureLal was more lenient towards his daughter but threatened to cut apart SukhDev’s throat for his shameful, ignoble, and heinous act.  

Very soon, out came Guruji from Guru-Niwas and took his seat in the shrine hall. He asked the Ashram volunteers to call everybody inside the hall and be seated in their respective places peacefully. It was not long before the hall was packed to capacity. Everybody was eagerly awaiting the outcome of the secretive relationship that had mutually developed between SukhDev & Kesar. Groups of people from both sides were awaiting Guruji’s nod for the proceedings to begin. Guruji soon let it be known that he would listen to all the parties involved before announcing his final verdict. BhureLal and Lilavati were inconsolable. Jagmohan spoke on their behalf and vehemently demanded that both Kesar and SukhDev be paraded on donkeys around both Rajouri and Bhigaan, with their faces blackened by charcoal, and then beheaded so that no one could ever dare to repeat the sin they had committed, bringing infamy and bad name to the communities of their respective sides.  

Next, it was the turn of CharuMal and BhuDevi. Both of them agreed that it was a mistake on SukhDev’s part to have run away like this without even informing anybody. However, they were of the opinion that while SukhDev deserved to be reprimanded for his rather irresponsible act, at the same time, they especially Reshma, their daughter would be overjoyed to welcome Kesar into their household, as befits her. Thereupon, SukhDev pleaded guilty. With tears in his eyes and a choked voice, he begged forgiveness, saying – “Guruji! Forgive me, please if you can, for acting so irresponsibly. In fact, I don’t deserve to be standing and facing you like this after all I have done, bringing bad name to the Ashram and spoiling its unsullied reputation as well!” Guruji affectionately gestured him to sit down and not grieve over what he had done or take it to his heart – “you have realized your faux pas. Your repentance over it all is enough; it’s your atonement too!”  

Finally, Guruji lovingly and quite affectionately at that, called out for Kesar! “Kesar - my child, come here! Why did you have to do this to your dear parents? Do you really and truly love SukhDev” – he gently inquired of her? Kesar was finding it difficult to see Guruji in the eye. She just nodded her head and ran shyly away from his presence.  Then, Reshma took over from where Kesar had left and humbly answered Guruji – “honourable and venerable Sir! Kesar has told me everything. She never wanted to deceive or cheat upon her loving parents. But, there was no other way out to bring her love out in the open. And, the fact that she has nodded and then turned shy to the second part of your query goes to show her intense and immense true and real love and loyalty towards my brother – SukhDev, as well as her sense of decency and good moral conduct! As for SukhDev, I can vouchsafe any day! I know he is sometimes rash, hasty, and impudent but he is a real diamond at heart, absolutely pure and unselfish! Now, everybody has had his say and it’s up to you for the last word on the whole matter” – and, saying so, she gave away and handed over the mike to Guruji.  

Guruji cast a look and had a glance over his shoulders upon the entire audience. He kept quiet for some moments, which appeared to be longer than complete centuries, especially to Kesar and SukhDev. Then, slowly but surely, he started speaking at length, addressing the whole audience. Caressing and entreating them all – “you are all children of the one and only one all loving and benevolent kind and merciful God! He loves everybody without any partiality or bias whatsoever. And, he loves truth more than anything else. These two children, Kesar & SukhDev, are speaking nothing but the truth and God loves them all the more for it. No doubt, their method and way of expression beyond their own little world can’t be held fully righteous or perfect. But, then they too are human beings and to err is human! Moreover, the fact is that SukhDev has realized and is repenting his irresponsible behavior while Kesar, through Reshma, has clearly shown herself to be on SukhDev’s side, upholding their mutual love! And, I’m sure Reshma has made her parents – CharuMal & BhuDevi, realize this pure love too! My only grievance is the failure of BhureLal, Lilavati, and Jagmohan, Kesar’s parents and elder brother, respectively, to see this true love between the two children – SukhDev and Kesar, just because their eyes are totally and completely blinded by anger. They want to punish these two for what they perceive and presume to be an indecent act on their part. And so, I leave it to them to have the last say and mete out whatever punishment they have on their minds to the two (rather innocent, I would say, on my part! But then, the world has always had its own ways to deal with innocent love!!),” and, thus crestfallen, he crumbled over into his seat, and took his place again on the dais. By now, BhureLal, Lilavati, and Jagmohan were in a better frame of mind and could see and realize the import of Guruji’s momentous monologue.  

Tersely, they asked for SukhDev and Kesar to be brought to them. Everybody expected the duo to be accorded a public flogging, at the very least. Just then, Jagmohan smiled and said something in Reshma’s right ear, hearing which she was all smiles as well. Nobody (except Guruji, of course, who was intently watching the entire proceedings from his raised seat) could understand or make out anything even as Reshma went out to the nearby (Ashram) garden and returned with two garlands of beautiful and fragrant red roses.

Amidst thundering applause, and above all, Guruji’s benign blessings, the couple – SukhDev & Kesar, exchanged garlands to mark their final union and the end of their big public trial and ordeal. Both the families soon announced, in consultation with Guruji, that as the final leg of the so much anticipated (punishment) by most of the people, the couple’s marriage would be duly solemnized with all the Hindu rites and ceremonies in the evening and true Diwali feast would be organized at night to mark the occasion!  

[mosekeel43470-blog]

Helpful As Well As Appealing Truths About The Pollution.

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[atopiarp]

TIMELINE

Year 892 — Alexei Cherne submits his dissertation on Hitchkin’s Illness. Leading him to believe that in the near future, if this is an evolutionary divergence, sooner than later, an ALPHA will appear.

Year 898 — Vessel abilities manifest. First incarnation by the name of Nikolai Cherne.

Year 900 — Project Vessel is founded by Dr. Alexei Cherne, father to Nikolai. Camps are then set up as rehabilitation therapy. Kids who are infected with Hitchkin’s Illness begin to be enrolled into the program by their parents. The study of those with abilities begins.

Year 900 — The head camp lead by Alexei’s personal staff, is destroyed as a result of an unusually shift in an opaque, gravitational force to which no one - to this day - is able to explain. The entire camp is destroyed and the event is marked as “the first day.” A tragic piece of Atopian history.

Year 900 — The Senate hold a press conference determining that those with Hitchkin’s Illness are in fact not sick, but a part of something potentially greater transpiring within our species. They coin the categorizing term “Vessel” to be used in order to understand the difference between one with or without abilities.

Year 901 — Other camps begin to fall, the result of the many captive children, some of whom naturally possess abilities, and some who had such power artificially placed within them, begin rising up in protest. These riots are quietly motivated by a child who walks free among them, a charismatic boy named Leo.

Year 904 —  A fresh company named Vylon Co. begins to fund the remaining camps under Project Vessel, allowing for “Ironworks”, a man-made island fitted with Vessel-examining technology developed by Dr. Cherne himself, to be built and established.

Year 905 — Dr. Cherne and Abraham Vylon collaborate on Blackwell, a company dedicated to hunting and tracking Vessel activities.

Year 907 — Abraham Vylon double crosses Alexei Cherne and works with the Senate to found a new agency based on the ideals of Blackwell, called EXO, a Vessel enforcement organization.

Year 908 —  Dr. Cherne continues his research within the depths of Ironworks in hopes of developing a “cure” for Vessels as a people, but most importantly for his son, whose capabilities have began manifesting as illness.

Year 910 — Fearful of Alexei succeeding in creating such a serum, especially as he is no longer financially tied to Blackwell, Abraham abruptly halts all funding and closes the camps, effectively ending Project Vessel and shelving any possibility of him saving his son.

Year 915 — After hearing rumors of a planned “reclaiming of power” by Alexei and Blackwell from EXO, Abraham has his homeless and barely sane former business partner killed, placing additional hits on his son and the daughter he has produced; these two being the only remnants of the Cherne legacy.

Year 917 — After years of searching, Vylon’s hitmen finally arrive at a gardenesque countryside villa, the home of their target and his daughter. Nikolai had quietly left Blackwell in hopes of isolating his daughter, the light of his life, from the many dangers tied to such a company. An ambush follows, one which plants a bullet into the brain of young Juliet, killing her. Unleashing a swelling blackness awakened by his unbridled rage, Nikolai slaughters each of the hitmen and destroys his home.

Year 928 — Painted as a most-wanted fugitive and monster by Abraham Vylon, Nikolai abandons every aspect of his identity, personality, and life. Under his new identity of Leopold Silk, he begins working as an enforcer for one of five major crime lords within the “Criminal Underground”, quickly gaining a reputation for merciless interrogation and brutal physical domination of those who disrespect him and his masters.

Year 935 — A slowly-building desire for revenge eventually manifests itself, Silk reclaiming leadership of Blackwell alongside eleven others, those who suffered alongside him in the camps of his father. The company operates within the shadows, away from the paranoid eyes of The Vylon Company, gathering their resources and determining their best course of action for when the time is right. Gathering within the darkest depths of the Underground, Blackwell dominates the environment following the sudden and mysterious deaths of the five crime lords. A figure of unknown identity fills the void left by each of their deaths, naming himself supreme kingpin and operating under the moniker of “The Black King” by the growing number of criminals who had begun fearing him and his ruthlessness.

Year 935 — Following the ascension of the Black King, a dip in arms sales force several thousands of factories across Atopia to shut down. Effectively rendering the market for arms deals discontinued for public safety. Arms are then only privately dealt out to enforcement agencies, making guns and variant forms of weaponry, scarce if at all available.

Year 935 — Solomon Smith, one of the last known crime lords allows his son, Jeddakaia to inherit his belongings and hideouts, before disappearing altogether. The boy known as Jeddakaia, unborn at the time, would go on to become Thorne and a protege of The Black King himself.

Year 945 — Abraham steps down as CEO of Vylon Co. and is replaced by his eldest son, Benjamin. This attempted transition of power acts as catalyst for Blackwell to unveil their own plan, one which leaves the Vylon building in rubble and many dead; the company itself effectively eradicated. Learning that Leopold was the orchestrator of such death and destruction, Benjamin begins compiling information on him and Blackwell in an attempt to bring him down.

Year 957 — Blackwell and its founders had returned to their shadows following the downfall of Vylon Co., shifting their focus to off-the-books training of super-evolved Vessels, individuals who were placed in rigorous behavior modifications programs in order to make them powerful tools for Blackwell and their plans. Nevertheless, Benjamin continues to monitor and gather evidence on these activities.

Year 963 — Now motivated to protect his own children, Lauden and Layal, Benjamin establishes a trust and protection for them before attempting to flee Yorkshire with his innumerable files pertaining to Blackwell, and is never heard from again.

Year 964 — Stryker Industrial begins construction of their first location with Carter Stryker at the helm of this grand, new company. Which he intends to use to establish a number one arms manufacturer.

Year 965 — Following a series of hostile exchanges, Thomas Norway is expelled from Blackwell by his fellow founders and colleagues. Fearing his power and the threat he could become if left unchecked, Silk uses his considerable influence across the government to brand Norway as a wanted fugitive. Norway vanishes from society.

Year 968 — The Senate come to agreement on a new project called “Abel.” An attempt to replace the current electrical grid with one generated by a computer-based mind. Which will obtain majority control over most of the “smart-systems” in the general public: traffic lights, currency distribution, food distribution, and surveillance for safety.

Year 968 — Dr. Emmerich Velos and his wife are both killed after attempting to stop Project Abel. Their daughter is left on the street, later to be fostered by the Underground.

Year 968 — Project Abel is shelved by the Senate to disconnect them from any potential bad media concerning the deaths of Emmerich and his wife.

Year 973 — A battle takes place within the jungle continent bordering Atopia, one launched by those upon the highest echelons of the government, a bloody war which enlists a variety of soldiers, amongst them being Dekkard King, as well as Joseph and James Choire.

Year 975 — The war ends in victory for Atopia, the verdant continent upon which they battled left desolate and destroyed. The land is thus renamed Aypos, and is left upon it’s ruination.

Year 978 — Lauden and Layal are granted control of a foundation quietly established by their father using the remaining assets of Vylon Co. upon becoming of age. Blackwell has gone silent and is presumed to have disbanded altogether, although such quietness actually resulted from Leopold Silk’s sudden infliction of stroke, an occurrence which leaves him comatose. With the absence of their leader, the remaining members of the board, including Vinitia Velos (mother to Emmerich), vote to halt all happenings within Blackwell for the foreseeable future.

Year 978 — A figment resembling the now-comatose Silk surfaces in The Underground and continues to forward his agenda from that criminalistic throne.

Year 979 — Carter Stryker’s Senate coronation is held in which he is determined to be a low-tier seat within the board. Thus, also, establishing Stryker Industrial as a profitable arms company.

Year 980 — The Vylon Foundation becomes a publicly traded company led by a young Lauden Vylon.

Year 980 — James Choire becomes employed by NEST and befriends Tobias and Amelia, two young agents also involved with the organization.

Year 980 — Porter Tech becomes the first to take majority control of the pharmaceutical market with Gerard and Judith Porter acting as CEO of the company.

Year 981 — Lauden’s coronation for the Senate seat is held. Layal becomes the elected partner of the company with the second majority shares, obtaining a seat at the board.

Year 982 — After several attempts at legitimate and above-ground employment end in failure, Dekkard King is recruited by a project initiative which utilizes former soldiers: BLACKBIRD.

Year 983 — Project Abel is quietly continued at NEST.

Year 984 — NEST sends Tobias, James, and Amelia into Aypos to mine a rare metal. Upon which they are able to determine that Aypos has animals capable of abilities. This rare, new find, leads to James Choire becoming curious of those abilities and the biology behind them. Studying them intently.

Year 986 — THE BATTLE OF YORKSHIRE ( for information read site guide )

Year 986 — The Mori Comet passes over Atopia once every ten years, and just two weeks after the Battle of Yorkshire, the festival to celebrate that comet is held. It includes: the formal ball, the carnival, and finally the memorial. In honor of all the fallen from the Battle of Yorkshire.

Year 987 — Gerard Porter announces his withdrawal from the company and is replaced by his eldest daughter, Sidonia Porter. A press conference is held in which Sid and her team outline their future path of Porter Tech.

Year 987 — Layal Vylon announces her pregnancy with Ekosa Corvus of EXO, publicly as well as her hiatus from the Vylon company for maternity. Lauden then takes complete reigns, enlisting a new assistant to aid him: Cassandra Ambrose.

Year 988 — Unhinged and mentally unstable, James Choire begins testing his ability nullifying serum with kidnapped human trials within Blackwell’s “Hitchkin Compound”, following a year-long absence after the unexpected death of his brother during the Battle of Yorkshire. He is convinced to return to the company by his daughter, Cassandra Ambrose, who will later become his right-hand as he ascends into the position of Director.

Year 988 — James establishes his name in the Underground beneath the rumored Black King, as a cross-dressing and terroristic mouthpiece named Kathryn, and begins a conquest to buy and collect every weapon still available.

Year 989 — Following the success and completion of the human trials, Choire is quietly installed as Director of Blackwell by Leopold Silk, an event which symbolizes evolution for the clandestine organization. It is under James’ reign that those agents within Blackwell swell and it’s power secretly grows into the force which will soon attempt domination over Atopia.

Year 989 — Layal and Ekosa’s daughter passes away from an unsuspected illness. The media takes notice, the company’s stock begins to plummet.

Year 989 — As his underground-tied alter ego, Choire facilitates a hit requested by Lauden Vylon, thus establishing communication between the latter and Kathryn’s employer, “The Black King”. This meeting climaxes with Vylon being framed for the murder of the very man he had ordered dead, Senator Chase. Lauden is thereby imprisoned for the assassination.

Year 989 — Lauden meets, while imprisoned, an inmate which connects him to a few on the outside who may be able to help him continue to allow the Foundation to flourish in his absence. He uses these connections to establish a small organized crew, called The Orchestra. Among other things, they begin also carrying out tasks for him unrelated to the company.

Year 990 — After a long and tumultuous time within the depths of BLACKBIRD, Dekkard King is brought to Blackwell at the personal behest of James Choire, agreeing to become a member of his security detail and protege. It is this connection which leads to King’s one-man mass shooting of a Vylon-tied hospital, an onslaught which ends with the building as rubble on the ground; one rendered by countless explosives. Completely silent as to his motives and handlers, Dekkard is swiftly imprisoned in the most secure of penitentiaries. 

Year 990 — Under the veiled falsehood of a family friend, one concerned for the failing health of Carter Stryker, Choire manipulates the elder’s daughter, Ashari, into signing over Stryker Industries to Blackwell Holdings, the latter absorbing the considerable gun-manufacturing capabilities of the former and stockpiling innumerable weapons for a quickly-approaching doomsday. A partnership is also struck with Sidonia Porter (CEO of Porter Tech), with the intention of mass-producing Choire’s anti-abilities serum.

Year 991 — After being named innocent during his trial, Lauden finds himself ousted from his own foundation, and is then approached by Leopold Silk; he who was previously only known as “The Black King”. As a gesture towards the future, Silk detonates a large-scale bomb inside of the Vylon Foundation building; thus destroying it completely. Lauden joins Blackwell.

Year 991 — After years of planning, Kathryn unleashes a full-blown attack on Atopia, utilizing the combined forces of Blackwell and The Underground to overwhelm those standing against their cause in each and every city. Leopold Silk, having awakened from his coma and being revealed as Choire’s master, comes out of the shadows to rule over a brave, new world.

Year 991 — Each major city aside from Yorkshire (Maegar, Hazel, Pinerisk, etc.) is completely destroyed, with the former serving as a fortified stronghold for Blackwell. High fencing is placed around the borders, patrol is standing in occupation to them. Men armed to the teeth, agents of Blackwell. A police state to enforce the might of a new world. Vessels and Normals alike are imprisoned in new prison camps that erect from construction deals made prior with companies affiliated with the Underground, camps in which Lauden Vylon acts as Warden.

Year 991 — The power outside of each major city is shut down entirely. When this happens, food supplies in towns surrounding the cities begin to run dry, as well as medication and batteries. As a result, in the first year, settlements begin popping up. They use towns as their villages and nestle behind what Vessels still remain to keep them safe.

Year 991 — A newly established force: Kathryn, Lauden, and Leopold, give a conference citing their new world, and what happens hence forth in their image. Leopold establishes a scouting force inside of Blackwell which will make frequent trips outside of the city walls into the settlements to flush out the remaining Vessels and capture them. Dekkard King is quickly released from prison and enacted as Kathryn’s head of security.

Year 992 — The world is left in near ruin outside of the major cities. In no time at all, people have turned against each other and settlements of all kinds are constantly at war over a shortage of supplies. It’s those who aligned with Blackwell prior to their domination over the world that have seized money, power, and those resources which remain; with Porter Tech reaping the greatest rewards. As a result of her newfound influence, Sidonia Porter becomes a vocal proponent for Leopold Silk and Blackwell, and is often seen in widespread broadcasts singing their praises.

Year 992 — A prison outbreak occurs at one of the camps near Yorkshire, one which allows Tobias, Amelia, and others who had been captured during Blackwell’s widespread attack upon Atopia to escape into the city.

Year 992 — Near the desolate wreckage of those former cities have settlements formed, both small and large, collections of those who escaped the tyranny of Blackwell and established their own civilizations. The largest and most reputable of these new settlements, known as “The Colony”, emerges as a symbol for those who have rebelled against Blackwell, and is thus relentlessly hunted by the organization. Leopold Silk activates groups of agents specially-trained track down the resistance, soldiers equipped with the amassed guns in Blackwell’s possession and bleeding edge technology. These tracking squads are deemed HUNTERS, and are mobilized by several commanders within Blackwell.

Year 992 — The Colony has gathered enough resources to construct an water wheel system in order to pump electricity temporarily into the town. A few members of the top brass begin a plan of action to restore power to the towns surrounding Yorkshire, by locating the hard-lined substations that don’t rely on the Grid. However, their several attempts have been thwarted by a rival settlement known as GROVELAND.

Year 992 — After Tobias and Amelia escape, they are quickly captured by Kathryn. In order to further stamp their authority over those who remain un-captured and beyond the walls, Kathryn kills Tobias and takes Amelia prisoner. Tobias body along with the others who are captured are strung up outside of the prison walls and put on display. This further fuels the disloyalty growing within NEW YORKSHIRE by the Normals.

Year 992 — The Colony harbors one of the last gun factories still not demolished near Yorkshire. Believing to have a way to restore it to working order, The Colony carries out several missions to collect materials in order to utilize it once more. However, mounting tension between settlements leads to an all-out war against GROVELAND in a winner-take-all fashion.

Year 992 — After defeating GROVELAND in the all-out war, survivors of the Colony return to find BENJAMIN VYLON at the encampment. It’s here that Benjamin is confronted by Layal about his disappearance so many years ago. He confesses that he was tasked by Norway to remain hidden and continue his work in private. The only way to keep his children safe was to disappear entirely. 

Benjamin consults the community of the Colony and admits the only way to stop BLACKWELL and SILK is to find Norway at the top of Cloudepoint where they were to meet at the relay station. Effectively restoring power to the outskirts of Yorkshire. As the Colony begins its preparations for travel to this relay station they are attacked by an onslaught of well prepared Blackwell scouts, and further more by Silk himself. 

In tow is Lauden, Choire and Cassandra, who admits that Price was a mole placed in the Colony to keep tabs on the survivors of Yorkshire and to quell any rebellion. A chase ensues to the relay point which ultimately ends with Cassandra and Lauden’s death. Upon arrival, a last standoff begins between the Colony survivors and what’s left of Choire’s Blackwell. 

Silk begins using his ability to suck the powers of all those in the vicinity from their bodies. Rendering them Normals and no longer Vessels. Having been driven mad by Cassandra’s death Choire begins to falter internally. Silk’s ability continues to maximize, draining the Vessel abilities from not just their surroundings but effectively nearby towns and furthermore cities. In a surprise act, when all seems lost, Silk’s ability seems to fail him, it is then James Choire who turns on Silk and shoots him in the head to end his carnage.

Year 993 — James Choire is found guilty and placed in a discrete maximum security isolation center where he is treated for mental illness. It is around this time that in a crucial state of emergency that a new Atopia Prime is sworn in to do damage control and begin reconstructing the governing  infrastructure. 

Ekosa Corvus resigns from active duty within EXO. A memorial is subsequently held for those who lost their lives in the last year during the events of Blackwell and Silk’s war on Atopia. Layal regains control of the Vylon corporation and announces construction of a new facility in Sonoda with new branding. Benjamin Vylon and Norway continue their Vessel research in a new private facility funded by NEST. 

EXO is rebranded as a branch of the Normal Police Department not a separate entity altogether. A Vessel census act is passed which requires standard ability checks in order to document who may have retained their abilities and who may have lost them. The new Atopia Prime begins construction in all major cities effective-immediately.

Year 995 — James Choire is released from his imprisonment.

[myhauntedsalem]

Where are the Seven Gates of Hell Located?

Many over the past few centuries tell that the Seven Gates of Hell or each located on one of each of the continents. The seven traditional continents are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That Means That there is one Gate of Hell for each Continent respectively.

But over the years many strange tales have arisen concerning their specific location and what happens to you if you dare to find them. Truth or fiction the tales often grow with each telling. Many forums, blogs and message boards are filled with the evil's and misconceptions of what a doorway to hell is really like and where it might be found.

The Gate to Hell in Africa many say is located in Egypt. The exact locations said by many would be gate searchers is thought to be located directly under the left paw of the great Sphinx. This Horrific Gate is known to be Called the Gate to The Underworld or After Life, the great hall of records. To this date no one has entered it or found it.

It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it's burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

The Gate of hell in Asia is located in Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, is a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and ice-covered annually. It has been claimed by local residents and visitors that the woods are host to a great amount of paranormal phenomena. It is an old ancient forest reportedly haunted by many urban historical legends of strange beasts, monsters, ghosts, and goblins, which add to its serious and sinister reputation.

Some in the world will tell you it is one of the actual seven gates to hell! The location is said to haunted by demons as well as ghosts. These demons or those that make you take your life. I found these forest to be very disturbing and in my mind what a hideous place of beauty for a infernal hole to hell to be in.

Near or under the Great Temple Mount In Israel. One if the possible gates to hell is called Satan's Front Door. Some scholars will argue that this door was once in Rome and Moved to the Holy land when Israel Became a State 14 May 1948. It is Believed it took 2 thousand legions of demons and Devil's to move the great gate because it is the most powerful and strongest doors that Satan has for gaining souls. When it Was Rome their were two gates of hell on the continent and it is believe that the great Caesar's had it originally moved there when they found it in The Holy Land originally.

In 1867, a team from the Royal Engineers, led by Lieutenant Charles Warren (later the London police commissioner of Jack the Ripper fame) and financed by the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.), discovered a series of tunnels beneath Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, some of which were directly underneath the headquarters of the Knights Templar.

Various small artifacts were found which indicated that Templar's had used some of the tunnels, though it is unclear who exactly first dug them. Some of the ruins which Warren discovered came from centuries earlier, and other tunnels which his team discovered had evidently been used for a water system, as they led to a series of cisterns.

The Gate to Hell is by many thought to be located in Europe. And it is hidden in Pere Lachaise Paris Cemetery Paris. It is said to be a great grand gate with very notable significance. this gate is said to be the one that all great heads of state must enter through when they die. And through this gate World Leaders must be judged by the Devil first and not God. Many tales tell of vampire-like entities guarding the entrance. Some believe that the Underground catacombs of Paris are the true gates but many beg to differ.

Some searchers believe that the actual Hellfire Caves Buckinghamshire, England is a indirect gate to Hell. Some call it a side door to the dark underworld of Satan.

West Wycombe Caves, also known as Hellfire Caves, located in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England, are most well known as a meeting place for members of The Hellfire Club. The caves were extended by Sir Francis Dashwood (later Lord le Despencer) between 1748–1752. They provided work for unemployed farm workers following a succession of harvest failures, and lie close to Dashwood's country house, West Wycombe Park (now owned by the National Trust). The chalk mines that were extended to form the caves had existed near High Wycombe for a considerable time. The mines are said to have a prehistoric origin, and were presumably created to extract the flint found in the chalk to make hand tools. Locally, flint is used as a building material.

The entrance to the caves is built from flint, and St Lawrence's church, above the Inner Temple, is also built using flint. Due to the extensive alterations made by Dashwood, all evidence of the caves' earlier history seem to have been destroyed. The underground "rooms" are named, from the Entrance Hall, through the Circle, Franklin's Cave (named after Benjamin Franklin, a friend of Dashwood who stayed with him at West Wycombe), the Banqueting Hall, the Triangle, to the Miner's Cave; finally, across a subterranean river named the Styx, lies the final cave, the Inner Temple. An alternative viewpoint was advanced by Daniel P Mannix in his book about The Hellfire Club. This theory suggests that the caves had been deliberately created by Dashwood according to a sexual design.The design begins at the 'womb' of the Banqueting Hall, leading to rebirth through the female triangle, followed by baptism in the River Styx and the pleasures thereafter of the Inner Temple.

This theory is not mentioned in National Trust literature and is allegedly refuted by the Dashwood family.The flint mining theory is also questionable because the Chiltern Hills flint bed overlays the chalk escarpment and does not have to be mined except by means of small open flint dells of which there are many on the area.The caves were refurbished and made suitable for visitors during the 1950s by the late Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet.

They are now open as a tourist attraction, with life-sized waxwork figures in period costume illustrating the life of the caves in the 18th century. The caves have attracted over 2 million visitors since 1951.

The Gate to Hell in South America is located in Rio de Janeiro. Harbour of Rio de Janeiro is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The actual open gate yo hell is said to be near where the world famous "Christ the Redeemer" Statue stands. Some say the entrance is in an underwater cave or hidden near the top of Corcovado Peak. Locals believe that during the festival of Carnival the gate swings open to trap those that or unaware of it's location who deserve to be taken to hell alive.

The gate has also been thought to be located at Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Angel Falls, the Nazca lines are thought by some to point the way, Galapagos, along the Amazon which is thought to originate or flow into the river Styx, Patagonia, Andes .

The North American Gate is said to be located at or very near the Tomb Of the great Voodoo - Hoodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Many say it is the doorway to the home of the eternally tortured and living dead. Many old tales tell of strange monsters issuing from the infernal gates. Vampires zombies and a host of Ghede and strange half dead beings.

[myhauntedsalem]

Where are the Seven Gates of Hell Located?

Many over the past few centuries tell that the Seven Gates of Hell or each located on one of each of the continents. The seven traditional continents are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. That means that there is one Gate of Hell for each Continent respectively. 

But over the years many strange tales have arisen concerning their specific location and what happens to you if you dare to find them. Truth or fiction the tales often grow with each telling. Many forums, blogs and message boards are filled with the evils and misconceptions of what a doorway to hell is really like and where it might be found. 

The Gate to Hell in Africa many say is located in Egypt. The exact locations said by many would be gate searchers is thought to be located directly under the left paw of the great Sphinx. This Horrific Gate is known to be called the Gate to The Underworld or After Life, the great hall of records. To this date no one has entered it or found it. 

It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it's burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

The Gate of hell in Asia is located in Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, is a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and ice-covered annually. It has been claimed by local residents and visitors that the woods are host to a great amount of paranormal phenomena. It is an old ancient forest reportedly haunted by many urban historical legends of strange beasts, monsters, ghosts, and goblins, which add to its serious and sinister reputation.

Some in the world will tell you it is one of the actual seven gates to hell! The location is said to haunted by demons as well as ghosts. These demons or those that make you take your life. I found these forest to be very disturbing and in my mind what a hideous place of beauty for a infernal hole to hell to be in. 

Near or under the Great Temple Mount In Israel. One if the possible gates to hell is called Satan's Front Door. Some scholars will argue that this door was once in Rome and Moved to the Holy land when Israel Became a State 14 May 1948. It is believed it took 2 thousand legions of demons and Devil's to move the great gate because it is the most powerful and strongest doors that Satan has for gaining souls. When it Was Rome there were two gates of hell on the continent and it is believe that the great Caesar's had it originally moved there when they found it in The Holy Land originally. 

In 1867, a team from the Royal Engineers, led by Lieutenant Charles Warren (later the London police commissioner of Jack the Ripper fame) and financed by the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.), discovered a series of tunnels beneath Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, some of which were directly underneath the headquarters of the Knights Templar. 

Various small artifacts were found which indicated that Templar's had used some of the tunnels, though it is unclear who exactly first dug them. Some of the ruins which Warren discovered came from centuries earlier, and other tunnels which his team discovered had evidently been used for a water system, as they led to a series of cisterns. 

The Gate to Hell is by many thought to be located in Europe. And it is hidden in Pere Lachaise Paris Cemetery Paris. It is said to be a great grand gate with very notable significance. This gate is said to be the one that all great heads of state must enter through when they die. And through this gate World Leaders must be judged by the Devil first and not God. Many tales tell of vampire-like entities guarding the entrance. Some believe that the Underground catacombs of Paris are the true gates but many beg to differ. 

Some searchers believe that the actual Hellfire Caves Buckinghamshire, England is a indirect gate to Hell. Some call it a side door to the dark underworld of Satan. 

West Wycombe Caves, also known as Hellfire Caves, located in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England, are most well known as a meeting place for members of The Hellfire Club. The caves were extended by Sir Francis Dashwood (later Lord le Despencer) between 1748–1752. They provided work for unemployed farm workers following a succession of harvest failures, and lie close to Dashwood's country house, West Wycombe Park (now owned by the National Trust). The chalk mines that were extended to form the caves had existed near High Wycombe for a considerable time. The mines are said to have a prehistoric origin, and were presumably created to extract the flint found in the chalk to make hand tools. Locally, flint is used as a building material. 

The entrance to the caves is built from flint, and St Lawrence's church, above the Inner Temple, is also built using flint. Due to the extensive alterations made by Dashwood, all evidence of the caves' earlier history seem to have been destroyed. The underground "rooms" are named, from the Entrance Hall, through the Circle, Franklin's Cave (named after Benjamin Franklin, a friend of Dashwood who stayed with him at West Wycombe), the Banqueting Hall, the Triangle, to the Miner's Cave; finally, across a subterranean river named the Styx, lies the final cave, the Inner Temple. An alternative viewpoint was advanced by Daniel P Mannix in his book about The Hellfire Club. This theory suggests that the caves had been deliberately created by Dashwood according to a sexual design.The design begins at the 'womb' of the Banqueting Hall, leading to rebirth through the female triangle, followed by baptism in the River Styx and the pleasures thereafter of the Inner Temple. 

This theory is not mentioned in National Trust literature and is allegedly refuted by the Dashwood family.The flint mining theory is also questionable because the Chiltern Hills flint bed overlays the chalk escarpment and does not have to be mined except by means of small open flint dells of which there are many on the area.The caves were refurbished and made suitable for visitors during the 1950s by the late Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet. 

They are now open as a tourist attraction, with life-sized waxwork figures in period costume illustrating the life of the caves in the 18th century. The caves have attracted over 2 million visitors since 1951. 

The Gate to Hell in South America is located in Rio de Janeiro. Harbour of Rio de Janeiro is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The actual open gate yo hell is said to be near where the world famous "Christ the Redeemer" Statue stands. Some say the entrance is in an underwater cave or hidden near the top of Corcovado Peak. Locals believe that during the festival of Carnival the gate swings open to trap those that or unaware of its location who deserve to be taken to hell alive. 

The gate has also been thought to be located at Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Angel Falls, the Nazca lines are thought by some to point the way, Galapagos, along the Amazon which is thought to originate or flow into the river Styx, Patagonia, Andes. 

The North American Gate is said to be located at or very near the Tomb Of the great Voodoo - Hoodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Many say it is the doorway to the home of the eternally tortured and living dead. Many old tales tell of strange monsters issuing from the infernal gates. Vampires zombies and a host of Ghede and strange half dead beings.