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lutethebodies · 4 months

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LTB Worldbuilding Wednesdays: The Confederation of Veirmaark

A weekly series in which two of my BG3 Tavs describe the original homebrew 5e world they live in.

Cannor’s Guide

“Might as well begin here, since I’m stuck in Seven Harbors until I can afford passage out. For better and worse, this is the most worldly place any civilized person will ever see if they venture north of the Spine. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy this city as much if not more than most I’ve visited—but Saithaaven’s seven busy ports sit between a cold lake and colder sea, and I prefer things a bit warmer. There’s an omnipresent weariness here, and though that’s understandable after so much recent turbulence, it still makes everyone a bit uneasy.”

“The Four Marches are odd in that there’s no true nucleus, at least not one a big-city southerner might recognize. Saithaaven may be the closest thing Veirmaark has to a center, but it’s technically only a provincial capital and Lord Fedor isn’t in charge of everything—at least not officially. His three nephews rule their own fiefs, and the Broken Hand priests command every Vaali soul from their fortified monastery on Verkent, the Isle of Trials. The far-flung holdfast-hamlets are half-wild with laws unto themselves, guarding against seaborne pirates, Ashland raiders or nastier things from way out on the wild moors. Beyond that, we Kalen often live around Vaali rules, and the unseen elven Vudti certainly have their own laws.”

“People here are mostly Vaali the further west you go, many counting original Marcher foot soldiers as their ancestors, just as their high lords do with the Maarker heroes. In some places you’ll hear Kalen spoken with the Old Sernian accent, wherever the original tribal bloodlines survive as modest tradesmen or peasant farmers. You’ll also hear it from outlaws hiding in the country hills and villages, or the Harbors’ seedier streets and taverns. Veirmaark is riddled with crime, because it pays well here and has ever since both Kalen and Vaali gangs pulled in big money from war profiteering and foreign influence. The lords look the other way, and either don’t touch it for fear of reprisal, or put all their dirty fingers in every dirty pie from the Soundwash to the Crownwood.”

“That ‘everyone for themselves’ feeling pervades life here, though it’s also made citizens band together however they can. Local guilds, societies, and other law-abiding orders present healthy mirror-images of the criminal gangs, but each operates with a jealous independence. Maybe that’s to be expected— this country was never really united like the other Kalen lands in the east—but I’m still not used to such superficial connections even after five years in Saithaaven, no matter how well I’m paid to sing for them. I can feel that particularly Linsmaari cool detachment seeping into me, though—from barkeeps and boatswains to ferrymen and farmers’ wives. Even Blue Chapel healers lack good bedside manners now. In the Four Marches, you either make your mark, or you become a mark.”

Ruy’s Reckoning

“The Four Marches are the center of Vaali culture in Aviridia, a culmination of migration and conquest over the past 160 years. Ruled by direct descendants of the original Vaali Marcher Lord, supported by twelve great houses, and guided by an austere but intellectual priesthood, Veirmaark may soon emerge as a truly united nation. In earlier times, the western three Marches comprised the petty, disunited Sernia-Kalen regions of Arna, Serna, and Kydna—while the fourth March of Kretta and its ancient stronghold of Scarnasa lay within the eastern Kalen High Kingdom’s protection. These days, the Sernian underclass are much more Vaali than Kalen in the west, and the countryside overall remains mostly open wilderness, with settlements strung along four great rivers flowing north to the Wild Sea from the southern Spine range. The lone exception is a more densely settled area around the old city of Scarnasa, now called Saithaaven, where wartime ethnic tensions have cooled in favor of criminal profit and commercial prosperity.”

Area: 231,371 square miles. Population: 5,784,275; about 20-40 people per square mile. Capital: Mitmaark. Main settlements: Saithaaven (Seven Harbors; small city), Kaardi (Queen’s Hill; town), Mitmaark (Mainmarch; town), Symasond (Shimmering Sound; town). Fortresses: Haandtrike (Handfast), Shensa (Spineside), Dessenka (Deepsink), Trebarra (Three Arch Bay), Saliston (Saltstone), Semarra (Southwall), Naervudti (Woodside). Rulers: The Vaali Marcher Lords. Languages: Vaali, Kalen, Erynnath. Economy: Open mercantile (with substantial smuggling), producing coal, copper, herring, iron, silver, timber, tin, wheat, and wool; trading for alum, cottons, furs, linens, paper, silks, spices, steel, sugar, and wax.

All text and imagery taken from "The Nua Gazetteer, Volume 1" by Keir DuBois (2022).

#ltb worldbuilding wednesdays #worldbuilding #5e worldbuilding #ttrpg maps #fantasy worldbuilding #nua green north

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sleepingswift85 · 8 months

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Starting to wonder if Brendan Boyd of Incubus was right that ‘we should learn to love ourselves before it’s made a illegal’. It seem even actually giving a damn about the job you do isn’t an acceptable thing and actually like thinking outside the box which benefits the whole method of production is frowned upon. And yet a co-worker calls you a ‘lazy bastard’ and you think…. ‘Takes one to know one pal’

Apparently now I’m a villain. Even if I means dealing with co workers with self serving complexes, crappy equipment that serves no real purpose which induces stress and it’s assumed it’s me not those things. This is reality of being a worker in the Disunited Kingdom.

It seems the only time I’m truly me is if I’m on social media or playing rise of kingdoms. Life’s a bit of challenge lately if you ask me. But I’ll fight these blues. I always do.

#sleepingwell’s thoughts #life is always a teacher though right?

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reggiespoon · 2 years

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#SEND H E L P #queendeath #mourn melon #life in this disunited kingdom

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eighthdoctor · 4 years

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Same anon as the one who asked for your predictions after v6e3, now you’ve caught up, what do you think?

well i had 95% of this written last night and then CLOSED THE WRONG TAB but it’s fine. whatever. fuck.

honestly i need to take back very little of what i said but there’s some new things i’m convinced on. also please keep in mind i’ve seen everything precisely once, i’ve seen it all in the last thirty one days, and in particular watched v6-8 in one week. i’m having a normal one.

format: old prediction, updates, new prediction

the gods are coming back and will be a big part of The Climax. whoo yeah. no new predictions here, the brothers are absolutely coming back.

the final battle won’t be directly rwby vs salem. if anything, rwby vs salem will be the climax of v12. the real final ‘battle’ is not really going to be about strength as much as it is about the power of teamwork and compassion.

(v12 julis?? yeah. v1-3 were in vale, 4-6 were mostly in mistral, and 7-9 in atlas. there is WAY too much happening in v8 for rwby to be ready for a 4v1 even by the end of the next volume, and thematically it doesn’t make sense. i said before and stand by it, the gang also has to go to vacuo, and that’s where the bulk of v10-12 will be. case in point: mercury and tyrian are headed there right now. but there’s gonna be at least 16 volumes, possibly 20. so in 12, the show’s going to pivot again--echoing the pivots that happened in 3 and 6.)

it won’t be 4 small kingdoms surrounded by vast stretches of grimm territory. lmao. for one, atlas is gonna fall. atlas is SOOOO falling, and sooner rather than later. for two, menagerie is going to play a larger role in international politics.

the relics will be brought together, but the outcome will be take a 3rd option. yup yup. not much to say here.

the protag/antag divide isn’t going to continue to be rwby/jnpr/oz/qrow vs salem/team evil/etc. DEFECTION TIME. v8 defections are going to be emerald (to rwby/mantle) and winter (to salem). emerald may or may not be followed by hazel, and i doubt mercury will be content with remaining a sword-for-hire. meanwhile, marrow is defecting to mantle, but i don’t know that he’ll make it by the end of the volume. eventually cinder will defect but wow will it take a while. holy shit girl how many parallels do you need.

team jnpr is going to get a 4th. given the v8 messaging that a united team (rwby) can beat a disunited team (ace ops), and a disunited team can beat a maiden (penny), even though a lot of our older huntspeople are solo fighters, the four person team is going to remain/become a core part of the show. JNPR has to get their 4th back. see here for me being split on oscar vs penny on the 4th.

there will be a happy ending, but it won’t be easy. [...] some or all of the main cast won’t be able to have a normal life. yeah. i honestly don’t know what kind of normal life we’ll be going back to, since i think the grimm won’t survive, but wow, we sure are racking up the traumas.

it is still very super interesting that there’s a relic of creation (atlas, winter) and destruction (vacuo, summer), but also a relic of knowledge (mistral, spring) and choice (vale, fall). are there 4 gods?? did the god of destruction create knowledge and choice as well??? DO WE WANNA TALK ABOUT SOME CHRISTIANITY PARALLELS SOME MORE????? anyway. cool. i’m gonna go absolutely insane. there’s no prediction here i’m just unhinged.

big damn bumblebee kiss. stand by this, but adding in big damn nuts and bolts kiss, but not before some good discussion about relationships. renora will also get their shit together.

oz and qrow dying. ok this i fucked up. qrow WAS the mentor but now he’s the rogue and as such will not be dying uh...soon. if at all?? hard to say, i cannot express how much this is all going to go off the rails by v13 and just turn into enormous hand waving. ozpin will die but not willing to bet on oscar either way. otoh raven is absolutely 100% going to die which leads me to

spring maiden yang. just gonna. yeah i’m doubling down on that one.

this isn’t a prediction so much as more screaming but WHERE IS THE SUMMER MAIDEN. i am absolutely feral about this, what the fuck. we know who the other 3 are but not even a SINGLE HINT ABOUT SUMMER????

summer rose is another kettle of fish, she’s not the summer maiden, but we are very definitely getting more summer backstory. soon. we’re getting it soon. then we’ll decide we actually didn’t want it.

also. is anyone else concerned that we know what each of the relics do except for THE SWORD OF DESTRUCTION. i’m very concerned. what is going on in vacuo. what the hell.

#would this be better for not being written at midnight?#well. it would be more intelligible #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby v8 #Anonymous

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 4 years

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A Letter to Rev. Moon

Dear Reverend Moon,

Although you have passed into the spirit world, your followers say you are now omniscient and omnipresent so I feel I can still address this letter directly to you.

I myself followed you for a number of years, received your blessing and looked forward to living in the society of co-prosperity you promised us (DP page 445). It took me some time to realize that prosperity was only meant to be enjoyed by yourself and your family, because as you said:

‘The only thing that matters is that my children take up positions as the leaders of the cosmos.’

There are of course a fair number of church leaders who also manage to enjoy a modicum of prosperity – which is, I’m afraid, the only reason why many are still ‘believers’.

I know you deserved to enjoy the good things of life to make up for all the indemnity you say you kept paying. Unfortunately, I’m still unsure about your indemnity – in all the years I knew about you I never saw you working, cooking for yourself, doing your own laundry, making your own travel arrangements, doing your own tax returns, taking any care of individual members or even of your own children, so apart from giving directions to your assistants and talking to church members, what was the indemnity you say you kept paying? Ah! It must have been prayer. No, I’m afraid not:

‘I haven’t prayed for the last twenty years. Mother was very surprised to see me start praying again, but I knew the time would come when I had to guide Heavenly Father.’ USA 1999

So you started praying again in order to guide God, very considerate. So if you weren’t paying indemnity by praying how were you doing it? Fasting? Not according to your overworked kitchen staff. Ah! Fishing for long periods? But you loved fishing, and like most fishermen, you were happy to stay out all day. So maybe it was talking to the members for long hours? But again you loved that – all the adoration and sycophantic applause. No, sorry, you’ve got me beat– I can’t see the indemnity anywhere.

Something else I’ve found difficult to understand is to do with the matching and blessing. I was originally given to believe that God was working through you during the matching process, but on at least two occasions in Europe you matched physical brothers and sisters together, and I heard of it happening in Japan and America also. So what gives? I know you said in one of your speeches that Jesus should have married John the Baptist’s sister – who according to you would have been his half-sister – so maybe such relationships are allowable in your kingdom of heaven. Either way, you changed those matchings after being informed they were brothers and sisters, but isn’t it strange that God didn’t know about them?

So anyway blessed couples are supposed to produce children substantially free of original sin, and your children are especially pure – being the progeny of the messiah and his bride. But, I then read one of your speeches where you said, ‘I knew this time would come, (when some of my children would disunite with me) maybe I should turn to the son of the concubine. The children of the concubine are better because there is more passion.’ (involved in their conception) Korea 1996

Now here I’m really mystified. If the child of your concubine is better than those from your marriage, where does this leave the idea of the blessing?

Let me think awhile. Adam and Eve fell because they had sex out of wedlock – they fornicated and because of that the original sin was passed down through the generations. So, the messiah, the Second Advent, is supposed to restore this by establishing the blessed marriage (the marriage of the lamb) and then the children from that marriage are supposed to born without original sin and establish a new lineage, thereby creating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

So where does the excuse for the concubine come from? In order to restore the sin of fornication does the messiah have to commit it again but this time for God’s sake? Does he have to restore Cain’s sin by murdering someone for God’s sake? What about all the other sins? Where does it end?

I know you were trying to restore gambling by spending many hours in casinos. I also know you said you had to enjoy the luxuries of life sometimes, because otherwise when the rich people die and go to the spirit world they would be ashamed in front of you – because they enjoyed the high life and you didn’t. So you stayed in luxurious hotels, were driven around in expensive cars and flew in private airplanes all for the sake of the rich people, again very considerate.

You know, I really have to come back to this concubine thing. If, as you said, the children of the concubine are better than those from a blessed marriage then surely that means the blessing has no value whatsoever, and that blessed children are no different to any other. That must also mean there is no restoration providence and that you weren’t really the messiah after all.

I’m sorry Reverend but I’m starting to have serious doubts about this whole business.

Another aspect of your vaunted dispensation that I found confusing was your use of numbers. Most of the people counted in the 360 million couples blessing didn’t even know they were blessed. For example, in India sachets of holy wine were thrown into reservoirs and anyone drinking from them was counted as being blessed. The amazing thing is, however, that you then announced that all the newly blessed couples should now make a ‘total living offering’ of $10,000 and come to Jardim Training Center in Brazil for a workshop.

Considering that $10,000 is more than most of these Indians will see in a lifetime, that they don’t even have a hope of affording a flight to Brazil, and that they have no idea they’ve been blessed, then surely your expectation of 360 million couples turning up at Jardim with suitcases full of cash was a little fanciful to say the least.

This ancestor liberation is something else I find confusing. After only a few thousand members had attended these liberation ceremonies it was announced that 36 billion ancestors had been liberated. Later it was said that more than 360 billion had been liberated. Now considering the most generous statistics state that only about 150 billion people have ever lived on this planet in the past, I’m left wondering where the other 210 billion are from. Mars maybe? Maybe all these numbers are just symbolic – except of course until it comes to financial offerings.

I was extremely happy to read your speech of June 14th 1999 where you said,

‘There are no more hardships or indemnity.’

Again on Sept. 9th 1999

‘Satan has completely surrendered.’

Sept. 10th 1999

‘Therefore the time when Satan can oppose us is passed.’

And finally my favorite was on Oct. 27th 1999

‘No more indemnity is needed. The providence of restoration is completed.’

However, after Young Jin’s suicide in Las Vegas (as reported by the Las Vegas Police Department) you changed your tune yet again.

Nov. 14th 1999

‘Take responsibility by paying indemnity.

‘Satan tried to attack True Parents directly.’

‘Can you live a life of complete indemnity?’

Now while I have every sympathy for the loss of Young Jin, who appears to have been a very nice young man, this still does not explain this complete contradiction in your speeches. If Satan had completely surrendered how was he still able to attack your family? And if the providence of restoration is completed why were you asking the church members to continue paying indemnity? (Which anyway appears to be a waste of time because you said,

‘Did you pay indemnity? No. Only Father and Mother together did.’)

I’m getting really confused now, because you said on Aug. 8th 1999

‘The lord of the Second Advent is a person with no property.’

However, on Jan. 2nd 1996 you were boasting as follows:

‘You may not know, but I already own a small airplane company and have several airplanes.’ And you also said ‘In Montevideo I built a landmark hotel, which is the biggest and the best in South America.’

‘I have the desire to become the richest person in the world…’ Dec. 1st 1997

‘I could buy a Mercedes Benz 600 series if I wanted to.’ Feb. 13th 1997

And I suppose the palace at Cheongpyeong and the new one on Geomun island off the coast south of Yeosu are solely for God to live in. Oh, my mistake. I forgot you had become ‘the god of the day’, the incarnation of God on earth.

There are actually quite a few of your statements that I have difficulty with:

‘While Oriental people sleep on their backs and face God, asking Him to embrace them, Westerners sleep on their stomachs, facing down like animals; that’s why free sex and homosexual problems predominate in the Western hemisphere.’

Has the world really waited 2000 years to receive such wisdom from the Second Advent?

‘I did not blink my eyes for three hours once. So I overcame the number three.’

It’s lucky number three didn’t call in four and five or you’d have been well hammered.

‘A woman who does not love Father is not a complete woman: something must be lacking.’

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the most delusional of all?

‘Our goal is to create a world where everyone has affection for me.’

Really? So whose definition of the Kingdom of Heaven would that be then?

‘That is why widows, widowers and people who do not marry are to be pitied. They have no place to settle in love, so they just fade away. They have no foundation for eternal existence.’ Feb. 7th 1999

So all the monks and nuns, all the young unmarried soldiers who died in war, (even the Korean one that was supposed to have been fought just to save you,) all the children who have died throughout history – all of these poor souls will just fade away and have no place in the spiritual world?

I’m afraid your concept of the Kingdom, whether it be in this world or the next, appears to be very cold and heartless – and does not reflect anything of God’s loving parental nature.

‘A person with no descendants will have no place to rest or play in the next world.’ Feb. 4th 1999

So all the church sisters who were kept fundraising for so long that when starting their married life they were too old to have children, they will have nowhere to rest or play in the spirit world?

Let’s get this straight, Jesus, the Dalai Lama, and all those celibates throughout history who honestly dedicated their lives to God or the betterment of mankind, they will just fade away, but someone like Genghis Khan, who was responsible for the slaughter of millions but fathered hundreds of children, after serving his time in hell he will eventually be able to live it up in heaven? Give me a break!

When I originally joined your church we were told that the dwelling place of God was in the ‘Original Mind’ of man. This apparently was some unpolluted area of the spirit mind that always directs man towards goodness. Now, however, His abode appears to have changed.

‘My sexual organ is the original palace of love… the palace where God can dwell.’ Jan. 1st 1997

This to me would seem a rather appalling drop in living standards to inflict upon the Almighty. I also find it a little difficult to understand, because surely you don’t take that organ with you when you enter heaven, whereas your spirit mind is eternal (unless of course you are unmarried).

Anyway, maybe I should put aside all my doubts, sell everything I possess and use the money for a trip to Cheongpyeong. I could then donate much of the cash to liberate the spirits of the Martians or Venusians or whoever we’re liberating now. I’ve heard the people in charge of Cheongpyeong are also selling houses in the spirit world – very useful because it means you don’t have to spend time finding a real estate agent once you cross over, because you know what crooks real estate agents can be.

Yours in search of sanity and a good laugh,

Sloe Gin

P.S. All of these quotations were carefully checked against the original Korean.

_______________________________________

Unification Church shampoo for evil spirits

Cheongpyeong: Evil spirits stop Korean and Japanese women from having children.

“Ancestor Liberation must be done” Hak Ja Han 2015

Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han bow to a pig’s head

Moon is God’s original sperm

Sperm in the Holy Wine of the Unification Church

#Sun Myung Moon #indemnity #ancestor liberation #scam #Hak Ja Han

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paladin-andric · 5 years

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Great Strides: Geralthin

Welcome to “Great Strides”! This is a little something I came up with a short while ago and recently decided to undertake. In this, we will take a look at the way nations in Deaco have transformed over time, politically, culturally, religiously and militarily. First up is the beating heart of the continent: The Kingdom of Geralthin, the metropolitan state of prosperity and the home to the human race! Everything’s under the cut.

Earliest Records/Pre-Imperium

"Where tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization."

Humanity was dormant for most of their early years. Relegated to small tribes scattered around the wilds, they lived somewhat mobile, hunter-gatherer lives, though settling was not unheard of. After the discovery of farming, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle quickly died and civilization sprung up. A population boom as a result of agricultural pursuits led to the first economic systems, cities and production of goods and services. This led to the foundation of record keeping, an alphabet, and a legal code, which in turn led to a centralization of power for those who held the most resources...humanity had just laid the foundations for their illustrious future.

The Empire

"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read."

Wars between cities led to a grand master of most known human civilization. This man, Lucian, named himself Emperor of the Deacan Empire, known to historians as the Human Empire. The ultimate meaning behind the empire was the complete mastery of the entire known world, hence their claim to be “Deacan”, as they saw themselves as the heart of Deaco itself. Rapid expansion in technology, military and administration transformed the tribes and city-states of humanity into a highly cultured, advanced society. Art, literature and philosophy burst onto the scene, and soon humanity was living a rich, happy life.

That was not enough. They had the finest warriors and largest army in all the world...and so they laid their claim to their namesake. They would truly become the Deacan Empire by subjugating the rest of Deaco.

The pona were a joke. The koutu were pushovers. The savage berserkers of the dacuni were a true challenge, but the Empire prevailed. After several centuries of expansion and almost unending warfare, the Deacan Empire was in complete control of the known world...aside from the Abinsil, though they were close friends and trading partners of the Empire, and off the mainland on their own sub-continent. The Empire decided they could rule their own little petty kingdom, it wasn’t on the mainland anyway.

At the same time during all of these developments, the Order of God was formed. A new monotheistic faith took the Empire by storm, and soon the Old Gods were all but forgotten under the new faith. A religion that stressed honor, devotion, sacrifice, self-mastery and unity among the faithful spread far and wide. It came to a halt at the non-human frontiers...all except the koutu. They eagerly embraced the new faith, though not unscathed. Several concessions to the old ways and gods left the religion different from the way it entered. The koutu did not discard their old gods, instead weaving them into the new faith as demigods, and champions of the one true God who they served. This syncretic melding of faith left the koutu with those new values of selflessness and discipline, but allowed them to retain their old culture and stories...though altered with the hindsight that the gods weren’t really gods anymore. The fact that those who accepted the new human God could perform miracles helped to cement their new belief.

The Empire lacked tolerance in many things. It didn’t treat non-humans equally, the wolfmen rampantly oppressed as they were seen as barbarians and troublemakers, the pona pushed around and forcefully taken to be doctors for the emperor, though the koutu were treated with some degree of kindness, as their overly friendly and outgoing natures helped to endear humanity to them.

This state led to unrest, which would soon spiral out of control...

The Fall

“And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains.”

It was a wondrous age of peace and prosperity that followed the complete unification of Deaco, but it was not to last.

The first signs of trouble were the unrest in the dacuni tribes. Their stubbornness was incredible, and they absolutely refused all attempts at integration. They rejected faith, culture, government, language and mere presence alike.

At the same time, calls for koutu independence were being called for by the koutu...and humans. Apparently, many priests, high and low in the church hierarchy, from both koutu and human orders had received visions that God himself wished for the koutu to be free. Even the emperor had no support for a forced continuation of their status as an imperial province, so the koutu were let go from the empire. This has became a famous legend in the Koutu Kingdom, that the great heroine Sila laid down her weapons and vowed to serve God in exchange for her peoples’ freedom.

Smelling blood in the air, the wolfmen redoubled their efforts to break free, beginning an all-out war of rebellion. The pona too began to resist human presence in their lands, and soon the Empire was submerged in a state of civil war across all their territories.

Then, the dragons attacked.

They had been watching the development of humanity with some bemused interest, and now that they were rich and prosperous, now seemed the perfect time to stop observing and start conquering.

The humans did not yet possess the ability to wield magic or enchant their armaments, and so their weapons would bounce harmlessly off the dragons’ unbreakable scales.

They stood no chance.

There were zero recorded instances of dragons being slain during the “war”. Soon enough, the empire had collapsed entirely, their foreign provinces retaken by the non-humans, and their heartlands conquered. The Deacan Empire was no more.

The remnants of the imperial army evacuated as many cities as they could guiding the civilians to relative safety. Any independent humans were enclaves hiding out in the forests and hills of the deep wilds. The rest of humanity that wasn’t destroyed during the draconic invasion were now at the mercy of the dragons.

Under Dragonlaw/The Dark Ages

"The root of the evil is not the construction of new, more dreadful weapons. It is the spirit of conquest."

The free humans hid. It was all they could do to keep their freedoms and lives. Life was hard, and lacked the wealth, liberties and luxuries the Empire provided.

The subjugated humans had their lives in the hands of draconic tyrants. Each dragon would claim a free city as their own, and ruled it independently. As a result, the most widespread legal system during this age...was actually the republican system. This was only due to the fact that cities were “free” and thus were ruled by a mayor, who in turn served whichever dragon took the city.

Treatment varied wildly. Each dragon ruled in absolute independence, and so they made their own law.

Some exterminated the cities. Some made humans little more than slaves. Most simply taxed them into poverty, amassing their horde off the backs of human laborers.

Some few were benevolent. They claimed a city and then allowed them to govern themselves, merely there to keep away other dragons that would subject them to a far worse fate. Gira was one such example of this.

This disunited state of affairs caused human culture to slowly drift apart. North, South, East and West began to take on their own customs and their language evolved so that some speech and expressions were like a whole different languange to someone on the other side of Geralthin. Soon enough, they ways of the Imperial Humans were but a distant memory.

After many generations under the heels of the dragons, a lone figure emerged to challenge them: Lord Godfrey. This obscure lord of a city began a series of wars against other human cities with the backing of the dragons, who he lied to through a lengthy series of webweavings that led the dragons to believe they were plotting against one another. As a result, the dragons fought and killed one another while Godfrey amassed power and tested new military theories.

With the discovery of the art of magic, now was the time. Spears, arrows and ballistae were magically enchanted, allowing them to piece the scales of dragons. By the time they realized what was happening, the dragons were already too disunited and weak to crush the uprising.

A decade of war against the dragons and invading armies of non-humans looking to snag a few cities from the dying dragons later, and Geralthin was at last free. Godfrey crowned himself king of the new Kingdom of Geralthin, and the rest, as they say, was history.

This led to feudal law and centralization. The hundreds of different constitutions and legal systems of cities and towns were scrapped for a set of royal laws that would apply to all. The sovereign of Geralthin, the king or queen, ruled all. The nobility under him worked to administrate their slices of land for him, and the nobles below them oversaw small baronies and cities. Soon, the Kingdom was a Feudal Monarchy in both name and deed. There was little restriction or oversight, for the royals and nobles were expected to act in good faith. For the most part, they did.

Administrative Overhaul/The Early Kingdom

"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

Over the reign of the first few kings and queens, the royal family worked to refine their administration and improve its capabilities. Gira offered advice from the legal system of the city she ruled over during the dark ages, and while the legal system of a city did not work in a kingdom-wide scale, it did help.

Godfrey drew from old city laws when drafting his own set of laws, so to allow the cities and towns to retain some freedoms and familiar rules to make the transition to a kingdom easier.

Crime and justice were penned into existence. The punishments of the old Empire, such as burning traitors alive, were banned. The free for all, anything goes way of the dark age were swept aside. Executions were reserved for the most dire offensives, and designed to be swift. Hanging, decapitation and poisoning became the standard go-to for those that would commit dark deeds such as murder.

Slavery was officially banned, though it wasn’t truly used by anyone but the dragons since the collapse of the Empire. Thieves, thugs and con-men were jailed or fined, the amount of time or money needed depending on the severity of the time. Small crimes such as fights and stealing of low costing goods like candy could be waved by the victim if they so chose. Public indecency, intoxication or disturbance of the peace allowed perpetrators to spend some time performing community service, such as street-sweeping, muck-cleaning, and road-paving. Such sentencing was viewed as favorable, and didn’t last for long. Repeat offenders would begin to receive harsher sentencing as judges grew tired of having to deal with them.

Trade and diplomacy came back into being as the kingdom recovered from its divided state and crippling war. Bureaus of commerce and international relations were founded to make such things matters of state rather than on-the-fly proceedings. All in all, humanity became closer to one another, more informed about the land they lived, and unified in power and purpose.

Finally, Godfrey’s son, Rufus, amended the succession laws. The standard succession meathod was Primogeniture, meaning the eldest inherits the throne, but Rufus introduced a law that allowed the king or queen to choose any of their children as the heir, for any reason. He hoped this meant that future monarchs would have some degree of responsibility, as drunkards, fools and those without Geralthin in mind would be passed over for better heirs.

Magic’s Introduction

"The day when two army corps can annihilate each other in one second, all civilized nations, it is to be hoped, will recoil from war and discharge their troops."

Humanity first learned the art of magic during the War of Liberation, but inklings were there beforehand. From the miracles of saints and those possessing indescribable powers, magic had always been in the background, waiting for humanity to learn and master it.

That time came during the lead up to the war.

Godfrey bribed several “allied” dragons a fortune for them to divulge their secrets, but even then they were tight-lipped. As arrogance and blind to humanity’s potential as they were, even they knew humans learning such power would turn out very, very badly for them later down the line.

They were correct, but that didn’t matter. The greedier of the dragons relented and taught humans some of what they knew. Once human magicians knew the basics, how to harness one’s own energy and warp it into magical power, all those secrets stopped mattering.

Humans mastered themselves, and journeyed into the heart of experimentation to invent spells themselves. This blind experimenting of course led to several accidents, mistakes and tragedies, but it was their only chance.

Once they learned how to control necrotic energy, it was over. The sorcerers blasted dragons out of the sky, dooming them to death as the necrosis ate away whatever survived the blast. This in turn, led to the kobolds’ death warding ritual, the precursor to modern restorative magic.

Once the kingdom came into being, the experimenting changed. Now that the dragons were no longer a threat, and stability was blanketing the land, sorcerers began to study magic that would undo the potential damage such terrifying power held. Newly invented spells were heavily defensively oriented, such as dispelling other magics or creating wards that protected against hostile sorcerers.

Since magic takes such a great time to master, the introduction of magicians merely shook things up instead of uprooting the ways or war entirely. They were far too small in number to replace soldiers with, so the sword, spear and bow remained the primary way of combat, and armies were still nearly all infantry and cavalry, though a couple magicians could give an army the edge in battle.

Divine Magic

"The night is far spent; the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."

The magic of God is far different than the magic of man. It’s always been there, but unable to be harnessed through normal means. As the sorcerers battled the dragons, however, a few priests and soldiers began to think. Those “great works”, those “miracles” of the saints of old...were they tangible? Could they be replicated?

As it turned out, the answer was yes.

Once humans learned how to channel their energy and weave it into magic, they found that when their thoughts and desires turned to the divine...that the process remained unchanged. If one knew what to do and how to do it, they could use magic in the way the saints of old did, and show all those on Deaco the might of God.

There was one small caveat to this line of magic, however...it was tied directly to the Lord, and thus, faith.

Thoughts, desires and deeds must remain pure and true to channel such holy powers. The man or woman using the power of God must not only be unflinching in their conviction of the defense of goodness and holiness, but they must truly BELIEVE. Forsake the tenants of the faith or lose the desire to use such power for good, and you will suddenly find yourself unable to channel your power to these ends.

As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.

Early Centralization and Looking Forward

"A multitude of rulers is not a good thing, let there be one ruler, one king."

The Kings and Queens of Geralthin fell into a steady legal battle with their vassals.

While the dukes, duchesses, counts, barons and lords were at first loyal to the king, this obedience and unity was born of mankind’s struggle with dragons. The nobles of the realm unquestioningly followed Godfrey, as he has thrown off the draconic yoke and founded the kingdom.

As soon as he died, things slowly began to change.

The nobles became increasingly petty and demanding of the monarch with each new generation, having grown complacent with their power.

Now, the monarch would struggle to draft new laws with their vassals refusing to back such rulings. It was then that they realized just how little power a king or queen held without politicking in the courts or the loyalty of their vassals.

For generations, the kings and queens battled with the aristocracy, inch by inch weakening them. Every generation of rulers, at least one or two laws would come into fruition that lessened the political power of the nobility in some way.

Monarchs of Geralthin were taught how important it was to be a good ruler. Since childhood, they were told by their parents, tutors and Gira herself that a true monarch serves the people, that they do their duty so that their lands could live in peace and prosperity for future generations.

While not eliminated, the nobility had lost most of their political power by the end of the middle ages, though they retained their possessions. Even their military power began to wane as the first professional armies came into being, trained by and loyal to the kingdom rather than their lieges. While still relying on the feudal levy system for now, the army had a small core of elite soldiers that could always be relied on.

While centralization and chastening of noble privileges continued, time marched on. As Geralthin left the early middle ages, technology improved, magic flourished, and the realm grew wealthy.

The military changed greatly over time, as fully-plated cavalry, heavily armored pikemen and crossbowmen overtook light cavalry, spearmen militias and peasant bowmen. Catapults gave way to trebuchets, and the military in general became better disciplined, trained, experienced and professional.

As for magic, more spells began to be invented, and old ones were improved. The art of magic became more and more refined, as academies for magicians and temples for clerics and priest gave newcomers a thorough drilling on how to properly use magic. It slowly became easier and cheaper to learn, and as a result became more widespread.

Architecture evolved, medicine improved, and quality of life improved for all, from the royal family themselves, to the most destitute of commoners.

As laws against serfdom put an end to “peasants” as an entity, there is now only paid laborers and mercenaries. Farmers became their own men and women, not beholden to laws binding them physically and economically to a noble. City dwellers worked in labor and service industries of their own volition, and society grew increasingly optimistic.

As time marches on, these things will keep improving. More prosperity, more inventions, more magic and more new technology and laws to protect the people from tyrants and robber-barons.

The future is looking bright.

And that’s all for now! There’s the whole renaissance to modern day thing, but this is everything that leads up to Blackheart.

Tag list: @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad, @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @sheralynnramsey, @tawnywrites, @writer-on-time, @oceanwriter, @zwergis-spilledink, @fluffpiggy, @elliewritesfantasy, @homesteadhorner, @laurenwastestimewriting, @elaynab-writing, @the-ichor-of-ruination, @candy687, @fierywords, @shewrites-sometimes

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fulcrarocksblog · 3 years

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The two trees in the garden of Eden continually bear their fruits on earth, even though the garden has been locked and sealed off. Their fruit either shows up as the sinful nature of the Devil in man or the divine nature of Christ in man. Objects of GOD's wrath eat from the Tree of Death continually while objects of GOD's mercy eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. There are some who advocate that if they eat from both trees they will live forever. No, they will not, or else the gate to the garden would have been left opened for everyone to enter. Now, only those who have the Spirit of God in them can spiritually enter into the garden first and then after the Great White Throne judgment, enter into it physically.

The sinful nature of the Devil in man brings all the confusion, chaos and disorder with it. The sinful nature of the Devil in man is likened to a kingdom that will fall, disintegrate and be eternally destroyed. It can be easily shaken to the ground. Unity is impossible. Always disunited even though they are the same. They all live according to the sinful nature of the Devil in them. This will clash between them because the main feature of this nature is bitter envy. No one must be better than them, is their motto. If anyone supersedes them, they must destroy. In this way, all of them will self-destruct and be no more in the end. They will be blinded and destroy themselves as a result of the same sinful nature of the Devil in them they proudly promote and propagate among sinful man.

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edisonashley · 5 years

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Richard Ekins: Reflections on Democracy’s Foundations

This is part of a series of posts in which Richard Ekins reflects upon Lord Sumption’s Reith Lectures. You can find the first posts here, here and here.

In his fifth and final Reith lecture, broadcast yesterday morning and entitled “Shifting the Foundations”, Jonathan Sumption brings to a conclusion his reflections on “the decline of politics and the rise of law to fill the void”. The lecture encourages us to resist calls for a written constitution, calls which, Sumption says, “mark the extreme point” of “our persistent habit of looking for legal solutions to what are really political problems”. He makes the case instead for the merits of our historic constitution and for efforts to shore up the political foundations of our democracy.

Sumption notes that a written constitution would almost certainly expand the constitutional role of judges and that the point of every scheme for such has been to cut down legislative power. He reiterates his scepticism “about claims that our system of government can be improved by injecting a larger legal element into it”. I share the scepticism. Of course, not all legal changes are made equal. The devolutionary settlements, which the lecture goes on to praise, involve change to constitutional law, and expand the jurisdiction of the courts in important ways, but do not transform the constitutional balance between political and legal authorities. The key question, as Sumption implies, is whether legal changes disable or dilute legislative power and parliamentary democracy.

The British constitution is centred on “the sovereignty of Parliament”, which Sumption rightly says “is the foundation of our democracy”. Parliament is limited not by law but by conventions, which “derive their force from shared political sentiment”. The government takes a central place within Parliament, which “is not just a legislative or deliberative body but an instrument of government”. This scheme is very different to the constitutions of other states (New Zealand aside), but Sumption cautions the need to understand how it arose before looking for alternatives. The distinctiveness of our constitution, he says, is no vice as it is a result of our unique history. “For more than three centuries”, Britain “has been fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, in having experienced none of the catastrophes that have called for new beginnings elsewhere.” And in practice, the political constitution has proved its worth, enabling “the British state to adapt to major changes in our national life which would have overwhelmed much more formal arrangements”. He takes devolution as his main example, contrasting the UK’s capacity to accommodate Scottish and Welsh nationalism with Spain’s difficulty with Catalan nationalism, a difficulty compounded by the rigidity of the Spanish constitution.

I agree that our constitution has proved its worth over time, enabling major political changes while maintaining continuity with our political and legal history. The openness of the Westminster constitution to radical political change is a virtue. This radical capacity is subject to the self-tempering discipline that today’s majority may be tomorrow’s minority: long-term, stable change requires widespread public support. Responsible government and parliamentary democracy are oriented towards the common good and make self-government possible. They form part of a shared constitutional tradition and their political foundation is the joint commitment of the people of the United Kingdom to be governed by way of these arrangements, which unite them in common action. The devolutionary settlements were introduced and have been extended in this way. The risk of the experiment, which Sumption perhaps should have noted (but see his outstanding lecture “The Disunited Kingdom”), is that devolution may end up eroding the common feeling that supports the constitution. That is, the United Kingdom may cease to be a single (if complex) political community.

Sumption’s intention is to persuade his audience “that we ought to be looking at more fundamental causes of the current diseases of our body politic than the peculiarities of our constitution.” Recalling his second lecture, Sumption argues that the real problem is public disengagement with politics, a phenomenon evident in declining party membership, falling electoral turnout, and widely shared contempt for politicians. The phenomenon is seen across the West and its causes, Sumption argues, “are inherent in the democratic process itself”. Echoing his first lecture, he notes that democracy generates expectations that are inevitably disappointed, undermining public confidence, a dynamic which is especially pronounced in hard times, when growth falters and inequality rises. Relatedly, “the perceived remoteness of politicians” is a problem, yet representative politics inevitably produces a political class, distinguished by ambition, zeal and knowledge. Modern ideas of representation, Sumption says, require representatives not just to act for the people but to be like them, which is always unlikely. And in the UK, the rejection of political elites has had a particularly significant consequence, which is to surrender political parties to extremists, making parties less capable of, or even interested in, compromise and responsible government.

Across the West, Sumption argues, political community is under strain and democracy has become ever less stable. “The United States has for the moment ceased to be a political community, because neither side of the major political divide respects the legitimacy of policy positions that they disagree with.” The same, he says, is true in Britain in relation to Brexit. This is an overstatement, it seems to me, but it is true that democracy requires us to recognise one another as fellow citizens, to jointly seek our common good, and to accept the legitimacy of decisions we make together. Representative politics requires political elites, but representation badly misfires not only when the masses have contempt for elites but also when elites disparage or disengage from the masses. In a powerful lecture earlier this year, Richard Tuck noted that the sociological foundations for democracy in the past included industrialisation, where national prosperity required mass action, and the age of citizen armies, where national defence required shared military service. Democracy is in trouble when elites and masses no longer understand themselves to share a common good, including when elites begin to identify more closely with a transnational or supranational community than with their own.

Having reviewed “our current problems of political legitimacy”, Sumption concludes that adopting a written constitution would “not make any difference”. For all it would do would be to shift “power from an elective and removable aristocracy of knowledge, to a corps of judges which is just as remote, less representative, and neither elective nor removable.” This is an understatement. Parliamentarians may be remote, but they are nothing like as remote as senior judges. They are exposed to public criticism and opinion in a way from which judges are, rightly, largely insulated. Investing judges with responsibility for political choice would sharply worsen the problem of political legitimacy. It would also compromise the judicial capacity to contribute to the rule of law and would institute a mode of government that is not well-placed to secure the common good.

Rather than toying with a written constitution, Sumption encourages his audience to consider electoral reform, which would open the space for minor parties and force the main parties to broaden their appeal beyond a narrow base. The site for compromise would thus be between parties rather than within them, which might mean weaker, less stable government. But, Sumption reasons, this would “be a price worth paying if it boosted public engagement with politics” and enabled compromise to be forged. Electoral reform is certainly worth considering – New Zealand’s abandonment of first past the post in the 1990s seems broadly successful, even if not without its cost in terms of transparency and responsibility. And one might consider more particular reform of political parties, limiting the risk, on display in recent years, that the membership outside Parliament will foist a leader on the parliamentary caucus who then lacks the confidence of his or her colleagues.

The lecture concludes by prophesying that democracy will not end with a bang, but will simply fade away, with our “institutions imperceptibly drained of everything that once made them democratic.” It is a chilling warning and a fitting end to the series but it does invite some wider thoughts about these Reith lectures. Sumption often assumes that law has risen to fill a void left by the decline of politics. But the relationship between the two is dynamic, as these lectures in part confirm. The rise of law, itself fuelled by the hostility of many lawyers towards parliamentary democracy, serves to oust politics and partly causes its decline. The adoption of supra-national legal restraints, enforceable by domestic and European judges, is the extreme case and clearly weakens national democracy (see further Peter Mair and Helen Thompson). The analogous trend in domestic courts is also important, even if political authorities strictly have a greater capacity to resist judicial usurpation at home.

The Reith lectures argue that turning to the law will not solve our problems of political legitimacy. This is a point rightly made but it risks understating, as I say, the contribution that “law’s expanding empire” has made to those problems. It may also at times take for granted a shared commitment to democratic legitimacy, whereas in fact it is the thinness of elite commitment to political legitimacy that is a main reason to fear for democracy’s future. The calls for a written constitution, or for supra-national law and adjudication, or for domestic litigation to discipline our political authorities – these may not be misguided attempts to shore up democracy’s foundations, but rather attempts to tie an unruly people down. Sumption is, as I have said, no radical democrat; his call for greater public engagement in politics is limited by his choice to frame representative politics as a restraint on popular majorities. But he rightly sees, I suggest, that a political strategy of demobilising the people, of relying on law to restrain politics, is not only unjust but also unstable and hence imprudent.

Richard Ekins is Associate Professor, University of Oxford, Head of Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project, and editor (with N. W. Barber and P. Yowell) of Lord Sumption and the Limits of the Law (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2016).

(Suggested citations: R. Ekins, ‘Reflections on Democracy’s Foundations’, U.K. Const. Blog (19th Jun. 2019) (available at https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/))

Richard Ekins: Reflections on Democracy’s Foundations published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.weebly.com/

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ericfruits · 8 years

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The government stalls on backing an experiment in tidal power

KICKING off a tour of the United Kingdom’s four increasingly disunited nations ahead of Brexit negotiations, Theresa May arrived in Swansea on March 20th bearing gifts. The prime minister announced that the Welsh and British governments would together invest £241m ($300m) in a regional plan to put Wales at the “forefront of science and innovation”. Boosters claim this could be a “transformative” deal for Wales, which has long suffered from industrial decline.

But among the promises, there was one omission: no mention of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, a pilot project for a new method of generating electricity. When pressed, Mrs May said that officials were still looking at the idea. Local politicians and manufacturers expressed their disappointment at more procrastination. The government, though, worries about the price tag.

If it went ahead, the project could be the first of its kind in the world (there is another tentative tidal-power proposal in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia). A tidal lagoon works by using the rise and fall of the tides to generate electricity. At Swansea, a 10km (6 mile) seawall would capture the water created by the high tide, which would then be released to drive 16 turbines embedded in the wall. The company behind the proposal, Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP), selected Swansea Bay because it has the second-highest tidal reach in the world, after Nova Scotia, and a shallow seabed.

TLP has lined up the required £1.3bn of private finance, a manufacturing supply chain and cross-party support in the Welsh Assembly, which likes the look of the jobs that it could bring. A report on the potential of tidal power commissioned by the previous government and chaired by Charles Hendry, a former energy minister, endorsed the idea last December. But before it can get under way, Mrs May must sign a deal to buy its electricity.

Attempts to make marine power—that is, wave and tidal energy—commercially viable have lagged behind other renewables such as wind. A few tidal barrages, built across rivers or estuaries, have been operating for years at various sites around the world. But they have never been widely deployed because of the disruption they cause to shipping and the damage they do to the environment. Proposals for a giant barrage across the River Severn, in south-west England, were shelved in 2010. Backers of tidal lagoons say that because they stretch out into the open sea, they interfere less with shipping and bird life—though Swansea’s anglers fret that the turbines would turn their salmon into pâté.

Much of the pioneering work on tidal power has been done at the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney islands. Neil Kermode, its director, says his team has tested 17 variations of tide and wave technology from nine different countries. With a technological lead, and big tidal ranges all around its coast, Britain is well placed to exploit tidal energy, argues the Hendry report.

If the Swansea Bay project were to work, Mark Shorrock, the boss of TLP, would like to build five much bigger tidal lagoons at Cardiff, Colwyn Bay, Newport, West Cumbria and Bridgwater Bay. The Cardiff lagoon would have up to 110 turbines and cost more like £8bn. Together they could meet about 8% of Britain’s electricity needs, TLP says. For comparison, the government recently gave the go ahead to the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset, which is expected to provide 7% of Britain’s electricity. Lagoons have a longer operating life (120 years, against 35 or so for nuclear), are safer and do not have expensive decommissioning costs.

The problem is the price of their electricity. Tidal lagoon power is currently much more expensive than either nuclear or offshore wind. The so-called strike price that the government would have to pay for Swansea’s electricity, to get the project off the ground, would be about £123 per megawatt hour, compared with £92.50 for Hinkley and under £100 for offshore wind. The Hendry report argues that the price of tidal power should fall sharply over the medium term if the technology works and more lagoons are built. That has been the story of offshore wind. The strike price for Hinkley, by contrast, is guaranteed for 35 years.

The government’s hesitation over the initial strike price for tidal power is understandable. And tidal energy is intermittent, since the tides come and go only twice a day. But the Swansea pilot would be a chance to make a smallish bet on a new technology that may yet turn out to be a useful part of Britain’s future energy mix. It looks worth a modest gamble.

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mymisykat · 7 years

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A Translation of Extracts from the Kitab al-Jihad of ‘Ali ibn Tahir Al-Sulami (d. 1106 M)

by Niall Christie

(The Arabic text, with a French translation, may be found in Emmanuel Sivan, “Un traité Damasquin du début du XIIe siècle”, Journal Asiatique 254 (1966), pp. 206-22)

[f. 173 b] In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The Messenger of God (God bless him) said:

“The caliphate concerns the Quraysh, authority (concerns) the ansar, the call to Islam (concerns) the Abyssinians, and after that the hijra and jihad concern the Muslims.”

In his saying that after that the jihad concerns the Muslims is a visible proof it concerns all Muslims. If it concerns all Muslims, it remains their concern until the Day of Resurrection. Abu Muhammad Sunayd ibn Da'ud al-Tartusi said in his Kitab al-Tafsir:

“Makhul used to turn his face towards the qibla then swear ten oaths that military expeditions were obligatory, and say, "If you wished, you could do more.”

[f. 174 a] As for consensus, after (the death of) the Prophet (God bless him) the four caliphs and all the companions (of the Prophet) agreed on the jihad’s being incumbent on all. Not one of them left (off prosecuting) it during his caliphate, and those who were appointed as successors afterwards and ruled in their own time, one after another, followed them in that, the ruler carrying out an expedition himself every year, or sending someone out from his deputies on his behalf. It did not cease to be that way until the time in which one of the caliphs left off (doing) it because of his weakness and negligence. Others followed him in this for the reason mentioned, or a similar one. His stopping this, (along) with the necessary impositions on the Muslims which they threw off, and the forbidden things which they acted badly by doing, made it necessary that God dispersed their unity, split up their togetherness, threw enmity and hatred between them and tempted their enemies to snatch their country from their grasp and (so) cure their hearts of them. A number (of the enemy) pounced on the island of Sicily while they disputed and competed, and they conquered in the same way one city after another in al-Andalus. When the reports confirmed for them that this country suffered from the disagreement of its masters and its rulers’ being unaware of its deficiencies and needs, they confirmed their resolution to set out for it, and Jerusalem was their dearest wish.

[f. 174 b] They looked out over Syria, on separated kingdoms, disunited hearts and differing views linked with hidden resentment, and with that their desires became stronger and extended to what they all saw. They did not stop, tireless in fighting the jihad against the Muslims. The Muslims were sluggish, and (we were) avoiding fighting them and they were reluctant to engage in combat until they conquered more than their greatest hopes had conceived of the country, and destroyed and humiliated many times the number of people that they had wished. Still now they are spreading further in their efforts, assiduous in seeking an increase (in their profits). Their desires are multiplying all the time because of what appears to them of the (Muslims’) abstinence from (opposing) them, and their hopes are invigorated by virtue of what they see of their enemies’ contentedness with being unharmed by them, until they have become convinced that the whole country will become theirs and all its people will be prisoners in their hands. May God in his generosity humble their ideas by bringing together everyone and arranging the unity of the people, for he is near, and answers (prayers).

Al-Shafi'i (God have mercy on him) said:

“The least that the imam must do is that he allow no year to pass without having organised a military expedition by himself, or by his raiding parties, according to the Muslims’ interest, so that the jihad will only be stopped in a year for a (reasonable) excuse.”

He said:

“If he did not undertake the sending of enough troops to fight, those who are absent (must) go out, and consider as an obligation that which God (who is praised) said.”

I said:

“What I have mentioned showed that if a group was needed to carry out an expedition, [f. 175 a] our duty was incumbent on all of them. That was in something similar to this situation which we are in now with this group attacking the country of Islam…”

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali said:

“Whenever a year passed without an expedition every Muslim (who was) free, responsible and capable of taking part in an expedition went out on one, seeking by it to exalt the word of God (who is praised), to demonstrate his religion, to suppress by it his enemies the polytheists, to achieve the reward which God (who is praised) and His Prophet promised him from (fighting) the jihad in His cause, and to gain their (the enemies’) wealth, women and lands, until there were, of those who came to face them (the enemy), enough to fight them in it (the expedition). That is to say that the jihad, however, is an obligation of sufficiency. If the group which was facing the enemy had enough people in it, then it would be possible for them (the group) to fight hard against them (the enemy) (by) themselves, and to remove their evil separately from others. Yet if the group was weak, and was not able to be sufficient (to face) the enemy and to defeat their evil, then the obligation (to help) is imposed on the people of the nearby countries, such as Syria, for example. If the enemy attacks one of its cities, and there are not enough people in it to fight and defeat them, it is obligatory on all the cities belonging to Syria to send people to it to fight until there are sufficient (people). At that time the obligation falls from the others, because the lands of Syria are like one town. If those who are able from them come to fight the enemy and not enough undertake (the fighting of) them, coming to fight them and [f. 175 b] joining battle with them is also obligatory on those who are near Syria, until there are enough. At that time the obligation also falls from the others. If the enemy surrounds one town the obligation of the jihad likewise becomes incumbent on all who are there, whatever befalls its location. None are excepted from the imposition of obligations except those with (reasonable) excuses and impeding physical disabilities. We shall mention them if God wills.”

This is superfluous to what I am saying. I wrote that which is here from the words of one of the imams from the followers of Al-Shafi'i in Damascus, when the Franks - may God destroy them - descended on Antioch…

[f. 176 a] These are clear proofs from the Book (of God), the sunna and the consensus (of the Muslims) of the obligation (of going on) the jihad in sufficient numbers to their lands, and an illustration of its becoming one of the obligations on prominent persons in the countries mentioned, from the doctrines and formal legal opinions of jurisprudents. It is true and clear that the jihad against this group and their objective is incumbent on all who are capable and have no horrible illness or chronic malady, or blindness, or weakness from old age. As for those who are excluded from these, either rich or poor, having two parents, either owing a debt or owed a debt, they are obliged to go out to fight in this situation, and to set out to put an end to the fearful consequence of weakness and reticence. Now in particular, [f. 176 b] with the fewness of the enemy and the (far) distance of their support, the agreement of the lords of the people of these neighbouring countries and their making common cause…

Prepare - God have mercy on you - to strive hard at the imposition of this jihad and the obligation to defend your religion and your brotherhood (of Muslims) with aid and support. Take as (your) booty an expedition which God (who is exalted) has arranged for you without great effort or (even) the exertion of a cheek, which has come to you. Take it with the good fortune granted by God (who is praised) from nearby and this mundane world. You will gain it from a finest winner, and (will also gain) a glory of which the clothes (will) remain on you for many ages to come. Beware [f. 176 b] with all watchfulness that you avoid disgracing yourselves or you will arrive at a fire with its flames, which God (who is exalted) has made an evil place and the worst final destiny.

The obligation on your prominent persons to fight the jihad, which you doubted, has been realised for you, (and) in particular (for) those who God (who is praised) has singled out for the governorship over this country. So if it is obligatory for him, (then) its being incumbent on others of you is certain because of God’s entrusting him with matters of guardianship, obliging him to rule the people in his power and above all to defend Islam and its essence from being conquered. Nay, rather it is necessary for him to commit himself - may it please God - to fighting hard against the enemies of God (who is praised) in their countries every year, and (to) driving them [f. 177 a] from them, as is incumbent on every amir and imam, so that the word of God will always be the highest, and the word of those who blaspheme (will be) the lowest, and so that the desires of the enemies of the religion of God will be too weak to concern (themselves) with something like that (which they have led to) again.

The most astonishment is at a sultan who takes pleasure in life or continues living as he is with the shadows of this calamity, of which the outcome is conquest (by) these blasphemers and exile from the country by force and subjugation, or staying with them and being imprisoned and tortured by night and day. By God! By God, you community of sultans of the country, and those prominent persons, soldiers and others who are considered prominent, young men, stalwart supporters and lords recently acquired from wealth and inherited, who follow them, drive away insignificant things and sluggishness, and go to fight the jihad with your wealth and yourselves. O you who believe, if you aid God, He will aid you and make your footsteps firm. Do not fight (one another) or you will fail and will not succeed. Put faith in the aid of God (who is praised), o you (people) and inform yourselves of the victory, by His will, over your enemies. Be careful to turn away fear from your hearts and be sure that (though) your religion, if you follow it, will be weak some of the time, it remains just as God promised His Prophet until the Day of Judgement. Do not be humble before the words of His enemies among the unbelievers and the deniers of God’s attributes among the worshipers of the stars, the astrologers. Know that God (who is praised) only sent this enemy to you as a trial, to test your steadfastness with it. He said (God blesses and is exalted), “Let Us test you so that We will know those of you that fight hard and are steadfast, and We will test your experiences.”

[f. 177 b] Know - God have mercy on you - after that, that your Prophet (God bless him) promised a group of his people victory over their enemies, and took them from the people of Syria in particular, rather than from the others. So it may be that you are those particular people rather than others of you…

[f. 178 a] The Prophet of God (God bless him) said:

“A group of my people will not cease to fight and conquer for the truth. Those who forsake them will not harm them, until (the time of) God’s power comes (He is mighty and exalted)…”

[f. 178 b] It was shown from another hadith, which I think is sufficiently documented for me, that this group was from the people of Syria. In another hadith is the fact that they were from Jerusalem and its surroundings…

[f. 179 a] From this is proof of its (Jerusalem’s) being (supposed to) return to the Muslims, and that a group will be in it. These are their characteristics and status, and will be until (the time of) God’s power comes. The hadith is sufficiently authenticated…

[f. 179 aa] We have heard in what we have heard of a sufficiently documented hadith, mentioning in it that the Rum (Byzantines) will conquer Jerusalem for a set period of time, and the Muslims will gather against them, drive them out of it, kill them all except for a few of them, (and) then pursue their scattered remnants to Constantinople, descend on it and conquer it. This is certain…

[f. 179 b] If those who fight hard are from this conquering group (then) among them are those who will succeed in driving them out of Jerusalem and other places of this country. They are the ones who will conquer Constantinople…so fight hard (God have mercy on you) in this jihad. You may be the ones who will gain the merit of this great conquest, (having been) kept for this noble rank.

Give precedence to jihad of yourselves over jihad against your enemies, for if yourselves are among your enemies prevent them from being disobedient to their Creator (who is praised). You will succeed in your hopes of victory over them. Make right what is between you and your Creator, and He will make right for you what is wrong in your (current) state of being, and reconcile your enmity. Tear out your disobedience to God (who is praised), resolute, and follow your tearing (it) out with doing what is right in what you start afresh. It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers over the world. He may observe how you act and (how you) arrange that which God (who is praised) ordered your Prophet (God bless him) of giving Him priority by the carrying out of the jihad (and them). The most important priority is seriousness in obedience to Him and being sincere in fighting hard (in the jihad).

His words (He is exalted) are approximately:

“O you who believe, bow and prostrate yourselves in prayer, worship your Lord and do good. Perhaps you will prosper.”

Then He said after that:

“Fight hard for God. His jihad is justified…”

O you who do wrong, commit sin, persist (in your sinning) and are neglectful, you are in greater need of all that before (you undertake) your jihad.

Know for certain that this enemy’s attack on your country, and their achieving what they have over some of you is a warning from God (who is praised) to those of you that remain, so that He may see if you will refrain from disobeying Him, so that He will help you against them and calm your fear, or persist and insist, so that He will give them victory over those of you that escaped. God (who is praised) afflicted you [f. 180 a] several times with various sorts of vengeful measures and you persist in disobeying Him, and He warned you time after time, and you rebel against the punishment falling upon you which corresponds to your deeds. They (the Franks) acted as they did because of (the Muslims’) blame of God (who is praised) as a warning to others of them (the Muslims), and they (the Muslims) lied about the deeds of He who is praised, and He warns them (the Muslims) and only increases them (the Franks) in great tyranny. Now He warned you with a punishment the like of which He did not warn you with before, paying attention to you, albeit that your crimes are not like the crimes which preceded them. If only you would desist from sin, otherwise He will make you fall into the hands of your enemy as a matter of serious vengeance, destructive extermination and removal. God hasten your waking up from the sleep of neglect of the places of His punishment and place you among those who fear the speed of His power and the imminence of His punishments, acting according to what He ordered and prohibited in the rulings of His book, who limit (themselves) by rooting out (their bad qualities) and repenting to the point of knocking on His door. For He hears prayer and answers when He wishes.

May the objective of this your jihad and the defense of yourselves and others of your brotherhood be pleasing to your Lord so that recompense for your expedition appears for you and the goodness of your acts bears witness to your integrity. For if one does not desire God’s face by an act, then the act is wrongly done, and the one who does it errs. God forbid acts of hypocrisy!

[f. 188 a] Know, also - God have mercy on you - that all the things which the jurisprudents mentioned about the expedition and its regulations and excuses for refraining from taking part, also apply to the jihad to the enemies’ countries, be they near or far. As for if they raid the Muslims and attack their country, as these forsaken ones did (may God hurry on their total destruction), we are obliged to go to fight them, and to seek them out in the country which they conquered. However, it is a war in which it is desired (for us) to defend ourselves, the children, the people, the wealth, and to guard what remains in our hands of the country. Were it not for our hopes of removing them by going to fight them and taking back the country from them, it would not be permitted to call this going to face them a jihad or an expedition in this situation. It is obligatory when going out to fight is incumbent on each person who is able, with no impediment of blindness, serious illness or excessive age, which makes it impossible to move, to prevent him from it. The statement to this intent is in a section preceding this one.

Now also incumbent on the sultan is command over what God (who is exalted) has made a duty to him of guarding the religion, guiding the Muslims and defense of himself, his army and them (the Muslims), just as it came from the (lips of) the lord of those who were sent: “Whoever looks after a group of subjects, and does not give them good advice, God has forbidden him Paradise.” I said: “Good advice has many meanings, one of which is watching over his subjects, protecting them and driving the harmful enemies from them.” The other famous hadith in this meaning is his statement (God bless him):

“All of you are guardians, and all of you are responsible for His subjects.”

[f. 188 b] …if he proceeds with an inspection to study this calamity with what we have said before about making good what is between him and his Creator in matters of His religion and fidelity to His will, everyone who turns aside from the truth will appear to him (the sultan) from his companions, followers and subjects. (He must) reconcile what is between him and the sultans of these countries, Syria, the Jazira, Egypt and the rest of the areas which border it and are near to it. If fear was universal the people of all these countries would join together (despite) old hatreds, hidden resentments, and concerning themselves with mutual envy and rivalry. For the bedouin did not cease, in their time before Islam and before God (who is praised) did right by guiding them, to do that. If an enemy, who was not one of them, raided them, they looked to the same good conduct, from which there was no turning away for them, and said: “In severity, hatreds go.” (Instances) like this have reached us about all the kings of Persia and others. They made peace and agreed (to oppose) their enemy, and if they conquered them or drove them away by their joining forces against them, they could either [f. 189 a] return to their former disunity, or continue with the compromise and agreement they had begun. The victor of their situation was the remaining on good relations of friendship because of the prosperity, blessing and salvation from situations of destruction which they saw in it. In this way it is incumbent on our sultans and whoever God (who is praised) has appointed to rule us - may God make good their peace-making and guidance - that they follow the model of those who preceded them, from those who were like them, what came of that in their religion, and what their Prophet entrusted them with, about which his words approximately are: “Do not snub each other, oppose each other or envy each other. Be worshipers of God in a brotherhood as God ordered you,” and other words than those of instruction. Helping them and aiding them all that they can, joining their hands and abilities to it, and taking on all this burden and toil in targeting this group, is incumbent on all the people of soldiers, citizens, peasants and all the rest of the people. Even the smallest contribution will be appreciated. They (will) do in their jihad many times what the people did in their military expeditions to their lands and (the territories of) the Rum, to drive them from there and efface their traces.

That is because there were associated with the duties of fighting hard against the enemy many requirements which make light of the great number of deeds (involved) and defy with them the greatness of the terrors (which must be faced). Among them is the defence of the country of the coast and support of its peoples (who are) besieged and fighting with great efforts because they now are keeping the enemy distracted from these countries, what is near them, Egypt and its environs.

[f. 189 b] From them come our hopes of hastening a victory over them (the Franks) because of what is true concerning their weakness, the paucity of their cavalry and numbers, and the (far) distance of their reinforcements and support. That has happened by the help of God (who is praised), with the calming of concerns about them by the removal of their cancerous consumption of worldly riches from their booty, the deferred requital (which will take place) by the suitable behavior (of God) towards them, and liberation in this world from the shame of delay (in dealing with) them and the disgrace of fearing them. That is in addition to the stopping of the desires of those like them (which come) from boldness for what they, in their ignorance, desired. Then (will come) victory, by the taking back of what they took from the country of the Muslims, the displaying of the religion of Islam in them, and the restoring of them to what they were before their taking of them.

These are matters, as we have mentioned, which are unlikely to coincide at this time, rather there will hardly be anything like it in what remains of time, opportunities that it requires haste to take, and spoils which it is necessary to rise up and seize. God, in His power, watches over that and is the one who aids and makes life easy for rulers and defenders (of Islam). If God (who is praised) grants an encounter with this enemy, stand firm as God ordered you, O Muslims, when He said (and He is exalted): “O you who believe, if you meet a group (of enemies), stand firm and make many calls to God. Perhaps you will be successful.”

#jihad #ilm #alquds #al ghazali #muslim #generation

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reggiespoon · 2 years

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As you can see, we're continuing to have a normal one here on Normal Island.

#life in this disunited kingdom

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pamphletstoinspire · 8 years

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The Apostles’ Creed

(Commentary by St. Thomas Aquinas)

“He Descended to the Underworld. The third day He arose again from the dead.”

Part - 1:

The death of Christ was the separation of His soul from His body as it is with other men. But the Divinity was so indissolubly conjoined to the Man-Christ that although His soul and body were disunited, His Divinity was always most perfectly united to both the soul and body. This we have seen above. Therefore in the Sepulcher His body was together with the Son of God who together with His soul descended to the underworld.

Why descend?

There are four reasons why Christ together with His soul descended to the underworld.

First, He wished to take upon Himself the entire punishment for our sin, and thus atone for its entire guilt. The punishment for the sin of man was not alone death of the body, but there was also a punishment of the soul, since the soul had its share in sin; and it was punished by being deprived of the beatific vision; and as yet no atonement had been offered whereby this punishment would be taken away. Therefore, before the coming of Christ all men, even the holy fathers after their death, descended into the underworld. Accordingly in order to take upon Himself most perfectly the punishment due to sinners, Christ not only suffered death, but also His soul descended to the underworld. He, however, descended for a different cause than did the fathers; for they did so out of necessity and were of necessity taken there and detained, but Christ descended there of His own power and free will: “I am counted among them that go down to the pit; I am become as a man without help, free among the dead” [Ps 87:5–Vulgate]. The others were there as captives, but Christ was freely there.

The second reason is that He might perfectly deliver all His friends. Christ had His friends both in the world and in the underworld. The former were His friends in that they possessed charity; and the latter were they who departed this life with charity and faith in the future Redeemer, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and other just and good men. Therefore, since Christ had dwelt among His friends in this world and had delivered them by His death, so He wished to visit His friends who were detained in the underworld and deliver them also: “I will penetrate all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that hope in the Lord” [Sir 24:45].

The third reason is that He would completely triumph over the devil. Now, a person is perfectly vanquished when he is not only overcome in conflict, but also when the assault is carried into his very home, and the seat of his kingdom is taken away from him. Thus Christ triumphed over the devil, and on the Cross He completely vanquished him: “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world (that is, the devil) be cast out” [Jn 12:31]. To make this triumph complete, Christ wished to deprive the devil of the seat of his kingdom and to imprison him in his own house—which is the underworld. Christ, therefore, descended there, and despoiled the devil of everything and bound him, taking away his prey: “And despoiling the principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in Himself” [Col 2:15]. Likewise, Christ who had received the power and possession of heaven and earth, desired too the possession of the underworld, as says the Apostle: “That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” [Phil 2:10]. “In My name they shall cast out devils” [Mk 16:17].

The fourth and final reason is that Christ might free the just who were in the underworld. For as Christ wished to suffer death to deliver the living from death, so also He would descend into the underworld to deliver those who were there: “You also by the blood of your testament, sent forth your prisoners out of the pit where there is no water” [Zech 9:11]. And again: “O death, I will be your death; O hell, I will be your bite” [Hosea 13:14]. Although Christ wholly overcame death, yet not so completely did He destroy the underworld, but, as it were, He bit it. He did not free all from the underworld, but those only who were without mortal sin. He likewise liberated those without original sin, from which they, as individuals, were freed by circumcision; or before [the institution of]. circumcision, they who had been saved through their parents’ faith (which refers to those who died before having the use of reason); or by the sacrifices, and by their faith in the future coming of Christ (which refers to adults)”. The reason they were there in the underworld is original sin which they had contracted from Adam, and from which as members of the human race they could not be delivered except by Christ. Therefore, Christ left there those who had descended there with mortal sin, and the non-circumcised children. Thus, it is seen that Christ descended into the underworld, and for what reasons. Now we may gather four considerations from this for our own instruction.

#apostles creed

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 5 years

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Las Vegas Salvation: A Member’s Story

I joined the Unification Church (the FFWPU) in 1979, under the leadership of Dr. Rev. Michael Jenkins, in Baltimore.

I’ll start this recollection by prefacing it with a few facts. We had morning service every day that we woke up in the center. Otherwise we would go from a hotel room to the fundraising van. Rev. Jenkins was extremely thorough in making those morning services meaningful and in his favor I would be remise not to say that he did so because his deepest desire was to give us the best spiritual education he was capable of giving. His love and dedication to True Parents were second to none. On the occasions that he had been to leaders meeting with True Father he would come back to our center and read his own personal notes from the meeting, while interspersing those notes with his personal experiences and thoughts concerning what “Father said”. Of all the stories he shared with us the one that caused me the most alarm and confusion was after he had returned from a particularly odd leaders meeting with True Father. There we were, sitting humbly on the floor, sleepy eyed and excited to hear the latest news from our beloved True Father. Mike (as we called Rev. Jenkins then) sat down at the head of our circle with his famous book of leaders meeting notes. We sang holy songs for a long time and then had unison prayer. Then Mike began to tell a story I will never forget. He told us that True Father had taken all the leaders to a casino in Las Vegas, where they gambled and had meals served by topless waitresses. He seemed more emotional than usual while trying to convey to us what happened and why. It must have been hard for him as there was an audible gasp for the members when they heard this. I was so shocked that I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The messiah took our precious leaders to a casino, had them gamble and then allowed topless waitresses to serve them their meals? Was he crazy? I could not reconcile that news with any reasonable justification. It simply sounded insane. I guess he could sense the confused shock from all of us because he got angry and loudly righteous as he explained to us that the leaders had been just as stunned and confused as we were. He then told us True Father’s justification for taking the leaders to such a place. It seemed that when the leaders reacted with shock and surprise to be at a casino, told to gamble and then waited on by topless waitresses, True Father’s judgement fell on them and put them in their place when he said, “How can you expect to restore the fallen world without getting your hands dirty?” We members were holding our collective breath, waiting for the providential justification for what we were hearing and there it was. Only it didn’t make sense to me then and it still doesn’t to this day. The automatic question that should form in the mind of any sane person is “Why must we partake of sin in order to providentially restore it?” And then this question as well, “Does that same logic apply to all the fallen natures of the human race?” It seemed like a contradiction to me. Get your hands dirty in order to understand fallen nature? Get your hands dirty in order to restore fallen peoples behavior? By, “Get your hands dirty” does that mean partake of sin, as in, we must gamble (at least once? or, how many times till we get it?) is that how we are to get our hands dirty so we can then understand and restore the fallen world? Even now I’m shaking my head in confusion because it doesn’t make any rational sense and it opens the door to unlimited applications, right? After the shock of that morning service things got even weirder because Mike told us we were going to a casino and that we should also gamble so that we too could understand the heart of those who are addicted to gambling. (Please, follow the logic of that kind of thinking out into the world of all the fallen natures of mankind. It is beyond strange.) I can tell you that I struggled to no end over the whole idea. When we arrived at the casino we were all given ten bucks and told to be back with our testimonies by dinner. I did not wish to be doing this. I struggled the whole time and from that day forward I questioned the whole thing though I never spoke of it to anyone else. To express my doubts or confusion would imply that I was disunited with my Able figure, which would mean disunity with True Father and ultimately God himself. And that would mean….gulp….I was in league with Satan, right?! It seemed to me that the other members were ok with it because they never spoke of it after it happened either. It seemed that it was simply forgotten as if it never happened. Or maybe those other members were also afraid to appear disunited and therefore in league with Satan? It wasn’t until years later, when I read Nansook’s book that the whole incident came back to me and began to make perfect sense. Let me first preface what I’m about to repeat from Nansook by addressing the issue (I’m sure you’ve all heard) that she had a ghost writer write her book for her. It’s true, she did have a ghost writer help her with her book. But not for the reasons you are lead to believe when you are told that fact. She did not have a ghost writer help to make up stories to put in her book. She had a ghost writer help because her English was not very good. The facts in her book come from her own personal experiences living with the True Family, not form a third party as the UC would have you believe. As I was reading her book I came across the part where she’s recounting her trip to Las Vegas with the True Family. The fact that the True Family was in Las Vegas struck me as extremely odd but what she saw while there was even worse. Hyo Jin and Nansook were married in 1981. They were suppose to honeymooned at Disney World in Florida but no sooner had they arrived in Disney World then Hyo Jin said he was bored and wanted to go to Las Vegas instead. Here’s the story from Nansook’s book, In The Shadow of the Moons (page 92-93):

“I brightened a little when we arrived in Florida and Peter Kim suggested taking me to Disney World. I was a fifteen-year-old girl. I could not imagine a more wonderful vacation spot. Hyo Jin was unenthusiastic. He had been there many times before. He reluctantly agreed to stop in Orlando. It was cold. A light drizzle was falling, but I did not care. I walked down Main Street USA toward Cinderella’s castle and understood exactly why they call Disney World the Magic Kingdom. I kept my eyes peeled for Mickey Mouse or any of the familiar costumed characters, but I would not have an opportunity to see any of them. Ten minutes after we arrived, Hyo Jin declared that he was bored and wanted to leave. I was astounded by his selfishness, but I followed a few steps behind as he led the way back to the Mercedes. The Reverend Moon had suggested we drive to give me a chance to see some of the United States, but Hyo Jin soon ran out of patience with that plan as well. He summoned a security guard from East Guard to fly down to Florida to pick up the car. We were flying to Las Vegas, he told me. I had no idea where or what Las Vegas was and neither Hyo Jin nor Peter Kim bothered to enlighten me. Neither did they tell me that the Reverend and Mrs. Moon and my own mother and father were vacationing there. I did not know we would be joining our parents until we walked across the hotel restaurant to the table where they were seated. My mother chastised me for gazing directly around the room as I walked toward them. It would only be disrespectful, I told her, if I had known that the Moons were there and I did not! I was all the more confused when I learned that Las Vegas is a gambler’s paradise. There were slot machines in the restaurants, casinos in the hotels. what were we all doing in a place like this? Gambling is strictly prohibited by the Unification Church. Betting of any kind is seen as a social ill that undermines the family and contributes to the moral decline of civilization. Why, then, was Hak Jan Han Moon, the Mother of the True Family, cradling a cup of coins and feverishly inserting them one after another into a slot machine? Why was Sun Myung Moon, the Lord of the Second Advent, the divine successor to the man who threw the money changers out of the temple, spending hours at the blackjack table? I dared not ask, but I did not need to. The Reverend Moon was eager to explain our presence in a place I had been taught was a den of sin. As the Lord of the Second Advent, he said, it was his duty to mingle with the sinners in order to save them. He had to understand their sin in order to dissuade them from it. I should notice, he said, that he did not sit and bet at the blackjack table himself. Peter Kim sat there for him and placed the bets as the Reverend Moon instructed from his position behind Peter Kim’s shoulder. “So you see, I am not actually gambling myself,” he told me. Even at the age of fifteen, even from the mouth of the Messiah, I recognized a rationalization when I heard one.”

"Why?” I asked myself, would True Father take the leaders of our church to Las Vegas to gamble and then say to them ‘How can you expect to restore the fallen world without getting your hands dirty?’ Why did he tell the leaders to take the members out gambling as well? Is it really because he believes we should immerse ourselves in the fallen world’s ways in order to understand it and therefore restore it? Or, could it be that it was all done as a form of “damage control” after Nansook caught them gambling in Las Vegas? If she had not been there to see it with her own eyes and if she had not left the True family because of the violent behavior of Hyo Jin would we ever know that they were fond of going on vacations to Las Vegas to gamble?

________________________________________

Sun Myung Moon: “In my life, I have had every possible experience. I have been a farmer, a fisherman, a front line soldier, I even studied the gambling world in Atlantic City. I studied every corner of society. If I focused on gambling alone, I could make over $10,000 a day, no problem. … I can see when the blackjack will come. If I want it, the right card will crawl to the top. I tell them to double their bet, but Rev. Kwak chickens out. Then he doesn’t win…. I said, stop, the dispensation is over to study about Atlantic City, but because it was habit, I just headed down there without realizing it. When I realized I was on that road, I turned around and laughed at myself and felt terrible. I have that kind of weakness. If we go through that, we have to stop it. I have studied the gambling world for 30 years…”

August 20, 2000 Belvedere Training Center

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Sun Myung Moon speaks: “Famous actresses gamble, lose money then fall into debt … then are forced to sleep with men.”

Hak Ja Han and Sun Myung Moon went nightclubbing in Las Vegas, gambling in Atlantic City and bought a $65 million hotel-casino in Uruguay. from The Pittsburg Press Dec. 20, 1982 Illegal Aliens Joining Moonies

Kirov Ballet Academy of DC Exec, Sophia Kim, Stole $800K to Feed Gambling Addiction, Feds Say in November 2019

#Sun Myung Moon #Las Vegas #gambling #Nansook Hong #Hyo Jin Moon #Family Federation for World Peace and Unification #Unification Church

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