How it is

[Ranavolana]

The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk--
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.

The men of my own stock,
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wanted to,
They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy or sell.

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control--
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.

The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.

This was my father's belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf--
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.

 

[Ranavolana]

There is a thread here regarding how this Pandemic and all that follows on from it is affecting EU.

A better question is to ask is, does it affect players?

It does affect my playing I regret to say. Not directly so much (though my lifestyle is a bit affected)

However I am a bit concerned about the future – unless things are sorted it may well substantially affect me directly.

But I am feeling increasingly uneasy about what seems to be politicisation of things – even those that should not be politicised. And I don’t know if I am imagining it, but I am sensing an agenda.

I realise that am playing very much as a loner now & I suspect that friends here are wondering wtf is wrong with me

Well I am going to listen to the advice in that excellent song that is in that excellent musical “The King & I”

I will attempt to be as brave, or as happy, or as whatever as I make believe I am.

Starting with my blog – what a mess it is, there should be three headings only like:

1. How it is where stuff like this is posted. Where I rave on about stuff for my own sake everyone else tl;dr

2. Arkadian History Reinterpreted where I set out to show that Oratans are actually the good guys enslaved by the evil Arkadians and have rebelled. Yes I am shitstirring for fun.

3. An Arkadian Fairy Story – where I have already entered chapters 1 to 7 all showing as separate threads, they should all be under that heading (will see if I can get this fixed up).

I have written the rest of this fairy story, I just need to tidy things up & post them here – I wrote them ages ago but have not had the spirit to do so till now.

BTW this is a Fairy Story – so if any player sees what appears to be a reference to themselves (probably unflattering) just remember it is just a coincidence – trust me on this