Quote of the month

"A constant image [in myths] is that of the conflict of the eagle and the serpent. The serpent bound to the earth, the eagle in spiritual flight - isn't that conflict something we all experience? And then, when the two amalgamate, we get a wonderful dragon, a serpent with wings." – Joseph Campbell

The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender

HUZZAH! The only thing I want to know is who the buff guy with Airbender tattoos is behind Katara. Beyond that, no one should be surprised that the original Team Avatar has new voice actors. Tis called "growing up" folks, which mean voices change and deepen.

I started Dragon Dreams, Book Two of Ava Richardson's First Dragon Rider Trilogy

I started Dragon Dreams, Book Two of Ava Richardson's First Dragon Rider Trilogy.

The world has changed, for Char and Neill have ridden Paxala the crimson red. It takes friendship, the Bond, to ride a mighty Dragon. Yet still the world is ruled by tyrants, humans by three Princes and dragons by he who is called the Dragon God. So what does he want with a human crown enough to let dragons chose riders? Nothing good and much magical most likely, and I never cared much for arranged marriages even to prevent war. So Char and Pax will have to bring down two tyrants if they are to fly free and not be relegated to the roles others would put upon them. Tis time, I think, to uncover the secret past of dragons before casting it aside to blaze (with literal dragon fire, of course) a brighter future. Fortunately Char has Neill Torvald to help.

I finished Dragon God, Book One of Ava Richardson's First Dragon Rider Trilogy

I finished Dragon God, Book One of Ava Richardson's First Dragon Rider Trilogy.

Treachery and deception, bigotry and death, magic and war rage within and without the Draconis Monastery upon the slopes of Mount Hammal, home of dragons. Yet there also blossoms unlikely friendships that become oaths, and a bond the likes of which has never been seen yet will change the world forever – for now, for the first time, humans have ridden a mighty dragon. Yet Neill Torvald, Char Nefrette, and Paxala the crimson red are a long way from out of fire yet, as war still looms alongside whatever a certain Abbot cooks up. To say nothing of he who is called the Dragon God...

I just finished playing Triangle Strategy (True Ending on the first run)

Morality, Liberty, Utility.

I just finished playing Triangle Strategy, a game that famously tests the one's convictions. For while multiple endings, including bad ones, have become common in tactical role-playing games, Triangle Strategy takes it a step further by not giving the player total control either. Like life, there is not one but many paths through the story based entirely upon one's choices, yet when the time has come to make a choice it is not Lord Serenoa Wolffort who makes it but rather democratically by all his closest friends casting votes upon the Scales of Conviction. Serenoa may speak with his friends, using the knowledge he has gained and the strength of his convictions to influence their vote, but in the end the path that receives the most votes is the one taken regardless of the player's preferences.

Which is one of the two key things that makes Triangle Strategy notably different from other RPG: it is not simply battlefield tactics but also personal ones, as you must know your friends well in order to convince them to vote to follow the path you desire. So be sure to save the game before trying convince, else otherwise you may find yourself walking an undesired path and dooming the land of Norzelia in the process. Truly dooming. In the game Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Lippti says: "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." Such is even more true here, for Triangle Strategy's three main endings are all bad ones. Yet there exists a Fourth Path, a Golden Route, a True Ending in gamer lingo: one that can only be reached by making a very specific certain set of choices.

Most say that the True Ending is too hard to achieve on the first play-through, but I did not accept that. I will never accept a bad ending nor have ever led characters, my friends, into one and was not about to start. Nor did I, for I am happy to say that on this my first play-through I successfully unlocked and completed the True Ending of Triangle Strategy! The key is proper unit deployment, and yes, spend a little time leveling up on training maps, but it was hardly intense grinding. You can unlock the hidden fourth ending during the Chapter 17: If Griefs Could Passions Move and you will have to split up your forces into three units which, moving forward, cannot be altered so save a backup file and choose wisely because a single mistake can doom you. I will not spoil much, but suffice to say that putting Anna and Hughette in Benedict's Unit to defend Castle Wolffort is critical, as is putting Ezana, Narve, Archibald, and Erador in Frederica's. You will have three hard-fought battles to win, plus a couple more afterwards, but the result is so very worth it. You save Norzelia from descending into varying levels of dystopia. 

What else makes this game different? Not the battle system but rather the plotline. While there is of course magic, the story is very political: House Wolffort navigating a treacherous landscape of conquest, deception, murder, political intrigue, shifting alliances, and of course the various priorities and convictions of its members. I personally was most drawn to the plight of the Roselle, Frederica's people, who are treated as sinners and enslaved by the Holy State of Hyzante, and had grim push come to dreadful shove would have chosen her bad ending to free them. Fortunately through the True Ending I freed them and the rest of Norzelia, but the fact remains that Triangle Strategy is a grittier game, forcing one to weigh difficult choices and sometimes choosing the seemingly less moral one for the sake of survival. I admit that the level of political intrigue (including very specific events) and fighting over resources at times put me in mind of the GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. Still, thanks to the True Ending that is joy incarnate a cunning strategist can avoid the worst treachery and needless bloodshed, so never give into despair. All told, a most enjoyable game (though I doubt I enjoyed it as much as others due to how heavy the political intrigue was).

Farewell and eternal happiness to you Serenoa Wolffort & Frederica Aesfrost, Roland Glenbrook, Benedict Pascal, Hughette Bucklar, Geela Breisse, Anna Pascal, Erador Ballentine, Corentin Jenner, Symon Wolffort, Narve Oparyn, Hossabara Freyya, Julio Wrightman, Lionel Khapita, Piccoletta, Jens Macher, Ezana Qlinka, Medina Alliam, Archibald Genoe, Groma Jurgina, Flanagan Grutte, Jerrom Laesmi, Milo Yuelle, Avlora, Svarog Aesfrost, and Lyla Viscraft. Let the future of Norzelia be led by the brightness of your convictions.

Frederica: "I shall think of the new era before us as I walk beside you on the path we have chosen—together."
Serenoa: "So long as you are at my side, I can continue on, however far. Let us work together to ensure the path we have chosen is the right one."
Frederica: "But of course. That is the way of House Wolffort."

NewInBooks Editorial Review Blurb for The Dragonkin Legacy

I always appreciate reviews, even if the source is largely unfamiliar to me.

"Vast, immersive, and brimming with prophecy and peril, The Dragonkin Legacy Omnibus delivers a sweeping epic of rediscovered magic, searing battles, and unforgettable heroes, perfect for fantasy lovers who crave richly layered worldbuilding, high-stakes adventure, and the thrill of an ancient song rising again to decide humanity’s fate." – NewInBooks

Re-post: The Treason of the Intellectuals and Isengard

Given how long I have been doing this mostly humble blog, it feels wrong that I should post a great piece then we never see it again. So here is a re-post of one of my most popular (relatively speaking) posts:

British academic, critic and novelist Adam Roberts describes the Grimdark sub-genre as one "where nobody is honourable and Might is Right," and as "the standard way of referring to fantasies that turn their backs on the more uplifting, visions of idealized medievaliana, and instead stress how nasty, brutish, short and dark life back then 'really' was." He critically notes, however, that Grimdark has little to do with re-imagining an actual historic reality and more with conveying the sense that our own world is a "cynical, disillusioned, ultra-violent place." 

Of course, one who has read my opinion of GRRM the Anti-Tolkien already knows that I wholeheartedly agree with this. However, this post is not just another long rant regarding A Song of Ice and Fire but, rather, an attack on the cynicism that fuels it and which goes beyond George R.R. Martin. A cynicism which amounts to another concept known as the Treason of the Intellectuals, in which academics accept and espouse cynicism because – in a nutshell – they believe that Power and Politics will near-always emerge triumphant over morality. Hence the best, wisest, course of action is to embrace this truth and put forth one's intellectualism to working with thus shaping the policies of the Powerful until they resemble/accomplish the political agenda of the academics.

Permit me to offer a quote from the J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:
"A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."

Sound familiar? If not, then recall these words as the ones spoken by Saruman to Gandalf when trying to convince him to join him in an alliance with Sauron. What is striking, however, is how neatly the Treason of Isengard matches the description of the Treason of the Intellectuals. Saruman and Gandalf had been sent to Middle-earth with the purpose of overthrowing Sauron, something that Saruman clearly still intends to accomplish, except that rather than fighting Mordor he now means to become Sauron's ally so as slowly twist and replace him on his dark throne.
Naturally Saruman is an very extreme case, as it would be far from fair to call cynical intellectuals ambitious agents of clear evil. Yet the crux of the matter is that, like Saruman, those academics who engage in intellectual treason believe that fighting Power and Politics with human determination and basic morality is a fool's errand and thus join the other side if they see any hope in altering it from within to suit their visions. In short, it is the temptation to accommodate oneself to the nature of the times, as Niccolò Machiavelli would have put it, and to ally – cautiously but definitely – with the Power that is rather than the principles that were. Saruman's mad vision may have been to replace the Lord of Mordor as the tyrant of Middle-earth, but, as can be seen, when striped down to their essential organs there is very little separating Treason of Isengard from the Treason of the Intellectuals.

Which, to bring this post to a full circle, is one of many reasons why I am the Enemy of the Grimdark. Because A Song of Ice and Fire and the genre as the whole offers a cold and cynical view of humanity coupled with the apparent lesson that the honorable and compassionate usually end with their heads upon a stake. It teaches that treachery is profitable; that morals do not pay and are near powerless to effect the wider world.

"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost." - Charlie Chaplin

"Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us." - Stephen Colbert

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad. - Henry Ward Beecher

"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." - Sydney J. Harris

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were...and ask why not." - John F. Kennedy

"Cynicism isn't smarter, it's only safer. There's nothing fluffy about optimism." - Jewel Kitcher

"The greater part of the truth is always hidden, in regions out of the reach of cynicism." - J. R. R. Tolkien