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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 12:58:17 -0400
From: "Quinn@Ghostwheel" <ghost@ghostmoo.org>
To: quinn@fazigu.org
Subject: Ghostwheel Message(s) 213 from *storylines (#5236)
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Message 213 from *storylines (#5236):
Date:     Tue Oct 12 05:53:20 2004 EDT
From:     Owen (#15637)
To:       *storylines (#5236)
Subject:  This is the time we are upon

Legends and stories lie.  Owen was in a better position to know this than
most, but he still felt a little bit betrayed every time he found more proof
of how often and how thoroughly they all lie.

In a story there would have been intrigue.  Codes and counter-codes exchanged,
secret meetings in the dark of night, gathered idealists whispering out
slogans and great plans for freeing the enslaved, toppling the oppressor,
bringing the mighty low.  In a story there would have been a frenzied night of
planning, dedicated men scribbling and mapping, drinking strong coffee and
rolling up sweat-stained sleeves to keep them from dragging through the ink of
the hasty but well-detailed maps of compounds, approaches, lines of advance
and retreat.

Of course a story would have the brilliant doomed hero, the one you knew from
the beginning would die gloriously in battle.  And probably a love interest.
A plucky heroine who dressed in men's clothing and might get shot or kidnapped
somewhere along the way, thus giving the hero a chance to show off.

But the stories lie.  And so instead of intrigue, planning, heros and heroines
there was just a group of friends sitting in the bar, drinking and boasting as
usual.  Another night like every other night, until the topic turned to
recombs and Yak said, "Wait, I got an idea."

And that fast, they went from being a group of drinking buddies to a
conspiracy.  That fast there was an agreement, an ideal, a goal, even a plan.
Not a great plan, maybe.  A plan of broad strokes and tentative agreements.  A
plan with many weaknesses and more than a few huge leaps of logic and faith.

But still, a plan.  A part for each of them to play, a shared goal and a sense
of unity.  And if by some miracle it actually worked, they actually managed to
bring this wildly disparate group of people into order and carry the day, it
would be a victory to rival any Wasteland legend ever heard.

And what the hell, he could always clean it up when he told the story later.

--------------------------