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Ahoy! For whatever reason I’ve not much felt like posting recently. Given that I rather fancy watching some Colbert report, and that means posting it here, I thought I’d better write a proper post first! I’ve not logged into WAR since I went to visit my Dad over Christmas. His computer can’t handle it, so I took EQ2 along, figuring I’d have a fiddle around with the Frostfell events during any break from filling my face with food, watching Sci-Fi (a great weakness of both me and my Dad!), and arguing geopolitics. I only played maybe three or four hours during the week I was there. When I got back to Norwich, I just kept on logging into EQ2. So, I keep meaning to log into WAR. I don’t hate it, and my subscription is still running. I do also still quite want to become the greatest Engineer on my server, but you can only really play Warhammer Online during prime-time, because you can do very little of interest on your own. EQ2, on the other hand, I can always be doing something that feels fun and productive. It is, of course, not productive in any world-improving sense of the word, but it is at least fun! Maltheas has done more quests than anyone else of his level on any server, and I take a certain amount of satisfaction in that. I can chat to people I like, and shut the idiots out. I can turn off all the global chat channels without missing out on anything I need to know. In WAR, I have to work with those idiots, which I find a little stressful, and I think that is probably what is causing me to hesitate when my mouse-clicker is hovering over the WAR icon. I just have enough negativity to contend with at the moment without foolish Order faction nonsense. I do need to get back to it though, seeing as that’s what all my friends are playing at the moment. Apparently today is known as Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. I have been a bit on the rubbish side since I got back, as may have been concluded by my lack of posting. Amongst other things, the war in Gaza has made me rather miserable. How reasonable the Israeli PR folks make it sound to kill a thousand people, including over 300 children. Cluster bombs and white phosphorous have been rained down upon one of the most densely populated places in the world. In a sane universe there would be prosecutions for that sort of thing. Tomorrow things change. Change for the better, perhaps. I am filled with hope and dread, for I find it hard to place my faith in anyone, god or man, and deep down I expect to be disappointed. Yet deep within, there is a small voice which whispers “Cometh the hour, cometh the man!”. Our world is teetering on the edge of multiple precipices, and it is now that we need a hero to lead us through all the sacrifice and joyous endeavour that will be necessary. If Obama can do that, and lives up to all our hopes, what a story that would be for future generations. If he turns out just to be another politician, then I’m doubtful of there even being many more generations. Think happy thoughts. We’ll find out very quickly which path he will tread. The only half-decent version of the Gloucestershire Wassail I could find. There are about a thousand choral attempts at it, but for me that is the opposite of what a good wassail should be. Of course, in the Old World of Warhammer, there is no Christmas, but every race has it’s own way of marking the Winter Solstice. For the Dwarves, it is the opportunity to finish off last year’s ale. It is more than an opportunity; it is a holy task. The harvest of the past Autumn has been laid in enormous vats and barrels, lazily fermenting. Soon it will be ready to drink, but first it must be transferred into kegs and casks for storage and transport. So it is that at the Solstice, the Dwarves make a point of emptying their kegs to make way for the new ale, in a tradition known as Keg End. A good Dwarven ale keg can be centuries old, and will have been reused every year, with each previous brew still lending subtle notes of flavour to the new ale. The oldest kegs are prized possessions, honoured above even hoarding gold, having been passed down through several generations of a clan. In the ale that is poured from them can still be tasted the slightest echo of the brews of old. The festival is therefore not named for being the end of the keg, but from the tradition that, in order to get every last drop, the keg is turned up on its end. To waste the smallest amount would be an insult to the ancestors, and is considered an ale-crime. This is why Dwarves often challenge manlings with “Are ye goin’ ta finish that?”, before, indeed, finishing it. The ancestors demand no less. Continuity and tradition are central to the Dwarven character. The true meaning of the Keg End celebration is to welcome the ale of the New Year, but to always remember that the new is born from the old, and carries within itself all that was best of that which came before it. Something to get you in the mood for Cthulhumas: If there is one musical I could be in, it would be “A Shoggoth on the Roof.” |
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