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History and the Young

Lore, history and other content by the citizens of Underlight preserved for posterity.
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Uthanatos
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Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:08 pm
Character Name(s): Uthanatos
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History and the Young

Post by Uthanatos »

A week, a month, a year. Time is an abstract which we consider an absolute. It comes to me to dispel the illusion of strength through seniority. In so much as people choose to believe that having dreamt for ages makes you more powerful, it does, but it also limits you in other ways. The following is a factual account of events. Due to the subject not wanting their name all over historical scrolls, for whatever reason, I shall limit myself to pronouns and when required, hereafter the subject shall be referred to as "The Dreamer".

On the twentieth day of the first month of this year, a dreamer awakened, filled with questions and wonder. He had found the dream after searching for some time in the wake of his lost brother, who himself had been a dreamer in times past. Having journals from his brother in the waking world, he knew certain things, from a slanted perspective, but none of the useful day to day things, he didn't know the city, the dreamers, or even how to properly evaluate and use talismen...he was in the truest sense of the word a fledgling, a newly awakened. In the course of that first dream, he was introduced to dreamers, he struggled to learn how to wield a blade and tried to follow what was being said to him, though much of the beliefs and polotics explained were well beyond him. It comes to pass that as he met more dreamers, he saw the deep schisms between them, groups with very little overlap, each focused on themselves and their own and he thought it curious how so few, could be divided so deeply.

Over the course of the next week, he spent his time learning about the city and the dreamers. He watched as groups essentially shunned each other, small cliques even within larger factions, cordoned themselves off with social protocol. The Dreamer did learn the basics, how to collapse emphants and within the week, bogroms with some effort. He took lessons from other dreamers on how to move his avatar more efficiently and began to get used to the unwieldy form he now inhabited. In these lessons, he found a certain amount of friendship. He excitedly completed tasks, working his way through the planes of Underlight in an excited fervor of learning, but he also heard the older dreamers complaining of the favoritism amongst others, of a lack of support for their projects, a lack of cohesion. This came from some of the same dreamers who had secluded themselves from others. During his tasks he began to learn the history of the city and he found out a great deal about his brother's dreams. With better understanding, he found himself less passionate to understand what his brother had experienced, for that brother, it seemed, was as bad a person in the dream as he was in the waking world. In all this, he learned much about how things worked in the early days after the great awakening, the houses and their stranglehold of power, the movements that led to some extent, to equality for dreamers, and possibly most importantly, during that week, he heard the name SocietyX for the first time.

Having discovered the great equalizer of old, the political and social juggernaut that was the Freespirit Meetings, he considered that given his lack of standing with any group and his intentional mingling with all of them, it was possible that he could bring about cooperation between the groups by giving them a neutral forum. Six days after his first dream, he made his first attempt.

On the twenty-sixth day of the first month of this year. Shortly prior to the first revived freespirit meeting. The Dreamer was talking to those he had met, inviting them to come and he was asked why he was doing it. His response was,
"I want to make sure there's a place Freespirits can feel that sense of support and comraderie, without having to conform to beleifs that they don't have conviction in."
The first revived freespirit meeting was held. The entirety of the attendance, was one dreamer, the host. The meeting lasted an entire twenty-three minutes, before he gave up hope for the evening and retired. The second and third meetings met with similar failure, although one other person did attend the second and three more the third. The Dreamer did not falter, as the end of his first month in the city approached, he devised a plan. Leading up to the fourth freespirit meeting, he recieved a sphere task, for a mock trial. He decided that this mock trial could incorporate things that would draw dreamers, conflict between two of the primary groups, known events that people had taken part in, and a chance to express themselves.

On the ninteenth day of the second month of this year, the fourth revived freespirit meeting was held, with sixteen active participants.
In the months that followed, he steadfastly held the meeting every Friday at 8 dream standard time. It became the largest gathering of dreamers every week. News and events being exchanged, support for projects obtained. In his youth, because of his youth and his lack of ties to any one group, one young dreamer, was able to accomplish what several had tried and failed to do. He offered a path, and the dreamers of Underlight, with no thoughts of their own prejudices and predispositions, had no reason not to attend, and for a time, the city enjoyed a renewed sense of community and comraderie.

In this, lay a moral lesson. We consider ourselves learned and experienced. We consider that that age brings wisdom and power. We often forget, that it also brings bias, and that in our jaded views, we are unable to accomplish what the young can. For those young and naive dreamers, believe in possibility. They are not bound by the rules and strictures that we have chosen to place upon ourselves. In all that we do, once in a while, we should look back, and see what we were, before we became what we are.

Documented and fact checked by Uthanatos
“Sometimes it isn't easy to be sane, smart, and responsible. Sometimes it sucks. Sucks wang. Camel wang. But that doesn't turn wrong into right or stupid into smart.”
― Jim Butcher, Cold Days
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Arnaya
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Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:25 am
Character Name(s): Arnaya

Re: History and the Young

Post by Arnaya »

In light of the introspective phase I seem to be going through, and thanks to Uthanatos to reminding me about it... I thought it would be worth reviving and bringing back to peoples memories. Even if you've read it before, who knows.... maybe the time has brought a new perspective to you.
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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