"Swines And Nothing More"
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A Very-Short-Story of A Most Curious Artifact
Created in the Dwarven Fortress of Eriththunen, Laborlife
In the Year of 197 Since the First Dwarf Struck Earth
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All accounts of names, people, objects, events and heck, even names and content of the musical pieces, are from actual gameplay and legends.
Only the interpretation of why all this happened is added by me.
The short poem at the bottom of course sprung from the mind and feather of Laborlife's resident poet Thob Growlgranite, as I will mention...
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One of the dwarves of Laborlife created a beautiful, but controversial artifact today. It is a native silver crown, menacing with spikes of native silver. On the item is the image of Ber Clashedwitches the dwarf and dwarves in native gold. The dwarves are prostrating themselves before Ber. This commemorates the defeat of The Messianic Swords, our civilization, against an army of the goblin civilization "The Terror of Societies" almost 100 years ago. Ber seized the dwarven settlement Bridgeverse and assumed lordship there for the glory of her overlord, the flax monster Melici Whippedscars, known as the Sword of Outrage. The artifact crown was named after its creator, Cog Youthwind. Naturally, all the craftsdwarfship is most luxuriant.
It was a curious thing, though. Why would a dwarf of our civilization commemorate one of our many bloody defeats against our arch enemy, the "Terror of Societies", who drove us to the brink of extinction by now? Seemingly applauding the traitor dwarf Ber Clashedwitches who subjugated and subsequently mutiliated her own kin? Who was this Ber-figure, and why do my dwarves express sympathy toward an enemy like her?
I dug deeper into the lore of the world to find that the flax monster Melici was driven by jealousy and revenge out of the bowels of the earth with the sole aim, seemingly, to conquer the world and destroy any civilization in its wake - which for the last 200 years was mainly the dwarven kingdom of "The Messianic Swords". But it likes to surround itself with bright and competent dwarves. Although the dwarves of this civilization, mainly stolen or enslaved, amount to only about 5% of the population of the "Terror of Societies", each of the highest administrators of Melici is a dwarf - from Chief Councelor and Head Chamberlain, to Master of Beasts and Head Executioner. The "Terror of Societies" apparently doesn't just want to eradicate our society. Maybe they are fighting to build a different kind of society, a violent non-society - some would say a kind of anarchic society, where the individual is only bound by their own personal commitment and morals?
Ber is a child of that society, born and raised as a member of the "Terror". Her mother, Led, a legendary and well-known musician (composer of captivating works such as "Onion", "Lulls" and the terrifying marching song "Swines and Nothing More"), was captured by a goblin child snatcher at a very young age and grew up in one of the conquered hillocks. Ber became a leading figure in the wars the "Terror" waged against us, all the while trying to step into the boots of her mother as a musician, showing modest talent herself. For all we know, she was a confident and valuable servant of Melici. But, she was a dwarf through and through. She worshipped the same gods as us, above all the mighty Tobul Cobaltmines, mothergoddess of earth and all dwarves. She married another dwarf at some point, who himself grew up as a "Terror", gave birth to two children. She became an apprentice of her mother, writing pieces such as "The Sun Sets On Doctrines". That is a purposefully structureless piece of wild expression and improvisation. Which doctrines did she mean when she put this piece on paper? Was she a political fanatic, convinced of the goals of Melici to dismantle all rigid institutions of society, all the constricting doctrines that limit the wild creativity of the individual? After she assumed the lordship of the hillock of Bridgeverse, she lived eight more peaceful years there, until she was killed at the youthful age of 45 by the hands of an Ettin. Even her death was that of a true dwarf.
Now I understand a bit more why Ber's story inspires the dwarves of her political enemy, our civilization, even after almost 100 years passed. Is the craftsdwarf who made this artifact, Cog Youthwind, an admirer only of the inherent poetry of Ber's life story? Or does she believe in what Ber fought and died for in Bridgeverse, the need to deconstruct all doctrines, dismantle society to build it new from ground up? Did Cog produce a crown for the queen she wished we had? Is the image on the crown a mockery of our current ruler, showing a metaphor for all that he accomplished during his reign - prostration before the enemy?
Who could blame her. The Messianic Swords are a shadow of their former self. A rigid, constricting and decadent ruin of a civilization, headed for almost 90 years now by the same utterly unremarkable, slobbish and lecherous King Tun Growllashes, who never held a craftshammer or pick in his life, who has no talents to speak of, and who produced a slew of illegitimite offspring with his numerous lovers, obvious spies and secret members of the "Terrors", which took advantage of his shameless and irresponsible nature - presumably to extract valuable information, much of which surely led to the deaths of dozens of our dwarven kin. Or maybe only to humiliate and expose him for the disgrace he his to his people. Under King Tun's reign, year after year, the "Swords" only knew defeat and decline.
Maybe Cog Youthwind thinks its time for change from within. She doesn't just want to express her positions metaphorically through her art anymore. Maybe she doesn't want to hide behind historical allegories anymore. Cog was just elected mayor of Laborlife. I am wary of what the future holds for the Messianic Swords.
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All the while, Cog's supporters celebrate her victory in the "Hot Attic", our tavern. One dwarf, our resident poet Thob Growlgranite, steps up and speaks the first lines of his newest work:
The air is thick with smoke from the smith's furnace,
Fills dwarven lungs in Laborlife who howl from hallow halls,
Songs of strife: "Swines, And Nothing More!"
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I love this game.
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Topic: "Swines And Nothing More" - A Very-Short-Story of A Most Curious Artifact (Read 995 times)