Nietzsche looked with pleasure upon the welcome sight of over a hundred Ipetians working together in one great city. This is how civilization should be. Not roaming on the plains but here, in this land, wanting for nothing. Heuvelhorloge was becoming a full-blown village, and there was plenty of food and drink for all. Soon, they would have to send out a new party to start another village to the south. Life was good. Everyone agreed that nothing could be better than this; Nietzsche had led them to a better life than they could have possibly had in Buigend Riet.
Nietzsche reflected back on his life, and began to realize that he had lost his appetite for chaos. Before, he had always demanded motion; hence why he had set out the first two outposts from Buigend Riet. Now, however, he had grown complacent in the everyday life, in the stillness of quiet ponds, in the smell of air that sits motionless in the pines. He realized now that the order of life was far better than the destruction which could follow disorder.
“Ah, Nietzsche,” said a voice beside him, “you are wrong again as usual.” Nietzsche pivoted around to find himself confronted by an Ipetian he did not recognize. Blijzon was quite a large city, but Nietzsche liked to think he had everything under control. He believed that he knew everyone by both face and name. The fact that a stranger was standing right next to him was disconcerting, to say the least.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to recall your face. What was your name again?”
The stranger laughed. “That’s not what you really want to know, is it? No, you’re thinking, ‘who are you, where did you come from, why are you here, and what threat do you pose to me?’ That’s what you really want to know. How will I disturb your calm?” Nietzsche was shocked, as that had been exactly what he was wondering. The stranger continued, “Honestly, Nietzsche, if your face were any easier to read it would have to have letters on it. You’ve grown comfortable with your power, and I, being an unknown, am a threat to your position. Well, I suppose I’ll answer your questions.”
Nietzsche was dazed and confused. How could this stranger know about Nietzsche’s desire for power? How could he read his thoughts? And more importantly, what did he want? The stranger, after a pause for Nietzsche to collect himself, went on, “I am Fenneth, the god of the Ipetians, including you. Where I came from is not of your concern, but I am here because you have interfered with my plans once too often. The qualities which once made you an asset now turn you into a liability. You have served your purpose, and now it is your end. I am going to drive you mad.”
Nietzsche, while stunned, kept his wits about him. “You can’t drive me mad; you are not a god of madness. You have no power over my mind. I think my own thoughts, and you have no say in them. I have my free will!”
“Yes,” replied the god, “I have no power over your thoughts, and I cannot take away your free will, but I do have power over your knowledge. So, I am going to let you learn of your own folly. I will give to you understanding of what life would be like if things continue as they are. Not understanding like you mortals gain every now and then, but true understanding. So many mortals have wished for such a thing, not knowing what it would do to them. It will, without a doubt, render you completely insane.”
With that, Fenneth placed his hand on Nietzsche’s head and said “Now, receive your curse!” Nietzsche flew backwards as if propelled by some malevolent force. He landed on his side, writhing under the inconceivable might of pure knowledge. Fenneth looked on at the pitiful figure, lying on the ground, twitching. “I am sorry,” he said, “but it was necessary. You have disrupted my plans too often, and now you see for yourself what you have wrought upon this earth. This shall be your punishment. You will know the results of all your transgressions until you learn. After that, if you can find me, I will remove this curse. May you learn quickly.”
With that, the god disappeared. Nietzsche covered his head in his arms, wanting for the pain to stop, for the unquestionable knowledge to leave him in ignorance. But the agony continued until finally, Nietzsche snapped. His mind simply said no to the knowledge, and left. Nothing remained save pain in his head, and the knowledge that Fenneth could take away the pain. Nietzsche stumbled back towards the city. Perhaps Fenneth would be there.
Everyone noticed at once what had happened to Nietzsche. He was certainly no longer himself, the great leader who had helped them time and time again with good advice and sound logic. Instead, he had become a babbling lunatic, whom some pitied, but no one respected. About a week later, Nietzsche was seen in the great clearing raving away. Nietzsche cried out, "I seek Fenneth! I seek Fenneth!" As there were some foolish youths standing about who did not believe in Fenneth, and Nietzsche caused a great deal of amusement for them. “Why? is he lost?” said one. “Has he strayed away like a child?” said another. “Or does he keep himself hidden? Is he afraid of us? Has he taken a sea voyage? Has he emigrated?” the youths cried out laughingly, all in a hubbub.
The Nietzsche jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. "He is with Riet, and where has Riet gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him, you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying Riet? Do we not smell the heroic putrefaction? - for even heros putrefy! Riet is dead! Riet remains dead! And we have killed him!
How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife; who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Heroes, merely to seem worthy of it? There never was a greater event, and on account of it, all who are born after us belong to a higher history than any history hitherto!" Here Nietzsche was silent and looked again at the youths; they also were silent and looked at him in surprise.
"I come too early," he then said. "I am not yet at the right time. This prodigious event is still on its way, and is traveling; it has not yet reached our ears. Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard. Perhaps there is still time. Perhaps he might be saved, along with the rest of us. He must be saved! We must march on terror to save him! How can we restore that which we have demolished? We must stop ourselves from doing the dreadful deed afore it is done! This shall be our redemption. We need not destroy the light of the earth; merely save it in all its inexorable forms. The light will be snuffed like a candle should we not burn our hands to heal it. For indeed there shall be a penance, and we shall burn as the brush. Fire will cleanse this blood upon us, and blood shall wash blood clean.” There, Nietzsche fell silent, and began to draw upon the dirt with his fingers.
The elders met together that night to discuss the mad Ipetian. It was agreed that, while mad, there was some method to Nietzsche’s ravings. It was clear that he thought it necessary to rescue Riet from some terrible danger, and that to do otherwise would bring about terror and destruction of their people. The elders agreed that Riet was the greatest leader the Ipetians ever had, and that to simply let him die would be the greatest mistake they could ever make. And so it was agreed upon: the Ipetians would send an army to save the beleaguered Riet. They would trek West, trying to find where Riet had gone. No matter what the danger, they would save their brother, their father, their leader.
And so over 30 families presented themselves to march West in order to find Riet. With over 100 Ipetians in all, it was the largest army ever assembled. They had only one purpose: search and rescue. Whatever else came would be dealt with swiftly.
~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~
Riet looked to the east. Something was wrong; the giants had yet to show themselves. If things continued as such, Silis's group might run into the raiders. Riet couldn't allow that to happen. He moved east for some period of time, until he finally saw what he was looking for, the Giant's cook fire smoke. If they wanted someone to chase, he would give it to them. Riet proceeded to make his own fire, using the smoke bush. There was no way the giants could miss that. He then rode back to the west, lighting fires again and again along the rout. Such a trail would be easy to follow. What happened if the Giants caught up? Riet didn't plan that far forward. His only thought was to turn the giants north, away from Silis and his men.
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((So, in sum, an army of about a hundred march westward from the Ipetian settlements. 30 come from Omhelzingbos, dropping it down to a hamlet, and the other 70 come from Blijzon, turning it into a very small town. Riet moves east, starts his trail of campfires, and then moves west again. Will the giants take the bait? Silis continues east as instructed.
As to the ongoing discussion on the metagame and the role of humans, I just made up that story about the Ipetian exodus from their world as filler. The "dark ones" are very loosely based on Raymond E. Feist's Dreadlords, dwellers of the void. That's all their really is to it. Their gods were the ones that overthrew the Ipetian pantheon, not the creatures themselves. And even that is only a story told to Ipetian children, not necessarily what actually happened.
I agree that we are far too lighthearted thus far for there to be some underlying battle between good and evil or anything like that. There need not be any god-killing, save perhaps in the case of Ukko, since he purposefully moved himself onto the game board.))
[ May 29, 2008: Message edited by: Frelock ]