The one thing we know for sure is that we don’t really know much about our past. Think of us as living in a world completely covered by clouds. The sky is obscured and the nights are dark. Once in a short while some of the clouds clear, we get a little glimpse of what is beyond but before much can be understood, it gets covered again. In this way we get little glimpse of our past, never from one place and never for long enough.
During the day, it’s a complete whiteout, but through analysis we understand that there is some great light moving above us, from East to West in regular cycles. Some call it The Light Clock of God, others call it The Great Fire. There is much argument about these finer points.
This is the position we have been put in and if there is one thing Vikid has understood, it is that humanity doesn’t like uncertainty.
So through history we created his-story to explain unexplainable things and bring about certainty.
Imagine further that you are a school teacher. You enter the classroom and find a broken window. The floor is covered in glass, you also find a golf ball in the middle of the floor.
You go outside and find Little Johnny with a golf club in hand. You accusatorily confront him. Little Johnny begins to cry and says it wasn’t him. It’s Anna, the Bursar’s daughter, who was playing with a hammer over there in the corner. So you approach her, she denies all involvement and says the window crime was actually committed by Franky-Frank, the Mafia Bosses nephew, playing Karate by the swings. He attempted a roundhouse kick and complete missed. Franky says it’s Vijay, the Principal’s son. He threw a stone through the window pane. You go back inside and there is one. And so it goes on. An incident with many stories and conflicting evidence. The principal demands punishment and if you can’t manage the culprit, you know he will find another teacher or worse, blame you.
This is the position our Historians are found in. In the end, you choose Little Johnny, he’s the only one without protection. He complains a little but finally, it’s official and goes down in the school record. Little Johnny is a trouble maker. We’ll have to keep an eye on him.
So this is History.
We have the tale of many Empires. The recent ones being that of Two Eagles, Three Lions, a Bear, a Dragon, a Jaguar and a Peacock.
The Three Lions had a global Empire, one for which the Sun never set. They came from a tiny seafaring nation but by learning how to work steel and machine guns, before anyone else, they were able to dominate the world. They were also a crafty bunch. Instead of annihilating the opposition and taking all their women, as was common at the time, they played local opposition against itself and shared the spoils with collaborators. The Three Lions used that tactic to suppress the Peacock for 300 years…
We then had the rise of Two Eagles, who while completely different, had similar instincts. Birds of a feather, as they say... One Eagle rose across the Atlantic, while the other rose in the Center of the Established World. That one called himself The Original.
The Atlantic Eagle based his system on “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Within his borders there were many shenanigans but on the whole people lived safely and could speak freely. Outside his borders the Eagle was a total brute. Expansionist in the extreme, he laid to waste anybody who disagreed with him. The good thing about this Eagle is that he had the power to persuade. He also knew how to Boogie Woogie. So often fights didn’t happen but many still did, during his reign there was continuous war in one part of the world or the other. The Eagle being clever, blamed everyone else. The others didn’t like his style of freedom you see, so he had to bomb them into it. So so many got this taste of freedom.
The Original Eagle, he really like his symbols. He had this particular one, the Spicy Chicken Swas-Tikka, that everyone recognized had been stolen from the Peacock but only inverted. This Eagle proclaimed to be the One True Eagle (OTE) and that his people were proclaimed to be the Blue Eyed Originals. Everyone else was inferior and had to submit or get exterminated.
It was about then that we meet The Bear who liked Vodka. His history is extremely ancient. The Bear had some crazy ideas and much internal blood was spilt. At first he was an imperialist, then over time he thought that everyone must share everything all the time and without question. Especially without any questions. He ruled with an Titanium Fist and built an Iron Curtain.
We are then told that OTE went nuts and decided to take over the world. He committed horrific crimes with great efficiency. The Three lions decided to take him on with the help of The Bear and lost many a people doing so. In the end the Atlantic Eagle swept in soaring from on high and clinched the victory. In the wake of the battle everyone was crushed except The Atlantic Eagle, who took over. He formed a new benevolent empire and nursed the other animals back to health. But remember, any lesser animals who disagreed were crushed in the name of liberty.
Or so the story goes. How much of it is true is in dispute. Not officially however, there are renegade historians with alternative views that paint a different picture. Vikid was partial to some of them. Plus there were many verified stories of nasty Originals, right-hands of OTE, who escaped during the grand fight and joined the Atlantic Eagle’s forces, subverting it from within in the decades to come.
So far we haven’t talked much about the Dragon, Peacock or Jaguar. They were lesser powers but still mighty in their own right.
The Dragon was a mythical creature. He kept his realm all to himself though certain parts had be conquered by the Lions in the old days. Now he was mighty regional power. Like OTE he developed a One Dragon Policy, claiming superiority. He was a truly cruel leader and killed millions of his own citizens through starvation and other devious means. Little by little he grew and became a great economic power. The dragon positioned himself as the worlds factory and developed a big army with advanced weaponry.
The Peacock was an old docile creature. Extremely smart but subservient, he had more colors than substance. He liked to keep to himself and spent most of his time grooming and performing elaborate rituals. Over the years he was also becoming rich, due his strength in call-centers and other high-tech services but because of his weakness he had many insecurities.
The Jaguar, he came from the Jungle and mostly he stayed there and didn’t bother with others. He was extremely fond of football and that’s the only time any of the others paid him any attention. His jungle had many resources. However, he too was getting uneasy as he had grown very plump and was afraid of The Eagle who could come down from upon high and take him out anytime.
For many years The Eagle and The Bear had been in a Cold War. Each built an enormous trove of Earth Destroying Weapons but they were too afraid of confronting each other. They would spend their time finding some sorry part of the world to have a fight in and there would be fireworks there until there was nothing but rubble left. This pattern continued for many years and many small creatures were laid to waste.
The Eagle however was the biggest baddy around, he had The Three Lions, now a diminished power at his side. In addition the Neutered Originals had switched sides. OTE had passed away and they were otherwise orphans.
The Bear had an idea and hatched a plan. A Multipolar World Power (MWP). He would get together with The Dragon, The Jaguar and The Peacock and form an alliance to balance the power.
They named it The Bric Shithouse. Together they could take on The Eagle, to end his singular power.
The only real problem being that the Bric Shithouse was exactly what it said on the tin, a house made of Brics & Shit, besides it didn’t control the Coin of the Realm. That’s was at the Eagle’s helm.
Furthermore, this particular responsibility was given to The Camel. Within his humps were vast reservoirs of wealth. The Camel made a deal with the Eagle. Together they controlled international wealth.
Now Vikid was highly confused, he loved The Eagle’s frontier, it was the land of milk and honey. The Three Lions Isles weren’t too shabby either and the Originals had a rather fine place too. The problem they had is in the intervening years, they had plundered the world and abused many a creature.
So the creatures were banding together to support The Bric Shithouse. The Eagle was having none of it. He was used to having his own way and hell to anyone who opposed him.
So it looked like there was going to be a showdown. No one knew where and when. The Eagle and his Allies were clearly preparing something significant on the borders of The Bears Kingdom.
Meanwhile, The Bric Shithouse was secretly chatting with The Camel who was considering changing preferred partners. No one had expected that. If the deal went through the shithouse would become a palace!
While they were at it, the world was losing its open flavor. That’s what happens before a war, discipline is valued over freedom. That’s how it always was.
Vikid so far has left out a very important topic and that is to do with THE DOOM.
THE DOOM wasn’t a creature from this world, it was an inter-dimensional evil. He suspected that the great creatures might actually be controlled by this force, unwittingly. There were signs of it everywhere but nothing could be proven. It obviously wasn’t written down in the history books. It’s greatest power was that people didn’t believe in it. Most were not even aware of it.
If this was true then there was really trouble ahead as the fight would be choreographed. The other worldly choreographer being fond of wicked dances.
Vikid was sitting in his Armchair thinking,
“This is all Bollocks”
The worlds a stage and all the animals have their parts. In some sense history is already written. It’s our lack of vision that makes it look random. When you get high enough you see that the winners are picked. In secret offices, in massive skyscrapers.
It’s about then, Vikid had a Non-dualism vision. The mind, the intellect and even emotions were just happening without a story behind them. There was no one at home, all effort was just an illusion.
Reality was a multi-layered onion riddled with honeycomb and biryani.
To see the animals, the grand flow of history, required changing perspectives and traversing several layers and sipping on honey. This ability was available to all, especially small children. That’s why they asked the most innocent and pertinent questions.
To defeat THE DOOM all you had to do was see it. Like a movie you’ve already seen, one could be enjoy the show but what was happening was already known. The mind has an ability to get into a story even though we know it’s an illusion. In the same way, life could be enjoyed with out the confusion.
It was all a grand game, your consciousness the creator. Creating itself and everything within in. Real pull it up by the bootstrap kind of stuff.
So Vikid thought that everyone must get their own armchair and let it flow. Watch the great animals in all of their glory. And especially now, to keep a eye on the Bric Shithouse, which was turning into a Palace.
And that’s