Sharpes Wolf Pit

Prologue:The Break

2007-03-19T00:49:00.000Z

The woman turned from the window and strode across the room. Cut glass beauty in a sharp military cut uniform. Her stride was long, languorous and sensual revealing a perfect line with every step. It would be enough to breed fantasies in normal men however the men stood around the war table were not normal. Every one of them stood precisely 2 metres tall in their stocking feet but not only that they looked alike and spoke with the same inflections and mannerisms. They regarded her with rapt attention and an almost soulless submissive posture. Their cultured similarity only heightened her frustration at the world outside. The Terrans called the world Hephaestus after one of their ancient gods but to her its dreary barrenness reminded her of the tedium of day after day of inaction and frustration as she tried to imagine why High Command had sent her here? One of the few born of natural birth in a race of clones it was natural that she would be in command but at this moment she would exchange it all to be one of the carefully programmed and gene sculpted warriors who had come here to save the Kalderan race from themselves. The clones only knew war and discipline. Clones were bred to enjoy endless drills and fatigues even when there was no enemy. Contessa hated drill, parades, Terrans and clones in that precise order. Now they had wiped them all off of this dust bowl and shipped the survivors back to New Kaldera for genetic strengthening of their warriors she was forced to follow her last orders to hold the planet and start mining the minerals.

The Lieutenant of Flight 9 whose insignia showed his designation as Sigmala 712 turned to give his report. He did this every day with endless punctuality and nearly always said the same thing. Contessa drifted. She mused over her situation. She couldn’t go home because the gate had broken down. The techs were puzzled but then they were all clones as well. They had told her the gate had just shut down and nothing they could do would make it work again. They carried on telling her that even after she had killed three of them so she guessed they had to be telling the truth. She had killed one more but that was just her way of working out her temper. The other techs had just shuffled back to work. She hadn’t smiled much only when she thought of one of the petty cruelties she had inflicted on many victims. Like that Terran youngster she had left scarred for dead in the ruins of his pathetic power lifter. Hardly a match for her Custom Medusa he had tried to stand up to her. She had turned his puny toy into mulch and then taunted him with his genetic weakness. The hate in his eyes had made her feel excited in a way that she hadn’t known before. Pity he was dead now, undoubtedly a victim of dehydration and the heat that the twin suns gave out. She stopped hearing something wrong in Sigmala’s report.

“Repeat that again!”, Sigmala 712 jumped a bit but then carried out her order monotonously.
“Two water bowsers are overdue. Their transponders do not answer. Their absence has been logged.” Sigmala 712 waited impassionately.

Commander Rugen turned to hide her face as she bit the back of her knuckle like a little girl. This was it, the break in her purgatory and the drones in at the table didn’t even see it. She cleared her face of emotion and turned to face the mindless drones at the table.

“Get me a full report of the last reported location of the tankers, Oh and prepare my Unit. I’m going hunting.” She strode across the room to her suit closet undressing as she went. The retreating lieutenants just looked away and filed out. Now naked she reached for her flight suit.

“Shall I notify your wingmen?” a querulous voice rose.

She turned herself round to face the Lieutenant and rolled her eyes at his completely passive face. Not even the remotest lust for her. A Terran would be a molten pool on the floor by now crying out for her attention. Terrans just gave back more for her effort.

“No I hunt alone! Now get out” She almost spat the last with contempt tinged anger. The clone just saluted turned and left. Oh how she hated this planet!

Thoughts from a Ships Doctor

2006-12-19T00:59:00.000Z

The thoughts of Fitz. Ships Doctor of the Firefly Ace of Spades, 2 days out of Verbena.

(an NPC in my Serenity game hence why here and not on unspeakable message)

It’s quiet. I like quiet. The crew don’t usually give me time for quiet so I think its time for me to think.

To the crew I am an enigma I am glad to say and invaluable which I am even happier to say. People might ask me why in the ‘verse I put up with morally backward apes in this flying tin bath? At least this Ace of Spades is cleaner than the wreck we left on Dreyfus Moon. Not a bad idea of Besters switching the Transponders on those Alliance Specials. As far as I am concerned after what the Alliance have done to my good name I am bloody glad Billy broke the nasty Colonels neck! If the Colonel had of seen my face and let slip to Billy, well Billy wouldn’t be so glad to see me with a sharp instrument!

Any way enough about that, let me think about the crew. That Dreyfus Moon thing was a close thing it’s time I evaluated the threat level of this crew.

Brother Lassa.
No threat whatsoever as he has as much to hide as me. I’ve had him on the table and know his secret. He seems to manage to climb across my table more than a monk should. Odd that!

Marion Day.
Clinically I could retire writing a thesis on his contorted brain. His reaction levels are off the chart. If he practised he could possibly defeat Yun Fat in a gunfight. Not sure on danger level as he is the most unpredictable member of the crew. Also he was bounty hunting when we met and I’ve had to kill far too many of that type. If I have to I will have to make sure he never sees the blade drop which brings me to Yun Fat.

William Yun Fat.
Fortunately not high on the intelligence level however nor is a snake and that’s his speed level. He could be a good ally or bad enemy. My problem is which? Depending on who gets to him first and who he believes that could be critical. I know he was on New Kasmir but I don’t know when or what he was involved in. Do I kill him now or hope he can be persuaded to the other? If he had seen the lower lab on Dreyfus and checked the wrong dockets in records I may have been making that decision a whole lot quicker. If I have to remove Billy I am going to have to make sure of him.

Anders Schaeffer.
If this guy looks wrong at me he’s dead because he is by far the most dangerous. I think he knows and the only reason he is still alive is he don’t look like he’s going to be a problem. He might be the only kindred soul I have on this bucket.

Bester.
A threat! That’s a joke. By the time he becomes a threat to me he’ll be busy locking himself in the engine room to block the fallout. Mr Bester sticks to what he knows and lets me stick to what I do. Not worried about this one.

The Hornet Crew.
Kaz is a worry and Rimmer isn’t. Those adapted seeker probes are going to have to be dealt with.

The Companion.
Their business is confidences I am not worried.

The Captain and Dana Racine.
I don’t think the Captain is going to be around long enough to worry about. To my knowledge only one person I know can permanently cure him and if I do that my life is over. Sorry Captain it’s you or me. As for your Sibling that could be a problem. Dana she has always been ok. She may have been a bounty hunter but fortunately not good enough. Not sure where she went but good luck to her. May she stay away. I actually like her and I rue the day I will have to severe her slender neck, may that day not come!

Harmony and Sammy.
Sammy is no problem. He has no imagination and that’s good for me. Now Harmony has gone as they say fruit loop and mentally reverted to her former name and identity, well the level of mental care hasn’t really gone that far where P.T.S. is concerned! Again no problem.

There that’s so much better really cleared my head. Well I’m just going to log this in my personal records, Triple threat protected of course, then it’s time for chai and bed. Oh bugger that’s the wrong……….

…………+++ FILE SENT TO PUBLIC BOARDS THANK YOU +++

Oh …….

Thoughts

2006-12-18T00:18:00.000Z

Thinking of starting to run a serial in the manner of old style newsprint drama's or Saturday morning Cinema shorts like Flash Gordon or Sexton Blake. IF I do it will run on Dark Pharaoh or here depending on Genre. So if it verges on the Gothic side of Horror it will appear there if not here! Got to think about it though but several ideas are coming up. Thinking of Shiva Cantrell making it to serial. If you are not sure who she is her death is captured in muy short story Slowdive which had some good positive feedback if not this I may make it an alternative pulp horror set in a Captain and the World of Tomorrow kind of World with a completely new character. Stay tuned.

Phoebe

2006-12-18T00:12:00.000Z

With fleetness you race, a pale argent chariot,
Across powdered track of Indigo calm.
Your cry heralds your hounds of plenty,
Savage children resting in Demeter’s palm.
Your cool beauty ignites the landscape,
Quicksilver flashes accent the deepest night.
Chasing the dawn, your kin’s golden harness,
Washing our sin’s in your gentlest light.

You judge us not nor brand us inhuman,
As we hunt beneath your gaze,
Your golden kin finds us not so easy,
Our ashes spread from his fiery haze.
Lovers and madmen beg to your glory,
Poets and priests worship you too.
Even Poseidon bows down to your wishes,
His very mood follows your cue.

Watch as your hounds play in your tresses,
Tumbling and howling, filled with delight,
The innocent pray you do not turn Gibbous,
And summon in the mare of the night.
The guilty they play free with your license,
An attempt to stay the headman’s axe,
Of these Sweet Phoebe, I am of neither,
For with my soul, I pay you my Tax.

Copyright Tony Bennett 2000

A small alteration

2006-12-01T00:41:00.000Z

As from now my diary blog is moving, leaving Sharpes Wolf Pit to cover only my creative and rants if you like. This does not mean I am leaving it just dumping the dross of everyday thought on a new livejournal page leaving this for more higher thought and Dark Pharaoh for darker aspects.

The new page is http://tybaltstormcrow.livejournal.com/ but do not abandon this page as it is not defunct

Back again!

2006-11-23T23:06:00.000Z

I have now been away for over a year. This is mostly due to the birth of my new son Kristian (Now nearly one year old!). Having now got one of each no more are planned. My work has me at a desk most of the time so haven't been online as much as I could. Also have been very busy personally. So thats my reasons for not blogging but I am not apologising. I said a while ago I would never show guilt for not posting but people still need reasons for their own sense of justification so that them and that's that.

May I add a congratulations to the American Democrat party for their recent successes. It's about gorram time! As a member of the the local Liberal Democrats and having stood for Councillor in Sheffield's Arbourthorne Ward coming second in a field of 5 candidates and scooping a fair proportion of the voting I know how hard it can be to face a staunch opposition. Arbourthorne is a died in the wool Labour area so I consider it a success as I cut the majority well down.

I need to also give a shout out to Carl Anderson over in Hell-A. Congrats on the wedding, sorry couldn't make it but same reasons as above. I am afraid I do not believe it is fair to fly with young children unless absolutely necessary. Hope you are liking Torchwood and the David Tennant Doctor Who's. Just waiting for Christmas edition. Good luck in your future life! Maybe hear from you soon?

Well for now that's all I have to say. I am now off to write the plot for this months Live Cthulhu game. For those who know Markham Eggleton and his Carl Zendik book, Fallen Skies, available on Lulu. He is re-issueing it after a re-edit, some new bits and a new cover and even a new publicist! Go there and buy it as it will be well worth the money! In the future I am hoping to be collaborating with him on some future works as he now lives just round the corner from me!

So until next time Das Vadagna and all that jazz

Shrinking Freedom Wraps!

2005-11-13T00:49:00.000Z

Found this while trolling through blogs testing them because I am having trouble with one of my linked blogs. It was found on “My Turn at the Mike” at http://athinkingmansvoice.blogspot.com/ ;

“Yesterday, November 11, 2005 (Veteran's Day in the U.S., Remembrance Day in Canada) the United States Senate passed by a margin of 49 votes to 42, a resolution sponsored by Republican Senator Lindsay Graham that could effectively eliminate the Writ of Habeas Corpus from American law. The Writ of Habeas Corpus, which is grounded in English Common Law, grants the right to an accused person to appear before a judge and demand that the legitimacy of any charge brought against them be clearly and adequately demonstrated, and it requires that the state formally charge anyone held in captivity. The elimination of Habeas Corpus effectively allows the state to hold anyone for any reason it chooses without charge, without trial, and without any legal recourse whatsoever indefinitely. Once this absolutely vital legal right and principal is lost to the power of a corrupt and evil regime like that of George Bush (who is demanding that even though the United States does not torture, that it reserve the right to do so), it could be very difficult to get it back from a totalitarian dictatorship that is doing it's level best to hold on to power by any means.”

We in the Uk had a similar but not quite so extreme “Anti-Terror” Law thrown out. Blair aka Bushes Lapdog and Crusade Companion attempted to ram through a 90 day hold without charge Law through. Fortunately for once the House of Commons was awake and chucked it back in his face passing a more sensible 28 day law.

In these difficult times the rights of the common man to a life of his own and general freedoms are a rough road to walk. As long as harm is brought to no other persons have a right to their own way of life and style of living.

The first step to a dictatorship is the narrowing of rights. For example a 19 year old boy in the south west of England was arrested and fined a considerable sum under new laws against promoting religious hatred. What was his crime? He wore a Cradle of Filth T-shirt with “Jesus is a C*nt” on it! Someone complained and he got shafted. So why haven’t Cradle of Filth or the T-Shirt manufacturer been charged? Its ridiculous. This should never have happened.

Knee Jerk reactions will bring the world to its knees. World leaders are playing to baying mobs and that’s a dangerous habit! Ask the South coast Paediatrician who got hounded from his home because his neighbours couldn’t tell the difference from a child doctor and a child molester! (Paediatrician Vs Paedophile).

Do not forget those who died in terrorist atrocities but also do not forget the rights of those still alive who may be innocently dragged unknowingly under just because they were not aware they may have spoken to a “suspect” recently!

Following on from a comment by my good friend Crum on “Insane ramblings of a Yorkshireman” every country in the world has a few skeletons in its cupboard. From a British point of view we could point out that during the American Revolution, American Revolutionaries were considered terrorists while Americans viewed themselves as Freedom Fighters! Also without help from the French, America may not have become free! Don’t forget that the American Statue of Liberty was built by the French as a present to commemorate the help. The French who incidentally certain US politicians have indicated know nothing about Freedom. Their very financial Aid to the American Rebels was just one step on the road to their own Revolution! America would not exist with out Britain’s nearest neighbour and most common enemy, at least before the 20th century anyway, for France helped create the ability to win that revolution.

In Britain’s past we condemn the Nazi concentration camps as works of evil Germanic mindsets. What those same people forget is that the British invented the concentration camp during the Boer War! It’s also conveniently ignored that a Psychologist by the name of Milgram successfully proved that all the typical American required to actively torture by electrocution a passing stranger was the ability to pass on the responsibility for that heinous act!

So lest we forget we are all fallible and have indeed all have at some point fallen. Condemn the rights of the free man at the risk of creating a new threat. A tightened grip can only hold on to so many and more shall slip twixt the fingers of desperate power!

Sleep well fellow global travellers!

Slowdive

2005-11-08T03:29:00.000Z

God she was beautiful! I sat and watched her last flight in awe; well it wasn’t so much a flight as a plummet. Flaming contrails spread wide from the stubby support wings as if grabbing for support with incandescent wings. If only Shiva were here to see and not encased within the now fatally crippled craft I could see from the confines of my car.

Let me introduce myself to those who are not familiar to the world of the professional transport executive, wheelman, air jockey or whatever term you use for those who have an excess of capability with mechanised forms of transport. My name is Hyper, ok that’s not my real name but it’s what I post on my advertising BBS tags. Now I specialise in wheels, if it has them then I am a veritable Titan at using it. My current vehicle, a sleek Kalitech Sidewinder, is the cream of Grey Op Culture cool. I used to be a racing driver but the challenge just wasn’t there and I got bored. It affected my races and concentration and sure enough I got fired. All the corporate bullshit jacked me off anyway. That was when Shiva entered my life. This elfin slender woman who radiated so much confidence and eyes that danced with razor sharp thrills clothed in a battered flight suit. She said she was a fan so I told her to sling it as I wasn’t in the mood for a blow job. She handed me a card and told me that she had a job for a real good driver. I told her to hire a taxi what she said next blew me away.

That first job defined the rest of my life. Shiva’s thing was speed, hairy balls out nut tightening pulse pounding sweat inducing finger whitening speed! What was more amazing is that she flew naked. No of course she wore a flight suit, what naked means in the Grey Op Culture dictionary is she was without cybernetic enhancements. The correct term is that Shiva Cantrell was an exhibitionist. Thing was so was I back then and that’s why she came to me. Shiva needed someone who could drive a combat team out of an area of electronic and magnetic anomaly. The driver had to be lightening quick and non-enhanced. The combat team itself would likely be mainly out of it with the area being bathed in such cyber-unfriendly radiations. Once clear she was going to swoop from the above the radiation and commit to a high speed magna-latch before flying off with the ground vehicle in the same manner as an eagle would a rabbit. God she was so quick I pissed my pants at the clamp on and passed out from the rapid acceleration, I’d never had so much fun. I was in love and then I spoiled it.

I decided to get myself neural enhancements and a blood pressure equaliser. I had been embarrassed by the ease with which I had passed out and thought maybe getting my nerves jacked and reducing my susceptibility to high-gee manoeuvres would help make us a perfect team. I even got them hardened so Electro-magnetic fields wouldn’t slow me down. It was the wrong move. Shiva threw a shit-fit. I hadn’t known that way back when one of her former boyfriends had come back from an enhancement appointment, he’d changed. The metal had eroded his mind and he’d forced himself on her before throwing himself from their 20th floor habitat. Two months in hospital being put back together and turning down limb replacement after limb replacement for cell grown real meat no matter what the cost had embittered her to the chrome tinted world of cyber. She hadn’t spoken to me since I got wired.

I followed her career from there. She’d gone corporate military. They get all the best flying crackerjacks and she knew it. No exhibitionist could beat her. There was very little but a total Borg that could out fly her physically but no-one could out fly her mentally as uncluttered by wire as she was. She didn’t do combat unless she could avoid it so she got most of the evac and insert jobs. If you needed a team threaded through the eye of a needle before being dropped into a hot zone that could melt diamonds then Shiva was your pilot. That was why she was where she was. Turned out the aforementioned boyfriend had survived his fall by being full-borged. He’d gone corporate military as well but for the opposition. His Corp was at war with Shiva’s. They’d viral bombed one of her Corp’s buildings and then wrecked it by crash diving several Full- Borg piloted VTOL combat craft into key structural points and into the top of the lift shafts! Shiva had volunteered to take survivors from the roof. The job was tricky and dangerous as hell. I turned up after catching the newsflash on Citywide Today with Gervin Testudo. She had less than 4 minutes to get her craft to the roof and evac survivors huddling on the burning rooftop and then clear before the whole building collapsed. All had gone well as the waspish craft cleared the ground with a scream of fire and neatly inserted itself in less than 30 seconds at the parapet. The whole world watched as she mimicked the sway of the building keeping it steady for the survivors. The sheer joy was wiped away as a terrible figure threw wreckage from itself and emerged battered but not down from one of the suicide craft. The Ex-lover tore one of his destroyed crafts Vulcan’s from its rigging and interfaced with it as the shocked escapees gawped with horror. The symphony of metal jacketed rain tore through them as he opened fire whilst Shiva danced her crafts tail away and brought her own guns to bear. That was when the roof blew thrusting steel and Fusioncrete upwards and flipping Shiva’s craft before tearing its stabilisers off in a shower of thermite rain.

And now she fell as a Phoenix to final rest. Without warning an internal fire blew the burning wreckages tail off changing the fragile crafts trajectory. It was heading towards a residential arcology. The life loss would be terrible. All seemed lost as Shiva was surely already dead. That was when the nose lifted and the safety wing spars extended causing the craft to halt and affect a clumsy slow dive stall turn. It had to of been the ugliest manoeuvre I had ever seen Shiva pull but the flames made it transcendental. Flares took place of lead wing feathers and the nose edged gracefully towards the polluted wastage of a river before the spars finally folded and condemned Shiva’s coffin to its interminable plunge into that black cemetery.

She was pulled from that wreckage not much more than a burned shell but the medical teams knew best. They replaced her destroyed nerves and damaged body with artificials and cybernetic parts. They were top of the line provided by a grateful public. I knew she would have hated it so I intervened. She’s sat by me now as we head down the highway. The orderly was a little surprised when my Taser rendered him unconscious, the explosives weren’t easy to get and the insurance companies going to have a shit-fit over the explanation but she can’t do it for herself. They won’t let her. They’ve slo-moded all her nerves so she’d be stuck in a perpetual space walk speed movement cycle to stop her killing herself until they can get her a cyber-shrink to help her adjust. The unfinished bridge rumbles under my wheels and I turn for one last look at her delicate features now free of tubes. The chrome plate over the ravaged right side of her face glimmers in the reddening dusk and her lips slowly blow me a kiss as her hand finds mine and she smiles one last smile and mouths her thanks. As I hit the ejector mechanism I’m rocketed up and back as my beloved Sidewinder launches over the straits. As the explosives tear apart all I have ever loved tears run down my face and mercifully rain comes to hide them as the police cruisers wait for me below. God she was beautiful!

All Characters and Story “Slowdive” copyright Tony Bennett 08-11-2005

DON'T PANIC

2005-11-08T01:33:00.000Z

I am still around. Becoming a father the second time round is a little consuming and I’ve also been indulging in a little irony of a pastime.

10 years ago I used to Wargame a lot. I stopped partly because I got too busy, partly because space was a problem and mostly because of the hand over fist money grabbing tactics of the main producer of the games and figures. Many a time would I walk into the local outlet and have a red shirted individual (If only they had the same life span as a real red shirt!), jump all over me trying to sell me something I really hadn’t come in for and tell me that I really must have this really expensive addition to my army. Now for me it wasn’t too much of a stress because I knew what I was in for and told them politely to examine their anal orifice with their own personal genitalia as they departed and then bought what I wanted anyway. What I objected to was the same approach on budding young gamers who were told say two days before an updated army list was due to be published they really needed the old one and at least 500 points of lead figures (yes back then they were real poisonous lead!) which were about to be phased out in the new list. Ok that scenario is a bit exaggerated but gives you a fairish idea!

Now I am pleased to say that that particular company has changed its policies a lot and have dropped the high pressure sell. In fact the last time I was in most recently to get some new paint (My old paints were 10 years old and some were casualties on the long haul), the staff were genuinely helpful and in fact told me not to buy something because it would be a waste of money as an update was due. Not only that but actually suggested cost cutting solutions. Thinking this may be an anomaly I rechecked with a different member and the same result occurred. I won’t mention the company but bravo, now if you can just cut some costs down as you are still too bloody expensive we’ll really be getting somewhere. I’ve found an outlet that is not belonging to the main company and they can cut at least a fiver (Five pounds sterling or about 8 dollars I think) off vehicles! If they can do it so can the mainline stores!

Now due to having some evenings free I am back on the war trail. That’s the irony really as I detest war in real life but a lot of my pastimes revolve around violent tactical conflict! It’s the tactics really that I like and the competition against a live opponent. Computers are all well and good for games but the level of AI’s brainpower in games is still nowhere near as complex as a human brain. Also as much as graphics are bloody spectacular up until the online revolution roleplaying was pretty linear on computers. However old style role-playing has a lot going for it. Its social and cheap since you are not stuck at a screen paying £5.95 a month for time on game after buying it in the first place just so you can gang up on a poor computer brained and thoroughly predictable bad guy but are in fact not paying a bloody thing more than you originally shelled out on the game whilst sitting in a well lit room with a bunch of mates and going into tangents that even the most powerful PC cannot as yet or I doubt for a while even compute! All this and exercising your imagination which if you let it can outdo even the best graphics card.

Wargaming is a little more expensive but painting the figures is almost as much fun and challenge as actually pitting yourself against an opponent. Oh yes and of course in Roleplaying and Wargaming of the non pixellated variety there are no cheat codes. You actually have to use skill and thought to win! What an unusual concept!

Think on that a while! See y’all

Cracks

2005-09-02T19:42:00.000+01:00

Just thinking and thought I would add them here. I have been watching the news and am frankly appalled at the cracks shown in an alleged superpowers capability to deal with an emergency. Giving Bush a nod for a change, he has acknowledged his countries inadequacy in dealing with the Gulfport area crisis, however he has also asked for 10.5 billion (that’s an American billion by the way) in emergency aid. Proves what I have already said about America’s economy. Of course his lapdog Blair has jumped as well to his aid.

Now I am not saying asking for help is bad but the fact that he is wasting money in Iraq and that he pre-warned New Orleans about the severity but people are dying and living in conditions that reporters of the Boxing Day disaster say are the worst they have seen ANYWHERE, seems to indicate if he had his act together he wouldn’t need aid and people would not be in needless hardship!

Police seem more interested in killing any looter not just those stealing high value goods at gunpoint. No one is getting food or water in and no one is evacuating anyone? Where is the sense in that. An elderly, ill Afro-American woman was seen by one reporter begging a police car for help only to be told to desist and turn back by a pump action shotgun wielding police officer. Where is the compassion?

This is an appalling condemnation of the underbelly of American culture!

On a lighter note if you visit The Unspeakable Page and wish to view the relative sanity of my home city it is there to see!

Clash of Ego's sans preconceptions!

2005-08-31T23:06:00.000+01:00

On my blogging colleagues, Carl Anderson’s own blog, Diary of an Englishman in Hell-A, it has been mentioned about the incident at Ozzfest between Sharon and Bruce. It may also appear I was defending Mrs Osbourne. I would like to set that straight. If you read my comment it merely was attempting to alleviate Carls own coloured opinions as a Maiden fan on the matter. Any good report needs to be balanced so this is how I see it from what I hope is exempt from personal emotions on the matter. However I will make comments that can be construed personally;

Bruce Dickinson has been long known for being egotistical and up front about his opinions. He is very committed to Maiden at the moment however has attempted a less than successful solo career. Maiden have also proved that without Bruce they don’t work. Without his voice, colourful background and ego he couldn’t be a frontman! Having read some of the comments they could have easily been read as barbed comments directly at the Osbournes and Ozzfest in general. Quite rude considering the honour Maiden were being given and the fact that Sharon is recognised as being more influential in rock than Satan and that’s going some. If rudeness is the epitome of British wit then we are further gone than I thought. So I disagree with any attempt at saying Sharon over reacted at the level of insult she heard an insult she reacted that’s it. Also even though everyone else had agreed to drop parts of their set to allow another band to play Bruce actually said he wouldn’t do it even though it would mean that Black Sabbath would have to cut their following set to conform to a curfew law. Read the rest before you lynch me Maiden fans.

Some may not be aware that Steve Harris apologised to Sharon about Bruce BEFORE they went on so he must also have been embarrassed by Bruce. Remember that folks it becomes important at summing up.

Sharon is a classic driven women. This is a person who embodies the raging against the dieing of the light. We in Britain could even affectionately call her a “Battleaxe”. She has fought to keep Ozzie alive and I think we can agree that somehow she has even if some of us aren’t particularly happy with the current wrapper! She supports a lot of up and comers and ploughs a lot back into Rock. Now these are facts not feelings. She can be hard to put up with true but so can any driven women. As far as selling her face on British TV at the moment goes, if someone offered you a wad of cash for a thirty second stint you might be tempted so don’t blame her blame the marketing geek who thinks she is the perfect family face! She is not scared to stake her claim and shout her will. That has to be admired to a degree.

However she freely admits she engineered the power fade outs, the egging and everything else plaguing Maidens set that night. Now if her beef was with Bruce she should have kept it with Bruce. Steve Harris apologised before all this but she still had to get revenge. She admits she took the comments as a personal attack on her family and that if anyone messes with her family she will mess back! Obviously a protective Mother to be sure but definitely questionable.

Because of this Sharon in my opinion is guilty of gross unprofessional behaviour. Her behaviour ultimately hurt her own organised event due to a diminished crowd for Sabbath, The Maiden Fans of which I have been a stolid fan for many a year, the whole genre of rock of which she is a figurehead like it or not and everyone who paid a ticket to see the show. An apology had been made which she chose to ignore. Now she has gone on record to say that her behaviour has made the show more memorable. Having been at Donington Monsters of Rock 1988 I can see her point. Two people died at that one during Guns and Roses and I myself was pulled unconscious from the crowd and even with that tragedy it was voted by Kerrang readers the 6th best ever concert EVER, with that fact in mind though it should never have happened. But I do end up agreeing that despite the egos of the two participants Sharon grossly mishandled the situation period there are other ways she could have handled it. There is a lot to respect about Sharon but nothing to be proud about here. Sharon should apologise and deal with it in an adult way and not like a she-tiger whose cubs have been threatened. Her lack of regret is questionable and frankly disrespectful. On the other foot Bruce maybe sometimes should save his voice for the stage! Much respect to Bruce for the defiance in the face of the odds to try and salvage the show for the fans.

Point made time out! Let the flames begin.

2005-08-27T16:35:00.000+01:00

Saw this on another blog and thought how true;

A black man walked into a cafe early one morning and thn realises that he is the only black man in there as he sat down a white man behind him said,
"coloured people arnt allowed in here!"

the black man then turned around and replied,
"when i was born i was black"
"when i grew up i was black"
"when i was sick i was black"
"when i go in the sun i am still black"
"when im cold i am black"
"when i die i am black"

the white man paused n just looked
and the black man then said,
"when u were born u were pink"
"when u grew up u were still pink"
"when u r sick ur green"
"when ur in the sun u go red"
"when u r cold u go blue"
"when ur dead u go purple"
but still you have the nerve to call me coloured!!!!!

Makes you think doesn't it? Stop racism we are all human!

An Informative Quicky

2005-08-23T23:52:00.000+01:00

Just got hold of the Word Blogger publisher. Great piece of kit making it so much easier to publish. Just realised today that I have less than 3 months till the arrival of my second child. That’s kind of scary.

Those who are observant will have noticed a new link. The Unspeakable Page is my MSN space page. I didn’t bother doing the blog on it though two blogs are quite enough.

Anyway visit and enjoy I hope. There is also a new short story on Dark Pharaohs so feel free to go and read.

I do intend putting quite a bit on it in time but like all things I will take a bit of time.
Well really just time for a quickie so talk to you soon!

Second Chances

2005-08-10T20:06:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of months I have been disappointed to note how some associates of mine are unwilling to give people an even break. Now I can be damn stubborn and difficult to get on with but I also believe in at least giving someone a chance to prove you wrong. Sometimes in the past it has meant that I have had my hand bitten but at least they have proven beyond doubt that they were not to be trusted or relied on. If I cut everyone out of my life who had at some point done something I disapproved of I wouldn't have many friends left. It comes down to whether you can look past the fault. Some things are beyond the pale like harming a member of my family, stealing something from me or taking me for granted continously. Holding a different opinion to me doesn't count. That just makes life more interesting. Thing is I don't particularly hold grudges anymore. I don't seek revenge anymore. I let it be and trust that if they are as bad as I think they will bring harm only to themselves. I can still be opinionated but if I wasn't I wouldn't be alive. I live in continual hope that people can prove themselves better than they are held in others eyes or even my own. In the case of the above three cases I am more likely to severe communication with the offender but I try not to slag them off and hope that at some point in the future they may see their error and meaningfully make amends. In the case of harm to my family it will take a lot to do that. Sometimes I fail and let out the anger and hurt but I do try and let it pass me by. I am only human and am prone to failures like everyone. I just hope I am big enough to look beyond.

In the case I am talking of someone I know has had a fairly major change of life and wishes to alter a few mistakes they have admitted to making. Pretty much every one I know says they will never do it. I however have been defending them by pointing out that though leopards can't change their spots people can change their ways. Saying they will never change merely means that the person trying to change will wonder why they bothered! I have bantered about it with the person in question but I fully support their attempt to change.

Wars are caused by Intolerance and holding grudges. Thats the top end but if people can turn to Colonel Gadaffi and accept his good intentions which are now allowing a grand engineering project of an underground river to help Libya prosper, then letting someone change small errors of their past which are in no way as major as backing global terrorist activity is but a tear in rain!

In Northern Ireland the IRA have finally sworn of violence to put forward their point. Northern Ireland has been a hotbed of sectarian violence for a long while. We people of the United Kingdoms have now got to swallow any hatred for past crimes and let them prove to us that their intentions are good. We have killed and imprisoned many of them sometimes wrongly sometimes with good reason. They have used terrorist activities to kill many of our citizens and armed forces. Peace has now broke out and can only be threatened by extremist views and die hards who will not let it be. Not allowing them to prove their intentions will only make it worse.

One day someone will forget about second chances and press that infamous button. I really hope that its not in my lifetime but with the current holders I am hoping really hard that they prove me wrong about them as well. In the case of the White House Chimpanzee the effort is even making me sweat with exertion!

Keep well. Learn to forget wrongs done and hope for remittances made and we will all live in a better world!

Hi I haven't fallen off planet!

2005-08-04T01:12:00.000+01:00

Just been very busy. People may have noticed the Lethbridge stuff has stopped temporarily. This is mostly due to doing more Call of Cthulhu than World of Darkness! I will add more to Lethbridge eventually just not now. My Call of Cthulhu site is the Dark Pharaohs Temple linked on this page. I am currently Larping one game as Keeper and Table topping another. One set in 1931 Sheffield the other in Lovecraft Country ie Massachusetts 1926. On top of this I have a long running Cyberpunk! Normal blog will be resumed but I am also down a bit at the moment. So bear with me and I will be back soon!

Real Horror

2005-07-14T01:58:00.000+01:00

This page and it's sister page are founded in horror. If you look at their general content that fact can't help but jump out and declare that allegiance! The fact is though the horror they dwell in is fantasy, pure and simple. By now readers of this blog will be aware of the tragedy that occurred on Thursday the 7th of July. Facts were confused at the time but now we with clarity know the truth. Real Horror has reared it's grotesque head. 52+ people died at the hands of a few extremists, many more were injured. Questions were asked as to what country could originate the perpetrators? Was it Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or some other mainly Islamic homeland? From which nest flew the first suicide bombers in Great Britain?

No Real Horror is finding out that every single one of London's suicide bombers was British born and bred! More horror is bound to follow. The security services of this country already expect another attack. Undoubtedly Hard Right Wing organisations such as the British National Party are queueing up to label every person of the Islamic faith as a future culprit. Retribution has followed with attacks on several Mosques across the nation. If we are not careful the nation could easily divide with acrimonious results. I hope people have the sense not to over react however the human race continually tries to find ways of harming itself so I won't be at all surprised if stupidity does reign supreme over common sense!

For those who don't know all the bombers came from West Yorkshire. They travelled into London via Luton Railway Station. Their Hire car was blown up yesterday in a controlled explosion and several houses were raided. During the raids neighbours were chucked out of their own homes and told not to return till the Police told them to. Many spent the night wherever they could find shelter!

As a Liberal these situations make it harder for people to understand a Liberal tolerant outlook. I would ask that people bear in mind that not every Muslim or Asian is a wannabe bomb carrying extremist. It will be that much harder for any who have lost loved ones or are related to the injured to see it but I ask that they attempt to. Knee jerk response and retribution will only serve to make matters worse and escalate the problems. This is not a White versus Islam problem. The problem belongs to us all. In the meantime the best response is to not let them win. By continuing as normal and not letting the act change the way we live we win, they lose.
It's a bit like ignoring a naughty childs tantrum but admittedly a little harder to overlook. Terrorism of this level is social bullying on a grand scale. The acts of cowards and madmen.

Violent death or injury makes no sense! The world makes no sense!

My respect and best wishes go out to anyone who was harmed physically, emotionally or mentally either directly or by association in respect to the events of Thursday the 7th. My Father and Brother were both taken from me by the vagaries of untimely death so I do in some measure understand.

I wish murder and mayhem were confined to fiction but they are not. Maybe one day they will be. We can all dream as much! Sleep well and try not to let fear rule you!

The Hunter of Hunters

2005-07-11T23:16:00.000+01:00

The dark 4X4 scythed through the murky rain. Pulling into the Lethbridge Marchbank Hotel Car Park its light extinguished casting the parking lot into blackness. A tall well built figure in a wide brimmed hat and longcoat climbed out and walked to the tailgate. Rain cascaded down his back guided by the brim. He stopped as if hearing something and then reached into the car and hauled out a sportsbag. Looping his hand round the straps he turned to allow the red neon to illuminate his aryan features. Hard eyes surveyed the area somehow seeming older than the mid-thirties of the face.

Carl Zendik used to love the night back when he was human. How long had it been? Now the night was a chore, a dirty job and he was the someone to do it. For too long the dark ones had ruled in their ivory towers. Deciding who lived, who died and who got to live again. Mercedes Zendik had been one of those chosen to die. His sweet dear sister on her 18th birthday had been invited by one of the ruling undead of his native hometown to a "bitching" party. The coroner had laid on a cock and bull story about suicide and cutting backed up by equally questionable psychiatric evidence. Mercedes would never have gone to a counsellor and certainly was never suicidal or depressive. She was too sure of herself, too much a bon vivant. He'd stolen her body from the morgue and had an old mercenary friend check it over. Merrick had said it had taken nearly 14 hours for her to die. The cause of death, severe blood loss but not from the wounds. The cuts had been done afterwards as if they were little excuses. Zendik had tracked down one of the bastards lackies and nearly didn't come out the other side. The little fuckhead had taken half a clip off of a Steyr Aug and still nearly tore Zendik's head off. Carl got pulped badly and nearly checked out for good. That was when Reyner appeared and beheaded the creep. Reyner sat him down after torching the remains and told him about the undead and then told him how to survive. Reyner had hunted them for decades. Seeing Zendik's fire he took it upon himself to teach Zendik everything he knew.

"You got to drink the blood of your kill, it makes you stronger and you can learn their magicks." Reyner had told him. Carl had baulked at first. That was until Reyner punched through the nearby wall. He hunted the next one down and trapped it. His German Special Forces training held him in good stead. After his first drink he'd never looked back. That was 20 years ago in 1985. Now he hunted the monsters. Relying on his smarts, treating them like the terrorists they in reality were. They in turn hunted and feared him.

Zendik strode towards the front entrance, head canted to one side. Without warning he whirled and pulled a third strap on the bag with a free hand. White cotton and gun fire blossomed from the end of the bag and a shaft of wood exploded from the vinyl carryall. The shaft stopped 4 foot off the ground about 20 feet away. It started moving back slowly as a creature appeared revealed by the impossibilty of the floating wood. The mahogany stake protruded from the viscious rat-like fiends upper shoulder as it stalked towards him.

"Missed! That's the last chance you will ever get deadmeat" screamed the now pouncing undead creature.

Zendik just tugged the strap again as a second shaft followed the path of the first shredding more of the padding in the bag. The look of frenzy on the leaping monsters face turned to surprise as the new shaft imploded his dead heart. He furrowed a trail of murky water in the tarmac as he thudded paralysed to the ground. Zendik stopped him with the sole of his battered army boot and bent down pulling a machete from his coat.

"Double barrelled deadmeat! Pity you won't learn never to hide in rain Haunt!" Zendik hissed as he brought the blade down severing its head. The ancient enchanted Peruvian blade Reyner had bequeathed him bringing final rest to the dead vampire. Zendik turned and walked into the hotel depositing the bag in a large rubbish bin whilst simultaneously sheathing the machete. Yes it sure was a dirty job and Zendik was well prepared to carry it out. Behind him the rain washed away the rotting vampire. Time to clean Lethbridge!

(Carl Zendik used by the kind permission of Markham Eggleton)

Chastisement

2005-07-02T21:29:00.000+01:00

Those offended by my scribes outburst may like to know he has been chastised. In order to recover from the slapping I have given him he has added a tale to his own project The Dark Pharaohs Temple. I would go and read it please or I will have to put up with his ineffable sulking.

Yours Alfie

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

2005-07-02T16:14:00.000+01:00

You would have to be severely out of the loop today to not know today is the global Live 8 concert. I am going to recognise this fact here and tell anyone who is anyone to take notice. The web epitomises how global the world has become and we are fools to believe any other thing. We in the Uk have a child obesity epidemic on our hands, African families wish that was their problem. 20,000 people die every day through poverty and that is ridiculous when we have food overspills and our leaders do not recognise the needs of the poorer countries. Screw terms like Third World we are ONE world. Do something about it. They don't want your money they want you! Go to Edinburgh if you can if you can't then you are obviously on the net so go to www.live8live.com and register your name. Buy a wristband. Whatever it doesn't matter this still concerns you. I have heard people say politics does not affect them. Sorry if you find this abusive but those type of people are F*cking idiots. ALL politics affect you. Choose not to vote and you have no right to complain about the guy who gets in who decides about your future medical health, economical future, right to drive, how much your Dolce and Gabbana costs (if you are that shallow) and finally your freedoms! Tony Blair and George Bush got in because of those type of people. Everything you do is decided by them ultimately but here's the rub. They are voted for BY you. I have heard non-voters say that they do not let anyone tell them what to do. Sorry but if you don't vote then you are just sitting by and letting someone you didn't choose rule your life and millions of others. Apathy Kills! Tell the 8 world leaders they cannot let people die because they want to stay in power. You know its right. Support Live 8 by doing something and guess what? if you want you can do it without moving from that comfy chair you are undoubtedly sat on! There is no excuse.

A little verification.

2005-06-16T20:44:00.000+01:00

Good evening my fine morsels,
I have finally managed to tort... sorry, convince, my minion and editor of this electronic page of marvels to supply an adequate image of my visage so you can see who is the real power behind these pages. I have allowed him his little side projects but it is indeed I Alfred Sharpe at your service. I know the image is a little blurry but that cannot be helped my kind do not photograph well so I haven't punished him too severely for any inadequacies he truly did his best or at least the best he can do with two broken fingers and fracture of the lower arm! However it has meant I have had to allow him a small vacation in order to recover so neither his side project "The Dark Pharaohs" temple or indeed my fine repository here will be updated for a little while. I am currently busy with my brother Keter aquiring business properties in my local area. Humans are so easy to convince what is truly best for them when they are sweating with fear, it is quite delicous! Must go now as my editor is complaining of severe pain in his arm so as soon as I let it go he can sign off for me.

Yours Alfred "Roadhawk" Sharpe.

A few clips

2005-06-05T00:12:00.000+01:00

Been a bit busy so had no time to update the blog. With that in mind astute viewers may note a new blog on my links. The Wolf Pit now has a Sister site in Darkness. Like this site outside influence is welcome in order to add to the Lovecraftian horror it supports.

The Dark Pharaohs Temple supports my Cthulhu game. It is based in Lovecraft Country Innsmouth, Arkham, Kingsport and Dunwich. The timeline is currently circa 1925/1926 and I would like to add that at times you may find some items offensive. Please bear in mind that the site will reflect a lot of the thoughts of the 20's and it is indeed fiction. NO Demons will be in reality summoned or bound, no one shall be brainwashed into murder just by reading the website and it is all total make believe.

I wouldn't normally say as such but lets face it as a friend recently pointed out (Crum) a lot of people seem to think that rolling a few dice and having fun can;

A. Force you to aquire a gun and shoot several people who have annoyed you.

B. Prevent you from having sex merely by being a spotty brainless nerd.

C. Stop you doing anything of worth in the world.

D. Make you eat a lot of junk food and drink coke while using your brain.

Off course only one of these is accurate as to my knowledge I have never killed anyone for real in the 20+ years I have gamed. I have one daughter and am married with another child on the way, since immaculate conception is most likely a myth and no medical procedures were involved a damn good shag must of been. I am a potential local councillor and have been commended by Cabinet member Hazel Blears for my work in my local area in reducing crime and helping wayward youths. I've also put on a bit of weight. Guess which one is true now?

The site may soon also support a Live action Cthulhu that my live action group have been asking for. If the current Larp doesn't take off I have been asked to run one. This will be run in Sheffield in the 20's.

More will follow soon I hope.

Development and Revenge

2005-05-24T00:01:00.000+01:00

Lethbridge is a developing City. Green areas are fast being swallowed. Cranbridge McAdam Construction sees to that. The fastest growing property development and land management company in Lethbridge. The 9 Hole Golf course which ate up the gorgeous wooded park was one of theirs. Complaints were made but never acted on. Now they turn their sights on areas of Norwood where they intend to turn 10 Acres of woodland into Meridian Leisure. Protesters are routinely turned off of the land where semi permanent squatters camps risk the allegedly haunted and cursed woods even though several of them have had “accidents”. The council are also considering their tender for the urban renewal of the Overthorpe and Underthorpe districts.

The entertainment area of Lethbridge is diverse. Crown jewel of the section is the Casino known as The Fools Gambit. A testament to the governments relaxed gambling license laws it stands in the middle of a complex of Cinemas, Hotels and assorted Eateries. If only the mortal populace knew more about what lies behind the glittering facade. It now lies under new ownership as it once was held in the hands of the local Invictus but with Holden-McDowell’s disappearance two years ago the Lancea Sanctum swooped in and swept it up. You might think it odd but the Sanctified do not. You see with their laws against feeding off of the holy and belief they are the reapers of Gods vengeance against the sinful what better honey trap than a casino.

In Old Lethbridge the criminal community live in fear. It seems someone is playing vigilante. Several drug dealers have turned up killed with either their own weapons or overdosed on their own merchandise. Police are baffled but to be honest aren’t really trying to put it together as long as only the scum dies. The last case however involved Rodney Danvers serial rapist. Local kids found him in an abandoned tenement block with his trousers round his ankles. His face was full of terror and his alimentary canal filled with a nail studded baseball bat which according to reports had been rammed in and out several times by someone with unnatural strength. The names of his victims were written in his blood on the four crumbling walls. The problem was Danvers was a Police Constable and none of his victims reported it until after they were questioned by the Police. So how could any vigilante know about the crimes and names especially the names of those who had died from his attentions? The Police had at first thought it unconnected till they found the burnt handprint on his chest which matched all the others. Of course they deny Rodney was a rapist but then they would wouldn’t they?

Yes Lethbridge is a developing City but what is it developing into?

On Shaping Life?

2005-05-23T23:57:00.000+01:00

It’s so refreshing to know you have done something positive to change the world. I do a bit in the local community to help redirect the efforts of troublesome youth. Recently I attended a catch up which amply demonstrated the changes that had been made. One of the newer kids was one of the most troublesome kids around here and now he is behaving and hasn’t been a trouble for months. The provided site has gone from a mess to a fairly decent allotment and crime is down. Not only that but its won awards. Next target is an alliance against an increased BNP vote in the area of 3.9% at last election and the dressing down of a so called community leader who doesn’t represent the community.

I need to say happy birthday to Carl Anderson over in Hell-A. I hope Torrance is suiting him well.

Moaning about the world is one thing however in this life doing something about it is far more important. In a world where apathy is the new way of life I am glad I do not follow the new way of life.

This blog may be a lot of dreams and imagination but behind it all is hard bitten reality. It’s fine to have dreams but life also exists and has to be dealt with. If you can shape dreams then why not shape life as well? That’s my philosophy. Life is hell but it is easier to live in hell within which a little bit of heaven exists than it is to bear heaven blighted by a little hell for one shows hope and the other shows the onset of despair!

Justice and the passage of paradox

2005-05-18T22:13:00.000+01:00

Things have taken another twist for the bizarre in Lethbridge. The Black Cat of Lethbridge aka Dr Raines was sent along with the tortured artist and the hacker Moorish to check on the arrival of a newcomer. No one knows how Rastanavic knew of the new Mekhets arrival but they went and met him bringing him before the council where he and Raines were told they would decide on their respective rights to live in City limits. The votes were tight but they were both allowed to stay however Raines was warned not to let his aquisitionist habits stretch to any of the Lancea Sanctum territories. Rastanavic then pulled them aside and informed them of the urgency of the Hopkins murder case and how the sooner it was proven that Bishop Corvis's crew were guilty the better.

On arrival Stewart was greeted by the ghosts of the dead and noted that their were no ghosts from the similar deaths in 1955. The ghosts proved harmless and gave the investigators the clue "Bring Justice to our Killer" as a way to lay them to rest. However their investigations alerted the Malice spirit secreted behind the shield boss that mounted the murder weapons which promptly attacked possessing Dr Raines and turning his Calamitous capability against his colleagues. Stewart transferred to Dire Wolf form and crossed the gauntlet as the Mekhet and Raines/Malice spirit jousted with pool cues. Stewart the n attacked the spirit in the spirit world forcing it to relinquish Raines who soon located the spirits anchor for its bans and severed its hold on the world. The Ghosts however did not leave so more needs doing.What could it be?

Raines and Stewart took time out. Stewart to carry out his work for "The Witching Hours" walls and Raines to bug his reluctant landlord Stewart. The Derelict Alpha Gorman or Councillor Dave as he has come to be known popped in for a wash only to be confronted by the over enthusiastic Dr Dieter Marcus Orthodontist to wolfen appearing from a door frame in a dressing gown in Stewarts front room. Things rapidly went worse particularly after Gorman decide to eat the tropical fish in a bag that the poor dentist had appeared with. The Universe got worse as Raines suddenly got turned into a series of Doctors of the Who variety, the tower block transported to Skaro, they fought a Cyberman, got turned into various charcters from the series, had Raines literally talk garbage and generally were subjected to a barrage of strangeness centered on Marcus. The upshot of which is that they now have a TV which gets free cable when not plugged in and a working Sonic Screwdriver and no idea why Dr Marcus temporarily gained the ability to alter reality at a whim! Only time will reveal!

Deals without Wheels?

2005-05-11T20:15:00.000+01:00

The Council Macabre gains a new group. Due to a misunderstanding by various Urathan kin, Lethbridges more hairy community Dave Gorman and the tortured Urathan artist John Stewart met with Gregor Rastanavic at his business known as The Witching Hour. Gregors attempts to cover up the incompetent disposal of a body by the ex-Invictus Kyle Ramvana caused the two cultures to clash. This was further complicated by Zamiel one of Gregors Ordo Dracul Haunts spotting the arrival of a Bohagande riding his luck. Dr Stephen Reines was his name a collector of rare antiquities, Tomb robber to those of a less gracious favour. He had been run out of Sheffield for being a bit too good at Blackjack and Roulette. The local kindred showed their collective displeasure and Dr Reines relocated. Gregor wished him removed but has seen a possibilty for distracting his rivals in the Lancea Sanctum who had been sheltering the kin of the Uratha from his bullish ghouls ministrations. In Stewart he saw a chance to decorate his place in a manner befitting the usual custom. No human could delve so deep as to show true inner torment and no vampire had the creative spark necessary. Only the alienation of an Urathan would do. As luck would have it, apparently more common this luck thing since Reines appearance, Reines was in the company of the Urathans killing two problems with one stone. A little bit of manipulation and the artist was primed. The masquerade was preserved with the foresite of Gorman or Council member Dave as he is now known much to the displeasure of the Invictus and the Sanctified. The city Urathan have a say and means that the two races are less likely to clash. Well thats the plan anyway. The Bohagande is in the city and somewhat better off, at least until he finds the Casino known as Fools Gambit. The Wolf kin Hacker known as Moorish and the over enthusiastic dentist to Wolf kin lie in the side nave of the Cathedral unaware of how their bacon is no longer sizzling. The body of Franklin Smith, Kyle Ramvana's screw up and would be mugger, now is a pile of ash while his wife rots as an apparent suicide in her tower block squalor her body overflowing with anti-depressants and cheap blended whisky. Did she choose too kill herself not able to bear widowhood or did someone darker push it on her? Throughout all this Leonard Hopkins lies in his cell expounding on his innocence regarding the brutal axe murder of his entire family at his pub, "The George and Dragon", despite the evidence. Does the fact that something similar happened in 1955 have any bearing on the facts or is he really so evil as to be able to sleep so well that he is pulled from his own bed while his family still lie bleeding? Will anyone care enough to look into it or will he just serve life for a crime he may not have committed? Lethbridge has made up its mind but is his guilt that certain. Time and maybe luck will tell!

Matters of Sanity and Conscience

2005-05-07T22:45:00.000+01:00

Black, red, black, red,
The sundered lash does strike,
Impaled on death cold wall,
Victim to the heartless Shrike,
Charybdis enfold me,
Drown me in salt stained hell,
For my torn ears listen,
As my head nods to Charons bell.

Drawn by lamb was I,
Wolf snared in a velvet trap,
Bound tight was I,
A petrified tree without sap.
The dark is silent,
Sibilant in its wanton ways,
to taunt the sense,
The will like bamboo in typhoon sways.

Am I fool to think,
that my soul still lies unmarked?
do I dream you think,
that untouched my heart lies parked,
In a garage white,
With walls of innocence made?
Should I my friend,
Have my kindness finally laid?

Am I a tool you think,
Of powers I cannot think to stop?
Do my efforts sink,
Under a blackened evergrowing crop?
Am I an Angel now,
Doomed to an everlasting Purgatory?
Or should I tear up my book,
Kick back ,ride and start another Story?

Shall I let it free?
Shall I became what I fear?
For sanities sake,
Should I, my conscience heavily sear?
In inhuman bondage,
And needles of white hot pain,
Or still fight the fight,
To be dragged down and screaming
as I lose all that is sane?

Tell me heart,
Tell me true,
Is there a monster in me?
Or do I see it in you?

Behind the scenes and an overview of a setting.

2005-05-07T15:56:00.000+01:00

Being a GM is hard work especially inbetween being a dad. Have a whole City setting to design is taxing. So far i've been winging it but no doubt someone will eventually get all macho and want to kill something so I'd better get the non-cannon fodder designed. Mooks are easy, characters are hard. My fictional WoD City is called Lethbridge and is one of those Cities that borderlines Town or City Status. It's set in Derbyshire in an undisclosed nook between Manchester, Sheffield and Chesterfield. The River Lethe runs through it from which it gets its name. Vampires, Werewolves and Mortals all exist in my campaign and are all represented in the player group. Eventually Mages will also be added in. I'm going to vent these out over this Blog and maybe people will add to the world with their own input. I've always been that kind of GM/ST. I like my players to feel they have input. Now I am letting the World in.
Now Lethbridge is a difficult town to live in if you are a Vamp. You see it's not known why but no-one can hold Prince or whatever the holder called it before their fate. Everytime someone said "Okay I'm Top Dog and you can all lump it!", they disappeared during the day. All that was left was ash. The last attempt by Malcolm Holden-Mcdowell of the Ventrue/Invictus was also doomed. Malcolm calmly announced his position after a brutal series of status undercutting and influence destruction. He then surrounded himself with Retainers, cameras and automated defence weaponry and lay down in his bank vault for the morning putting a security seal on for evidence of tampering. The next night he didn't rise and the seal was intact. After much debate and after conferring with two of the Cities Elders Gregor Rastanavic of the Mekhet and Ordo Dracul and Bishop Edward Boskon of the Ventrue and Lancea Sanctum whilst being accompanied by the much younger Joseph Gravesen second in charge of the cities Invictus and also Ventrue they opened the Princes Chamber. All that remained was the same pure white ash that had been found at all the other deaths. This has the city in turmoil. The Carthians and unbound love it though as they now hold a lot of power. You see Democracy reigns in Lethbridge and that can only help both their goals. Representatives of all the Covenants meet and decide on how to go ahead. The Invictus are frustrated especially as they have lost the most members to attempts of rule and now feel overwhelmed by the power of those left and have the least members on the Council Macabre (Rastanavic came up with the name and no-one objected) That is just the one and thats Gravesen. The mostly Westminster Creed Lancea Sanctum now believe it is all Gods plan to show that temporal power means nothing. Their numbers have swollen from all the confused and lost. However with their recent loss of Boskon under unknown circumstances, The new hardline Bishop Corvis is advocating a prudent but directed approach. They have set themselves the task of ensuring that the Dracul and Circle do not get their way. The Ordo Dracul are resting on their laurels and looking to discover the reason for the lack of success in an attempt to surmount it and go beyond but they are very, very patient. They are not happy either because apparently Lethbridge rest on 7 places of power. 5 of these have churches on them, one has a Cathedral and they are all held by the followers of Longinus. The 7th the Dracul hold that being the Lethbridge Castle and Museum site. Their are rumours however of an 8th! The Circle of the Crone are few in numbers and do not care particularly but are worried about the Sanctifieds recent gains.
The openess of the Policies allow a radical mix of kindred but in matters of Progeny and Diablerie the Traditions are taken at their wording not interpretation. The Covenants all agreed this was Draconian but fair!

The Werewolves stay mostly out of Lethbridge but a few reside in the city and the rest roam the peak district. They have kinfolk in the city and a responsibilty to ensure the blood suckers do not abuse them. An uneasy truce exists between the two races. This does not mean that there are no incidents though. The Vampires agree that the City is their province and the Werewolves have the Peak District. Not much is known about their society.

Thats a bit about one of my worlds anyway. So far its going well. Feel free to suggest or send NPC's through on this Blog or even bars and clubs. Only one of each is set at the moment. This is an English campaign so try to bear that in mind and it is low on big fights and big on brains and horror. Even then though doesn't mean to say such people or situations do not exist.

If you contribute thanks.

Election Day

2005-05-06T19:54:00.000+01:00

Well today Labour got in again, no accounting for taste. Being a Liberal Democrat I am both pleased and disappointed at the result for my party. It was the best result since Lloyd George. I wasn't always political but after doing a few things locally to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the area without resorting to heavy handedness I got asked to stand as an available councillor. Considering I am a long haired getting near to middle aged rocker wityh a goatee and leather I couldn't help seeing a funny side. Have since realised that its easy to moan about stuff but doing something about it is far more satisfying I now feel more fulfilled.
Pity about voting turn out though. People fought so we have control over our future even if it is frustrating and occassionally appears pointless. I am firmly of the opinion that if you don't use your vote you have no right to moan over the outcome. I did vote and I am not happy about the outcome consider this my rightful moan. 39% of eligible voters didn't and that could of changed things I guarantee that most of them will whine about something decided by the current government and if thats the case they had the chance to do something but didn't. Apathy will be the end of the human race.
Still I've spent most of my time today looking after my two year old daughter as I do most days. Children do change you and your whole world view. Those who have them will understand those who don't wont.
I have been evil this week enough. Running a New World of Darkness campaign. Would prefer to do Cthulhu but as a Democrat I let the players have a lot of decision power. I run slots twice weekly. One at the moment is usually Cyberpunk the other flip flops between many games however the campaign is kept running between sessions. Have been a GM for over 20 years now. Apparently I'm a good one according to my players so I suppose there must be some merit.
Hopefully future blog entrys will be less serious but that depends on the world really.

Welcome to the Pit

2005-05-06T19:37:00.000+01:00

This is Sharpes Wolf Pit. I am an aging Roleplayer among other things and run many many different genre of game. I also do the odd bit of Larp. The name is in fact derived from one of my more recent characters. Bear in mind that my thoughts veer from my family to cruelties inflicted on my players. Please do not get them confused for yours and my own sanity