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HISTORICAL FOREWORD for THE GREATER GOOD
The asteroid measured quite large by any standard. For the tiny green planet, called Earth by those
ancients, the huge frozen rock hurtling toward them meant death. Fortunately, the people of this world
knew something of technology. They set out to cheat fate and escape the extinction which so much of the
planet’s life had suffered the last time such an event occurred. The cataclysm zooming toward them
united them for the first time ever into one people, and they won. They weren’t entirely decimated. The
asteroid didn’t crash into their sphere of rock, but rather was turned enough, slowed enough, so that the
instrument of death was instead killed itself. Caught in the gravity trap of the very planet it would have
destroyed, the space traveler was forever imprisoned in orbit around the Earth. No one celebrated in
joyous triumph on the planet surface. The addition of the new moon caused natural disaster after
disaster. A desperate struggle to survive began. The asteroid, large enough to have its own
gravitational pull, tilted its captor enough to change the Earth’s entire climatic scheme. Ice caps melted
and tropics froze. Floods inundated cities and farmlands alike. Earthquakes knocked down mountains
and raised up new ones. The dual moons raised huge storms and lifted waves on oceans gone mad.
Within months of the bitter victory over the asteroid over ninety percent of animal life perished as man
relearned a lesson he constantly needs to be retaught. Nature was and is the most powerful of forces
despite man’s arrogant assumption of dominance over all things. Continents were cut off from each
other. All technology was lost or destroyed. The survivors sought only to live, and so they did. Slowly, over
centuries, small settlements established societies. Each community, unaware of the others, worked to
recover civilization from the depths they’d fallen backward in history.
Inevitably, dissatisfaction and curiosity, ever the bane and the hope of mankind, motivated some to
explore. After twelve centuries of isolation the seas were once again crossed. The explorers
discovered strange societies with odd customs but ultimately with the same goal. Survive and grow. To
do so, sometimes sacrifices had to be made. A personal sacrifice for the greater good of the world has
always been an honorable way to spend one’s life. One such example, recorded here, led to the rapid
expansion of the western continent.
Maria Celebria
Official historian for the University of Parlania
1527P.A.(post asteroid)
HISTORICAL FORWARD for THE LESSER EVIL
After the great cataclysm, many of the isolated societies tried to expand their knowledge of their
physical world. Some desired to explore what lay over the next hill and beyond the raging seas. Others
sought to retrieve the technology from ages past. The most progress was achieved when the two groups
worked together.
The warrior classes rose to the top ranks of the colonies as is true in most young societies. Out of
these elite slices of humanity came the scholars and scientists who would take civilization forward in
great leaps.
The way was not smooth and encompassed many generations. With the advances that benefitted
the health and quality of life also came the habits that plagued every habitat where more than one
human lived together. Avarice, weakness of spirit and dissolution of honor and morals became more
commonplace when man no longer needed to spend all his energies for survival. The easier their lives
became, the more the dark side of human nature could assert itself.
As the tiny pockets of survivors grew and expanded, they found the greatest enemy to their future was
not from without, but rather from within themselves. The warriors who once protected the citizens from
the dangers of the wild now turned to policing those who destroy their colonies with treachery and deceit.
Sometimes in those difficult times, men and women were forced to chose between the lesser of two
evils. If good sense and luck aided in the choice, some good might arise from the action.
Maria Celebria
Official historian for the University of Parlania
1527 P.A.
HISTORICAL FOREWORD for A RUTHLESS GOOD
Exploration of the greater world was to be a dangerous venture as man’s inherent curiosity drove
him ever farther from the safe walls of home and hearth. Vague memories passed down from
generation to generation of great cities, universities of learning and hubs of commerce and prosperity
tugged at the base desire of mankind to improve themselves. Explorers seeking to better the world for
the next generation trekked bravely into the unknown.
Not everything discovered in the wide world is a benefit to the seekers who find it. Sometimes the
intrepid adventurers would stumble upon a find so perverted, so grotesque, no words written here can
describe the horrors.
Witnesses to one such discovery often spoke of the nightmares they carried with them for the entirety
of the lives. Men and women were changed forever by their encounter with a true, ruthless evil.
Man’s cruelty to one another is often hidden within the guise of necessity. How often is an evil act
rationalized as being for the betterment of all? How often does one segment of society suffer atrocious
ill treatment so another segment can flourish and forward their own agenda?
Few societies are populated only by their victims and their venal abusers. In all such environments
are those who refuse to submit to perverted masters or to join them in their malevolent roles. In even the
most vile of environment that man creates, there will dwell some good men. One good man can make a
difference.
A good man alone will fight for justice and freedom. He will also die for the same. Dying in the
defense of free will and righteousness is a hero’s death. But fighting for the same and living, winning
those things, creates legends.
Mass changes in the workings of a society take more one good man. Civilization at its finest is built
by the compassion and strength of its women. The strong arms of men may wield a lethal sword, but
the boundless spirit of a courageous woman is the rock that steadies the world.
At times one woman embodies the essence of a people. A woman with joy in her heart, optimism in
her soul and adventure ingrained in her character. It took such women to free the northern colonies and
build them once more into thriving societies.
The turnabout of the northern peoples’ decline exacted a price on the hearts and lives of their
saviors. Blood flowed and stained the earth as well as hearts.
It might have been worse, but a good man learned a terrible lesson. In order to defeat true evil, one
must be as cold-hearted and as unrelenting as the enemy. Sometimes good must be as ruthless as
evil.
Maria Celebria
Official Historian for the University of Parlania
1528 P.A.
The asteroid measured quite large by any standard. For the tiny green planet, called Earth by those
ancients, the huge frozen rock hurtling toward them meant death. Fortunately, the people of this world
knew something of technology. They set out to cheat fate and escape the extinction which so much of the
planet’s life had suffered the last time such an event occurred. The cataclysm zooming toward them
united them for the first time ever into one people, and they won. They weren’t entirely decimated. The
asteroid didn’t crash into their sphere of rock, but rather was turned enough, slowed enough, so that the
instrument of death was instead killed itself. Caught in the gravity trap of the very planet it would have
destroyed, the space traveler was forever imprisoned in orbit around the Earth. No one celebrated in
joyous triumph on the planet surface. The addition of the new moon caused natural disaster after
disaster. A desperate struggle to survive began. The asteroid, large enough to have its own
gravitational pull, tilted its captor enough to change the Earth’s entire climatic scheme. Ice caps melted
and tropics froze. Floods inundated cities and farmlands alike. Earthquakes knocked down mountains
and raised up new ones. The dual moons raised huge storms and lifted waves on oceans gone mad.
Within months of the bitter victory over the asteroid over ninety percent of animal life perished as man
relearned a lesson he constantly needs to be retaught. Nature was and is the most powerful of forces
despite man’s arrogant assumption of dominance over all things. Continents were cut off from each
other. All technology was lost or destroyed. The survivors sought only to live, and so they did. Slowly, over
centuries, small settlements established societies. Each community, unaware of the others, worked to
recover civilization from the depths they’d fallen backward in history.
Inevitably, dissatisfaction and curiosity, ever the bane and the hope of mankind, motivated some to
explore. After twelve centuries of isolation the seas were once again crossed. The explorers
discovered strange societies with odd customs but ultimately with the same goal. Survive and grow. To
do so, sometimes sacrifices had to be made. A personal sacrifice for the greater good of the world has
always been an honorable way to spend one’s life. One such example, recorded here, led to the rapid
expansion of the western continent.
Maria Celebria
Official historian for the University of Parlania
1527P.A.(post asteroid)
HISTORICAL FORWARD for THE LESSER EVIL
After the great cataclysm, many of the isolated societies tried to expand their knowledge of their
physical world. Some desired to explore what lay over the next hill and beyond the raging seas. Others
sought to retrieve the technology from ages past. The most progress was achieved when the two groups
worked together.
The warrior classes rose to the top ranks of the colonies as is true in most young societies. Out of
these elite slices of humanity came the scholars and scientists who would take civilization forward in
great leaps.
The way was not smooth and encompassed many generations. With the advances that benefitted
the health and quality of life also came the habits that plagued every habitat where more than one
human lived together. Avarice, weakness of spirit and dissolution of honor and morals became more
commonplace when man no longer needed to spend all his energies for survival. The easier their lives
became, the more the dark side of human nature could assert itself.
As the tiny pockets of survivors grew and expanded, they found the greatest enemy to their future was
not from without, but rather from within themselves. The warriors who once protected the citizens from
the dangers of the wild now turned to policing those who destroy their colonies with treachery and deceit.
Sometimes in those difficult times, men and women were forced to chose between the lesser of two
evils. If good sense and luck aided in the choice, some good might arise from the action.
Maria Celebria
Official historian for the University of Parlania
1527 P.A.
HISTORICAL FOREWORD for A RUTHLESS GOOD
Exploration of the greater world was to be a dangerous venture as man’s inherent curiosity drove
him ever farther from the safe walls of home and hearth. Vague memories passed down from
generation to generation of great cities, universities of learning and hubs of commerce and prosperity
tugged at the base desire of mankind to improve themselves. Explorers seeking to better the world for
the next generation trekked bravely into the unknown.
Not everything discovered in the wide world is a benefit to the seekers who find it. Sometimes the
intrepid adventurers would stumble upon a find so perverted, so grotesque, no words written here can
describe the horrors.
Witnesses to one such discovery often spoke of the nightmares they carried with them for the entirety
of the lives. Men and women were changed forever by their encounter with a true, ruthless evil.
Man’s cruelty to one another is often hidden within the guise of necessity. How often is an evil act
rationalized as being for the betterment of all? How often does one segment of society suffer atrocious
ill treatment so another segment can flourish and forward their own agenda?
Few societies are populated only by their victims and their venal abusers. In all such environments
are those who refuse to submit to perverted masters or to join them in their malevolent roles. In even the
most vile of environment that man creates, there will dwell some good men. One good man can make a
difference.
A good man alone will fight for justice and freedom. He will also die for the same. Dying in the
defense of free will and righteousness is a hero’s death. But fighting for the same and living, winning
those things, creates legends.
Mass changes in the workings of a society take more one good man. Civilization at its finest is built
by the compassion and strength of its women. The strong arms of men may wield a lethal sword, but
the boundless spirit of a courageous woman is the rock that steadies the world.
At times one woman embodies the essence of a people. A woman with joy in her heart, optimism in
her soul and adventure ingrained in her character. It took such women to free the northern colonies and
build them once more into thriving societies.
The turnabout of the northern peoples’ decline exacted a price on the hearts and lives of their
saviors. Blood flowed and stained the earth as well as hearts.
It might have been worse, but a good man learned a terrible lesson. In order to defeat true evil, one
must be as cold-hearted and as unrelenting as the enemy. Sometimes good must be as ruthless as
evil.
Maria Celebria
Official Historian for the University of Parlania
1528 P.A.
Historical Forewords
