#Thule Covert | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lumierecharity · 2 years

Text

ST PATRICK MISSIONARY TO THE IRISH c. 389 - 461 CENTURIES AGO A BUBBLING WELL IN THE HEART OF DUBLIN WAS THE SCENE OF COUNTLESS BAPTISMS AT THE HANDS OF THE CELEBRATED SAINT PATRICK. Today, pilgrims stand and pray at the sacred site of the ancient well which lies outside the walls of St Patrick's Cathedral. Devotees to the Saint still walk on pilgrimage to sites all over Dublin, following in the footsteps of the great Saint. This devotion, many centuries after this man walked on Ireland's green hills, give rise to the question; Who was Patrick? Ancient Ireland Ireland was the last piece of land on the journey west; it was known as 'the back of beyond'. In Latin this translated as ultima Thule; the voyage's last stop. Celtic culture held full sway over the island when the young Patricius arrived, having been captured as a slave. In the fifth century AD, Ireland's population depended on mixed farming and the rearing of cattle and sheep. There were no cities as we know them today. Instead, early Celtic settlements had ring-forts enclosing the dwellings. Thick forests covered large areas of the land, and about one hundred chieftains ruled as clan kings. Within one hundred years after the death of Patricius - eventually known as Patrick - the influence of this man of God had led to the warrior-kings converting to Christianity. Patrick's early life Patrick grew up in a place called Bannavem Taberniae - possibly in Britain. His father, Calpurnius, was a local governing official who was also a deacon in the Church. Potitus, Patrick's grandfather, was a priest - a presbyter. The family lived in a villa on a farm, and owned slaves, to whom Patrick was very attached. They were devout Christians, and Calpurnius' role in the Church included duties during worship and visiting Church members when they were sick or in need. Around 400 AD, before his sixteenth birthday, Patrick was abducted from his home by slavers. His enslavement abruptly interrupted his education, and in later years this sad fact deeply affected Patrick. He felt that he had not been as well educated as many of his peers, and this had impact on his self image and mood. However, this did not affect his ministry, which flourished under his God-given vocation to preach, teach, and covert to Christ. Slavery in Ireland Many thousands were enslaved alongside Patrick that fateful day. A ship had come in from Ireland in search of plunder and valuable slave labour. At that time, large slave markets flourished in early Dublin, with buyers coming in from all over the known world. In the Iron Age, Roman power was gradually declining towards the end of the 3rd century. Britain fell prey to attacks from those closest to her borders. Irish chieftains raided across the water and expanded their territories eastward. The kingdom of Dalriada in the north-east extended into northern Britain and Scotland. This created a route for some of the first Irish missionaries. Most famous of raiders and slavers was Niall of the Nine Hostages. It is said he controlled land through hostages taken from the Scots, Saxons, Britons and Fench, as well as Irish. [1] He is reportedly credited with capturing the young Patrick and bringing him back to Ireland as a slave in the middle of the 5th century. Mound of the Hostages It is believed, prior to being sold, Patrick was held at the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara. Patrick became the slave of a master on a farm near the woods of Foclut, by the western sea in County Mayo. It is believed that the master was a warrior chief, whose opponents' heads sat atop sharp poles around his palisade in Northern Ireland. Patrick became a herder, protecting the animals from attack by wild animals. He toiled in his duties, battered by wind and rain, on the side of Slemish Mountain. [2] His life as slave in Ireland was a harsh one, and he endured long bouts of hunger and thirst. [3] He also lived in complete isolation from other human beings for months at a time - a psychologically searing experience indeed. Patrick worked as a slave from age 16 until he was 22 on this mountain. The mountain - which rises to 1,500 feet - lies in County Antrim. During this time of trial, Patrick's relationship to God - not very deep initially despite his Christian upbringing - strengthened and deepened. One of his continually used prayers was eventually woven into a song called 'St Patrick's Breastplate' [the [Lorica]]. One verse reads; 'Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me. Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me; Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.' Lifted up high Patrick placed trustful reliance on the creed, and experienced numerous dreams and visions sent by God. In one vision Patrick saw himself portrayed as a lifeless stone. The Almighty took hold of the stone of Patrick, lifted him from the mud, and set him on top of the wall. The inference was clear; what was slave and seen as of low consequence was about to be made leader; to be lifted to a position of pivotal importance in God's Holy Service. Escape from Captivity One night, in his sleep, Patrick heard a voice saying to him, 'It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.' Again, after a short while, he heard a voice saying, 'See, your ship is ready'. In obedience to this heavenly message, Patrick made a break for freedom. After six years of slavery, he started on the two hundred mile journey to the east coast. When Patrick arrived at the ship which had been foretold, it had already raised anchor for sail. The crew - initially reluctant to take him on as passenger - eventually relented. They set sail with Patrick safely on board. After three days at sea, all disembarked on the opposite shore. It is uncertain whether they landed in Britain or France. Homecoming and Priesthood From there Patrick made his way home again, where his parents gave him warm welcome. Despite his joyous return, this young man - susceptible to dreams, visions and the moods they bring - was not the same young lad who had been abducted. His whole outlook had changed, and he now tended towards the Church. Patrick underwent Church training near his home in Britain. It is probable he received further training in a Gaul Monastery in preparation for ordination. It is thought that Patrick received guidance from Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre in France. Trial by friendship Patrick was broken hearted when a close friend betrayed his confidence. He had confided a past life difficulty to this person who then took the opportunity to shame him publicly. This affected Patrick's position in the Church, and the experience affected him greatly. God Himself comforted the mortified and betrayed Patrick. This He did by means of prophetic dream. The dream proved fortuitous for Patrick, who had been left deeply shaken by the recent events. His confidence had been affected by his embarrassment and inner sufferings. In the dream, Patrick saw his own face on a coin. The head of Roman emperors were often engraved on coins with words of honor and priase inscribed in letters around the head. In Patrick's dream, the words surrounding his head were words of disgrace and shame. Then he heard God's Voice, saying, 'We have seen with displeasure the face of Deisignatus.' God disapproved of the words which attempted to tarnish Patrick's reputation. Patrick arose from the dream, comforted and resolved. Call to Ireland Patrick felt called to return to Ireland after a prophetic dream. In this dream-vision, he saw a man called Victoricus standing in front of him. In his hand he held a countless letters. Victoricus gave Patrick one of them, and he read the opening words of the letter, which were 'The voice of the Irish'. [4] At the same moment he read the beginning of the letter, he thought he heard their voices - they were those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea - and they cried out as one, 'We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.' A series of dreams and visions prepared Patrick for his great task ahead; they contained warnings and encouragement for the difficult task that lay ahead. It turned out to be no less than the evangelisation of an entire nation. Patrick was commissioned as a bishop to serve in Ireland; and set sail back to the very land he had fled before. Ministry in Ireland Patrick wasted no time once back on Irish soil. He tramped all over Ireland, serving as Bishop. Patrick preached the Word of God, baptized the people into Christianity and celebrated the sacraments. It is said among the local people in Dublin that Patrick used to wade through a ford near the River Liffey - [the ford no longer extant] - in order to reach the higher hill area where the present day Church of St Audoen stands. [5] One day as he was wending his way up the hill Patrick stopped, leaned on his staff and looked over the whole wooded area. It was apparent he had just seen a vision, and he declared that where there was just ford, wood and settlements, "One day there will rise a magnificent city, as far as the eye can see." That prophecy came true; the extended city of Dublin lies in that very area, as far as the eye can reach and further. Many pilgrims still walk in the footsteps of Saint Patrick. From the present day Church of St Audoen, it is a short walk to where countless Irish were baptised by the great Saint. Patrick baptized royalty and villagers, kings and shepherders alike. Well of Saint Patrick The well of Saint Patrick - no longer extant, but commemorated down the centuries and marked by a plaque in the grounds of Saint Patrick's Cathedral Dublin - was the site of the mass baptisms. In 1901 building works beside the Cathedral unearthed six Celtic grave slabs. These were subsequently dated to the 10th century. One of these large stones covered the remains of what looked like an ancient well. It is possible that this is the same well which Saint Patrick used in the fifth century. The presence of the stones [still to be viewed in the Cathedral] prove that the site has been in use for at least one thousand years. The first record of there being a building was in 890 AD when Gregory, King of Scotland, visited a church. The decision to build a church there was probably based upon the close connection with the Saint. In 1190 the site was chosen by Archbishop John Comyn to be raised to Cathedral status and eventually the wooden church was replaced with the great structure which can be viewed today. [6] Confession More than fifteen hundred years ago Saint Patrick wrote a Letter in Latin. At a later stage he authored a personal account of his work as a bishop of Ireland, called his Confession. The Confession and the Letter to the soldiers under the command of Chieftain Coroticus are recognized as authentically the work of Patrick. Written in the 9th century, The Book of Armagh contains accounts of St Patrick's life, a copy of St Patrick's own Confessio, as well as a complete New Testament. It was written by the monk, Ferdomnach, who died in 846 AD. According to this book, Patrick asked the local chieftain for a site on which to build his church. The chieftain, Daire, refused Patrick the site he requested. He gave him instead the place now called 'St Patrick's Fold' or 'Ferta Martyrum', in the present Scotch Street. [7] PilgrimagesAs Patrick baptized the Irish people into Christianity, he nurtured their faith as well. Some 30 000 Irish, among them some elderly and ailing, left Ireland assisted by Patrick. He gave his permission and benediction for their pilgrimages. One group set off for the Holy Land, Jerusalem their destination. A second group left for the pilgrimage destination of Rome. A third group left to visit the graves of the Apostles, including that of beatissimus Jacobus in Compostela. Christian pilgrimage thereafter became ever more popular. Foundations of pilgrims' hostels in Dublin in 1216 and Drogheda - where St James' Street and St James' Gate still evoke the original dedication- testify to the massive numbers of pellegrini among the Irish through the centuries. In October 1996 more than thirty burials were discovered during archeological rescue excavation in Mullingar, County Westmeath. Two of them contained scallop shells - proof of pilgrimage in honor of Saint James. Ten years earlier, similar finds of scallop shells had been made during excavations of Saint Mary's Cathedral, Tuam, County Galway. They were also of thirteenth to fourteenth century origin. In recent times, further shell-associated burial sites have been found during excavation of the Augustinian Friary at Galway. In 1992, a pewter scallop shell was discovered underneath the wall of a late medieval tomb at Ardfert Cathedral. Mounted within the shell was a little bronze-gilded figure of St James. This shell is a pilgrim badge. The emblem of the shell has always been connected with the Apostle James. The occurrence of the shell at a burial site indicates that the deceased had been a pilgrim to the grave of the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. [8] Missionary expeditions During his missionary expeditions, it is believed that Patrick sailed through Strangford Lough, [9] to land just outside the town of Downpatrick. [10] In 432 AD Patrick established his first church in a simple barn. This church became known as Saul Church. Two miles outside Downpatrick, a replica of this first church stands today. [11] Close by, on the crest of Slieve Patrick, is a huge statue of the saint. Bronze panels illustrate scenes from the life of Ireland's patron saint. Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland; Patrick called the city 'my sweet hill' and founded his first large stone church here in 445 AD. Armagh's two Cathedrals are dedicated to him. The Armagh County Museum, the Armagh County Library and No. 5 Vicar's Hill hold material highlighting the city's role in the history of Christian Ireland. [12] Patrick called his ministry 'hunting and fishing'. He spiritually hunted after people in the Name of Christ, fishing patiently among them to help them Patrick unfortunately experienced enslavement a second time. After word from God, he found his freedom again - doubtless traumatized by the repeated experience. Pascal fire at Slane Patrick had taken as his mission the spread of Christianity across Ireland. When he returned to Ireland after becoming a priest, there would already have been converts to the new faith with Palladius as their Bishop. Small groups of Christians in rural Ireland had naturally evolved into autonomous communities - a monastic system. Patrick founded many churches, each time leaving them in the care of a trusted follower. Trailblazer Patrick blazed his trail through Ireland. He made his mark on the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St Patrick in the 5th century. [13] Croagh Patrick - a high mountain and an important site of pilgrimage in Co Mayo in Ireland - was the site where Patrick fasted and prayed to God for forty days and nights. Croagh Patrick thereafter became the focus of Christian pilgrimages after Patrick, and is a popular site of pilgrimage to this day. [14] and [15] Croagh Patrick had originally been a site for pagan pilgrimage; now redirected by Patrick in the service of God. Patrick is said to have confronted the Corra, or serpent goddess, the symbol of pagan power, at Lough Derg in Donegal. Thus Patrick faced the powers of darkness symbolised by the serpent goddess, at this venue - and triumphed. [16] St Patrick's Chair and Well can be found about 5 miles out of Aughnaclay. This is Altadaven on the north eastern flank of Slieve Beagh. Its name means 'the cliff of demons'. St Patrick's chair is a massive and well worn stone in the shape of a seat with a back rest, a seat of dimensions more suited to a giant than a saint. The chair sits on a high ridge surrounded by other enormous boulder stones, with a number of cup marks on the stones. According to local tradition, Patrick was passing this way as he journeyed from Clogher to Armagh, when he came upon a pagan rite being performed at the site. Instead of destroying the rock as he did at Killycluggin, he merely banished the pagan spirits to a nearby lake. He then preached from the chair, and baptised people with water from the rock area. This is the Well of Lughnasa, one of the famous wells of St Patrick. [17] The Killycluggin Stone can be found by a right turn to Bawnboy. This replica is a marker. The original is in Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff and is an Iron Age ritual stone, a rounde boulder. The stone is about 5 feet tall, elaborately decorated with closely coiled spirals interconnect with La Tene style patterns. The top was damaged by St Patrick during his confrontation with Crom Dubh at Killycluggin. The stone stood at one time outside the stone circle in Killycluggin and was decorated all over with gold. It represented the god Crom Cruach, or Crom Dubh who is the dark god, the 'bent one' who received the 'first fruits' at Lughnasa or harvest in the form of the corn maiden. The ritual or sacrifice of the girl was held to ensure the continuing fertility of the earth. When Patrick travelled this way, he smashed the pillar stone and overturned the stones of the circle in an attempt to destroy the powerful hold this dark entity [satan] had on the people. The Hill of Tara Patrick also focused his attention on places of power. He challenged the High King at Tara when he lit the pascal fire at Slane. The distance from the Hill of Tara to Slane is 23 kilometers. There was good reason for Patrick's actions. According to the religion of the druids, fires were forbidden on the eve of the Spring Festival. The Hill of Tara, known as Temair in gaeilge, was the seat of ancient power in Ireland. 142 kings are said to have reigned there in prehistoric and historic times. Temair was considered the sacred place of dwelling of dwelling for the pagan gods, and was the entrance to the otherworld. By lighting the Fire of Christ on the Eve of the Christian Festival, Patrick was proclaiming the God's Kingship above the power of the Irish Kings and their religion. Patrick came to Temair to confront the ancient religion of the pagans at its most powerful site. [18] When Patrick lit the fire of the Easter Vigil at Slane, the druids predicted the fire would destroy Tara. They were correct; the ancient religion went into decline, in correlation with the spread of Christianity across the country. It must be remembered, too, that the fire on Tara was lit in view of the slave holdings. Patrick's defiant claiming of Christianity was also a message to the captives; according to the Gospel, they would eventually be set free not only from sin, but from their fetters. As, indeed, history proved. The slave markets of Dublin are no more. Letter to Coroticus Patrick challenged many. He wrote an open letter to chieftain-king Coroticus in southern Scotland. This man had enslaved some of Patrick's newly confirmed Christians, murdered a number of them, mistreated the evangelized, and sold from their number. Patrick tried to buy back the captives without success. He suffered deeply as he thought about the Christians now suffering so deeply. He wrote a letter to Coroticus which was searing in its condemnation of the actions of the chieftain-king and his followers. Fulfilment of Patrick's life Patrick was an inspiration during his lifetime. Patrick is a continued inspiration today, and deeply beloved in Ireland. Eventually Patrick went home to God, leaving his earthly body - his outer coat, as it were - in his beloved Ireland. Patrick's body lies in Downpatrick graveyard, on the grounds of the Cathedral. His resting place is marked by a flat boulder stone. [19] This man - youth, son, slave, priest, bishop, maligned, missionary - ranged the land of Ireland and claimed it for God. It is fitting that today - in every town and city in Ireland, and every year on a special Feast Day - the people of Ireland reclaim him as their Holy Patron Saint. [1] Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland. 2002. Gothic Image Publications; England [2] Slemish Mountain http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/destinations/northern-ireland/county-antrim/ballymena/all/2-1727/ [3] Cagney, Mary. Patrick the Saint. www. christiantoday. com/history / issues/ issue-60/patrick-saint. html [4] The Confession of Saint Patrick http://www.catholicplanet.com/ebooks/Confession-of-St-Patrick.pdf [5] St Audoen's Church, Dublin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Audoen%27s_Church,_Dublin_(Church_of_Ireland) [6] St Patrick and the Cathedral https://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/saint-patrick-and-the-cathedral/ [7] Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland, Page 48. 2002. Gothic Image Publications; England [8] http:// www. historyireland.com/ medieval-hitory -pre-1500/the- irish-medieval-pilgrimage-to-santiago-de-compostal/ [9] Strangford Lough Lookout http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/attractions-built-heritage/nature-and-wildlife-attractions/destinations/northern-ireland/county-down/newtownards/all/2-26010/ [10] Downpatrick http://www.ireland.com/en-us/destinations/northern-ireland/county-down/downpatrick/all/2-14077/ [11] Saul Church http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/attractions-built-heritage/churches-abbeys-and-monasteries/destinations/northern-ireland/county-down/all/2-3387/ [12] Armagh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Armagh [13] Rock of Cashel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Cashel [14] Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland, Page 25. 2002. Gothic Image Publications; England [15] Teach na Miasa, Croagh Patrick Visitor Center at the Foot of the Holy Mountain. www. croagh-patrick. com [16] Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland, Page 40. 2002. Gothic Image Publications; England [17] Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland, Pages 143 to 144. 2002. Gothic Image Publications; England [18] Tara - Temail http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/ [19] Down Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Grave http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/attractions-built-heritage/churches-abbeys-and-monasteries/destinations/northern-ireland/county-down/downpatrick/all/2-3000/ The True Story of Saint Patrick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTYQyv8e-x4 The Saint Patrick Centre http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/attractions-built-heritage/museums-and-attractions/destinations/northern-ireland/county-down/downpatrick/all/2-3359/ Resource; Simms, George Otto. 2004. Saint Patrick, Ireland's Patron Saitn. The O'Brien Press; Dublin. With thanks to ireland.com, catholicplanet.com, wikipedia.org, stpatrickscathedral.ie, Ireland.com, mythicalireland.com, youtube

0 notes

freefallingforfanfiction · 3 years

Text

Fated- A Soulmate AU

Chapter I

Rating: M for Mature

Pairing: Din Djarin X F!Jedi!Reader

Summary: Everyone in the galaxy knew of the Red String of Fate. It was the one thing every single individual had in common: a small, crimson string tied into a neat bow, permanently secured around their ring finger. These strings, no matter how far they stretched or how tangled they got, would never, could never, break. The Red String of Fate, invisible to everyone but the wearer, was tethered to your destined, the other half of your soul. A soulmate. Everyone had one. Well, everyone except for the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, that is.

Authors Note: (TELL ME YOUR PREFERENCE) Hi all! I have this written in two different ways, one with an OC, and the other as reader with the pronouns “You”. Which would you prefer to read? OC or reader, let me know in the comments!

Everyone in the galaxy knew of the Red String of Fate. It was the one thing every single individual had in common: a small, crimson string tied into a neat bow, permanently secured around their ring finger. These strings, no matter how far they stretched or how tangled they got, would never, could never, break. The Red String of Fate, invisible to everyone but the wearer, was tethered to your destined, the other half of your soul.

A soulmate.

Everyone had one.

Well, everyone except for the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, that is. His own string, while wrapped snuggly around his ring finger, fell short a soulmate, cut off prematurely. It dangled limply, a meager two feet in length off his finger, leading to no one.

There were some nights, when he gazed at his beskar covered reflection, that he thought, maybe it was for the best that he didn’t have a soulmate. After all, who could come to love someone that they could not see? Could not touch? Could not ever truly know unless wed?

But then there were the other nights, the nights where he would agonize over the loss of someone he never truly had, of someone who never existed. If he wasn’t fated to anyone, why did it still feel like half of him was missing?

Those nights were far more frequent since he had found the kid, since he started to long for a life of more than hunting quarries and running from IMPs. He wanted someone to come to after a long day of hunting, a riduur who he could bare his face to, who could help him shed his layers of beskar at days end, and who he could hold through the cold nights aboard the Razor Crest.

He stared at that cut off string now, held in his unbound hand as the ‘Crest flew through hyperspace on autopilot. He twirled it around his fingers, un-gloved but bared to no one, wondering why the universe had not saw fit to give him a mate, but give him all the emotional turmoil that came with having one.

Throughout his years, the Mandalorian had experienced all the symptoms of mate withdrawal. The body aches, the sudden sensation of feeling incapable of breathing, the feeling of his heart clenching in his chest so tightly he thought it might burst within him.

And then there were the dreams. The dreams of her.

Din could never see her face; it was always, always obscured by something. Usually in was her hair, soft locks, rich in color, that fell gently down her back. Her back, that was always to him as she ran through the halls of a large ship, dark in color, save for the splashes of red light that danced across the halls. He always chased her, got so close to her he could almost touch her, but then she would dissipate into the air, and Din would wake.

He always woke from those dreams in a cold sweat, heart pounding loudly in chest, his lungs greedily taking in air as though he had forgotten to breath while dreaming. The longing would settle in when he opened his eyes and she was no where to be found. He yearned for her so much it physically hurt.

It was her, his soulmate, he knew it in his gut, but still, the string tied neatly around his finger hung mockingly at his side.

The Mandalorian heaved a great sigh as he dropped the string and lifted his tired body from the pilot’s seat, the ship was set to course, and it was time for bed. Beside him, in his floating pram, the Child slept soundly. Din smiled fondly beneath his helmet before pressing the button to close up the pram for the night, it followed silently behind him as he made his way to his quarters, turning in for the night to an empty bed.

***

The quarry was not a hard man to find or capture by any means. A rodian smuggler by the name of Sio Thule, wanted for the disappearance of a large shipment of spice, was not a clever being.

The tracking fob had led the Mandalorian to a small pub on an outer-rim desert planet. There, Din had found the rodian three sheets to the wind, loudly bragging about the stolen spice. He was too intoxicated to put up a fight, and a swift jab in the stomach was all the Mandalorian needed to bring the bounty down. The Mandalorian grabbed the rodian by the hood of his tunic, dragging him from the pub while he bemoaned his gut punch.

Then, when that pained had faded, and the reality of his situation settled in, the roadian, like all of his quarries, started his attempt at bargaining.

“Hey! Hey, buddy,” from behind him, the rodian fought to capture the attention of his captor, the Mandalorian hunter. “Maybe we can help each other out, yeah?”

Din ignored the attempt at communication, use to quarries attempting to bargain their way out of their situation. The one before the Child had attempted to bargain his way to freedom with credits, but it ended the same every single hunt. A quarry encased in carbonite, ready to transport back to the guild.

“Hey big guy, I know you can hear me up there. I can help, I can help you!” The rodian was attempting to right himself, as Din was still dragging him, but was having little success.

“How could you possibly help me?” The question had ben rhetorical, but the rodian didn’t seem to notice, and took this as a sign that the Mandalorian was up for discussing his potential release.

“Back in the pub,” he started, “You said you were lookin’ for a Jedi.”

Apparently, despite whining profusely about his “injury”, the rodian had managed to hear the brief exchange between the Mandalorian and the pub bartender.

“What do you know of the Jedi?” The Mandalorian stopped in his tracks, Sio, who could now finally regain his bearings, stood up from the ground. He attempted to wipe the debris from his clothes from his unceremonious escort to the ‘Crest, when the Mandalorian cuffed him in on fluid movement.

Din had been tasked weeks ago with returning his Foundling to its own kind, the Jedi, and he had found hide nor hair of the order of sorcerer’s. He was currently looking for more Mandalorians who may have escaped the Imperial attack on the covert to help him by Creed, and was coming up with just as few leads.

Sio gulped visibly as the Mandalorian in his intimidating beskar armor, stared down at him intensely.

“Not much,” Sio attempted to keep his voice confident, free of the fear that had made its home in the pit of his stomach, “Just where one so happened to appear the Day the Galaxy Shook.”

Beneath his helm, the Mandalorian quirked a brow, “Appeared?”

The rodian nodded vigorously, “Yeah, yeah, appeared. Out of thin air,” Sio wiggled his fingers through the air expressively, “They say she was thrown from the Netherworld of the Force.”

“The Netherworld of the Force?” Din said slowly, testing the phrase on his tongue.

Sio tried to plaster on a confident look on his face, “Yea, yea! The Netherworld, where the Jedi reside after death. Like the afterlife or something.”

“The afterlife?” Din grunted, tugging harshly on the rodians cuffs, “You’re wasting my time.” Din pulled his quarry forward with strength much greater than the other beings, and Sio stumbled forward, struggling to keep his footing.

A Jedi booted from the afterlife on the Day the Galaxy Shook, now that was an inventive tale. Perhaps what the rodian lacked in intelligence, he made up for in imagination. In all his years of hunting, Din could honestly say that that was the most outlandish story he had ever been told as a means of bribery.

Not giving up, Sio called out to the Mandalorian once more, “Hold on, hold on, I’m telling the truth!” Sio caught his bearings quicker than Din would have liked, and resumed talking almost instantly. Din couldn’t wait to put this guy in carbonite. At least then he would finally shut up.

“Let me show you! I bring you to where the Jedi showed up, you can confirm the rumors yourself. Just let me go in return.” The rodian was begging now, his voice cracking at his last attempt to persuade the Mandalorian, “What do you have to lose?”

At Sio’s words the Mandalorian stopped in his tracks once more, the rodian, who hadn’t been prepared for the abrupt stop, smacked into Din’s back, the hard beskar rattling his skull.

“Dank ferric,” Sio muttered, rubbing his green head as Din mulled over the rodians words.

What did he have to lose? Some time maybe, but not much else. If the rodian was telling the truth, which Din doubted, then he could finally have a lead on finding one of the Child’s kind. If not, well, it wasn’t like this quarry was smart enough to give him the slip, he would still collect his bounty.

Din spared a glance down at his own hand, where the Red String of Fate was tied neatly, visible to him even beneath his gloves. The Day the Galaxy Shook. The day Din looked down at his hand and suddenly- his string lead somewhere. Din’s heart squeezed inside his chest. Maybe…

After a long stretch of silence that left the rodian sweating, Din finally spoke.

“Show me.”

Chapter II

292 notes · View notes

3caccessories · 5 years

Photo

Thule Covert DSLR Satchel 單眼側背包 - 深灰相機包可拆式相機內袋系統耐用、防水的雙色牛津布料織帶可外掛腳架魔鬼氈隔板，可自由調整空間

詳閱內容

Thule 背包類型側背包顏色黑色系外層材質尼龍容量(L)0 重量(g)1300 防雨罩(套)無外尺寸(cm)29 x 13 x 29 cm 內尺寸(cm)25 x 13 x 25 cm

Thule Covert DSLR Satchel 單眼側背包 - 深灰相機包

相機包,相機配件,手機/相機/耳機/穿戴,Thule Covert DSLR Satchel 單眼側背包 - 深灰,Yahoo奇摩購物中心

#3c #3c週邊配件 #3caccessories #Thule Covert DSLR Satchel 單眼側背包 - 深灰相機包

0 notes

lightresist · 5 years

Photo

Thule Covert DSLR Rolltop Daypack

8 notes · View notes

thephoblographer · 4 years

Text

A Confusing Backpack: Thule Covert DSLR Rolltop Daypack Review

Just annoying enough, but also just good enough.

As far as camera bags go, the Thule Covert DSLR Rolltop Daypack probably needs to go back to the drawing board.

Every now and again, I’ll get frustrated with camera bags and I’ll go on a shopping spree in search of yet another bag that I think will be perfect. So, I bought the Thule Covert DSLR Rolltop Daypackand was mostly disappointed by it and their lack of understanding of a photographers’…

View On WordPress

#backpack #fujifilm #outdoor #photographers #Thule Covert #travel photographers

0 notes

gingermcl · 3 years

Text

What was operation high jump?

Operation “High Jump”, was basically an invasion of the Antarctic. This operation had 4,700 troops, an aircraft carrier, 13 ships, and planes, that was supposedly "scientific" exploration. It was supposed to last 8 months, but ended in 6 weeks. A British-Norwegian force and a Russian force, and some Australian and Canadian forces were also involved.

Operation Highjump has become a topic among UFO conspiracy theorists, who claim it was a covert US military operation attempting to conquer secret underground Nazi facilities in Antarctica and capture the German Vril flying discs, or Thule mercury-powered spaceship prototypes. This has always been denied by the US Military, yet declassified pictures from the operation show some odd details that do not fit in with the official story according to UFO researchers.

The Nazi’s embraced the occult and believed that the earth could be hollow, they also felt that this underground land could be inhabited by extraterrestrials. In fact they believed this so much that one of their missions was specifically designed to find an entrance to the earths interior and make contact with the inhabitants for support in the war, should they be located. The nazis were felt to be in possession of antigravity craft and the intent of operation high jump may have been to locate this information.

This mission was scheduled to be eight months and it supposedly ended because it was poorly planned. Some theorize that may have been a UFO battle or Byrd and his troops were told to leave and not come back. There is the tale of Admiral Byrd and finding land beyond the poles and being taken down in the hollow earth to meet someone who purported to be the leader.

One thing I find odd is the Antarctic treaty is a long-term treaty that has been kept by every country involved. People don’t go to Antarctica, unless invited. Do you remember in 2016 when a bunch of world leaders went down there? Like Putin and John Kerry?? John Carrie was the highest ranking official ever go to go to Antarctica and you happen to go on the day Trump was elected.

Admiral Byrd’s tale

Two years after the end of the WWII, Admiral Richard Byrd was the commander of the military operation “Operation High Jump.” During this mission Byrd discovered there were lands without snow in Antarctica and wrote about an encounter he allegedly had with an ancient underground civilization in Antarctica.

According to Byrd’s “diary,” the government ordered Byrd to remain silent for what he witnessed during his Antarctic assignment. Some say the American government sent their troops to the South Pole for evidence of the rumored German Base 211.

For thousands of years, people all over the world have written legends about Agartha the underground city. It is sometimes called Agarta or Agarthi, hyperborea, or shambala. Did Byrd find this mythical land?

Byrd was flying along and came upon a lush green land with woolly mammoths and creatures he thought to be extinct or a myth. All of the sudden his aircraft was surrounded by strange ships, was immobilized, and he taken down inside the earth. Once there, Byrd was in awe of the grand city he was seeing. He met “The Master,” the city’s leader, who told him of his concerns about the surface world:

“Our interest rightly begins just after your Race exploded the first atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. It was that alarming time we sent our flying machines, the ‘Flugelrads’ to your surface world to investigate what your Race had done…You see, we have never interfered before in your Race’s wars and barbarity. But now we must, for you have learned to tamper with a certain power that is not for your Man, mainly that of atomic energy. Our emissaries have already delivered messages to the power of your World, and yet they do not heed.”

According to the Master, places such as Tibet, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Mt. Shasta, and the North Pole all have tunnels leading to Agartha.

Byrd did give an account of his experience on television to the people and I’ve watched this interview. Intuitively, I felt a ton of the story was missing and parts had been twisted. He was ordered to remain silent about his endeavor. Anything said on tv is heavily scripted in advance. The people will never know the truth of what really happened with Operation High Jump.

0 notes

freifraufischer · 3 years

Text

Evil Canadians

[[This is an excerpt of an alternate history role playing game that involved psychics, wizards, and a cold war that never ended I wrote in between 2002-2004. This is an edited part of the section about Canada that several Canadian friends asked to see...]]

Canada is the world’s second largest country and occupies most of the North American Land mass, sharing with the United States of America what was once the world’s longest undefended border. Though not extensively militarized until the Russo-American War, going as far back as the early 1990s many of the border provinces coming under control of the Dominion Unity Party (DUP) began paramilitary patrols to augment the official border crossing points. Canada was settled as British and French colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. France surrendered to Britain its colony of New France, an area that composes present-day Quebec and Ontario at the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

----

The Ungava Incident

For almost forty years United States Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) nuclear-armed bombers flew armed over Canadian territory near the Arctic Circle on routine patrols. These aircraft, by the 1980s aging B-52s with a host of electrical problems, flew from bases within the Continental United States, looped over the northern reaches of Canada, and than landed again at their bases in middle America. Twice in the 1960s SAC B-52 on similar routes crashed with nuclear weapons on foreign soil. The first occurred on January 17, 1966 near Palomares, Spain during an in-flight refueling accident, three bombs were scattered over farmer’s fields and one in the ocean. All four were recovered and the residents of the small Spanish town paid nearly $800,000 in compensation. Just over two years later on January 22, 1968 another B-52 crashed near Thule Air Force Base, Greenland after a fire broke out in the navigator’s compartment. Three hydrogen bombs were scattered across the ice, and one melted through and sunk to the bottom of Baffin Bay, unrecoverable. The incident over Greenland, a Danish possession, caused massive protests in Denmark, and briefly strained relations between the two countries.

These were nothing in comparison to the December 12, 1984 explosion of at least one (though some theorize that it may have been as many as three) hydrogen bomb over the Ungava Peninsula, in northern Quebec. The explosion vaporized the B-52 that the bombs were believed to have come from, killing the crew, and making investigation of the cause of the explosion nearly impossible. Because the region was sparsely populated, mostly by isolated fishing villages, no one knows exactly how many people died, though estimates by both the Canadian and United States governments place the direct death toll from the explosion to be around 450. This does not include the thousands of cases of radiation poisoning from fallout in Quebec, the Hudson Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as fisheries in the North Atlantic and as far away as western Europe.

The United States Air Force immediately sent teams to help relocate survivors and those in the worst affected areas, but the estimated $4,000,000 in compensation has been considered inadequate and insulting by many Canadians and some of those eligible for settlements have refused them in favor of civil suits filed in American courts against the Air Force. The Department of Defense has attempted to have the suits thrown out citing national security concerns, but several Federal judges have kept it alive, even after decades of delay. The mysterious deaths of one of those judges, and of a prominent Ungava survivors advocate are widely suspected to be the result of U.S. military covert operatives.

The Reagan administration dismissed concerns that the incident might permanently soured relations with the northern neighbor. Other American observers wondered though, as nearly fifty percent of Canadian Air Force personnel were recalled from joint programs such as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Though many of those same officers returned in the following years, but military cooperation between the neighbors has never been the same. Polls carried out in the United States ten and twenty years after the incident show close to forty percent of the American people did not even know that it had occurred, and listed Canada as one of the United States’ closest allies around the world.

-----

The Friendly Dictatorship?

The Prime Minister of Canada has what are often considered extraordinary powers in comparison to other western leaders. Because of a system of strict party discipline within the Canadian House of Commons, an elected member faces great difficulty in voting against the party line (set by the Prime Minister). If any member of the Prime Minister’s governing party votes against any new legislation, he or she may be expelled from the party. An expelled member must sit as an independent, without the right to ask a question, raise any issue before the Parliament, and stands little chance of winning re-election without the party’s resources. These measures mean that members of the governing party almost always follow the will of the Prime Minister. This was best exemplified by former Prime Minster, Pierre Trudeau, who referred to the backbenchers of the (than ruling) Liberal party as “trained seals” and the opposition backbenchers as “noblies when they are fifty yards away from the House of Commons.” The lack of checks and balances as theoretically seen within the US system has lead some to question such power, especially with the unexpected term of Walter Bechmann’s Dominion Unity Party, which has held the office since 2003

The major counterbalance to the power of the Prime Minster of Canada are near autonomous powers of the provincial premiers. They are required to agree to any constitutional change, and must be be consulted over new domestic initiatives within their area of responsibility. Unsurprisingly, traditionally the most difficult primeir to deal with has been the Priemer of Quebec.

The Rise of the DUP

Traditionally there have been two major national parities within Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada (or predecessors under other names), with a large regional party the Bloc Québécois following behind. None of these players took much notice as a small upstart, the Dominion Unity Party (DUP), began to win power on the provincial level in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Rising out of the movements collectively known as “Prairie Socialists” the DUP advocated traditional values, wide ranging social programs, a strong military, and a resistance to what they characterized as the cuddling of the Quebec separatists by Ottawa.

The economic and ecological disaster that was the Ungava Incident, the lack luster American response, and Ottawa’s inability to force the issue lead to a growing sense that Canada had seeded too much of its responsibilities to the United States. If Ottawa would not keep the French in line, or Washington from walking all over the country, than someone would. And that someone, the DUP claimed, was them. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s the DUP gained control of all of Western Canada on the Provincial level, and became the official opposition party after the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives.

Who done it?

The leak of the incriminating file on Liberal Party funding to the CBC have become the Deep Throat of Canadian political history. Both their origins and even their authenticity have been vigorously questioned (and denied). Some leading theories include:

That the deputy prime minister leaked the documents in an effort to force Chrétien to resign in favor of former finance minister Paul Martin. He was taken by surprise when Martin did not win the election and has dropped out of public life.

The Bloc Québécois leaked them after obtaining them by means unknown. Thinking that they would have an easier time working with a Conservative government, or at least a better chance of winning the next independence referendum, it blew up in their face when instead of getting the Tories they ended up with their worst nightmare.

One of the Canadian intelligence or security services leaked the document—the finger is usually pointed at the FSS—either out of patriotism or out of cynical and very illegal manipulation of the political process.

One thing is clear to those that are familiar with Jean Chrétien. Few believe that he actually knew about the dirty dealings with the American companies. If the documents were legitimate to begin with.

----

The government of Jean Chrétien came under fire in 2003 as documents began to surface in the press linking the Liberals to campaign funding directly by American corporations with ties to the Department of Defense. The implication being, though never quite proven, that an agreement was in the works to arrange for the Ungava lawsuits to be settled or dropped entirely in return for the illegal funds. The exact origins of the leaked documents have never been established. So angry was the Canadian electorate that not only were the Liberals swept from power, but the Conservatives also took a major loss, leaving the last man standing, the quiet and boring former Premier of Saskatchewan, Walter Bechmann.

Following the election night carnage as the Liberals went from holding a long-standing majority to six seats, barely half what would be needed for official party recognition on the federal level. Still weakened from their collapse under Kim Campbell in 1993, the Conservatives held only 20 seats. And with the effective merger of the New Democratic Party into the DUP, the official opposition party was the separatist Bloc Québécois. Given the DUP’s strong anti-French stances it has made for ugly fighting in Parliament, but with little effect on Prime Minister Bechmann’s policy goals.

Most observers speculate that after years of Liberal rule with virtually no other option, the image of the effective, hard working, non-flaboyant man from Saskatchewan has endeared Beckman with the Canadian people. While the more conspiracy minded suggest that the inability of the other national parties to organize may be linked to more sinister interference. The Bloc, always willing to scream about government and DUP misdoings, points to the Canadian Federal Security Service, which had long been battling Quebec nationalists and had closely allied themselves with the DUP on its rise.

The French Question

Conflict between Canada’s Francophone minority and Anglophone majority is hardly new, though the extensive efforts made on behalf of the federal government to help preserve the French language and French Canadian culture is relatively recent. Unfortunately equalizing language and granting Quebec some special status has not stopped an upswing in separatist activity, violent and non-violent. The first eruption of what have been several decades of sustained violence began on October 5, 1970 with a string of bombings, kidnappings, bank robberies, and attempted assassinations, all the work of a Marxist-Leninist group, Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ).

Like many similar groups, West Germany’s Red Army Faction, Italy’s Red Brigade, and the American Weather Underground, the FLQ was made up primarily of middle class born again radicals who would not hesitate to attack the class structure as much as the Anglos. Two weeks into the emergency Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau ordered the Army into the streets to enforce Martial Law in Quebec under the controversial War Measures Act. The overwhelming force, mass arrest of those associated with the FLQ (and their families), and the stretching of the organization’s resources beyond what they could handle for all practical purposes destroyed the organization. The deaths of some of the detainees in the custody of the army and RCMP, and the disappearance of others have left a sinister note over the ending of the emergency. Rumors still surface decades later of prominent Quebecois, made to disappear during the period, in the custody of particularly vindictive elements of the government.

The next wave of extreme violence occurred in 1990 when a new group, calling itself the Armée de Libération du Québec (ALQ) and trading on the reputation of their similarly named predecessor began targeting Java Works, a nation wide specialty coffee chain which like many corporations continued to use its English name in Quebec. Well-dressed young people, of an age to be university students, used automatic rifles to commit mass murder of the patrons and employees at one Saint-Georges shop. Similar attacks followed within days, with brutality and efficiency associated to a particular terrorist leader soon identified as Amanda Legardeur, the daughter of an upper class Montreal family.

Though relatively brief, the spree lasted just over a month; the brutality displayed cleared the fence sitters out of the way, leaving only those who would clearly choose between a sovereign and independent Quebec, and a united Canada. That was of course, what Legardeur had intended, and the cultivation of a young woman who looked similar to her so that she could shoot her in the head to fake her own death was a small price to pay in her game. It took CSIS and FSS nearly a decade to agree that she was indeed, still alive, though once they had, her legend grew even more. Today she is the most wanted woman in Canada, believed to be not only armed, but possessing the organization and leadership skills to make her a one person national security threat.

In response to the perceived failure of the moderates, the increasing violence of the extreme separatists, and what many particularly among the rank and file of the ruling DUP see as excessive allowances to the French, there has been a backlash. With only the exception of the United States, the primary focus of the Canadian Federal Security Service—the most ruthless, and effective of the competing agencies—has been what is internally called “the French Question.” Some wonder though, if repressive and often highly illegal methods will only divide the country more, just as they did for the British in Northern Ireland.

The federal government believes—not without reason—that the violent separatists are being backed by east bloc communist countries that would use an independent Quebec as a base of operations on the Americans doorstep. Unwilling to see the country torn apart, or to be used by either superpower in cynical games of brinksmanship, the Canadian government has begun to look at solving all their problems on a larger scale.

American Relations

The Canadian government, and to some extent the Canadian people, have understood the true form of the American government longer than any other county in the world. For them it is like having a window on the great superpower, seeing more up close in American news and American television—not to mention in frequent visits to the states to avoid high Canadian taxes—than anyone in the United Kingdom or the Europe ever does. And certainly more than anyone ever gets to see of the Americans’ rival the Soviet Union.

Over the years though, at least from the American side, this familiarity has bread contempt. Washington sees Ottawa, and more importantly in the Americans case, the Pentagon sees them as a joke. The quaint socialist country to the north whose military is more focused on tracking down stray penguins and who police and intelligence services can be characterized by The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show’s Dudley Do-Right. The fact that there are no penguins in Canada has not entered into the American’s calculations. The American public’s view is not much more nuanced, seeing their continental neighbors as unerringly polite, and with the firm belief that every Canadian citizen can kill, skin, and gut a grizzly bear with their bare hands.

The view south from Ottawa is quite a bit more nuanced, though the Canadians have learned a hard lesson about the sometimes friendly sometimes vicious pit-bull they have been planted next to. The the view has been common enough going all the way back to repeated American invasions during the War of 1812, it came to a nasty point when the indifference which the American military seemed to treat the accidental nuking of their country. As one Strategic Air Command general at the Ungava Board of Inquiry commented to another when he did not know that his microphone was on, “All they have are trees and rocks up there, what’s the big deal?”

A firm belief has developed, especially among the security and intelligence communities (with the notable exception of CSIS, who have a close working relationship with the Americans) that there is indeed a major military and security threat to Canada, the Canadian way of life, and even the lives of every Canadian citizen.

Their neighbors to the south.

A Fair Deal, an Even Playing Field, a Slippery Slop—The Canadian Psychic Experiments

Like many countries around the world the Canadians are intimately familiar with the uses and abuses of the paranormal within the intelligence community. As a commonwealth country they have long been familiar with the sorcerer viziers that have advised the crown for centuries. However as with many things that come with the British heritage, the mother country has far more use of the community than the former imperial possessions.

The ruling DUP have an innate distrust of sorcerers owing to a distrust of anything supernatural that gives one man an advantage over another. It is a political, philosophical, and religious distrust that has placed the country’s small sorcerer community at odds with the government… though not yet at war. The leading wizard in the country is the queen’s representative, and a master of the mysteries of the mind, Karen Clarke. She has focused primarily on checking the power of Prime Minister Beckmann and the agenda that most people have not yet discovered behind the party and by extension the government’s actions.

The difficulties between the sorcerers and the government are nothing though, in comparison to the outright war that has been declared on psychic talent within the Dominion. The idea that among the citizens exist a population—small as it may be—who can commit the worst violations on a person’s mind and body without any control by rule or law offends the prairie socialists very nature. In the view of the party psychics are to be monitored, controlled, and eventually eradicated from society as a threat to the rest of the human race.

Most within the power structure would chose to do this through “curing” the afflicted, many of whom themselves would gladly submit at first for any chance to lead a normal life. The main arm of this goal, like so many other things within the party’s plans, has been the Canadian Federal Security Service (FSS). The service itself though, has mixed feelings about the mission. Those that know the ultimate goal also know that enemy countries, particularly the communist nations, have been using their own psychics against Canada. The cleverest among them have begun to play both sides against the middle.

Section C of the FSS has been responsible for the beginnings of an extensive tracking network that will eventually use the DNA markers to identify psychics. Or so they hope. One problem they have discovered—and one that the Soviets have been independently finding at the same time—is that the genes that control psychic gifts are not in the same place for each subset of gifts. The genetic code that turns on a telepath’s ability to read minds is not the same gene that allows a remote viewer to see beyond his body or a pyrokinetic’s ability to set the world ablaze. Complicating matters even farther, some suspect that multiple genes can trigger psychic powers.

In addition to the genetic studies, extensive drug trials have been carried out in an attempt to dampen or control psychics so that they can be returned to society and not imprisoned for life. Unfortunately, as the Americans discovered almost half a century before, psychoactive drugs are themselves a tricky business. It is difficult to determine outside of the subject’s self-reporting if the drug has dampened the powers. The only way of independently determining any drugs affects has been testing on pyrokinetics and telekinetics, whose powers manifest physically. This can be very dangerous, as many test subjects react badly to the conditions within Section C’s hospitals. If not outright killed by the psychics (which usually results in the death of the psychic), the staff often report frightening and wild displays of power as the scared and often mentally ill telekinetic or pyrokinetic looses the concentration and control needed to keep their world together.

As of now, there is no effective drug therapy to control psychic talent.

Those Who Serve

A relative few Canadian psychics are employed by the FSS to battle those of other nations in order not to leave the country vulnerable to attack. This was made abundantly clear during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics when several east bloc psychics were brought into the country in order to give their athletes an edge in the medal count. The scheme was discovered when a West German coach who had escaped the East recognized a Stasi colonel who had tortured his brother to death among the East German Olympic Committee’s figure skating staff. After a confrontation the night before the figure skating long program, both the West German coach and the East German psychic were expelled from the country.

Unlike the Americans, who rarely use government psychics and have left the practice entirely to corporations and other private enterprises, and the Soviets who have fostered a system of the widespread utilization of psychics, the Canadians keep their mental attack dogs on a very short leash. Each psychic has a strong willed normal agent, known within the community as a Controller (telepaths often have two to prevent one from falling under the spell of their charge). This officer is responsible for all operations that the psychic is used in, and in the field has the authority to summarily eliminate any that become impossible to control. As could be expected, a physical psychic (telekinetics and pyrokinetics) or a mental specialist like a telepath is much harder to control than even the most powerful remote viewer or precognitive.

The Personalities Involved

Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Karen Mendelsen-Clarke, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada. A Vancouver born academic with impeccable credentials, her recent appointment by the Queen as her representative in Canada caused a near constitutional crisis as it went against the advise of Prime Minister Bechmann. The Queen’s growing concern about Bechmann’s politics and leadership of the country led her to appoint Clarke, a Cambridge educated sorcerer with a specialization in the powers of the mind. Publicly she is polite and friendly to the PM, but privately she has been hard nosed and difficult, threatening to withhold royal consent from legislation and implying that she might dismiss several of his ministers. In an unprecedented step, she has also formed her own guard battalion for protection after a suspicious car accident nearly took her life. With the traditions of the reactivated Black Watch (Royal Highlanders of Canada), they are seen by the DUP as her private army and viewed with great suspicion. She is divorced with no children.

The Right Honorable Walter Bechmann, Prime Minister of Canada, Leader of the Dominion Unity Party. A long time provincial politician in his home province of Saskatchewan, he served for nearly a decade as a Progressive Conservative backbencher in the provincial assembly before recognizing a wave of political change in time to ride it to the top. He ended up sweeping the Provincial Party elections when the DUP was first created and then surprisingly took the DUP to the top spot in Saskatchewan. Eventually the Party attained national membership, and gained power in other provinces. After several years as the Premier of Saskatchewan, he retired from politics briefly, before coming back for Federal politics to become the national leader for the party. Often seen in the press as bland and dense, he is actually an astute observer and can be very charismatic when he wants to be. And he usually wants to be charismatic in private. During Question Period many a young MP have learned to underestimate the old man at their peril. He has a wife and three daughters.

David Cherier, Premier ministre du Québec, leader of the Parti Libéral du Québec. A lawyer by trade, David Cherier specialized in defending those swept up in various federal anti-terrorism sweeps. He was first elected to Parliament as Progressive Conservative before returning to Quebec to become the Minister for Natural Resources. Hard work, competence and charm brought him to the head of his party and with the PLQ’s win in elections to the position of Quebec Premier. Though not a separatist himself, he is a strong Quebec nationalist, and has fought vigorously against the policies of Walter Bechman in his attempt to roll back concessions made to Quebec. His sometimes ally in this has been Governor General Clarke, but she has also sided with the prime minister when it suited her. He is generally considered a good man, if relatively unsophisticated when matching wits with the PM. There have been three assassination attempts on Cherier’s life, one when he was Minister for Natural Resources, presumably by separatist groups such as the ALQ, though they have not claimed responsibility.

0 notes