Lind Whisperer

Not quite fashionably late, the Black Knight quietly entered the Crescent Union hall, and took his place patiently among the slowly swelling crowds. After the Marauder finished his speech, the Knight stepped to the stage, and quietly spoke - just loud for the entire room to hear. "Recently, a friend of mine asked me a very good question. He said, "Lind, what makes you think you'll be able to enact any meaningful change? Eubric is a city filled with dozens of competing interests few of which may be mutually satisfied.". Under normal circumstances, under normal thinking - there has ever only been one answer to such a problem. When there have been two - or three - or even a dozen persons, all trying to compete, there has ever only been one solution - the stronger party wins...and the weaker party loses." He looked around the room. "I think we've all, at some point, been that second party. But less than a week ago, I was on a quest. It was a pretty simple quest, all things considered. We just had to retrieve some rare leaves, as an employer's present for his brother. Everything was going quite well - until we hit a snag." He chuckled. "Those have a strange way of popping up, don't they? You see, another chap was after the leaf - he needed it for a cure to his sister's illness. He had a bit of gold on him for the leaf, but most of us had rather unblemished quest histories, and we all wanted to keep them that way. Now, under normal thinking, there were only two solutions. The kind-hearted one - give the leaf to him, save his sister's life. The self-serving one - keep the leaf, keep our quest logs clean. Under normal thinking, those were the only options. But...I don't know what it was. Maybe it was a lucky spark, if you believe in that sort of thing. But something in me said, "No." I was tired of these two-option solutions. I didn't want to ruin my quest log...but neither could I bring myself to tell that chap that his sister was going to die. We were getting a little heated - sides were being drawn - but then I stepped forward. I said, "NO." I said, "We are going to stand here, and talk, until we find a solution that works for everyone." And you know what? We did. The quest requirements just said, "Gift from Eubric hills." The chap had gold to spare, the brother liked swords, and we'd passed a nice blacksmith on the way there. We found a solution that benefited everyone." He looked around the room. "Think of that. Everyone. Under normal thinking, there were only two solutions to the problem. The stronger party wins...and the weaker party loses. But why? Why, why, why, are we accepting it as foregone that one of us has to lose? Why couldn't we both win, in these struggles, in these matters of competing interest? Yes, solutions may not be easy to find - but they are there to be found! If tonight, in these short few weeks until the election closes - if we create another dynasty, eventually, you will be the weaker party. Yes, while everyone's trying to curry favor, or pay for your vote, you may be the stronger party, for a very short time... But only for a short while. Eventually, there will come a day when you are the weaker party. And if we create another dynasty, you won't have someone advocating for you, and demanding that "No! We will find a route that benefits us all.". There will only ever be two solutions again...and in such cases, the weaker party always looses. Brothers...sisters...friends. We are the Crescent Union. Let us not create another dynasty. Let us create a common unity.” He took a sip of water. “My opponent speaks of Dastan, of Baltarok, of the Kingdoms. Yes, indeed, we need to defend ourselves - but what kind of defense would just another dynasty pose? Nothing but the guards paid by a dynasty's gold - and such guards are sodden, sluggish, and slaves to that gold. They do not own it, it owns them. Gold will help a dynasty rule a city for a time, yes - but it will not be you that rules such a city. You will be the ones ruled over. You will be the ones trodden down into the muck, the ones that lose, under such rule. Yes, perhaps a city ruled by gold can defend itself - but so can a city filled with freemen, a city of men, determined to make a better life together. And what can compare to a city, defended by freemen? The city ruled by gold defends itself, yes - but it is a perpetual target. My opponent is correct - the Kingdoms will look for a new target. And a city ruled by gold, is a target ripe for the picking. Its guards are either sodden, or slaves, its storehouses filled with treasures free for the taking. Under such a dynasty, we can never hope for freedom. We will always be under gold's lash, always fearing." He stepped forward, his eyes glowing. "But think of the city, defended by freemen! The foreign kingdom often looks lovingly, at another dynasty's riches. But when it beholds a city, filled with FREE MEN, who defend THEIR possessions, THEIR treasures - it draws back sharply! For it knows, that THEY will defend their treasures to the last extremity - that to attack them, is to pay a hundred gold coins for every silver copper gained! Let us make a City of Free Men. Do not, please, create yet another dynasty! We have a chance, my brothers, my sisters, my...friends, to create a city where WE are the rulers - where ALL have status!

"But you're mixing your examples. Faust had trouble - lost his country, even - because he was forcing people to 'cooperate'. Moone was a dictatorship, not a country of cooperating freemanYes, there does have to be law and order. And an organized city of freeman could have just as much success - and more - at establishing these, as might just another dynasty." "Well, then you should come by and share more of that sage advice." "No, keep going. This is just getting interesting..."The Black Knight looked at the clock. "And it's time for me to be getting along..." He nodded to the rest of the Hall. "Good talking with everyone, and see all of you at the debate." He quietly exited the building.

They've got most of the worlds unlocked, but only a handful of features. They're working on adding more, but they've moved on to a closed project.

I didn't see anything about it in the Rules, but I'm assuming this has the same rules regarding digital builds as does GoH?

"That's an excellent question. And I'll answer it.Tonight at the debates."

"Exactly! And we need a candidate who's going to remember that." "Went out with law and order." He chuckled. "But I'd be happy to go a few rounds with you later, if it'd do anything to help convince you of my worth as a candidate.Arena's closed, but I managed to snag a pass..."

"Not originally, but very few of us are." "Officially, the Marauder and I are having a series of short debates over current topics - what we think should be done, how it should be done...unofficially, it's 'Here's why you should elect me, instead of my opponent.'."

I looked around for them, but they weren't coming up. I'll give it another search - keep an eye on that PM...

"Nevertheless, thank you." "Well, than you can add some good common sense to the mix. Heaven knows we could use some..." "And the current 'changers' are rather ominous - a gold-obsessed Marauder, and the son of the Ji Pei. Our Freeport - becoming just another dynasty."He looked at the vampire. "Any chance you might drop by the debates, or are you with Terry in that regards?"

The Stone Demon heads weren't in LDraw, so I decided to use a little creative interpretation(The closest matches to his current head were either this, or the Jawa head, and that one just looked strange...). Khorne's right on the source.He's floating because originally, he was supposed to be looking in through a portal, but that didn't quite work out...I'll swap the pieces out, give me a few minutes.

They'll count, but you can't reference them in quest threads - only in the Crescent/Sungold/Wolfgang threads.

End of the year 2015 - so, midnight, Dec. 31st. Your quest status doesn't matter - you can join a faction, participate in faction discussion, and vote for your candidate at any time.

"Glad to hear it..." The Black Knight nodded his head softly and shrugged. "Everyone's trying to put us under another dynasty, when we finally have a chance to be free...Oh, just come and listen to the debates. You won't regret it..." He looked at Terry. "You should come also. I think the topic'd speak to you..."

"No they aren't. But neither are they synonymous." "Heh." "Yes - we were off helping an old friend find his brother a present.Rather interesting story, really - we ran into a bit of a problem. For the original gift, we needed a rare kind of leaf - but when we got to the only source, there was a chap that needed the leaf for his dying sister. Funny how that always seems to happen... But, anyways, it was all getting rather heated, until I managed to solve the problem to everyone's satisfaction..." Lind looked off into the distance for a moment. "Terry, you're an unaware genius. Thank you. You just made me hit upon...well, at least a pretty decent speech for tonight." "Welcome back. How was your...date, with Gabriel?"

Don't worry, my...one constituents, I have not abandoned the political race, but am leaping right back into it. Tomorrow morning. Until then...a couple of pretty renders. Everyone's favorite good demon, and a certain rapidly rising mage*. I was sad Dyric didn't get in the final render as much as I would have liked - I liked the way he turned out. (Also, no, Guts and Warlen's heads aren't the same in the final render, but Guts's 'render' head, looked too frowny close up, so I changed it for this one.) *Who might do well to consider that a certain party might do more to advance his career than his current choice...Just sayin'...** **Since Arthur's left Heroica, there's an empty slot on the King's Council...Eh, just talk to Lind. Or Z-Mail him. You won't regret it.

Nice. Any interior, or just the facade?

Who did? ...Not sure if you're serious on the Quintessa bit, or not...

Fair, I suppose...

Heh.But seriously - what are everyone's thoughts? After all, if Sandy hadn't set up this forum, none of us would be here now. Properly, this'd have been given out at the end of my tri-eh, it's Grogsmas.

Anyone think I should buff this up a few more?Well, that should be very nearly everyone that Lind's come within fifty feet of - and other people have suggested some excellent gifts for everyone else. Merry Grogsmas, everyone.

"I take advice from people that have proved they're capable of giving good advice. Like you - you're a bit rough around the edges, but you've got a good head on your shoulders." "We're not rushing to war. But it's still coming. Ulric's mastering his forces below us, Sungold's...doing whatever they're doing - war's coming. Sitting around won't put it off, it'll just leave us that much less prepared when it comes." "That's an advisor. Leading an entire kingdom - or even a town - is a different matter. One person can't know this entire city by themselves." "So - why exactly are you backing the Ji Pei dynasty? I noticed your name on their roster."

"The current situation is going to lead to war eventually. At least this way, we have a chance at decent leadership - or in my case, leadership that's smart enough to take advice."

The Black Knight quietly nodded his thanks. "You planning on running yourself, then?"

Heh.(For those that don't know...) EU=(Star Wars:) Expanded Universe - (Basically, everything that isn't one of the movies or the CW(Clone Wars) TV show.) TOR= The Old Republic - series of 3 video games, about the early days of the SW galaxy. KoTOR(Knights of the Old Republic), TOR:tSL(The Old Republic: The Sith Lords), and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Well, at least we agree on TOR.