A Bit About Our Characters

The fictional Characters of SONG are the cultural and intellectual forerunners of the freedom-loving Peoples of today.

These interlocked circles represent the Legacy they inherited, the Legacy they have passed on to us generation after generation after generation.

Writing about this fictional family as it grows, getting to know the Characters, it's impossible to not realize the connection between those generations and our own. All around me, every day, I run into people I've never met before and often blink and say to myself, "Here is an Alianora," or "That's a Danann if ever I met one," or "What the heck, there's a Sass!" I have met in the flesh many of the current generations of the Characters of SONG. Which makes me smile because we are living proof that they succeeded in protecting and preserving for us that Legacy.

They lived, fought, and died protecting OUR freedoms, because we are their Future.

Now it's our turn.

As an American I know full well where this story line is taking me - but never EVER do I forget, as the lineages first spread out and then reunite, where those lineages began, where they have gone, what other lineages have added their strengths along the way, and where all of those lineages now are ... which is not solely America by a long shot.

Every freedom-loving person in our world who is ready, willing, and able to plant their feet, take their stand, and hold their line shares something with the Characters of SONG. 

Faith

Family

Friendship

Freedom

Future

If you recognize what those words mean, you are a Keeper of the Legacy.

What you Choose to do about that is entirely your Choice.

THIS. Memorial Day is a Day for Grief and Gratitude

As we honor our fallen, it's impossible not to remember 

what they lived, fought, and died for.

THIS is what it's all about, what it has been all about from the beginning.

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

The United States of America

Feel free to read on if you choose, but the above pretty much says everything that's in my heart on this day.

Add THIS to the mix:

I pledge allegiance

to the Flag

of the United States of America

and to the Republic

for which it stands - 

one nation under God

indivisible

with liberty and justice for all.

If you can say the above, and mean it heart and soul, you are welcome here.

This next bit is for the Illegals among us, and for We the People of the United States of America.

We are not 'out to get you' unless you are out to do harm to us or anyone else within our borders, including each other. 

We realize that for the most part you were sold a bill of goods by some charlatans using you as a puppet population. 

Please know that We the People of the United States of America were NOT behind that. 

Please know that one of the reasons we've now chosen an entirely new and different administration for our nation is the result of at last seeing and recognizing what has been going on behind our backs and in front of our faces for a long time, including the lies told to you and the injustice perpetrated on you as well as on us.

No, we did not invite you to come here illegally. Somebody did, but it was not We the People of the United States of America. You, and we, have been used by the same charlatans.

We want you to know that the 'innocent' among you are NOT the babies we want thrown out with the proverbial (and in this case SWAMPY) bathwater.

The bad seed, yes. We want them gone from among us all, including you the 'innocent'.

No, you are not entirely 'innocent' because you broke our law by coming here illegally. For that yes, a penalty must be paid. 

But, once paid, let that be the end of it. Work here, live happy lives here, contribute to our culture and our society here, earn your way the same as the rest of us - and you will find your way to the welcome we were not expecting to extend but which we will extend if you do your part too. 

That Flag up there, that Pledge of Allegiance - they mean something. 

They represent what our families came to this continent to build for us, the Legacy they lived, fought, and died to protect and to preserve. 

And so I say to you: One day your own families will be able to say the same, if YOU give them the chance. 

Our families did not sneak - there is no pride to be taken in ancestors who snuck in through the back door instead of using the front one. 

Give your descendants pride in you. Fix what you have broken so they can live with pride instead of shame. 

You took a big risk in coming here. 

Take another, for the sake of your generations to come - the ones who will be proud Americans who know the meaning of that Flag, that Pledge, with their whole hearts and souls because you choose now to give them a gift. It's the same gift we Americans all share: a common Legacy.

For me, having Faith means not only Faith in the Creator, but in the Creation as well. In us, in you. Because my Faith has three parts I myself think that those three parts are important: Justice, Mercy, Peace - in that order.

Many of you have already paid a steep price to the charlatans who lied to you. They encouraged you to break our law and they are guilty. But you went along with it. Another price, a penalty, must be paid. Mostly by them, but also by you as you are also culpable. 

That's the Justice part, and Justice must come first.

Mercy can only come after Justice has been served.

Then, and only then, will there be a chance for Peace.

To my fellow Americans who might not agree with me on this particular issue I say:

It's all a matter of perspective.

To those who would welcome all and sundry, including the bad apples, I say a very blunt NO.

Period.

To those who would remove all and sundry, including the 'innocent', I say an equally blunt NO.

We can and we will find our Balance here, friends.

All things considered, our good neighbors wish us no harm. The bad neighbors, those who DO wish us harm, will be sent back home. 

We in the United States are among the fortunate of the world. Although we have had, now have, and will have charlatans among us, we have also a Legacy of which we can be proud, a Legacy that gives us the tools we need to do what we have to do when we have to do it.

I refer of course to our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.

We cannot blame those less fortunate for wanting to share in what we take for granted. 

We can and we do blame them for making rotten choices if they break our law in their quest to share the Legacy our own families have lived, fought, and died for. 

Hence Justice before Mercy.

But our ultimate goal is PEACE. 

Without Mercy there will come no PEACE.

God Bless the USA!

They've Already Told This RICIMER Tale

The histories have already SPOKEN, the story-tellers have already HAD their say, the documentaries have already been DONE, and the movie-makers have ALREADY addressed the issue. The verdict is in.

All I'm doing is presenting a different point of view (and a fictional one at that), not arguing with the experts.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, in their right mind, in any of those industries is going to want to touch this story's point of view with a ten foot pole, not in the world in which we live in today.

At the very beginning of writing the books of SONG I thought I might make the Catholics and the Baptists mad but so far they've not been critical of the 'truth' as it seems to me: by definition you CANNOT have a Father and a Son without a Mother - so how can that third Person of the Holy Trinity be anyone except the Mother? It's pretty obvious who a person's mother is at birth. There have been cases where fathers' identities haven't been all too clear, though. Female lineages are a lot more clear and easier to track, if you ask me. That's a scientific fact: mDNA is way easier to work with. It's consistent and accurate, relatively speaking. Point being that women are at least as important as men. If you find that threatening in some way, oh well.

Be that as it may be, I take the Mother's place in the Trinity as a given, something patriarchal ideologies could take exception to so I guess I'm lucky to be ignored.

And the women of Celt ancestry still bow to no-one. Ever.

So there's that to not worry about.

Not being overly fond of ideologies that go around trying to shove their beliefs down people's throats, and separating said throats from bodies and heads if opposed, yes I've taken a dim view of Rome's usurpation of the Faith they could not manage to eradicate in 300 years of trying. That they then weaponized it while denying half of the human population equal representation doesn't set too well with me, either. Being a descendant of the ones who held out, never gave up, never gave in, and won in the end, maybe it's something in my DNA that refutes the right of any to dictate to any other, let alone all.

Maybe it's because the church came to its senses in the end, after too long a time and too much brutality, that my condemnation of the early practices of the Roman church isn't being lashed out about.

Maybe it's because the peoples of Europe did, in the end, form themselves into strong independent nations once Rome's boot was off their throats - again, not quickly and not easily and with too much brutality - but they did it. And the very peoples who had held Europe for millennia before Rome came calling were back in control of their Continent. Fussin' and fuedin' an't nothin' new, folks. The factions of the Celts had been perfecting it for thousands of years already. That they'd HAD thousands of years TO perfect it says something about the stability of their culture, appearances to the contrary be damned. They were fussin' and fuedin', not trying to own everybody else body and soul.

So there are two more things to not worry about since who's gonna argue with what's already done and over with, right?

Right.

So far, so good.

The kicker here is that while I'm writing all this stuff about the past, there are a few things going on in our present that are liable to become obviously connected to said past. That's what's gonna keep me safe from media, from politics, from religion, and from invasive ideologies. Ain't nobody gonna want to go out on THAT limb I tell you true.

Writing fiction about ancient times is one thing. Connecting it incontrovertibly to current events is not gonna fly. So it's a good thing I just want to tell the Story and am not ambitious.

Because what motivates Ullin of Iona, RICIMER, and all the rest of our Characters is what lies at the heart of our current situations.

These Circles mean something:

That center Circle is FAITH

The rest of them represent

FAMILY

FRIENDS

FREEDOM

FUTURE

They're our Legacy.

This symbol, which you haven't seen as much of, means something too:

It's a pretty design, this is true.

It's also a warning.

This is the way it is NOT supposed to be.

It will not work.

Here is a representation of the underlying design by which our world is governed:

I call it the Father Phi Spiral.

That's for a couple of reasons.

One is that the line through the middle makes the Spiral look more like the symbol we recognize as PHI.

Phi is the blueprint of our world.

You can look it up if you doubt me.

The second reason is that it's one of the oldest of all symbols preserved by humankind. 

It means something.

It has always meant something.

It has always meant the same thing.

CREATION

GOD

1.618

BALANCE

And you know what the building blocks of the Spiral consist of?

TRIANGLES

What I'm about to suggest might make every religion except for maybe Buddhism and Hindu mad as hornets but I don't particularly care.

[WARNING: SIDETRACK]

Because it's not 'just' that the Holy Trinity has to have a female function if creation is to continue to procreate, which it most assuredly will, with or without humankind.

It's not 'just' that I find it personally offensive, what has been done in the name of 'religion' for all this time.

As a matter of fact it doesn't have much of anything to do with 'religion' at all, because people get to choose what (if anything) they want to believe.

What it has to do with is that attempts to twist the Spiral out of balance have caused, are causing, and will cause literal harm to innocent folk.

Half of us can't be heading in one direction and the other half heading in the opposite direction, and any of us expect balance to be maintained. It hasn't worked yet and it ain't gonna EVER WORK. Our universal - literally - governing principles will not allow it. [sidetrack inside sidetrack: speaking of governing principles, the Constitutional Republic government of the United States of America is fundamentally based on PHI.]

Look again at this warning symbol:

Say you're on one side of this 'twisted spiral' thing and I'm on the other, just walking along.

Where are we going to end up?

We'll either hit a dead end

or collide in the middle.

Either way we lose.

Plus, that spiral ain't gonna stay twisted like that because by design it CAN'T stay that way.

One side or the other is gonna flip back around so it's all in balance again.

So what in the heck do we think we're DOING?

May as well stick with the PHI thing and not lose our balance in the first place, if you ask me.

Which I realize you didn't.

[END SIDETRACK]

I think that maybe, just maybe, the significance of triangles and spirals and such clear back as far as we can track humankind has to do with something we ALL instinctively KNOW somehow.

There's no conflict between Science and Faith. They're the same thing.

Which is another thing to not worry about because Science is zipping right along to prove it and Faith is plodding reluctantly to accept it.

So what's the worry?

Me, I'm not worried because I'm just a little old lady with no real stake in much of anything - nothing to lose that I haven't already lost or don't care if I do lose.

But there are folks in our world who would likely not appreciate having people's attention drawn to parallels between historic fact and current events.

The divisions caused by 'identity politics', for example, mean that twisted Spiral is already out of balance. And I don't have to tell you who's been pushing that for a while now. I doubt they know what they're doing, but maybe they're hoping that when the time comes it will be the other side of the twist that will swing around and the Spiral will balance itself in their favor.

On the other end of the spectrum, but on that same side of the twisted Spiral, are the folks trying to shove the EU down the throats of the peoples of Europe. They don't want anyone reminded of how that ended when Rome tried to do it - twice - once via military and once via ideology. Neither ended well for Rome although Europe, once recovered from the ravages inflicted by the attempts, came out of it with those strong independent nations that Ullin and RICIMER and the others were betting on. Rome struck out twice trying what they're trying now.

Yet another loser in this equation is an ideology that can't seem to wrap its head around either the Holy Trinity OR that a Mother is required if there are to even BE a Father and a Son - OR that what they're trying to do has already failed more than once.

None of those people want to be challenged to explain how on earth they think they're going to take two failures and turn out a success by trying the exact same things. It's not like math where two negatives can produce a positive.

Honestly.

What did they do, look at history and say, 'Hey, check this out! This thing here FAILED spectacularly, and that thing over there FAILED just as spectacularly! Let's put them together and they'll be GREAT! We'll rule the world!'

Considering that the goal of both examples had been to 'rule the world', and both FAILED spectacularly, success by combining the two doesn't exactly seem very promising.

My point here, and in the books, is that our fictional folk (some not quite all the way fictional) SUCCEEDED in what they set out to do, not because they themselves were masters at what they did (although they were) but because their goal was WHAT THE COLLECTIVE, INSTINCTIVE, WILL OF THE PEOPLES AFFECTED WANTED.

So the moral of the Story is: the EU is doomed, and so is that invasive ideology. One is trying what Rome tried first; the other is trying what Rome tried second. Against the exact same populations of people. For that matter, some folks in the States are trying to do do what Rome also tried: pitting folks against each other. That, if you recall, resulted in something called the Barbarian Conspiracy, which didn't work out so well for Rome in the end did it?

Mamm of Dunnottar, fictionally speaking, asked Attila, "How stupid are you?!?"

Me, I would never think of asking anyone any such thing.

Out loud.

I might wonder it to myself, though.

If you're going to try stuff, you might want to first do a little homework so you know a little something about the people you're up against.

Not to be a spoil sport or anything, but at least three quarters of the citizens of the United States of America are probably descendants of the peoples Rome FAILED against - twice. The percentage in Europe is likely higher yet.

Fussin' and fuedin' is one thing Rome thought was more than it was.

Leave off the crap and leave our Legacy alone. 

Our instincts are still intact.

Believe me.

Go play in the rest of the world, and quit tryin' to mess with our Circles.

RICIMER MIGHT COME BACK.

And see how you like them apples.

*laughing* While We're At It ...

Since we're focusing on the books of SONG for the moment, we may as well go the whole nine yards.

Here are the Alianora Books: COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

What with one thing and another, the natural disasters of 2017 seem a lifetime ago.

Yet, as they unfolded I almost pulled HELL AND HIGH WATER from the 2017 publishing list. The events in the books were just hitting too close to home, so to speak.

Then it dawned on me what I was seeing before my eyes.

For many, 2017 was a time when push came to shove, when bad went to worse and from there right on to worst.

So what was I seeing that grabbed my attention?

Nothing.

NOTHING got in the way of people stepping up and helping other people.

That's what I saw.

I didn't see folks giving a hoot about color, didn't hear them asking about religion, or social status, or lifestyle choices. For a time the 'identity politics' we've all become so familiar with flat out did not exist.

So, besides the NOTHING, I saw HOPE.

I bet a lot of those video news clips are still available on line. We should all go watch them.

Meanwhile, ponder on this for a bit: WE are the descendants of the folk who survived that other time of HELL AND HIGH WATER. Apparently a lot of us have inherited at least some of what got them through those times.

Did the regular folk of Earth back almost 13,000 years ago know that their world was going to literally explode under their feet and over their heads?

No.

Did the advanced culture in the middle of the North American Continent think for an instant that their technology would be rendered useless in the blink of an eye? Did their Star Folk see anything coming ahead of time?

No.

When a new Keeper of the Faith was born in the year 500 CE (AD) did Alianora and Drustann of Dunnottar know what they were getting themselves into when they wanted to assure themselves that the Faith they cherished was still on the right track - and arrangements were made for them to go back in time to find out for themselves?

No.

The Story, and the Warning, they bring back with them changes a lot of things.

Meanwhile, we have our own version of the Arthurian Tales going on. The battles that Hart fights are based on those tales (easy enough for an Arthurian Scholar to figure out) but are also purely our own interpretation. Gotta love fiction!

Did the regular folk of Earth in the 500s CE (AD) have any inkling of what was about to descend on them? A few did - and their choices, their actions, made all the difference.

Corrections and Updates

For the moment at least, and hopefully for all time, the updates and corrections to the Mamm Books and DANANN are as complete as I'm going to get them.

Thankfully HELL AND HIGH WATER has relatively independent story lines (WHEW) and I'm not going to fret about them right now.

As for why I've fretted about getting these fine-edited right now, it's because I read them all over again in preparation for the writing of RICIMER and found a couple of things that I wanted fixed.

So I fixed them.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the new files submitted for print, and the Kindle editions will be fixed at the same time. None of the Story Lines changed, mind you - just a touch-up here and there.

When they're all ready I'll post links.

Fun Review Time

I just spent some time going back through some of the early days of SONG - the development of setting, people, accessories, activities, historic events, etc.

Some of the story line ideas got changed along the way, the Characters developed their own personalities that surprised me now and then, and at one point I had to go back through all of the previous books to write in a Character who showed up on the radar of my research out of the blue unexpectedly - but he could not NOT be a part of our Story, so ... in he went! As it turns out, he's ended up being key further down the line, and an all-around favorite of many!

As RICIMER progresses, my mind is already jumping ahead to the Short Stories that are on the horizon.

When I finally quit reining them in and give them their heads, our fictional world is liable to burst wide open with the places and times our Characters will throw at us.

From here on out, once RICIMER is in print, we'll be free to roam at will, wherever and whenever our Characters choose to take us!! Wherever and whenever there's a hearth available for a Story to be told, we'll be right there.

If you're familiar with the younger generations of our fictional family you might have some idea about what we might be getting ourselves into. That's a fair warning that all may not go exactly as planned all the time, and that we could just happen to run into some folk of myth and legend at any time, any place.

Going through the chronicles from back then (not so very long ago but it sure seems a lifetime), all the struggles of today balance with the struggles of yesterday - and one way or another we'll come out of it all smiling.

RICIMER: Bad Boy of the Western Roman Empire - or was he?

The histories are pretty consistent in their opinions regarding Ricimer.

They don't like him very much.

Me being me, once I found out he's a relative of our fictional family, I took a closer look.

(The Back Story, establishing Ricimer's maternal connections)

Remember when we needed a worthy husband for our own Mamm of Dunnottar? She couldn't go through life all alone, and had a family heritage to add to. She needed a mate.

Fretting about it, I distracted myself by doing one of those on line quizzes: Which Conqueror Are You? Not exactly being 'conqueror material', and not really wanting to be, I didn't expect to find any matches.

Ha.

Up popped the only 'good guy' conqueror in the history of humankind: Alaric.

He did sack Rome in 410, this is true, but he wasn't mean about it. Mamm was at his side, and this was to be their final military campaign together, although they didn't know that at the time.

Alaric gave orders to not hurt anybody except in self defense. He insisted that the holy places be left alone, and everyone who got into them. Rumor has it that some of his men found a cache of wealth in the home of a little old lady. She told them it had come from one of the churches for safe-keeping. They gave themselves an escort, hoisted the wealth on their backs, and themselves carried it across town to return it to the church, with a crowd going along with them singing psalms and such. The other story that has survived is that one of his men found a woman alone. Instead of ravishing her he escorted her safely to the church where her husband had found refuge. Alaric gave his warriors but three short days to collect what they wanted, and then they were off - leaving to Rome almost all of the stores and supplies in the warehouses that had been held secure by his armies, and much of their wealth.

[Bear in mind that in the armies of Alaric were thirty thousand Getae warriors whose families had been ordered massacred by Honorius. Bear in mind that also in the armies of Alaric were tens of thousands of Getae who had been enslaved and earlier freed from their Roman owners by Alaric. So no, the sacking of Rome was not bloodless - but these folk were disobeying Alaric's orders, not going by them,]

Previously, he had held Rome under siege twice in the past two years.

THAT's the significant part, from our current perspective.

One of the negotiators for Rome was Aelia Galla Placidia, half-sister to the Emperors East and West, Arcadius and Honorius respectively.

One of the negotiators for Alaric was his brother-in-law Ataulf (Mamm's brother).

Turns out neither of them ended up being a lick of good in the negotiations, being as the two of them were locked in each other's eyes and busy falling deeply in love.

When Alaric left Rome that last time, Placidia went with Ataulf.

Skipping ahead a bit, Placidia and Ataulf ended up leading Alaric's people to settle in their new homeland: Aquitaine in Gaul. They were married and had a son. Then Ataulf was murdered. Placidia returned to her brother Honorius' household in the Western Roman Empire and was forced to marry the ambitious Constantius (the architect of the murder of Ataulf) and produce two children for her new husband. She ended up being Regent/Empress after Honorius died, while her son was a minor (Valentinian III - he was heir to the throne).

NOW we get to the part regarding RICIMER.

Mamm of Dunnottar, if you remember, has four brothers: Davidson of Chattan, LittleEthan of Tarnos, Ataulf of Dunnottar, and their younger brother Wally of the West (born to their parents after they sailed into the sunset to the Far Western Lands once Davidson, LittleEthan, Ataulf, and Mamm had been settled in where they needed to be).

After the murder of Ataulf, Wally of the West was chosen King by Alaric's people, as had been his brother Ataulf before him.

Wally's daughter Anna married Rechila King-apparent of the Suevii (NW part of what is now Spain, and just across the Pyrenees from Aquitaine).

Anna and Rechila had a couple of sons and a daughter.

Their second son was RICIMER.


[If you think I'm telling you a lot of stuff, you should see what all I'm leaving out!!]


The point here is that Ricimer's grandfather was the younger brother of Alaric's wife Mamm of Dunnottar and their other brothers, including the murdered Ataulf whose death left Placidia a widow. She would have been Aunt to Ricimer's mother Anna.

Family connections frequently made for the fostering of young ones by family members who were best suited to bring up certain young ones to fill certain niches.

Ricimer, being a second son with his elder brother slated to be a king, needed a career.

There's more to it than that, of course, but RICIMER went into Placidia's household during the years that she was reigning as Regent/Empress of the Western Roman Empire.

Placidia was Ricimer's foster mother during his developmental years, from young boy-hood through early adulthood. She was his great-aunt, although young enough to have been his mother as he fell in age smack between her son Valentinian III and her daughter Honoria. He would have been in his early thirties when she died at about age 60.


What most historians seem to dismiss out of hand is that Placidia had left Rome to go with Ataulf, apparently of her own free will as we don't hear of any negotiations having been made at the time for her ransom or return. Later, yes. but not during the first years after she left. What they mention but seem to not find all that significant is that, when she returned to Honorius' household, she was accompanied by a lot of Alaric's warriors as her Personal Guard. She refused to relinquish them and they refused to leave the side of their Queen.

Me being me, fiction writer that I am and having the Characters that we do, my interpretation is that Placidia and Ataulf were a love match from the get-go. She was Queen to his King and together they led the people of Alaric although neither was related to any of them. Placidia was Roman royalty; Ataulf was from Albann (now Scotland). Yet the people of Alaric chose Ataulf, and apparently were just fine with Placidia as their Queen. What does that tell you?

At any rate, Placidia was indeed best suited to prepare RICIMER for what was ahead of him.

Meanwhile ... 

There is, as always, a bigger picture to take into consideration.

Fictionally speaking, Ricimer is born to fulfill a Destiny not many would have been able to handle. Perhaps in reality as well, but fiction is our purview, not reality unless it fits into our Story Line. Just sayin'.

At practically the hour of his birth, our own Ullin of Iona claims RICIMER to fulfill that Destiny. From his earliest memories, Ricimer is well aware of what he will be called on to do, the reasons behind the demands, and the consequences should he fail.

Ullin of Iona, for those unfamiliar with him, is a very tall, very skinny, very bald, and VERY powerful Druid leader. His goal over the entire course of his very long life is to protect and preserve Freedom of Individual Choice for all of humankind, among other things. That he has issues with the Roman Empire is a given. That he might have issues with the direction Rome is taking 'Christianity' is a complex question.

Regardless of his personal take on the matter, Ullin of Iona serves the Mother of the Holy Trinity (The Father and the Son too, by association and the fact that the Trinity is unequivocally and inextricably ONE entity). His sight is far-reaching, to significantly understate, and he knows a lot more than he ever lets on.

When Ullin says something needs to be done, and bothers to explain himself, few are going to argue the point.

What Ullin sees in the future for the Peoples of Europe are the resulting outcomes should History take one course or another.

1) Should the Western Roman Empire revive itself and continue the course it started down so long ago, one outcome could be expected.

2) Should the Church of Rome gain ascendancy and move toward power, and control of Europe, a different outcome would be expected.

3) Should the various Peoples of Europe, the Getae/Celts go to war among themselves, still another outcome could come about.

4) Should the Vandals conquer all, something else would happen.

5) Should the invading folk from the East be given free rein, the result would be entirely different.

As RICIMER grows up in the household of Placidia, Ullin comes and goes frequently, teaching and training the young boy, the young man.


Between what he learns from Placidia about the ruling of an Empire, what he learns from Ullin about exploring options, and what he learns from Aetius the Roman General once his formal military training begins ... Ricimer is pretty darned well educated pretty darned early on.

Given that Ricimer is an apt student, the compelling goal of Ullin (to protect and preserve individual free choice for all) takes precedence. That it is a goal shared by Placidia might be an understatement. That Aetius is in accord with the concept is apparent from the fact that he's got a 'barbarian' for a wife and hasn't chosen a Roman woman. The women of the Getae/Celts bow to no man. Ever.


So all three of Ricimer's primary mentors share a common goal.

The goal itself is clear.

It's how to make it happen that needs to be fine-tuned.


The Peoples MUST forge themselves into strong nations whose people have steel in their backbones - steel powerful enough to turn aside the attacks that are to come, if they are to survive, if their culture of freedom is to survive.


The Future of the Peoples of Europe and beyond lie in the choices, and the hands, of one young man - RICIMER.

How will he choose?

Will he have what it takes to do what he has to do when he has to do it so that the Future will become what it will need to be when it needs to be it?

We'll find out.


NOTE: The five interlocked circles represent what all of our Characters live, fight, and die to protect and preserve:

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

FAITH IS THE CENTER CIRCLE

Here Come The Bad Guys

A note to our Readers regarding the ‘new’ Characters who will soon be showing up in the short stories of SONG: 

You know how I’ve often told you to look for yourselves among our Characters because it is you, the people of today’s world, who are the living Characters on whom the fictional ones are based? Do not look for yourselves among this new batch because you will not be there. The Readers of SONG are not the sort of folk to be found there … and it is not for them that SONG is written, but for YOU.

If by chance you are one of those others who think you might find your own representation in the followers of Aduan, the ‘bad guys’ of SONG, know that you may well run across somebody who reminds you of yourself in some ways. But know also that you will not search for long, because you will not want to look further. We’re fine with that, because it is not you for whom these stories are written in the first place. We already know that you will not like what you find in them; you aren’t supposed to like it.

People of Peace we and our Characters may be – but there are hate-filled folk in the world who do not find the concept of Peace the least bit appealing. If you are among those folk, SONG is not for you. The battles of SONG are fought at times against naturally occurring events and the aftermath. More often they are fought against intolerance; against subjugation of women (or anyone else); against anyone who would restrict the freedom to choose one’s own life-path and follow it; against violent aggression aimed at innocent populations marked for ‘submission’; against individuals who have no qualms at all about seeking to destroy the life of another by any available means; against those who would deny the sanctity of the Holy Trinity in Its true form; against any and all who seek to harm others for malicious reasons.

Hiding our faces from those who follow the above path is not the way of our Characters, or of we ourselves. At times, yes, prudence dictates strategic retreats. But there is always a line beyond which our Characters, and their representatives in today’s world, will not be pushed. Harm none and you are safe among us. Raise your fist or a weapon against any innocent one, and all bets are off. Our Characters are in general an easy-going lot. Almost anything goes and everyone’s rights are equally respected – but nobody has the right to attack the equal rights of others. If/when that point needs to be made, it will be made by the Characters of SONG – past, present, and future.

So here is the line drawn.

Readers, you will find your own self among the Characters we have already met (but for Aduan). 

We are about to introduce the ‘bad guys’. 

Do not look for yourselves among them. 

You’re not there.

An Angel Story

I have a number of 'Angel Stories' but for today my focus is on a point that needs to be made about one of them in particular. The whole story will come in another post; for now the abbreviated version will make the point.

A recent topic of conversation was about angels; it reminded me of the reluctant angel I met when my vehicle overheated on I-25 between Pueblo and Colorado Springs, the one who drove a red corvette convertible. 

I needed help and he helped me, confused as all get-out because, as he told me, he just didn’t do stuff like help people because all people are inherently bad, hateful, and generally mean. Nevertheless he helped me in more ways than one and was on the receiving end of a blessing of his own.

He drove into the Springs to get the part my poor little beat-up S10 Blazer needed, leaving me with my vehicle because otherwise it probably wouldn't be there when we got back, and I was to stay IN the vehicle (doors locked and windows up). 

While he was gone, people pulled off of I-25 from both directions to check on me. I’m not even kidding you a little bit here. I started writing down plate numbers on the back of an envelope but stopped when I ran out of room and lost count. More than FORTY vehicles pulled into that little area, some of the folk choosing to stick around until my ‘angel’ got back with the part, which took better than an hour.

The point I want to make here is not so much that there are indeed an abundance of ‘angels among us’ (although that’s most certainly true and I’m here to tell you so) but ... 

Those angels showed up from all socio-economic backgrounds (going by their vehicles and clothes) and from all the ethnic-cultural backgrounds that the Front Range is home to, they were of all ages and both genders – and not a one of them gave any of the others so much as a sideways look, I’ll have you know. 

Each and all of them had pulled off of that highway urged by the exact same impulse, to help someone, and they all knew it. Grins and waves from each to the other and they were back on their own paths for the day. 

Few of them would have known how MANY they were a part of on that day, but I knew and so did a couple of the early stoppers who stayed to ‘stand guard’.

So it wasn’t just me who was blessed on that day, nor just my reluctant angel (who was shocked enough to find a group of folks waiting with me when he got back, let alone when we told him how MANY more had stopped), but also all those folk who took the time out of their days and made the effort to check on the well-being of a total stranger.

Do not ask me to explain because I flat out cannot do it. 

Such a thing may never have happened before and may not have happened since and may never happen again – but on that day it did I tell you true.

In today’s world we could have and would likely have recorded the whole thing and it would have gone viral on line. As it is, the memory makes me smile and having had the experience makes me believe very strongly in just the opposite of what my reluctant angel told me about people on that day.

Score one for the good folk!

From all walks of life, from all ages, from all ethnicities, from all cultures, male and female they stepped up to the plate and offered aid, support, good wishes, protection, and many a smile and/or hug as well. 

That I am still so impacted by that one short time speaks on behalf of everyone who was there on that day. 

I couldn’t tell you the name of a single one of them except that I remember Ric was the name of the reluctant angel. 

But I will never ever in my life forget the message they brought with them, each and all independently of everyone else. 

‘I care,’ they said. ‘I am here.’

*sentimental sigh*

I totally love remembering times like that.

I Expect the Millennials to Be Superheroes

On my mind today are the Millennials. I was up with them all night last night, kinda sorta, and woke up with them today.

People attach all kinds of labels to this generation. I can't for the life of me figure out why they bother, except maybe that we Boomers are big on labels. I've seen a lot of the data, a lot of the 'studies', a lot of the analysis about this generation. The research has its place, and the labels happen for a reason ... even so, labels don't really do a whole lot of good. As my daughters tell me, 'It is what it is, Mom.'

Being as I'm a Boomer, I'm going to go ahead and use the 'Millennials' label, just because I want to.

The Millennials certainly don't care. I doubt they even realize that labels might be important to some people. From what I've seen, this batch of young people honestly doesn't even recognize the differences we Boomers look for when we're assigning our labels. I think Millennials might be color-blind, and gender-blind, and status-blind, and (thankfully, from my point of view) age-blind. A lot of the things that are so all-fired important to Boomers flat out do not matter to Millennials. Boomers look at that; they see it as a 'bad thing'. If Boomers acted the way Millennials do they would, by their own standards, be far off from the ideals they hold dear.

But Millennials do not really give a rat's hind end about the standards of the Boomers. They aren't bound by them. They aren't even really aware of them. The Boomers stand back shaking their heads, completely unaware that Millennials have their own set of standards. They do not have to do things the same way the Boomers did. They do not want to do things that way (it hasn't worked too well in a lot of ways anyhow, you have to admit). It's not quite a total lack of respect for an older generation; it's more like a confident respect for their own selves. Call it arrogance; that's okay. It's what we brought them up into, after all.

*smiling*

Millennials, so I hear, are 'late bloomers' - supposedly a lot of them are, anyway ... I myself haven't see that but if it is indeed true, so be it. Their peers will handle that problem when the time comes, I do believe.

At any rate, thinking about what we can expect from the Millennials is a good way to spend a hazy smoky dim-skied sort of day.

The day itself brings with it thoughts of the Millennials. The smoke is pouring down out of Canada from the raging Alberta forest fires. I expect the young folks I'm thinking about on this day will do something about what causes those fires.

Contrary to what some Boomers may believe, I don't think our Millennials are the least bit stupid. Nor do I consider them any more selfish than anyone else. Nor do I stick the 'entitled' label on them. They're ... how can I say this? ... seeing things from their own perspective just like everyone else.

And just what exactly are they seeing?

A lot of what they have to look at isn't all that pretty.

They don't like what they're seeing any more than the rest of us do.

The difference is that they're the ones who are going to have to change it.

And they will.

I do expect our Millennials to reverse a lot of the choices we as Boomers have made. Most of it I not only don't have a problem with but enthusiastically applaud. And no I don't expect them to care that I'm rooting for them. They don't need me, or anyone else, rooting for them. Millennials aren't going to even hear either our hoots or our applause. They've got other things on their minds, and are busy doing said things.

No, I'm not talking about taking selfies or lounging on their parents' couches.

I'm talking about the level of communication among them represented by those selfies. It is not the same sort of in person interpersonal communication we as Boomers so heartily approve of, but it is highly effective and efficient, which we tend to ignore while we're criticizing them for it.

When the time comes, they'll use those communication skills to make the changes they want for the world they're going to have to live in, and that their children will have to live in.

They'll use technology to protect and preserve, and to heal, their world - watch them. 

Because you know what? 

Millennials care. 

Deeply. 

Not necessarily in ways or about things Boomers can easily wrap their heads around, but you better believe that yes they do indeed care about their world.

At the moment it's the Canadian forest fires that come to mind. It will be the Millennials who figure out how to eliminate or minimize that threat - by whatever means their creative minds and strong selves can come up with. Maybe they'll ensure proper care-taking of the forests of the world. Maybe they'll be the ones who will see to the re-foresting of Earth. Maybe they'll figure out a way to be certain vulnerable areas have sufficient fire-fighting resources (water supplies, transportation, prevention, yada yada ... how am I supposed to know, I'm not a Millennial). Maybe they'll be the ones who will be able to produce rain when needed, who knows? They don't want the world they're going to give to their children to go up in smoke.

Because natural disasters are on my mind from the research I've been doing for a book, I expect the Millennials to safely vent volcanoes. I expect them to not only safely vent them but to put all that vented energy to a productive use. They don't want the world they live in and that their children will inherit covered with ash and poisonous fumes.

I expect them to come up with a way to relieve pressures within Earth herself so that the movement of the tectonic plates can happen without danger to anyone up top. Those plates have to be able to move and flex, but the Millennials aren't going to be having a lot of patience with earthquakes. An ounce of prevention, you know. They'll figure it out, watch them.

I expect them to explore the deepest reaches of the waters of Earth, to learn what's going on down there, to respect what they find, and to do their utmost to protect and preserve that too. Having the waters of Earth disturbed is not going to fit in with the plans they have for themselves and their children, if you're looking at it from the 'they're selfish' perspective, which I am not. They might want safe shores for personal reasons but they're also looking out for the welfare of the sea folk, the ecological balance of the whole of Earth.

I expect them to produce Sky Guards to protect themselves from threats coming from 'up there out there'. I also expect them to get their backsides, at least some of them, off of Earth and start pioneering 'out there up there'. 

I do not expect them to do any of this stuff out of any sense of true 'altruism', not at first. I suspect at least part of their motivation is likely to be rooted in anger at us Boomers, and a 'this is how you do it!' kind of attitude.  I don't care why they do it, so long as it gets done. They'll find their sense of others as they go along, even if said others are only each other. Says a Boomer, in a kind of snarky Boomer sort of voice. Millennials have already, I think, more of a sense of being truly connected to others than any of the rest of us.

If it's true what people say about them, they'll do what they do for purely selfish reasons. And the people who are saying that act like it's a bad thing, as though they themselves haven't created this situation (as a species, as a Boomer generation) out of pure selfishness themselves. Humankind is inherently self-oriented, folks. Cope as best you can. We don't do anything unless we're likely to get something good for our own selves out of it, even if it's only being able to say 'I told you so' or to pat ourselves on the back. 

Except, apparently, for the Millennials who could not possibly care less about telling anybody so or patting themselves on the back. 

They are a paradox, a conundrum to me as a Boomer. When I find myself thinking of, or referring to, them as 'thumbing their noses' at Boomers it's because that's what we would do. When I think they're angry at us, it's not because they are; it's because we deserve their anger. In reality, I doubt they bother being mad about much of anything.

I expect they'll look for and find alternatives that we the Boomers, and previous generations, have been ignoring for way too long. 

I expect they'll look for and find - and put to use - medical remedies we've long been bemoaning the 'absence' of. They'll look everywhere, not just in test tubes. They've got the technology to do whatever they put their minds to. The technology we gripe about dominating their lives is going to save their lives, and prolong them. If they look for answers because they ('selfishly') want to have longer and stronger lives, it's nothing but sour grapes on our part if we whine about it. They won't turn up their noses at things that work, no matter how 'old' they might be, or how 'experimental'.

I expect the American Millennials to take a good long hard look at every last law we've got on every last book in the United States. I expect them to bloody well study and know their own Constitution inside out, upside down, and every which way from Tuesday - and to take each and every one of our laws straight to the Constitution to make sure it fits the way it's supposed to. I expect them to eliminate the ones that do not fit. 

Yes. I do expect it. Not from all of them, of course, but Millennials are surprisingly picky about the strangest things. They'll get a bee in their bonnet and start doing this, on a Local level, then a State level, and then they'll tackle the Federal laws. Some will want to go straight for the Feds but they'll be reined in by their peers who are going to put their picky minds to good use and do things in a way that makes sense to them. 

Of course, not being a Millennial myself I can't vouch for the way their collective mind works, but that's the impression I've gotten from the generation at large. Some will want to strike hot and hard and fast and make a whole new thing; the majority will take their own sweet time getting around to bigger things while they unobtrusively tend to whatever they want. The sweet thing about this one is that it can all be done electronically - all the laws are public and so is the Constitution. 

The Boomers could have done this their own selves but most of us aren't nearly as adept with electronics and communication as the Millennials are. And we are set in our ways, generally speaking. We've all but given up hope of being able to make any constructive changes (which is just as well, considering some of the changes we've made haven't exactly been all that constructive). What the Millennials will just up and do for no good reason except that they feel like it, we'd debate to death.

I expect the Millennials to make the switch from fossil fuels to 'natural resources' any second now. They're only just getting started; we have to give them maybe five or six minutes here you know. Unless they get the atmosphere of Earth cleaned up they're going to have a long hard haul. So they'll likely start there, while they're developing stuff to maximize solar power, and the wind and water they've got to work with. From their perspective, they've got the chore of taking out the trash generated by others. When they ban the use of plastics for anything except the most vitally needed things until they can come up with viable replacements, I for one will celebrate.

At any rate, the Millennials have everything they need to make all of the above happen, plus a whole lot more. They've got time to learn and to plan and to implement - the rest of their lives are liable to be longer than any previous generation.

That they'll be building on what has been provided to them is a given they might not choose to recognize. And that's okay too.

The Millennials are an odd lot, from the perspective of the Boomers. They will save the world out of sheer want-to, and never think twice about it as they go along. If we wind up viewing them as the heroes they are, they'll look at us like they have no idea in this world what we're going on about.

On the other hand, there's another little oddity I've noticed about the Millennials. They like superheroes. They like the old-fashioned superheroes of comic books, for starters. It seems a strange proclivity for a generation who grew up on reality shows and who spend their lives electronically connected. There's something lurking in them that responds to 'bigger-than-life' heroes. 

That they themselves are the living embodiment of what the word 'superhero' means is nothing that would ever even cross their collective mind. They do not care how any of us view them. They just want what they want. As they come to the realization that they're going to have to do it themselves, they'll (maybe, IMO they should) whine and yap about how they shouldn't have to be the ones doing all this stuff, (maybe, IMO they should) give the Boomers dirty looks, and then they'll do what they have to do when they have to do it. Because somebody has to, you know. And the Millennials are going to soon realize that they themselves are the biggest and strongest 'somebody' around.

The Boomers will watch as the Millennials go about doing what needs doing in such a nonchalant lackadaisical way that they don't look like they're even doing anything at all, let alone saving the world. 

The Boomers will shake their collective head and grumble about what the world is coming to when they're expected to remember to take along their cloth bags when they go grocery shopping. What are they going to do when Millennial medical professionals give them a prescription that they have to take to the local grocery store instead of a pharmacy, and then take what they buy there on home to make their own medicine for a sinus infection or bronchitis - instead of giving them pharmaceuticals? They'll moan and groan and long for the good old days - and be totally shocked when the medicine they made themselves actually works, quickly, without nasty side effects except maybe garlic breath for a day or two. Feeling stressed? Can't sleep? Here's your prescription (weather dependent of course): open a window at dawn and at dusk so you can actually hear the birds singing out there. Sit and listen to them for a while. What! No sleeping pills?

I expect the Millennials will eventually migrate out from the cities and the suburbs. Yeah I know; that sounds really weird but I still expect it to happen. They'll move into dead little towns and revitalize them, create their own, or at the very least bring back a sense of community in their own neighborhoods.

Sounds bass-ackward from what we ought to expect from a generation linked electronically to their world, doesn't it? They don't exactly come across as community-oriented.

Don't they?

Have they not been creating their own variety of 'community' via electronics for the entirety of their lives? Don't tell me they don't want or need human interaction. That's what they're all about. Granted, the scale and style is a lot different from anything the Boomers can understand - but the Millennials are using their technology for what main purpose? Communication. Reaching out. Interacting with others. Connecting.

See the thing is - and this is for the Boomers - you don't give someone a gift and then try to tell them what they have to do with it. 

One of my daughters made that point to me just last week. Some years ago I had wanted to give her an antique dresser that she wanted, but told her she couldn't refinish it. So she didn't take it. When I offered it this time, and she told me it was going to get refinished, I didn't argue the point. I might be old but I can still learn a thing or two or three. Millennials don't particularly care a whole lot about whether or not something loses its original varnish or its 'value' as an antique resting in part on that 'distressed' look. Distress isn't a positive word in the vocabulary of Millennials. So off the antique dresser goes, to a new generation and a makeover that will likely do it a world of good.

She's a Millennial. I'm a Boomer. The more I don't expect her to see things from my perspective the more impressed I am with the way she sees things and the steps she takes to make her world better. The same goes for all four of my Millennial daughters. And they are not exceptions. The Millennials I've known from my work are the same. The friends and colleagues of my daughters are the same. The ones I know on line or from random meetings here and there and everywhere are the same. 

They don't see things the same way we Boomers see them - they live in a different world, almost a parallel world if you want to go with a science-fiction kind of thing. Our Boomer world is here, alive and kicking, but so is the world the Millennials live in ... and they're completely different worlds in a lot of ways. 

Here's another oddity about the Millennials. For a generation noted for electronics, the Millennials (at least the ones I know) are ardent about nature. 

They plant gardens, and trees, and flowers. They recycle. They go fishing and hope their cell phones don't fall in the lake. They bike and blade and run. They can be fanatics about what's going into their bodies. They are blending the two worlds they live in, taking the best of the old and putting it together with the best of the new. And they share it as they go along, because they can. They tend to try to take good care of themselves, if only because they are such public figures and want to look good for the camera.

Of the two, I'd have to say theirs, the one they're making, is better, stronger, healthier all the way around. We Boomers are quick to judge and to condemn anything that's 'different'. Millennials don't seem to recognize 'different' and are just as quick to make friends with Boomers as with everyone else, reserving judgement. Millennials, in general, are just plain flat out nice. Which we Boomers are not. They might be borderline 'too nice' - but I'm pretty sure there's steel in those backbones. If you've ever seen them dig their heels in, you won't doubt them ever again.

Their outlook is not the least bit wrong and I watch them quietly from the sidelines and smile. They have no idea of the magic they are creating. Not a clue.

They just do what they do, you see. They do what they want to do. Luckily for us, it seems what they want to do is what we've tried to instill in them from infancy on - they just process things differently than we expected them to, and go about doing what they do in their own way. 

That might or might not make any sense to us, but as they come into their adult years we're going to be seeing a lot more of them 'doing what they do'. If we disagree with them, they'll probably listen fairly politely to what we have to say and then just keep on doing what they do in their own way. Because that's what they do.

It's who they are, the Millennials.

Without making any kind of fuss about it, they are already changing their (and our) world for the better.

So, while some might be as 'bad' as people say they are, we'd be better off paying attention to what the Millennials as a generation are telling us without ever really saying a word about it. While they're busy checking their phones they're equally busy building communications networks that are going to pack a good solid punch when they're needed. 

The Millennials are also just taking care of business in their own imitable way ... I think our Millennials have a very long collective fuse is what I think. They don't seem to get too bent out of shape about too many things that Boomers have hissy fits about. 

On the other hand, injustice or abuse or a threat to what they want for themselves and their children are likely to kindle flames in their eyes. It might take a lot to make a Millennial mad, but ... really ... you don't want to go there. They are a force to be reckoned with even when they're just doing what they do. Their numbers alone assure that nobody's likely to underestimate the power they wield. That they're so easy-going about most things might make someone think they are unaware of their own power, or don't know how to wield it. Woe to such a person. I kid you not.

They can go from Clark Kent to Superman in the blink of an eye.