Psion Character

Image for a psion character I'm creating for a Pathfinder game.
:)

Comics and fun.

placeholder for a comic I'm doing.

Pathways #20

Endgeist gave a good review on the last Pathways that I laid out.

"

The latest installment of Rite Publishing's Free E-zine Pathways is 33 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 10 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 21 pages of content that start off to a great beginning indeed - taking the new streamlined and much crisper layout from the last issue and taking it to the logical conclusion, Pathways now sports a ToC AND bookmarks! Oh, and have I mentioned that this issue is only about 3.2 mb? Yeah, it even takes up less space on your HD!

Now, David Paul's editorial is by now an institution in Pathways and this time, we get to know about Zane, a character that was not (yet) to be played. After this, we are introduced to Steven D. "Grandmaster of Monstertemplates" Russell's template of the month and get one that should have Steampunk-aficionados and fans of the Iron Kingdoms in particular cheer his name - the Ion Lich, powered by souls in his resplendent, unholy glory has been remained for Pathfinder! Nice indeed!

Raging Swan Press' Mastermind Creighton Broadhurst has also something for you with an order of cavaliers called "Order of the Scourge" that is all about punishing those sinners. As a nice bonus, w get a rank-and-file soldier of the order including mount as well as a nice CR 4 multiclassed cavalier/inquisitor-enforcer of th order.

"Spellcasting with a Price" is the article by Mike Welham and honestly, it is perhaps my favorite Pathways-article so far! Whether it be casting spells beyond one's capability, forbidden magic from dusty tomes, cursed and diseased spells that extol a price on the caster, spells that literally burn through your fortune or demand their power to be compensated by paying their price in flesh, to withering, enervating spells, spells that do exactly the opposite of what they ought to do and the good ol' sanity-shatterer - this article has them all and provides easy to implement guidelines to make magic just a tad bit more exciting and risky. This article, I can't stress it enough, is GOLD and I hope that Mr. Welham will develop a whole supplement with expanded versions of these types of magic. They're that cool.

John Bennett has new cursed items for us, to be precise two lovingly crafted ones - a puzzle-box that is not about going Hellraiser and a neat bone-piercing that may prove to be any caster's undoing. Both items come with detailed histories and hooks and can be considered true classy additions to your game.

This issue's interview is with Sean O'Connor, notably 4WFG's lead designer of PFRPG-compatible content and worth the read - as is, though I may be biased, the section on reviews, where the best 3pp-products are reviewed by yours truly, my fellow reviewer and all out great guy Joshua "KTFish7" Gullion and the new layout has also improved here, massively. Nice, though you may want to read the text of the Shadowsfall Player's Guide - its verdict is 5 stars, not 3 as mentioned in the beginning.

Conclusion:
I already gushed on about how superior the new layout is and Elton Robb, the layout-artist should really be proud - Pathways now looks completely, professional, sports a small mb-size and as all the nice things like bookmarks in addition being free! While this is one of the shorter issues Pathways, it is also, hands down one of the best, if not the best so far - Each and every contribution in this issue is made of win and it sports one of my favorite article in any RPG-magazine. Two thumbs up, 5 stars + seal of approval - if you download an issue, get this one!

Endzeitgeist out.

"

I felt my ego swell after that! :) 

A stone age setting

Imagine for a moment, a fantasy world suffering catastrophe that sends most of the world's surviving population back to the Stone Age.

Living in the stone age, the society is forced to rebuild.  It's a society where shiny gem stones are traded, and people must return to a hunter gatherer society.  Although, insular as they are, a minority of societies rediscover malachite copper and tin, forming bronze age societies.  In the interaction of these societies, you get a recipe for adventure.

This doesn't mean an RPG based on the Beastmaster.  However, it does mean an RPG that is based on the same basic idea.  The idea is only partly baked, and right now I'm doing some research to make sure everything works.  Note though, the t.v. show is badly acted.

Secrets of Magic: Firebolt

Secrets of Magic: Firebolt has been released today on 4Shared and Scribed.com.

Alright, now to do something radical. Everyone, I can't afford to "buy" a business license from my local Municipalitical government, although circumstances has forced me to use something that is still revered by our Government in the Constitution to my advantage.

That's right, its copyright. However, in order to make it rather than play the game of Publisher's Roulette, I'm offering to play Public Roulette instead. Here's how it works:

The Internet is the most efficient copying machine that man has ever created in Modern History. It has the ability to copy Energy perfectly from one computer to another on an infinite scale in the form of words, pictures, sounds, and video arranged for the purpose of education, aesthetics, or entertainment. For almost twenty years, Media Corporations could have embraced the Internet in the role it was made to be. However, individuals are much more forward seeing.

Before the Internet, we had Publishers and Printers who had these expensive, gigantic printing presses that could put Energy to paper, vinyl, tape, or to cinematic film in rivalrous goods known as books, cassette tapes, records, and film. Writers almost had to universally play Publisher Roulette in order to get their work published. In this Roulette, they'd almost always lose and only 5% of writers become a famous, well known author who could live just off of their work.

Now thanks to the internet, you can buy from the Writer directly. And thanks to Ryan Dancey, you can buy products made for Pathfinder and the d20 system written by authors who work for themselves and not exclusively for Wizards of the Coast. The OGL is the underlying cause of Pathfinder's success.

Secrets of Magic: Firebolt is the first step for me in a radical change. It's a document that takes the spell firebolt and reveals it's secrets to you in a not so generic world setting that is as generic as you can get. It's part of a series called Secrets of Magic, which you, the public, have the full rights to distribute.

After all, in order for the work to be enjoyed, it lives inside your minds; and it can only live inside your minds if you can read it. Therefore, it is released with both the Open Game License and the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. You will find that you can build on the work, alter the work, create derivatives, and even sell a copy yourself. You can even put it up on the *cough* Pirate Bay. *cough!*

You just download it, and if you like it, you can send me a donation on what you think the work is worth to you. This is Nina Paley's experiment applied to a Pathfinder derivative document.

The work is available for Free Download from 4shared and Scribd.com, and can be purchased from Scribd.com. I will accept donations in the form of a USD check, money order, gold, silver, precious stones, crystals, and food (elections have consequences, people! Food will be the new currency, get used to it!) in that order. Once I have enough money to open a bank account, I can open a paypal account.

You can download Secrets of Magic: Firebolt from here: 

Secrets of Magic Firebolt

Or from 4Shared for free!


HOW DO WE PAY YOU?

Through donations.  I'll accept Checks and Money Orders in USD currency, gold and silver, precious stones, and crystals, and then food -- in that order.  Donations can be made to my private address which I can share through private, secure email.


WE CAN DO ANYTHING WE WANT WITH THIS?

Yeah.  You can.  You can create Derivative Works, Alter the Work to your specifications, and even sell a copy of it for yourself.   You are the distributor!

THIS IS A LOT LIKE WHAT NINA PALEY DID . . .

Exactly.  This is following her cobbler model.  You will able to take the work and distribute it as an audience to any outlet you please. :)

Roleplaying and the Multiverse

While doing research for my adventure I'm writing, I wanted to be clear that the adventure was happening in an Alternate Earth -- or an Alternate Universe (in Fantasy RPG speak, we'd call this an alternate prime material plane).  So, I went to refresh my mind on Quantum Mechanics to make sure that I was being accurate.  These thoughts are only a hypothesis or just thinking out loud.

It's so fun being vindicated.  Watching "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" vlogs, the physicist says that we move through the 5th or 6th Dimension (there are officially 10 dimensions recognized by Science).  Some people would say we move only through the 4th dimension and that our course in time is fixed and there is no deviation.  They say that we are finite, and some people who read my blog would embrace this and say that their course is fixed in their journey through the Universe and there is no deviation from their course and people have to accept their course in Life.

However, we have the ability to send our minds to the Past and to the Future, imagining the past as remembering what we have done and imagining the future on our course.  If we can send our minds forwards and backwards in time, then we have the ability to choose our course.  If we have the ability to choose our course, then we can certainly change our natures.  And if we can change, then in reality we are infinite, and we experience absolutely all possibilities at once. Yep, that means that you are simultaneously experiencing being different and are capable of changing to be different.

We are like the photon, which moves at the speed of light, and therefore has no speed relative to its point of observation. Since a photon has no speed, according to it's point of view, it's everywhere at once and the speed of light through a vacuum (c) has no relevance.  Like the photon at any given point in time, we are anything at once, choosing what to experience through our bodies' five senses at any given point.  This is called collapsing the quantum wave function of possibilities, or using terms from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, manifesting Reality Revision.  its unfortunate that most people do it unconsciously rather than consciously, as we should do.

Thus we move in six dimensions when we make a choice and we move in five dimensions when our choice is made. However, what if our minds are capable in moving through the 7th Dimension?  When we imagine that the seventh dimension is the ability to "plane walk" or "plane hop" as in Planescape, then perhaps through our imaginations we can travel through the 7th Dimension.

Since our subconscious can't tell the difference between what we imagine and what we see through our five senses, then in a real way we can "plane walk" and travel through the 7th Dimension.  As role-players, we have the ability to send our minds to other places and interact with them.  We interact through the story the GM sets up for us and we certainly imagine as if we are there playing through an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_ego]alter ego[/url] (wikipedia link).  And like I said before, our subconscious can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy when we imagine something so it's as if we are actually there experiencing what the GM has set up for us.  We can choose to be anybody or anything while playing in a roleplaying game, so in a real way we are moving through the 7th Dimension.

I think that's neat!  Watching the vlogs vindicates or corroborates my spiritual beliefs about myself and my place in the Universe.  Of course, someone may debate this, but I guess that is to be expected.

Excerpt: from an Adventure I'm writing

I don't know what to title this, yet.  However, I was brushing up on a few things before I started.

-----------------------

Introduction

This adventure is a fantasy adventure that takes place in a possible alternate Earth where magic exists, and creatures of myth and legend also exists.  In this alternate version, the parallels to our history is striking except that the colonization of America takes place during the reign of King Henry the III of England.

The adventure actually takes place some two hundred years after the start of the hundred years war, and America is starting to come out of the Late Middle Ages and come into the

Renaissance.  It is the reign of King Richard the III, and Americans of English descent has expanded into Utah and parts of California.  The English is only one of many powers in the world, most of which includes elvish and dwarvish kingdoms along with orc holds.  There are also gnomish villages and Halfling settlements.  This adventure is part campaign, part player’s guide, and all adventure in the land of a magical, fantastic Fantasy America.

Synopsis

This adventure is for first level characters and takes place on Christmas Day.  Christmas festival is happening, and people are celebrating the day that the Savior supposedly was born.  However, the dragon Sargon interrupts the festival.  Sargon, a mighty fire dragon, is angry with the villagers for not honoring his tribute.   In the confusion, the villagers run in fear in the mighty dragon’s rage, which blows smoke, fire, and embers.   In the confusion, the player characters are led into the keep, where they deal with the forces trying to take advantage of their confusion.

The invaders taking advantage of the confusion are the kobolds and the goblins that found their ways into the keep from the deep midden and undercrofts.  The goblins, of the Salty Husk Tribe, want to take advantage of the village’s weakness during the dragon attack to get their favorite food – humans.

The player characters must get through the goblins and kobolds and hack them down in the confusion to escape the village’s attack.  During the battle to escape the village, the player characters face dangers such spiders, evil spellcasters, and the undead.  By the time they get out, Sargon leaves to head to his lair.

The player characters must head to the next village to recooperate and to decide their new options.  With their former masters slain by the dragon, the player characters must decide if they should continue on without their masters, get revenge on the dragon, or find the meaning of their own destinies.

After that, the player characters will find an open field in which to adventure, and the world is theirs.  If they wish to persue revenge on the dragon, they are free to do so and the adventure’s linear path assumes such.

WHATS IN THIS ADVENTURE?

Part 1 – The Player’s Guide

The Player’s Guide deals with the players directly and what it takes to create a character that fits for this adventure.  The adventure deals with new concepts such as Cultures, to help a player define his character much more fully within the framework of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or d20 system.   While a competing roleplaying product will award a beginning player skill ranks in various skills, the concept is still the same – you are as much as a product of your culture as you were born.  These new rules were meant to reflect that.

Aside from that, there are rules in handling real world religions within the framework of the adventure.  Each religion – Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and different flavors of Heathenism – for example – are explained within the context of the adventure.

Along with that and Player character class choices and magical languages that are available for roleplay are explained in the document.  If it’s all too confusing, pre-generated characters are provided as an illustration of what can be done within the new rules.

Part 2 – The Adventure

This provides the bulk of the adventure.  From the invasion of the village to the escape of the PCs on their way to find new adventure.  They are either to get revenge against Sargon, or to find their own destinies.  This section describes the adventure in detail.

Part 3 – Appendix

The appendices provides rules for a different interpretation of the Barbarian class along with a new interpretation of the Monk class as a Warrior Monk and some variations to allow for monks to explore the mystical side of Eastern Religion.

Is religion the wide gate? The Case against Religion

Some pastors are going to be mad at me.  The real Jesus during his 70 week ministry said that "Wide is the gate that lead to destruction."  Is religion the wide gate?  All people have a religion, even so called irreligious Atheists have religious traditions they adhere too.

Michael Rood says so.  This is his video on Truth vs. Tradition.


Religion is a set of beliefs we all adhere too.  Joseph Smith said that true Christian religion is taking care of the widows and orphans.  However, there are a lot of traditions that crept into Western Christianity that came from pagan religions.

A lot of what we hold dear: Jesus being born on December 25, that he had a 3 and a half year ministry, and that he died when he was 33 are all pagan traditions adopted from Babylonian Sun Worship.  Also, we have been tricked into thinking that our leaders are infallible and that they will lead us into heaven with Christ if we do and believe what they say.

Our traditions on what Jesus looks like can be wrong as well.  A young boy who saw him when he was very young reported that he wore a crown on his head, had a sash of purple, and truly loved him. Long hair? I don't think that was in the description.   Our pagan traditions in the Church is responsible for breeding Atheism.   For instance, Hallowe'en is more popular than Christmas, even though our nation spends 3 months celebrating Christmas.

Jesus said Strait is the gate is the way to Eternal Life.  This means that Spirituality -- a personal relationship with the Christ -- is our way of gaining Eternal Life.  Although prophets like Leland Freeborn have been raised up to warn the people what happens if they don't forsake the pagan traditions in the Christian Church; it's spirituality that will save people.  Having a personal relationship with the Savior and the Great Eternal Father is much more saving than believing in religion.

So, is Religion the wide gate?  I'll leave that up to you.

It's fall

It's autumn, and it's time to change the background with the season. :)

AWESOME!

Elton.

Adventure DAZ Soon

Well, I guess soon means "DAZ Soon" in this instance since I'm waiting for something to make a video. :)

Thelana 2012 by Alexey Lipatov by ~AGEOFAENYA on deviantART

My adventure will be sans-Pathfinder Compatible logo.  According to the usage restrictions -- an adventure with a nudist character in it would fall under "you may not use this License for products that the general public would classify as "adult content," offensive, or inappropriate for minors."

Thanks to Age of Aenya  (Nick Allmonos) I feel like I should write pathfinder adventures with naturist heroes. A naturist hero is a hero that adventures naked, sans clothing.  I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I always felt that the Pathfinder Compatibility license and the d20 License were limiting.  

Although Paizo is a private company and they have the right to censor with their Pathfinder Compatibility license, I still feel it is wrong to censor something so blatantly.  It's American culture for you -- the people aren't ready for naturism or nudism -- or those in power here in this country rely on keeping the people's clothes on to stay in power.  Actually I feel a mixture of jealousy and empowerment.  I really feel that this issue has to be addressed, and that primitive cultures in the world accepted full nudity now or at one time. 

So, why do the Israelites (White Caucasians and Europeans) demanded clothing?  I think its all because of a largely, and gross, error in interpreting what happened in the Garden of Eden.  It's either intentional  or it's accidental.  But in any case, Christianity does make a point to clothe the naked as an example of doing good.

In this case, the words clothe the naked, is part of the basic necessities of human life.  That's one point.  but another point is that there are 250 logical reasons not wear clothes.  If wearing clothes is a result of our fallen nature, then by extension Jesus Christ's atonement in the Garden and his crucifixion made it possible that man isn't fallen any more so by logic clothes aren't really needed in a purely Christian society.

So, a pathfinder adventure where one of the heroes is without clothing?  not impossible. :)  But it has to be published without the Pathfinder Compatibility License. :)

Kobold Publishing kickstart press release

SEPTEMBER -- SALT LAKE CITY

FOR RELEASE

I'm really poor.  I live on 5 dollars a day.  My family has been in absolute financial distress since 2004, and there's little to do but perfect my Poser Art while the Computer Graphics Society condemns us all poser and DAZ Studio users.

No more.

Since I'm so poor, I figure I have really nothing to lose on a risky venture.  So, writing an adventure using kobolds as the antagonists, I noticed that I ran into a snag while planning all the Poser 3D Art.  Sixus Studios' Raptorian is missing and Rawn's lizard men for M4/V4 isn't really something you can rely on for kobolds.  They are too humanoid.

Faced with a choice of being cheap or going all out, I could either get someone to draw B&W art for me.  Or I can risk it all in a Kickstart and have the Kobold created as a 3D poser figure.  I talked to Chikako of Mirye Software and Meshbox on the possibility of having a kobold created with clothes to my specifications.

The price tag for creating the Kobold in 3D Studio MAX and having it painted in Mudbox, along with a selection of clothes and weapons is $4,200 dollars (that includes transfer of Copyright).  I'm having the Copyright transferred to me for several reasons -- this figure cannot achieve it's full potential if either Meshbox or I kept it shut in a Copyright chest.  I'll be selling it through Meshbox, Mirye Software, and Renderosity with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (the least restrictive of the Creative Commons licenses).

  Yes, I can see your mouths drop.  "$4,200 dollars?  Where are you going to get that kind of money?!" you say.  Others are saying, "Your going to put a Creative License on your Kobold figure, you're crazy!"

The answer to the first question: through Kickstart.

Boss Kobold by *StressedJenny on deviantART

Since the Kobold is going to be the single most expensive item in making this adventure, I'm making it my mascot.  So, I checked to see if a d20/Pathfinder/D&D 5e publisher existed under Kobold Publishing.  Well, the name isn't registered.  There is a Kobold Quarterly, but no Kobold Publishing.

I'm doing this for a couple of reasons.

Today, I'm having a conversation with Rite Publishing on doing pro bono work as an intern for doing their layouts.  It would be great if my family is more prosperous to just intern, but since we are in financial distress I need to do something to ease the distress.  I'm going to take the intern job while raising money for the adventure.

So I am announcing my intentions of forming Kobold Publishing, Ltd.  Kobold Publishing, Ltd. works on producing Adventures for the Pathfinder roleplaying game.  Each adventure will have the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License as well as being produced under the OGL.  Our mascot is the kobold that I'm spending so much money on making a reality.

Each adventure will be produced in a heroic fantasy vein.  Some will feature psionics, some not.  But it will be all adventure.  Plus, with the Creative Commons license, Wizards of the Coast can publish one of my adventures for D&D Next, Paizo can make a competing copy, and many other possibilities.  The possibilities are endless when you grant FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

I'll put up a Kickstart page on Kickstarter soon.

Elves and Humans

Elven Town by ~SnowSkadi on deviantART

I am writing an adventure where an elven village and a human village are slowly merging into one town, and are invaded by kobolds.  But leave the kobolds out of it for now.   Here, you have two wildly different populations growing into each other.

The Elven Town of Aquarin has built a forest in a desert valley using magic and science.  Man has tamed the wild valley to make it bring forth fruit.   But to the south is Aquarin, built on a gently rising slope.  To the north is Hunter Village.  The two populations have been growing together, and the elves of Aquarin have realized that they couldn't stop it, so they gave a Kobold King's ransom to Hunter Village, and the resulting money has caused the village to literally explode.

Do you think that there are still conservative elves?  Or do you think there are more liberals among them?  How, would you think that the humans would feel?

The setting is a creatively Anachronistic Salt Lake Valley, to lead into my Amazons of the Desert ideas. :)  This is the not the first time a writer uses a real world location as creative license.  May I remind you of Xanth?

Is Obama our first gay President?

Source: Facebook

While commenting on sodomites in the White House giving Reagan the bird, a commenter said that Barrack Hussein Obama was our first gay president.  Really, I do believe that James Buchannan was our first  homosexual President.

Here are some facts about our 15th President.

a. He was a long life bachelor.  He was engaged, but his fiancé broke off his engagement and died soon after.

b. He had a relationship with William Rufus King.  A letter had this quote about his life long, special friend:

"I am now 'solitary and alone,' having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."


c. His niece acted as First Lady during his time as President. 


James Buchanan was mostly a good President for the united states of America.  The only thing I have against him was the Utah War and the signing of laws that forbid the practice of Plural Marriage among the Latter-day Saints -- as it was a strike against the First Amendment.  But this was when the President of the united states could act by himself and without undue influence by his peers, or by those who handle him as an Asset.


Barack Hussein Obama is not his own man.  He is an Asset controlled by foreign interests.  He is smart, but he is also not wise.  Buchanan was wise, and his platform was "The object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government".

Graceland

look at what I did to a photo of graceland.

Things are Changing Fast

I know it has been a while since I kept this blog up.

The problem is that I'm embroiled in personal dramas that has kept me from up keeping this blog.  As of now though:

• School work is not so much as easy as it is time consuming.  I'm learning web design in 4 weeks: i.e. how to use Dreamweaver.  The amount of school work on dreamweaver takes up 6 hours of my time.
• I'm planning on creating my online portfolio.  From what I'm learning about Dreamweaver, I kinda laughed when I got Advertisement Design and Dreamweaver together.  In Advertisement Design, they are starting to push us towards building our own online portfolios.

And there are other stuff that is happening.  Sorry to not to keep you in light of what is happening.  I don't think my Portfolio will include a link to this personal blog until I can get it back on track.  :)  I think the day I can actually work for a living will be a great day indeed (and actually get paid for it).

Shadowrunning

My players wanted me to run them through Shadowruns.  So, guess what?  I spent the last week crashing through the books.

Crashing through Shadowrun Anniversary Edition


GASP!

Shadowrun is 20 years old! :)

Anyway, for those that don't know . . . yes, Robin, I'm including you . . . Shadowrun is what happens when you cross Dungeons & Dragons with the Cyberpunk genre including the movies Blade Runner and Minority Report.

So, you get elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls running around in a Technopic-dystopia!  Not only that, but add dragons, morrows, cockatrices, harpies, vampire bats, barghests, shape shifters, vampires, and loupe garou.



Bringing you up to Speed


Okay, in 1989, hackers and matrix cowboys surfed the interwebs when the Internet was represented by America OnLine, Compuserve, and you used a plain modem to get online.  These cowboys, instead of using a computer with a modem, use a Cyberdeck -- an item the size of a MacBook with datajack you plug into your head; or electrodes you put on your head.

Well, in the last twenty years we have Cable Internet, Wide Fidelity Radio LANS, iPods, iMacs, and iPhones.  Especially since the iPhone and it's Android competitors can connect to the Internet via wireless radio.  As long as you are receiving (dubiously) safe Radio waves from cellphone towers and are not out of their maximum range.

So, when you are Shadowrunning, the Matrix has expanded to allow hackers and matrix jockeys to connect to the Matrix completely wirelessly.  No more plugging a datajack to your craniums, boys and girls!  And now your friendly neighborhood hacker can participate in your friendly neighborhood Shadowrun fight.

----------------------------------

The number of race selections now include a number of Infected and something called Changelings.  No, these aren't Eberron Changelings or Changelings from Changeling: the Lost.  Nope.  Here's what a Changeling in Shadowrun looks like -- and this is the 3rd degree Changeling.



Thorin Anthro by *Tacimur on deviantART

 Wow, what does this look like to you?  Yep, a furry.  What happened when Halley's Comet arrived, the Earth reacted magically and magic once again erupted across the world.  Now you have furries, gnomes, satyrs, Minotaurs, blah, blah, blah in the world.  The Sixth World got even stranger.

----------------------------------------------------

Magicians and Magic.

Nope, no change there.  Oh yeah, you can play a mage in Shadowrun.  But I'm sure you knew that.  Oh, yeah, you can relate magic to the physical world now.  So you can enchant Cyberware.  Yes.

----------------------------------------------------

Human Augmentation


Back in the 1990s, Shadowtech introduced Bioware as a form of Augmentation.  Instead of stealing essence, you gained a Body count that can't go over your Essence so it didn't affect your magic.

Now it's 20 years later, and they decided that it still impacts your essence (never you mind it's ALIVE!).  Still, instead of getting just new organs, you can get Body Sculpting!  And yes, people in the Gameworld has both sexes!

Still, instead of getting an implanted cyberdeck (cranial cyberdeck) you can have a Commlink implanted into your body.  But that's not even the weirdest part of living in 2071 in the Sixth World.

----------------------------------------------------

Technomancers

What if you didn't need a computer, or heck even a Commlink to jack in and ride the matrix wirelessly?  What if your brain was capable of receiving Radio Waves and sending Radio Waves?  In fact, why not just connect to the computer network using only your nervous system?  That is what Technomancers can do.  They can jack in to the matrix with their Cerebri.

They aren't Techno-Wizards from Rifts, these guys can just see and read the matrix without a commlink.  No invasive cyberware or Augmented Reality needed.  How would you like that?  Well, now you are completely unwired and you can hack into the Internet.

How does that make you feel?


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Rule System


There is hardly any major changes to the Rule System I'm used too, except that the regular way of creating a character for the sixth World is that you buy it with Build Points.  Yep, Priorities are long gone.

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Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orks, and Trolls

Okay.  So you are playing D&D.  Your intrepid Gamemaster is improvising the story as you go along (which, anyone knows, is improv).  Orcs are nasty barbarians.  Trolls are regenerating suck uglies that can throw you across the room, elves treat you like dirt, and Dwarves mine and that kind of stuff.

what do you get in Shadowrun?  Well there is one rule you need to remember.  Those stereotypes don't exist.

In the Street Samurai Catalog, you have four metahuman types representing the Street Samurai.  All of them are dressed to the nines.  Three of them are dressed to the nines in GEAR.  This is the Elf, who looks like a Bishounen reject, the Dwarf, and the Troll.  The Ork is dressed to the nines as well -- except he was wearing a double breasted business suit and tie and talked like he came out of Wall Street.

Look at this Elf --

Doesn't he look like he can chop you to bits?  But hey, that's nothing.  It's worse when an ork can out face you.  and what I mean about face is what this guy did in the A-Team. 

So, number 1.  There is no Chaotic Evil orks, trolls, dwarves, or elves in Shadowrun.  Get it? Good.  And Orks can be as personable as Elves, only Elves can do it better.  Got it?  Good.  Still, the world of Shadowrun is a Techno-Dystopia so you can forget those silly little alignment rules dealing with race.

------------

So, is there anything about the races that are bad?

Well, you can have a dwarf be the evil nice French Jerk.  An Ork be the rich dude from Monte Carlo, and the Troll in the boardroom.  As for Elves -- the Elves took over Ireland and Oregon.  Not all Elves in Shadowrun are stuffy, up your nose types that would call you a "silly English type!" but only the immortal ones are -- the other Elves think the immortal ones aren't with the times. 

--------------------

Tomorrow: Playing Back in Business -- a Shadowrun Scenario.

3D art is AWESOME

Hmm, I have recently got a claim that all 3D art is soulless, and Stinted.  Well, let me show you a few renders out of the thinking box:

These four images are from the CG Society.  Are you going to stand by your opinion that CG is stilted, soulless, and non-dynamic?  Or are you going to retract your previous statement?

Elton Robb

A Character and Portrait Folio?

Possible.

I have done nigh over 700 images using DAZ Studio in all hopes of working for Paizo or Wizards, essentially, I shouldn't be doing them for free.  However, the BIG TWO for D&D publishing are a company of curmudgeons.  There are, in some ways, a 3D Render can absolutely be used to illustrate scenes.

So what is the purpose of the Character and Portrait Folio?  To show off what 3D rendering scenes can and will do.

for instance:

These two were created using DAZ Studio.  The purpose of which is for you to use in your scenes or to represent your characters. ;)  I can do more complex scenes too.  Warriors fighting dragons, Gaeles, Lilends, and soon angels and demons. :)  Each image is Creative Commons licensed for sharing.  Why do so?  Well, one of the crazy things about Copyright is that I have the right to use the media I create as I see fit.  If I designate that it can be shared, then I can do so.  

After all, it lives in your minds.  If they are shared, they can propagate through many channels over the internet.  

The UberSurface Shader

So . . .

You've quested for photo-realism using DAZ Studio.  Many people have claimed that the 3Delight Renderer is subpar to Firefly.  And in your quest for the perfect photorealistic render you have done everything possible.  You've played with regular surfaces.  You manipulated the glossiness of your Specularity channel and you've played with the Human Surface Shader, but nothing.  You may have even dabbled in Reality voodoo, but . . . nothing can prepare you for . . . THE UBER SURFACE SHADER!

Kytana, Iconic Kineticist by ~Atlantean6 on deviantART

The UberSurface Shader is about as different from the Human Surface Shader as D&D 3.5 is to the Pathfinder RPG.  But as you can see above, you can get some interesting results.  So, where is this confection of culinary 3D delights for 3D confectionary magic?

It's been sitting in your Shader Presets folder, all along.

Above, Kytana, the Iconic Kineticist for PSIONICS UNLEASHED!!! was molded and rendered with this shader for prepared use for a Pathfinder Portfolio and Character Portrait product.  In the next few posts, I'll reveal the secrets of this shader.  In the meantime, I'll petition the makers of Mental Ray to produce a pay for product version of their renderer for DAZ Studio.

After all, this is the shader that can slice, dice, and render your surfaces to perfection.  Join us, in the next few posts for UBER SURFACE MAGIC! :)

We don't want everything for free, we just want everything.

Crost Posted from Question Copyright:

Recently, I gave a Sita Sings the Blues talk to a roomful of 15-to-17-year-olds. Near the end I explained Free Culture and my stance against copyright, which led to some interesting discussion. Turns out most of them are manga fans, and familiar with publishers’ complaints about scanned and translated manga shared freely online. They all read them anyway (except one, who prefers to read entire manga in the bookstore). I asked them how they would choose to support artists they liked (once they had some disposable income) and they said:

1. Donate buttons – with the qualification that they want to know as much as possible about where the donation is going. They said honesty and transparency are important.
2. Kickstarter – They all knew about it (which was notable because none of them had heard of Flattr) and valued pitch videos that explained how the money would be used.
3. Custom drawings
4. Merch
5. Physical copies
6. Live Shared Experiences, including ballet, museum exhibits, and concerts. The event aspect was important; they wanted to be able to say, “Remember that one time when that awesome show was here…” They agreed seeing things in person is a more powerful experience than seeing things online, and worth spending more on. One said she would buy CD at a live show because “it reminds you of the show.”
7. One said he would support artists by promoting their work to his friends.

Semi-related, I took an informal poll of how many would prefer to read a book on paper vs. an e-reader. The vast majority said paper, but what they really seemed to want was dual formats: paper copies to read comfortably and collect, and digital copies to search and reference. Makes sense to me. Only two of them had iPads, and none used them for “enhanced eBooks.”

My favorite quote of the afternoon, from a 15-year-old girl:

“We don’t want everything for free. We just want everything.

Atypical Adventure Party

An atypical adventure party, if I say so myself.

What is a Christian?

A primer for Atheists.

So, the question is, what is a Christian?

A Christian is simple, he has taken upon himself the name of Christ.  Yahushua ben Yosif, called Jesus Christ in English.  Jesus has no meaning in Hebrew, the name Yahushua transliterates to Joshua in English and not "Jesus."  Jesus in Greek is pronounced: "Hey Zeus!"   Christ is Christos in Greek, and it means the anointed one.

However, since Yahushua ben Yosif introduces himself as Jesus Christ in the scriptures (Behold, I am Jesus Christ . . . on at least two separate occasions) we will use Jesus.  So, a Christian has taken upon himself the name of Jesus Christ; something that usually happens at Baptism.

So, what does it mean to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ?  Well, since the second commandment is "Thou shalt not take my name in vain" there is something in there that is telling.  It means your thoughts, your words, your actions, and your character.  When we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we are expected to act in a way parallel or liken unto the Christ.

Although as for myself, some people may judge me through my images that I have not been doing so.  This is wrong, I stopped making actual adult images a long time ago with the goal of titilation. :)  This also doesn't include roleplaying games -- Creation is a godly act.  When we play D&D, we are co-creating with each other a story, so it's still godly. 




The Path of the Mystic

The Good Shepherd, an archetype for Christ

As Christians, we should be achieving the status of a mystic.  This doesn't mean we run around casting spells and reading minds.  It basically means that we work on our own Trees of Life.  The Tree of Life, although a real tree, is a personal symbol for each of us.  We can nurture the Tree or we can let it die.

Another aspect of the Mystic is gaining the understanding who we are.  This is understanding the Law.  Call it Attraction, call it something else; the Law of Cause of Effect is how we, as intelligent beings; interact with the Universe.

Thirdly, there is the relationship between you, Christ, and his Father (and our Father).  We are to be friends of the Gods that are (presumably) high above.  When we achieve this relationship, and maintain it, we can achieve a potential greater than we can ever imagine.

Lastly, we have to realize who we really are and seek oneness with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, or the Father. Wait, I know you are probably confused -- I capitalized Father twice right?  The relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost has been greatly confused by the Nicaean Creed.  But we aren't going to diverge into God the Father, God the Great Eternal Father, and Jesus Christ (to do so would confuse you further since this is an introduction on what a Christian is).


The Mystic and the Ten Commandments


The Ten Commandments, the holy writ given to Moses by Yahweh (and yes, it's a spectacular thing when you can write on stone with your index finger), are consequences by living a Mystic Life in tune with our Father in Heaven.  By having a powerful relationship with Jesus Christ and his Father, you shall not do the following -- in general:

worship other gods.  This is includes cars, sports figures, hollywood actors, hollywood producers, President Obama (he's worshipped as a God, you know), etc.  But it also includes other supernatural gods such as Thoth, Anubis, Osiris, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Brigid, and the Creation itself.

make a graven image.  As a mystic and friend of Jesus Christ, you will see his Face in his own due time.  You don't need to make a Christus statue to worship and to be in awe about.  Nor do you need a likeness of Christ to remind you of what he looks like.

Not bow down to the other gods or to graven images.  When you do so, you are showing your devotion to someone else, and the Christ usually interprets this as hate being projected towards him.

not take the name of Christ in vain.  As a mystic on the inside, so you will be on the outside.  What is inside is usually projected outwards.  When you have a positive relationship with the Christ, you will generally not live as a Christian in vain.  Christians who focus on the outward appearance of being a Christian and are something else on the inside are, as you guess, hypocrites.

This is not a provision against profane speech, however.  It's perfectly alright to say "fuck" or "fuckin'" if you have to.  As long as people don't regard you as having a potty mouth (a mystic usually doesn't resort to these words or words like them, however).

remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  A mystic, as he understands what the Sabbath is for (Man doing God's work) will seek to make each and every day a Sabbath day.  However, learning this principle, you should know that Sunday, the 1st day of our week; isn't reserved for the sabbath.  The Sabbath is generally on the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox (according to the Parowan Prophet).

you will honor thy father and thy mother.  The Mystic regards his parents highly and seeks to make their name a blessing in the Earth.

you won't commit murder.  As a Mystic, human life is sacred to you; and as such you will not take human life -- or animal life for sport or for fun.  Or out of fear, or revenge, etc.

you won't adulterate your marriage.  Adultery is making profane the marriage bed -- having sexual relations outside your marriage.  Although this also includes homosexual relationships, promiscuous relationships, fornication, masturbation (although someone experimented with this and found he isn't cut off from feeling the Spirit), sodomy, and onanism (coitus interruptus), etc.

you won't steal.  As a mystic, what belongs to your neighbor is his, and you won't take it.  After all, if you understood yourself correctly, why would you need to?

bear false witness against thy neighbor.  This is basically perjury; but lying (distorting the facts, misrepresenting the facts, making up new facts -- ie. fiction) is something you won't do as a Mystic.  Nor as a Mystic would you purjure against or for your neighbor.

thou shalt not covet your neighbor's belongings.  Generally, Economics teaches a Scarcity mindset when it comes to resources.  However, the opposite is true to the Mystic.  The Mystic generally thinks in abundance terms and therefore there is enough for all (enough fish in the sea).


Jesus Christ came to Earth to show us the way.  He showed us by example how we are to live and regard each other.  And Jesus Christ and Yahweh are simply the same entity (being -- Christ doesn't respect Person).  So the same god that commanded Joshua and the Israelites to go cleanse the land of Canaan of it's inhabitants is also the Man that taught us how to live through his life on Earth.  Yahweh also is the name Man that died on the Cross for our sins as well as your sins.

As Christians, we believe on his name and we believe in his Sacrifice.  As Christians, we are expected to live our lives, Believe in his atonement for us that will cover us, and to live our life as the best us as we know how and Christ and our relationship to him will cover our sins and our garments are made white as snow; even as they were scarlet.  Christians are actually the most free people ever.

Next: British Israelitism, Jew Israelitism, and Afro-Israelitism and why I feel British Israelitism is the correct way of viewing the Lost Ten Tribes.

I don't know what you mean . . .

After all, I've been here all the time.  Slowpoke.

A dig on Greywulf's rogue.  another rogue in the party wanted to give a cheeky reply. 

DS4 comment: Not all of the old conforming outfits are going to work in DAZ Studio 4 Pro.  This was made by combining Exemen's Rogue from Renderosity with Kay's Leathers.  Exenem's Rogue outfit, while sexy, is not compatible with DS4.

The secret is the .PMD file.  It isn't compatible with DAZ Studio 4, as it creates some lovely distortions of your model.  The result? you have to rebuild the rigging all over again from the OBJ file.  What ever .pmd means, it's probably a poser thing and DAZ Studio doesn't translate that particular poser file very well. 

Campaigning on Earth

Creating a roleplaying game set on Earth is probably the weirdest thing someone can do, right?  Well, going with the old saying -- Truth is Stranger than Fiction -- you have one heck of a campaign world roleplaying in history (His Story).

There are thousands of places to choose for campaigning with your PCs. Albion, which part ii -- the Celts -- will be showing up in.  The 1,001 Arabian Nights; Egypt, Greece, the Crusades (and the Levant), and so much more.

Sometimes, it's okay to go off the beaten path and mix and match themes on Earth to create your own unique setting with Earth.  According to Quantum Mechanics, there are an infinite number of possibilities, and while it is fun to create your own world; it can be a lot of fun you played with what ifs.

What if Sinbad the Sailor visited the Pharaoh?


What if Moses and the Israelites visited India? (the evidence is circumstantial that they did -- 40 years wandering in the wilderness -- the Hindus calling Moses "Mousa" -- it's not impossible.  No nation as big as Israel's can stay in the Arabian Desert for 40 years!)

What if King Richard met Sinbad the Sailor?


What if the Franks on their First Crusade were defeated by the Muslims?


What if Jericho is a rich place to set a roleplaying game, back in the Age of Leo or Virgo?





 Stories from the Stone Age, part 1.  A good place to start, if you want to create a roleplaying game set in the Age of Virgo.

Truth is stranger than Fiction in most every respect.  There are ages on Earth that can be told in a Roleplaying Game.  A mythic version of Medieval Europe, America before Columbus or even Christ.

Ancient China (GURPS China is a starting point); and there are several ways you can have a D&D Game, or even a Pathfinder Game; using the strangeness of our own world as your starting point.

In the movies, Father Abram left Haran because he was fed up with polytheism.  Under his own account, he was desirous to have the blessings of Heber, his grandfather; and felt he needed a place of his own because he couldn't worship Yahweh according to his own conscience.

The story of Moses was different as well.  The bible leaves out a lot of detail in it's stories.  The colonizing of Britain is different and the two stories are contradictory.

However, combining the two stories can make for interesting stories.  On the one hand, you have secular Archaeology, and the other human testimony.  Combine the two together, and you have an interesting campaign setting (like the meeting of the Beaker culture with the first of the Celts -- according to myth iron was deadly to the Fair Folk -- the Beaker culture had bronze to fight with and apparently whatever happened the Beaker people had become the Fair Folk in Celtic Myth).

There are interesting parallels between Hercules and Samson the Israelite Judge.  So much that one could say that either Samson was a prototype, or Hercules was the prototype (I say Hercules was the prototype, because there was a powerful fighter that lived in Thebes around when Hercules was supposed to have lived, and the two traditions were combined to form Hercules).

You have a lot to explore.  Man's history here on earth, combined with what Archaeology has been coming out with -- has become richer.  Sometimes, Archaeology can come up with strange and interesting conclusions.

If anything, you still create your own world; but roleplaying on Earth gives you some interesting legends to draw on, real myth and history provides a play ground for roleplaying; and Archaeology and Anthropology (when it feels right and not stupid) can provide some interesting inspirations.

Just remember the first rule of RPing:
--- Make it consistent, make it good, and make it fun.

Pathfinder, D&D, GURPS are there to give you tools to play.  You can play in anything, just make sure it is FUN! :)

Earth should be my Campaign World

Reading the Trans-migrations of a certain people (Israelites) makes me think that I should be running Celtic Campaigns on Earth Either in Albion, Hybernia, or Hyboria.  Truth can be stranger than fiction.  Apparently, to understand the Israelitish trans-migration is to understand our Geneaology.  You all heard it that Western and Northern Europeans are Gentiles (non-israelites) and the Crew that worship Judaism are the Chosen People of God.  Well . . . that's not quite the case.

First of all, we need to begin at the Age of Cancer, rather than the Age of Leo.  Noah (known in Chinese as Nu Wa [They mixed up his sex, probably the first time a man's sex got confused by a Nation; the second time where we mixed up the sex of Jesus Christ and his Father and assume them to be women]).  Noah had three sons -- Shem, Japheth, and Ham.

Shem married a white woman, Japheth married a woman who is described as Chinese in appearance, and Ham married a black woman.  All three brothers were admitted into the Celestial Kingdom for making themselves perfect custodians of Life upon the Ark.

Apparently, by studying God's promises to his people, Noah had left a considerable amount of land to his son Shem.  This included the Fertile Crescent, the western part being the Levant.  This included all the land of Cannaan, Syria, Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer.  However, as one traces the migrations of Hebrews, it is apparent that Shem had been given much more land than supposed.

Shem's lands also include: Spain, France, Holland, parts of the Rhineland, Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Dan's Mark), Britain, and the Americas.  That's the largest parcel of land given to anyone.  But then Noah had to divide up the Earth amongst his sons, and since Shem was the Birthright Son, Shem got the largest parcel of land.

Japheth was given a good parcel of land; from Japheth came the Indo-Europeans: all of the first Indians, Persians, first Greeks (Pelasgius), Romans, and the first peoples of the Caucasus mountains are descended from him.  The tribes of Gomer and Magog are his legacy.   But so are the Modern Jew (Togramah and Ashkenaz). 

Ham was given all of Africa, and parts of India.  His sons Mizraim, Cush, and Canaan were given parcels of land in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Morocco.  Cannaan never did settle in Morocco; he stole the Levant from Shem instead.  As a result, Ham, Mizraim, and Cush cursed Cannaan.  Ham cursed his own son, after his son's cursing by Noah, that what he steals will result in the destruction of his legacy as a Nation  (Cannaan's son Sin would eventually carry on his legacy as the Hittites and eventually the Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and the Cambodians -- the Japanese people are special).

During the Age of Gemini, the first 70 Nations of men were founded and were waxing large in population.  The accounts of their wars and their politics were never written into the Bible, with the exception of Nimrod's politics and the Tower of Babel (Babylon) that he built.  So we have to turn to Secular History -- which is preserved in Myths and Legends -- to understand what happened.

The Founding of Israel

The founding of the Ethnos called Israel begins with one man.  Abraham.  This is taken from an account written by his own hand upon Papyrus:
"In the land of the ^aChaldeans, at the residence of my fathers, I,^bAbraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of ^cresidence;

 And, finding there was greater ^ahappiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of ^brighteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great ^cknowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many ^dnations, a prince of peace, and ^edesiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a ^fHigh Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

 It was ^aconferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the ^bfirstborn, or the first man, who is ^cAdam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.

 I sought for mine ^aappointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the ^bfathers concerning the seed."

Book of Abraham, Chapter 1:1-3.

Abraham is in the History Books.  He actually came up out of the land of the Chaldees, which was under the sway of the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom at the time.  Abraham records the founding of Egypt under Mizraim and his wife -- Egyptus.  Also, the time period in which Abraham lived was the Age of Taurus, the Bull.

"Now this king of Egypt was a descendant from the ^aloins of^bHam, and was a partaker of the blood of the ^cCanaanites by birth.

 22 From this descent sprang all the Egyptians, and thus the blood of the ^aCanaanites was preserved in the land.

 23 The land of ^aEgypt being first discovered by a woman, who was the daughter of Ham, and the daughter of Egyptus, which in the Chaldean signifies Egypt, which signifies that which is forbidden;

 24 When this woman discovered the land it was under water, who afterward settled her sons in it; and thus, from Ham, sprang that race which preserved the curse in the land.

 25 Now the first ^agovernment of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.

 26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that ^aorder established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the ^bblessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.

 27 Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of ^aPriesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain ^bclaim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry;"

Pharaoh Menes (Mizraim) was never the first king of Egypt to hold the title of Pharaoh, they just gave him the title for continuity.  Menes' son Pharaoh was the first to hold the title because that was his name.  Because he had ruled so wisely and so well, his name Pharaoh became a title for all the subsequent kings of Egypt. 
The Founding of the Kingdom of Britain


Now Abraham is descended from a man named Heber, who lived in the Age of Gemini.  Heber was a direct Descendant of Shem, and all the people descended from him were known as Hebrews.  The Hebrews had a distinctive pattern to distinguish them from the nations.  They had long faces, white skin, and -- a propensity to explore.

A tribe of Hebrews, during the Age of Gemini, went up out of the Fertile Crescent and settled in Britain.  In there travels, they brought with them a few people descended from Japheth.  These people are the Neolithic People of Britain.  These proto-Britons built Stonehenge using counterweights, stones, sand, and a simple understanding of levers.

After that, during the beginning of the Age of Taurus came another people.  Presumably Hebrew because their faces were long and their skins were white, this group was called the Beaker People because of their distinctive pots.  They also brought with them metals and the stuff made of bronze.  So, where did these people come from?

We go back to Abraham.

Abraham had two children -- one by an Egyptian named Ishmael, and another by Sarah named Isaac.  However, a fight over who will get the Birthright between Sarah and Hagar meant that Hagar would be kicked from the family.  Hagar and Ishmael were led into Arabia where they would found the Arabian people.  In fact, most muslims say they are the lineal or spiritual descendants of Ishmael who they claim is the Birthright Son.  Now Isaac was a polygamous sort and had many sons and daughters; but the Birthright went to Jacob and not his first born son Esau.

The Beaker People of England is most probably descended from Isaac's other wives.  And Jacob went on to found a powerful nation of White men (yes, White men).  Jacob had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar from Leah; from Rachel: Joseph of Egypt, and Benjamin; from Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali; and from Zilpah: Gad and Asher.

During the Age of Taurus, Joseph was taken into captivity by the Arabians being sold by Judah for 20 shekels of silver.  These Arabians or Beduins had taken Joseph and sold him as a slave into Egypt.  And from there Joseph arose from a simple slave to being governor of all Egypt.  He had taken an Egyptian wife and had two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh.  Manasseh was born before Ephraim, but Ephraim inherited the Birthright Blessing.

This was all during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, when Egypt was ruled by the 11th to 14th Dynasties.  However, of the 70 souls belonging to Israel at that time that went into Egypt something strange happened.  Zarah and his family were missing!

A little background on Zarah.  Before Israel took his family into Egypt, Judah had married into the Cannaanites like his uncle Esau.  He took a Cannaanite wife.  This wife gave him three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.  When Er was of age, Judah listened to the counsel of his father and gave Er Tamar: who was of Elamite (re: Sumerian) royalty.

Okay, everything went well until during the Wedding night Er died of a heart attack.  Angered that this happened, Judah gave Tamar to Onan to wife.  However, Onan refused to plant his seed in Tamar's womb because she was his brother's wife, and then he died of a heart attack.  Saddened that two of his sons died, Judah promised Tamar to Shelah.

However, Tamar disguised herself as a harlot and Judah managed to do something stupid.  He procured her services as a harlot (i.e. Prostitute) and planted his seed in her womb.  The results was forced marriage, and Judah took Tamar for his wife.  Tamar gave him twins -- Zarah and Pharez.  When Judah took his family into Egypt, Pharez and his wife and Shelah and his wife followed him.

So, when the famine hit, Zarah couldn't stand it and so he took his family where they could live.  Apparently, they went north.  To Turkey.  And built city and an empire on the edge of Hittite territory over the ruins of an old Hittite city.  Zarah's family founded Troy.

However, that's not all.  Many of Judah's family left Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. One of his descendants made it to Athens and became Athens' first king.  He introduced basic laws:  Laws pertaining to marriage, stealing, murder, theft, and governance.  Other of Israel's family left Egypt and traveled into Hybernia (Spain), and Northern Europe, strengthening the Beaker Culture that flourished there.  However, Israel grew, and grew until a new Pharaoh came into the picture.  This Pharaoh was the first of the 12 Dynasty.

This Pharaoh, Amenemhat I, did not know Joseph.  He worried that the Ethnic Israelites will destroy Egyptian Identity.  So to preserve his race, this Pharaoh had turned the Israelites into White slaves (note, the Egyptians were dark, dusky black skinned but didn't carry the features that delineated them to be of Cush -- they favored the long face of Ham, while the people of Cush favored the blunt nose, and short face of Ham's Black wife).

At the end of the 14th Dynasty, and after 400 years of white slavery, Neferhotep was Pharaoh and he contended with the Levite Moses (Amenemhat III).  After the ten plagues of Egypt, Moses and the Israelites left Egypt with Neferhotep chasing them with his army.  When Israel crossed the Red Sea; Neferhotep and his armies perished, and the Amalekites moved into Egypt soon after and took over as the Hyksos.

That's not the end of the story.  you see, the Israelites were forced to journey in the wilderness for 40 years after the incident with the Golden Apis calf.  Moses took his people EVERYWHERE.  A list of places where they could have gone:

* India (the Hindus calls Moses "Mousa," so he must have been there)
* China.
* Mongolia.
* Ubekistan.
* the Ukraine.
* Persia.
* Babylon.
* Syria.
* Cacasus.
* Turkey.
* A good portion of Arabia.
* Korea.
* Burma.
* Cambodia.
* Afganistan
* Pakistan
* Siberia
* Caspian Russia.

It was forty years of wandering in the Wilderness.  FORTY YEARS!

The israelites in the Book of Numbers fluctuated.  So, some people have left and went into Europe.  Some settled elsewhere: India, China, etc.  By the time Israel went into the land of Cannaan to possess the land of Cannaan, the people were hardy and powerful from traveling and the people of Cannaan was so decadent, and so corrupt that most of them fell before the Israelites.

The Trojan War and Brutus


So, we turn our thoughts to Troy.  Zarah and his people founded Troy.  However, Paris stole Helen from Menelaus.  At the end of the Age of Taurus, the Danaans (the Mycenean Greeks) went up unto Troy to attack the Trojans for reasons other than just Helen.  Most probably, gold and silk.

Troy controlled the trade between Asia and Europe, and so the Greeks wanted in on the action.  What is not unusual is that the whole stupid affair with Troy was because it was an internal family squabble.  The Trojans are mostly descended from Zarah, with the Royal Family being the most pure.  The rest were mixed.  The Greeks that participated in the War were the descendants of Dan.

The war resulted in Troy's destruction and it involved the people around about.  With their city destroyed, the Trojans were scattered abroad (and some were taken captive into Greece).  Paris' people eventually made it to France and founded the city of Paris.  And as for Aeneas?

Aeneas founded a kingdom in Etrusca, and his descendants were Romulus and Remus.  But that is not all.  He had a grandson.  Brutus, being of the sort that was impulsive, committed an accidental killing of his father.  Forced to flee, he got many of his ethnic trojans out of Greece and went up into Spain and eventually England and founded Caer Troyas or what will become known as London.  His invasion was the first Iron Age invasion of Britain.  The Beaker culture in Britain became his subjects and the line of Zarah was preserved in the Land of Britain.


Our story continues in part 2 -- The Celts.