Chapter 01


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Freakzilla
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Chapter 01

Post by Freakzilla »

This morning I was born in a yurt at the edge of a horse-plain in a land of a
planet which no longer exists. Tomorrow I will be born someone else in another
place. II have not yet chosen. This morning, though-ahhh, this life! When my
eyes had learned to focus, I looked out at sunshine on trampled grass and I saw
vigorous people going about the sweet activities of their lives. Where... oh
where has all of that vigor gone?

-The Stolen Journals

A pack of giant wolves are chasing three people through a forest. They have stolen the plans for the God Emperor Leto's Desert Citadel, along with two volumes of his journals. From the plans they hope to find Leto's spice hoard and they hope to find information in the journals to use against him. There were originally eleven runners but only the fastest, Siona Ibn Fuad al-Seyefa Atreides makes it out of the forest and across the river which marks the terretorial boundary of the d-wolves. There she stops and vows to destroy Leto.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Chapter 01

Post by Freakzilla »

Fixed
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Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
georgiedenbro
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Re: Chapter 01

Post by georgiedenbro »

Heh, I have to admire FH's sardonic humor in the epigraph before this chapter. I just noticed it now, but it's funny how he juxtaposes "sunshine and trampled grass" and "vigorous people going about the sweet activities of their lives" with the contents of the chapter, which is three people running for their lives through the grass, and although quite vigorous two of the three of them succumbing to the wolves. Is this Leto's (or Frank's?) way of saying that part of the "sweet activities of life" should properly be struggling for one's basic survival? In questioning "Where...oh where has all that vigor gone?" it sounds like Leto is saying that too much comfort and the assumption of survival makes a people weak. It's true that the herd is culled when predators are on the loose, but in the end the survivors are stronger. The question then remains - what is the moral position of man in deliberately setting up dangerous survival conditions in order to strengthen the herd? In Dune the conditions were natural, but what is the solution in times of plenty and ease?

For anyone who's seen the Babylon 5 series (SPOILER) this exact topic is dealt with at length in the position of the Shadows (foment conflict to cull the herds and strengthen the survivors) versus that of the Vorlons (protect the weak by keeping them under your control).
"um-m-m-ah-h-h-hm-m-m-m!"
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