Moe Lane's Blog, page 79

The Consolidation Wars, Part 4. (Unfiltered).

Is this not horrible enough? It may need to be a little more horrible.

Empire Reborn
Harpreet Kaur (2056-2130) was a Kashmiri grad student at the University of Mumbai when the Pakistan-Iranian war went (briefly) nuclear in 2078. Like most college students of her generation, she was conscripted by the Indian government during the Monsoon Crisis; unlike most most of them, Harpreet proved to have a talent for war, leadership, and demagoguery. She was a pivotal figure in the army revolt in 2079, going all the way from spokeswoman for the rebellion to the public face of the new ruling junta. By 2080 she was the junta. At some point along the way Kaur began claiming descent from Timur and Babur, although she did not actually claim the title of Empress Nurjahan until 2082.

By then most of India’s neighbors had likewise adopted monarchical rule, of varying stripes of authenticity. The new Empress chose a successful diplomatic route with these new kingdoms, creating a mutual defense pact that ended up preventing the Middle East from being snapped up by West Europe, the Pakt, or Greater China. As the years went on, advantageous marriages and adoptions allowed the Empress to directly bind the other kingdoms to India, under her reasonably benevolent and certainly capable rule. She was typically deemed fair, and usually declared just — but rarely considered merciful.

The most significant conflict in that region was what contemporaries called the ‘Wedding War’ (2084-2093), sparked by the political marriage of Empress Nurjahan and King George VIII of the United Kingdom. Relations between India and the theoretically republican nation of Turkey had been difficult from the start, and the effective recreation of the British Raj (albeit a Hindu one) was apparently too much for Turkey’s more paranoid factions. In 2084, rogue elements of Turkish intelligence agencies allegedly detonated multiple EMPs and biobombs throughout the British Isles, in an apparent attempt to make it seem that West Europe was about to invade. Unfortunately for the Turks, the plot was uncovered (although not in time to stop the attacks), leading to a nine year war that ended with Turkey being conquered by what was by then the New Empire. The only thing that remained was Istanbul and a small stretch of territory around it, which was promptly conquered by the Pakt, and with tacit New Imperial permission.

The New Empire would go on to weather the rest of the Consolidation Wars without major issues, as the various nations that made it up worked out their own zones of control and influence. External enemies were kept at bay. Internal enemies (mostly defined as ‘stubborn cultural holdouts’) were heavily suppressed, until the new transportee system allowed for the much more humane method of simply exiling them en masse to the colony worlds. 

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Spring Break has started here!

A full week and more where I don’t have to be up at 6 AM! A week where we’re all gonna run around and have adventures and watch various movies and generally have a good time at home. And there’s wine! …About to be a third glass, in fact. My wife brought home the extra-large bottle of pinot. When I asked her why, she said, “Because I’m on vacation.”

Sounds good to me!

Nautilus to shipwreck itself on AMC.

Silly me: when the Nautilus show disappeared from the Amazon lineup, I was the impression that sanity had prevailed. Surely, I thought, somebody over there noticed what a galloping disaster this was going to be. And how bad was it, really? This bad:

Jules Verne's Nemo: An Eastern man of mystery and science, who vengefully fights the West's navies using a ship of his own design that's greater than anything it faces.

NAUTILUS's Nemo: lol no he's a slave-convict stereotype who stole the white man's latest creation.

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) October 12, 2024

And Amazon did notice! …So they sold it to AMC, which nobody really watches anyway. Which is one way to minimize the damage.

Don’t watch this. Just be aware that it’s gonna drop, and if God is merciful it will then promptly start a popular entertainment version of the Iran-Iraq War.

04/11/2025 Snippet, IN THE HALLS OF THE LILY KING.

Should have put this up a few hours ago, but real life intervened.

…

“Yeah, I think so.” Greater Hershey commercial agents rated a better sort of tavern rooms than Kentuckian fighting-men, starting with ‘rooms.’ This one even had a fruit basket; Waylon looked at it hopefully, then snagged an apple after Serenity waved a hand. “Sorry. Missed breakfast. Apparently it’s your fault in this city when assassins come calling. At least, that’s what the landlord said when he threw me out this morning.”

“How provincial.“ Serenity’s tone was so smooth, Waylon wondered if she actually meant it. “Though the proprietor here was a good deal more understanding about my unwelcome visitor. Not to mention, useful for removing the body afterward. Perhaps a touch too useful,” she went on with a slight frown. “It is not a skill I would associate with his line of work.”

“The upper crust plays by different rules here,” Waylon told her around his apple. “That’s why the landlord gave me the heave-ho. I was messing with things above my station, and brought it back with me.”

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‘Brahms Lullaby.’

Brahms Lullaby, Jewel

#commissionearned

I’m doing a bunch of different self-care things at once…

…like going to bed earlier than 1 AM, not eating after 10 PM, and cutting down on my caffeine – and now I’m wondering why I’m tired, all of a sudden.

Good night!

This A BREED APART comedy-horror flick needs more.

The plot of A BREED APART: a bunch of social influencers goes to a remote island, get attacked by man-eating dogs.

Let me be clear, here: I do not want actual social influencers to be actually eaten by dogs. I do, however, feel that the movie missed a bet by not getting a lot of actual social influencers to appear in this film, only to be fake eaten by dogs within five minutes of their appearance. That’s it. No other changes. They wouldn’t be needed. The lines for the film would be out the door.

Movie producers: call me next time, okay? You’re just leaving money on the table.

04/10/2025 Snippet, CALL OF THE MOON-BEASTS.

I had difficulty getting any of this done today, but I did do something.

…

It was the screaming that roused Tobias. The sound wasn’t human; it didn’t even sound alive. If light felt pain from being split in a prism, and if it had a mouth with which to scream, the keening might have sounded like that.

He thought, at least. The screaming had stopped the instant Tobias had jackknifed his way up to full consciousness. Was it a dream? he wondered as he swung his feet over the side of the bed… and that felt wrong.

How was it wrong? He wasn’t sure, just that it was. His head was full of fog and film right now.

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04/10/2025 Snippet, IN THE HALLS OF THE LILY KING.

Action! I decided not to have the fight in a bar, for once. I know, I know: tradition.

…

The assassin didn’t waste time; the clatter of the cheap tavern door being kicked in had the clunk! of the crossbow bolt as counterpoint. He didn’t bother with reloading, either. He just threw the crossbow at the bed before jumping on it himself, a long-bladed knife now in hand. The assassin lashed out with four deep-driven stabs and quick withdrawals, leaving the knife behind in the ripped-up shambles of the bed after one final blow. Quick, dirty, and the assassin was already leaving, focused on the window to the alleyway outside.

Waylon found himself impressed, as he jumped up from the chair he’d been dozing in, well away from the now-splintered door. Five seconds was a good time for this sort of thing. Too good, unfortunately, to let this guy ever get a second shot.

‘Clinch Mountain Breakdown.’

Clinch Mountain Breakdown, The Virginia Mountain Boys

#commissionearned