Tag Archives: Poseidon

June 5, 2025 · 17:07

The snag we don’t see

That happens, we don’t always see the settings that open up to us. It is one of the stages of what some call the ‘Aha!’ erlebnis. It is actual intelligence and that is why artificial intelligence will fall short for a long time. Yesterday I had some time to relax and I used it to watch the final two episodes of the October Faction (Netflix). Apart from being totally awesome, I also found the dastardly news that it is a one season only setting. Too bad as it was really awesome. Yet, I digress. During one of these episodes I suddenly had a little brain strain and a few things came into full view. It brought me back to a story I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) called ‘It was this simple’ where I had the idea for a new game that was also (in part) educational. Yet last night I had an idea that I was going about it the wrong way. You see, the start isn’t one of the three gods (Hades, Poseidon or Zeus), it is a destination. The idea is to invert that stage and start with pone of the ‘smaller’ gods like Hecate. You see, as I see it Hecate gets its setting from the mortals and animals. So do the other ‘smaller’ gods. As do Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Dionysus. And as we unlock their abilities, we will then get access to one of the three. Or I might am considering that Zeus is only unlocked when all others are unlocked. 

As I see it some gods connect to merely one of the three, some to two gods and some to all three. As I see it this game would need to be replayed three times to unlock it all, but in this game the second game already gives you the areas you unlocked in the first game and the second is not the same, merely a continuation of the first (makes for a challenging lore). And beyond that as I see it, the game will incorporate several gaming styles giving you a larger game and a more fulfilling gaming time. But I wanted more than a hack, slash and pretty picture.

You see, it is merely a setting to a game, but there we also see that we unlock educational parts. What is more enticing than gaining knowledge of classical works whilst gaming? Not the ‘essence’ of a classical work but the full text of people like Hesiod, Homer, Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar and many many more. I still think that the Amazon Luna, with a link to the Kindle, or even now the Tencent console with a link to the the MatePad Pro or MatePad Air might be an alternative. A setting to see a more inclusive form of gaming and as such un-enabling those with the ‘turbo’ style of gaming trying to getting people in line to more advertising. Short term enabling and set gaming back on the track of a more enabling setting of gaming like Bethesda enabled for almost 2 decades. 

We are all do taken back by the turbo setting of games (especially the young) whilst the more complete setting of gaming is largely ignored and as I see it, there is more to gaming. You see we cannot (in good mind) waste the entire day gaming. I get that, but we can rotate that interest to give people a larger backstory. You see, according to classicist William Hansen: “the Greeks and Romans had all the genres of oral narrative known to us, even ghost stories and urban legends, but they also told all kinds that in most of the Western world no longer circulate orally, such as myths and fairytales.” I want to resettle that lost art. Some gamers have tried to do so in the lore they give us, but they fell short as they didn’t consider the larger stage. It was not their fault, until recently and the promise of the IoT (Internet of things) and the larger stage of Bluetooth we never considered where we could go and that is merely another setting the Microsoft failed to see (they are racking up a setting of missed opportunity) and Google cannot be given this failure as they basically dropped the Google Stadia, which was their right to do so and as I see it, Amazon and Tencent now have a larger stage to become the new heralded kings in gaming. It is not a smooth or even an easy ride, but as I see it they both missed out on gaining at least 50 million gamers. 

So could I be wrong?
Yes, of course that is possible, but what the ‘advertisement’ courtesans fail to see is that the people have had enough of advertisements and that is something they are in denial of as the money is too good. But as I see it, the one who does see it will get a larger setting of gaining the field advantage to this and that is basically Nintendo and Sony. It is the third place that becomes interesting when we see in January ‘Microsoft’s AI revenues up 175%, while Xbox’s results remain disappointing’ (before the builder.ai exposure) and ‘Microsoft’s Xbox Handheld Plans Reportedly Shelved; Company to Optimise Windows 11 Gaming Performance’ (last week) and I reckon that the spin will continue as Microsoft is scrambling to bury bad news as Nintendo is making larger strides into gaming. As such there is space for either Amazon or Tencent to gain the number three spot. This is not a given but massively likely, especially as other news sees my other solution grace the limelight in sight of some Hajj numbers I see roll be and an optional solution that roughly 900,000,000 million users are up for grabs (yet another space Microsoft missed). So as some will see “Asus’ Xbox branded handheld, codenamed Project Kennan, is reportedly on track to launch later this year”, I merely wonder when that changes from later this year to next year and after that it being silently cancelled (my personal speculation). You see Asus also sees the market and the knee-jerk actions from an tariff driven administration won’t last long, especially when Huawei is showing its MateBook Fold and that is making the filtered news. I personally don’t know how good it is, but the larger setting is that the world is watching and now that it is less than 1.2Kg and uses Harmony OS. The first and it is a banger. So when that system as well as Tencent takes the world by storm (which it is very likely to do) we see yet another loss for Microsoft and not merely that, Apple, Sony, Google, Samsung and even Nintendo will see its impact (Sony and Nintendo less so). This was the setting I expected to come about 6 years ago and it is here a little faster then expected. 

This is all important because the advertisers will start losing out and that will stop gamers in their track as their games are less fulfilling. You see ad break gaming is nice in a turbo setting, but when the gamer considers where they ended up being they will want (read: demand) a more compelling form of gaming. This is good for people like Bethesda, Ubisoft, Guerrilla Games (and several others), but (for example in the UK) the 1,801 independent and publisher-owned studios. These studios employ around 75,000 people. The number of studios has grown significantly, with 251 new studios founded between December 2021 and April 2023 it is not good news, because what we don’t see is that these developers are relying on advertisement to make some of their money and when that falls away, these developers will fish behind the net of revenue.

And as I see it, Ubisoft has options in these glasses devices and they could also launch on Sony and Nintendo, but others will have to streamline whatever they thought was an option and others will merely collapse. As I see it, we haven’t see the power of Harmony OS yet but it will come and as America shuns away from that (for the most obvious stupid reasons) Europe and others are very willing to give their economy a boost from what HarmonyOS brings and now that the hardware is out some people will finally get the thought “How can this benefit us?” And that will be the start of a lot more and as I see it, Amazon has the inside track to grow more business (outside of the US) and there lies the setting for them. As some might ‘speculate’ that Amazon would not be profitable without its cloud business. We also see that the shape of the cloud is about to change and that is where the larger money is, because cloud gaming is only gaming in name. It can be a lot more and as I see it, the solutions I gave will become massively and not merely this game (I put it online for a reason) it could start a much larger wave and that is where I see my surf time (perhaps literally so). I reckon that the ‘older’ quote “HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, is designed to work with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. While it’s not directly tied to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the same way as Android or iOS, you can still use it to access AWS services and resources.” I reckon that Amazon sees that this lack is about to end, because they have a clear goal to increase their visibility and whilst others are taken back, Amazon is seemingly embracing the options it opens up to. As I see it, people will prefer that setting then feeling blue (read: Azure). Yet another field where Microsoft is falling short of soon enough. Their failures do seemingly seem to stack up, don’t they?

We can see the snags we think we fail to see, we can ignore them or we can find away to make it work for us. So have a great day and consider where you could be in 2026 or 2027, because thinking you get there in 2025 is nice, but largely set to economic turmoils of the days we expect them to be according to some media. Consider where some people will END the stage of their products and see where HarmonyOS is merely beginning at present. It makes for an interesting read. Consider that WPS Office (by Kingsoft) its here for HarmonyOS and also on Amazon Fire tablets. Merely two places and as I see it, as this is free software there is a larger stage where Microsoft will end up surrendering market share. So as I said, have a great day. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, Media, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 16, 2025 · 03:56

The added parts

A little over a year ago I had an idea. It was founded on the God of War 3, not a game copy, not some replica wannabe. But a full grown RPG, based on the foundations of Olympus. I saw what I initially had and I decided to give parts a rewrite. You see, we can only be as unique as we make ourselves to be. The game wasn’t a copy, but it lacked a few sides. I thought that this needed adjustment. The first setting was good, but I wanted more, an introduction outside of Olympus. And that was where I had an idea. The original story was ‘It was this simple’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/15/it-was-this-simple/) and I wrote it in January 2024, a little over a year ago. I considered the stage and it was too predictable. As such I wanted to add an intro level. After you go through the mirror, you get to a field with houses, these houses are meant for the upper slaves of Olympus. They had a little more. The houses are in a circle and there is nothing more to see, yet as you enter the houses, they will seem to have security active, these systems have been dormant for millennia, but once activated the become active. I want to set the stage that the upper slave of your deity is save to enter and as such you will learn to interact with objects, you will see the security drone ignore you (in one house only) so you can practice stealth. As such you will have motion, observation and interactions set. You could also enter the other houses, it is not essential at this point but the houses have part of the lore of the story. And you can always revisit the circle of houses when your rank goes up. There are 11 houses for the 11 gods, the 12th house is in Tartarus (in the palace of Hades). The second play through you can select Hades as your deity. 

Then there is the lore of the story. The lore of the upper slaves lead to the lore of the slaves and to scrolls, tablets and jewelry that enables you to select the houses. It was here that I considered another side. As a female you would have the diadem of Aphrodite. But as a male you cannot enter her domain until you have a much higher rank and as such you could gain the bracelet of allegiance to Aphrodite or the Diadem for men of Zeus or the trinket of a god equal of higher then Aphrodite. This comes down to the jewelry of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades. I have yet to create a structure on this. There is Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the rest are nearly all equal except Athena, Apollo, Ares and Hermes. So they have access to nearly all others (except three) Hades, Makaria,  Zagreus and Melinoe. 

The lore is set to stories on scrolls and tablets. I need to see if it is an IP violation if I use part of the stories of Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar and Apollodorus. If it is, I need to write passages in their styles to give the feel of authenticity. 

So whilst we are about to put ‘life’ bank into Olympus, I need to consider a few other sides. I considered that this might have an alternative use. And if that works it would be some feet to achieve it. But that is for later. 

For now I have to look at what I am seeing not. You see the Guardian gives us “The US vice-president was hypocritical and insensitive, but bracingly clear in his resetting of relationships” You see, we are given a story that fits the need of the Trump administration. And when you take the tariffs and this “Vance portrayed a continent that had lost its way. Why was the security conference talking about defence budgets when it was not clear what they were actually defending? he asked. It was clear “against what” they were defending, but not clear “for what reason”.” This set may mind at work. You see, it is about money (it usually is) and America has nearly none left. America has $36.22 trillion in debt and last year the US budget deficit tops $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2024, third-largest on record whilst they got $4.47 trillion in collected taxation. And the bad nows here is that they had a decrease of 15.5%, a drop from the 14.3% increase we saw between 2021 and 2022. So they are getting less tax dollars and they are borrowing more. So how can that continue? America wants out of NATO because it can no longer foot the bill and the Trump administration has 4 years to go. So when America starts handing out the IP in their patent offices to foot bills, American businesses are up for a massive panic attack. 

That is how I see it and I could be wrong, but after the tariff wars (still ongoing) and their attempt to annex Canada, is the idea so far fetched? Add to that the entire DeepSeek dilemma and whatever they tend to achieve with their StarGate is my idea so preposterous?

As such whatever ideas I have I need to hand to Japan, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE whenever I can, because life in the Commonwealth is about to become nearly unlivable. And the media is still not covering the massive debt that America has and how that is fueling their actions. Is it that hard to see? I reckon that a stronger unification of the Commonwealth will be required and a lot sooner than some non-Canadian politicians imply. And now as Australia gets the tariff bill, there is a chance that Anthony Albanese might seriously reconsider finding solutions with Canada, India and the UK. Ah well, perhaps living under the Greek gods was a lot simpler. 

As such have a loverly day and consider what YOU can do to support Canada in its hour of need.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, Media, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 26, 2024 · 22:59

That earlier thought

This is a thought I wrote about some time ago (in my blog), it was an intersection of God of War 3 and something I had been working on. As such it was a thought but recently the thought had reemerged as I decided to replay Shadow of Mordor on my PS5. Something stirred and the ideas I had that should be in every game. You see God of War 3 created my thought and it was all based on the very first introduction when you see the armies of Gaia (optionally a chaos based intrusion) gave us a view of Olympus. Now God of war 3 doesn’t use it, as such I feel no guilt. 

To see the impact there needs to be a unique option that you find. As such it ‘triggers’ the introduction. The introduction is a simple path where the game is shown to you with the basic abilities that you gain. This is also the setting where you start.

Heaphestus
Heaphestus is the tinkerer of the lot. He made the olympian weapons, but he had done a lot more, as such this is where all the players begin. It is up to you to get the machines working again. Sustenance is first, food and water needs to be recharged. For this the machines work on ore to get some parts working. And that gets the whole thing up and running. Still, you need to do more. Olympus had elevated knowledge of solar energy and those need to get started. It is a mere 2 hours of the game, but that set the larger game. I decided on the thought that Olympus and others were transcribed in classical works. These works are added to the game, and as the gamer progresses in the game, he gains an above working knowledge of the gods, the earlier stage of Greek civilisation and some of the philosophers. When the machines are back online, the other rooms become accessible. 

Automatons set the stage for Olympus. They do the mundane tasks. The food machine sets the first automatons in motion. We see the stage where the machines are fed and it beacons the cloning machines to start creating the life stock that are processed for the foods that you receive. You get to create the fields for weeds, corn and grapes. As this is done (seems simplistic), you are guided to a room where several pendants are and you are only allowed to take one. 

Aphrodite, Hermes, Poseidon, Athena, Ares, Apollo and Hebe are the only pendants to chose from. When one is picked the others are closed off. This is essential to create a level of replayability. At this point I am still brooding on one point. Should this be set to the creation of your character. As such if you are a man you get Hermes, Poseidon, Ares and Apollo. The female character gets Aphrodite, Athena, Hebe and one (for now) hidden character, you know spoiler alert. Each has their own part in the palace and with Heaphestus making it all available the palace opens up. Some will take a few more ‘hours’ but that is linked to the machines taking hold of Olympus. As I see it, the automatons are linked to your personal choice. A sort of greek filter of your character. The man get female automatons, the woman get male automatons. 

As you go through this place, you only get one track in the beginning. With the bracelet (or tiara) you have one path, as you play the game you unlock gems of succursus. (Read: support gems). Each support gem opens up the track for that god. It is in that ay that you get more and more access.  

Hermes
He is the messenger of the Olympus. It also means that he will open up two major parts. The owl system when the system becomes available. Lore of Olympus is opened up and the messages return to where they are. It is shown in the office of Athena where now a Athene Noctua arrives. This metal tawny rascal will be your mental guide to a lot. It will also tell you where important owls are. You still need to interact a first time though. The second setting is a mobile hub (based on a few thousand old design. To get both active, you need to repair them. This will set the stage where instruct an automaton to direct to repairing a machine. It is now that you learn that Automatons come in a variety of settings. This allows you to tinker with the machines in the space of Heaphestus and you will see that these automatons require more ore to make and as such you need to ‘dig’ in his basement and find more ores (and open) a cavernous level where low level automatons start grinding for ores. Back to Hermes, Once these machines are back online, the screens in this rooms will give information on Greece (Athens, Sparta, Heraklion, Rhodes) and you will see all kinds of news pass by, including a repetitive loop of each of these places.

The mobile stage gets you access to the rooms directly as they are opened up

Ares
He is known as the god of war, but in Olympus he is the foremost authority on security and defence, with him the defending Automatons are aligned and activated. You have no chance to beating any one of them, but in that setting, they are keeping Olympus safe and with the gems you have you will be safe in these areas. So there is a stage to keep them an authority and you need to up your stealth skills (not sure how yet).

With defence up and running, you will gain the option to create the Butcher automaton. It will prepare the life stock for consumption, it also unlocks the cooking automaton. It will also be the time to gain access to the vaults of 

Dionysus. They are open to all, so you are safe, but in that space is the wine automaton and the fruit automaton. 

Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, physical pleasure (sexual), eternal youth, grace, and beauty. These elements get us a few parts. In the first we learn that she was the orchestrator of Aesculapius the famous healer. He was killed by Zeus, but this also set the gods against one another. Aesculapius and Prometheus were hunted by the gods and they are still part of this world. The second part is the physical pleasure, with Aphrodite in play you can have sex with the automatons, but her powers are eternal youth and beauty (via Aesculapius) and it will open up another stage. The Automatons are yearning and with Aphrodite you get to see their ‘thought’ and the unmentioned sides of the automatons. Her healing niches are all over Olympus, once staged for the human servants and now you get to use them to revitalise your health from hunger, thirst and exhaustion. 

Thats the lines for now, there is more of course. But it still need to be syphoned out (it makes sense later on). You see, this would be a streaming game. Amazon Luna makes the most sense. You see as the lores unfold the optionally connected Kindle would get the classical works. It is at heart an educational game. The lore are classical works (they shouldn’t have any ‘protection’) the player gets more on the age of polytheism. I saw that need during the TV show I was designing namely Keno Diastima. And the age of that is largely lost to the Christian waves that is now losing its grip on what they enforced. The polytheism from Greece and the Nordic is getting a fresh wave of people who have had it with the deceitful clergy from Italy. This is also a setting where we can elevate knowledge of the gamer. It is not a wave of conversion, merely a side to show that we come from a larger stage. And that large stage was forgotten. It is merely a way to show the people that we come from a huge stage of excellent work. Homer, Herodotus, Aurelius (not a Greek), Plato, and so many more. For the larger extension mostly forgotten. And this game can reeducate people to see that larger stage. There is an opening market to that (or better said, I believe it is).

There are more sides, but not in this game. This game is about educating the people on the Polytheism that brought the Greek civilisation to bare. And as we learn about the Greek gods, we also learn that they had a lot more to offer than we realise. 

Games have gone into a slump of forced advertisement and targeted turbo moments, but not much more. Certain games are pushing us into microtransactions and they will make their fortune their way and by the time people figured it out too much is lost for to people who merely wanted to have a good time, paid double plus bonus. That was never what gaming was all about. Intelligent gaming can be used in other ways, to educate. Something too many game designers have forgotten about. It is the age of advertising money and too many greed driven people are pushing that wave. I believe it is time for some to push back. I think that Amazon has options here (the kindle does help), the other track doesn’t need a kindle, but Amazon is the first choice, Tencent Technology the second option. As such Microsoft loses a lot more than they bargained for. Will it work? I hope so (partially for my own reasons).

If we push the agenda of joy and education, not of advertisement, we have a chance. Some food for thought. When do you ever get something for free? Never ever, there is always another side to that coin. And that is where the greed driven are. To see that side polytheism optionally brings that first wave. And when you get to the sides of Poseidon, Apollo and Hebe we get more to see that the Greeks knew things thousands of years ago, isn’t it weird that we never evolved from there? The Vatican never aided in that struggle, did they? That’s all for now.

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 15, 2024 · 21:11

It was this simple

As I wrote 22 hours ago, I had an idea. To see this idea, I need to give you one of the few images I saw.

It is an image of Olympus. The intro of the game God of War 3 gives us a little more, as does the game. Yet in the intro stage my first thought (my day one of the game) how awesome it would be to actually walk there. So no doors, no hindrances just walking around Olympus like one of the servants, that sparked the idea. 

Now we get to the ‘now’. You are a greek in the Byzantium empire. I made mention of these places yesterday. The stage is not merely that you are a person. You are shaped by your house gods and the game starts with an old woman. She is travelling and she passes near the village where you live and she sees you. She is an oracle of Dodona and she beckons you over. Then you get the questions on ho the house gods are. This decides where you end up, that field is close to that town. She hands you an old heirloom, it was always meant for you (the key to the game) and she ALWAYS tell you to go in NW direction (and it always leads to a small cavern). As you enter the cavern, there is a small alcove that opens due to the heirloom (but it could look very different game to game). And in that small opened niche leads to a small bronze mirror. With the heirloom that mirror turns into a gateway straight into Olympus.

Now this is where things changes. That mirror is always in the same place. Some atrium for servants and beyond that it is all dark and silent. You can wonder for hours (Olympus is big) and you can start to make inventory of what you see and learn. 

The heirloom will only react to one place and that is where the first god comes in, one of the house gods. Male house gods will be seen through a ring or bracelet, female house gods through a necklace, bracelet or earring. It depends on the gender of the character you are playing. 

In that room you get the first steps. The waters will always run, but the place still has some kind of protection (against intruders), the place has oil reserves (for lighting) and over time as you get a better grip of the place, you will learn about how Olympus ticks. As the first stage is completed Olympus comes alive. You will get to learn how you how to re-engage automatons and as you activate more automatons they get back to the job of repairing, cleaning and adjusting. 

In the game you will learn about EVERY god on Olympus, but due to the house gods, not all paths are available to you. There is a Zeus, a Poseidon and a Hades part of Olympus. And the gods have chosen sides. There are fewer on the side of Hades, but he also adds additional parts to the game. In the game you will ‘recover’ art, you will recover books and writings and so on. It has RPG sides and a massive learning side. I am contemplating to add the setting of adding the ability to learn Ancient Greek in the game. When you consider all the elements you can dismiss it, or consider that this has never been done before. And with that we create history. The concept of learning through games is not new, but on this scale and in this way has never been attempted before. And consider that the God of War Franchise has sold over 66,000,000 copies. I feel certain that every gamer at some point considered walking on Olympus themselves. Now consider that we have one path, but when you finally get to Heaphestus you can unlock an additional path as well as the path to the sections of Hades and the gods aligned with him. I reckon it is meant for streaming systems, but I am not writing off the PS5. A game never seen before, would it work? Haters will say no and now considered how many new IP Microsoft made. I placed 3-4 in my blog, that is the second part of the equation. The haters and the pretenders all claim and do not deliver. I have been delivering ideas and concepts non-stop. Some will work, some will not, but the spark of creativity gave you all that was. What muses could they rely on? I am not sure which muse is watching over my back, but I will share what my mind sees. It is the only way to make progress. A lesson Microsoft never learned, that is why they will lose.

Enjoy the first day of the week, my second day is less than three hours away.

2 Comments

Filed under Gaming

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

January 13, 2024 · 01:01

Something really new

That was my thoughts at some point today. You see, I have heard the news that there would be coming a remaster of the very first three God of War games. I have no idea how true it is, but I started to think of a different setting. You see the first game scored 94% and was pure gaming heaven (or hell depending of your point of view). 

The game was excellent and checked pretty much every box on what makes a great game. As such I very much doubt whether Remake or Remaster will do the trick. I think it is time to add the Reengineer term to the equation. They should go (if possible) with the same cast. They did a magnificent job and this was on the Playstation 2. 8GB is pretty much the best you could get and that was in a system that only had 32MB at its disposal. Now the picture changes. And it goes way beyond the ‘expected’ settings. Yes to Unreal Engine 5, yes to the enhanced audio. But what more? Well, how about adding another track to the game with environmental settings by Bear McCreary? So we have one score, one basic music added to the game, but depending on where you are the Aegean Sea, Athens, the desert, the temple of Pandora, the realm of Hades. That music alters with musical instruments and perhaps some rhythm. Added, not replacing the original music, which was awesome by the way. Now we get to the story. The story was perfect, yet more could be done.

Books
To give the gamer that little bit extra. The 5 games, all get a book. As you complete the games the story remains the same, but with added findings the books get embossed with additional materials. The books in the styles of Homer, Aeschylus, Hesiod, Euripides and Herodotus could be created in game (sort of) and when the game is completed you can read it on the PS5, or export the PDF file. So if you find all the secrets and optional side missions a book is 100% complete. The book will show you how complete it is. 60% is the main story and the 40% could be added as you find all the eyes and feathers. Why? This has never been done before and to get a new stage, we need to add things, we need to give the gamer who did play the original a game that is more than mere better graphics and music. 

Items
Like in the third game there was an option to find things to make the new game plus a more rewarding event. That could be done in the other four as well. The same items from the original remains. But what happens when you find the Dolphin bracelet of Poseidon? Perhaps in water you regenerate. Just a thought. I am not telling Santa Monica how to do their job. They have shown mastery several times over. But my mind went spinning on what more could be possible.  

They are talking about the first three, but we saw the third being remastered on PS4 (and it was awesome) as such getting all 5 done (optional in two master releases called the Kratos, the Greek era) and beyond that I wonder what more is possible. The first two games were released on systems three generations old. So much more is possible now and the added icing on the cake? It is still a Sony exclusive. It Sucks to be Microsoft here. And the idea to see Cronos in unreal 5, to see so many settings in todays graphics would overwhelm gamers everywhere and having optionally two master collection as well as the new concept of reengineered games would open so many other doors too. Too many ideas are entering my mind (some actually very useless) but the idea that I can play almost 20 years of God of War again is overwhelming my senses. 

If all this becomes reality 2025 might become the greatest year of gaming for Sony lovers. I just rewatched (on YouTube) someone doing the first game in 5 hours and change. I took a lot longer and I saw coffers with items in places I had never considered looking. It was awesome to see a 2005 game pleasantly surprise me 18 years later. It made me consider that some changes would be essential. The small shiny star on things to do was all there was in the PS2 era. Now we an do so much more, as such the reengineer option becomes ever more clearly and that has the benefit of not having been done before to this degree ever. Another new stage for the PlayStation. I can only hope I am still alive when these games are released (traffic is a killer in Sydney).

Enjoy your day, it’s Saturday here now.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 1, 2023 · 21:50

Switch the setting

I decided to switch the setting, there is no real reason other than to reflect on some of these TV series that suddenly get another lease of character. The interview episode in the Rookie, the COPS episode in the X-Files and so on. Most TV series have gone through it and now so am I. In this I am reflecting on the script I to some degree (up to season 2) here called engonos. As such I have decided to have a little fun here, I hope you like it. Enjoy

=====

It was a decent day, as winter is settling n the southern hemisphere, the weather in Dubai was a temperate 36 degrees Celsius. I was looking at the marine, the people and watch people stroll in a relaxed fashion as I was enjoying a cup of coffee. 

There was a scent in the air, it was a little off but it was distinct. Brimstone and sandalwood, there was only one person (if you can call him one) that would leave that scent. It was Al-Malik-Al-Aswad. It had been a little over 900 years, but it was the one scent that stays with you. He was not normal, no person had that level of power and he was here in Dubai. I preferred not to meet with him, for some reason he is always one card short of a full meltdown. He had seen it all as well and he was al old as any Olympian around. But there is something to be said for territory and for the most I have always respected his. Yet I was here out of necessity. I was not taking over his territory, I was more set to making sure that the next phase would include the Middle East and Asia. Europe was done. It was too corrupt and it needed to end and certain family members had been adamant about it. It wasn’t until recently that I started to see patterns, patterns that were as old as the hills. Lord Hades of Tartarus (the man I call grandfather) had found a new ploy to an old curse that he unleashed on a man named Sisyphus. The story was that Sisyphus first captured Thanatos, then he convinced my grandfather to return to make sure that pops would receive the proper offerings. The first I got, the second one I did not, it was almost too ego-centrical. As such the second was shame on him and that went not well in Tartarus, he was flaming fuming for decades. Still he used the ploy on Sisyphus to roll a boulder up a hill which slid back down when it was near the top and as fun would have it, Sisyphus was still at it after all these millennia. He had now a new goal and the setting was transformed. The Americans were all Sisyphus, the boulder was their own administration and the people were hopeless and pointless going from line to line trying to get the forms and as they were near completion the process, the forms would be adjusted and it started all over again. They would compete one line and get one form done and after that within a month they would be at it again. It was relentless and no one was seeing beyond the forms, beyond the lines and it had been going on for decades. All whilst their treasuries were having less and less to distribute. It was a failing of absolute certainty. Political wannabe leaders spending more and more on legal fees, less and less was about substance and it would continue as it was. A stage that had no solution for anyone and all the political wannabe’s were shouting things like ‘It is so complex now’ but that was for tomorrow. And now they were trying to cut up Amazon, the second bastion. First Google now Amazon. And the coffers would be depleted further as Amazon could movie its operations to Dubai for all Middle East operations and as they did that they could regain some of the Asian market. Xinhua Bookstore ruled in China, but with Dubai and Hyderabad India Amazon could regain some of that lost marketshare and as they grew in Europe the American shops would shutdown and the gap that remained could not be reset by anyone making the Americans dumber in the process. As such the Sisyphus routines were working and it was working on several levels. 

But it wasn’t about that, it was not about what my grandfather was doing. It was about how it was being done. I have no idea what my other grandfather was doing. You see Zeus (no other grandfather) had lost a lot of his powers, as did my great-uncle Poseidon. They lost it to air pollution and water pollution. Lord Hades was however all powerful, he had more strength then the two others combined. A millennia of growth and death made that so. In the first century there were about 150,000,000 people, by 1500 it was 500 million and now we are at eight billion and a chunk of that ends up nowhere, as such they end up at the edges of Tartarus and a lot of them end in Tartarus making Lord Hades stronger and stronger. But today was about a new border, a new stage. Yet for that I needed the Djinn, not one, but several and the stage was not to undermine my grandfather, but to ensure the decent people had a way out. China was a separate issue and it was already on route, but the Middle East was more direct and there the one person I had not seen in 900 years comes in. He knows where one of the Zabaniyah resides. I had no clue what its name was or where it was, but that was the problem. Knowing the name of a Zabaniyah gives you power over it and they are not in the market of relinquishing power. But that was the game and that was where Al-Malik-Al-Aswad came in. Convincing him that I was on the level was a whole new problem and I had an idea, but it was a dangerous one, especially if he didn’t believe me. I took another sip of coffee and looked over the marina. There was that smell again and I looked around. Then I saw the man, an elderly man. He was standing there yet no one seem to take notice of him. Strong beard. I was certain that all; the garden gnomes in Dubai were jealous of his beard and there was a strange orange aura around him. I stood up and walked towards him. 

He looked at me, I think he was sizing me up. As I got within 3 meters I stopped and suddenly noticed that no one was noticing me either. It was an interesting skill. 

He held up my ring, it was on the left index finger and he took notice of the symbol on it. I spoke to him ‘I am Lavrenti of the house of Hades of Tartarus’ I seek an audience with you as things are about to happen that could impact your region and I want to make sure that the Middle East is  protected. Not merely for me, but for all the good people in the world. He looked at me and pondered my words. ‘So what do you need?’ I looked at me and I responded. I have an idea to push the west into a lot of escalations, but to do that I need access to a Zabaniyah and you might know one. It is my only option at present. 

He looked at me and pondered the question. “In the way you approached me, I can help. He is in Egypt, he resides in one of the pyramids. If you can see you can directly spot which one. His name is Sentatayil. This is all you need. I will expect repayment for the courtesy I just showed you and he was gone. I was standing in the street alone and suddenly some people noticed me, yet they shook it off like it was a weird trickle. I walked away, it was time to see the pyramids. I had not seen them in person for over 2100 years. When I visited them, pretending to be a greek writer visiting the court of Ptolemy IX Soter, as such the place might have evolved a bit, time would tell. As such I was on route to Dubai international airport, places to go, people to address. 

====

Yes this was a story and this was all my imagination, but I was kind enough to lace it with reality. You need to wonder about a few things and I reckon that every story needs a bit of spice, if only to confuse the avid reader on where reality stops. We all have an evil demon on our shoulders and mine resides on my right shoulder, the one on the left shoulder is an angelic pussy.

Have a lovely day, more reality tomorrow.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Stories

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 12, 2023 · 15:29

Me, myself and I make 4

It is the setting that started with ‘Two Stories’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/10/28/two-things/) the setting is given, but it was a mere top-line. 

Which I last ended with “I looked at the table. The glass was there and so was a text, in the glass ‘Ελάτε στην Ακρόπολη, πρέπει να μιλήσουμε’. I got that message loud and clear. So this was my grandfather? Time to learn more about the other branch of the family. I send a mental note to grandpa Hades. “Zeus summoned me, will update you later” I looked at Lucia “It seems I have to make a business trip”, she nodded. She did not understand what was going on, but I got the impression that she was eager to go into denial. “Break the table into small parts, keep the cat away and be careful. Get a new table please.” I walked into the bedroom and got a small bag and from the living room fruit bowl I got my keys, wallet and some small stuff. Time to see Athens again.”

The journey to Athens was quite positive, Air France definitely knows what it is doing. It was late in the evening when I got to Athens. I made way to the Acropolis Luxury Apartments and the key was already waiting. My assistant was quite resourceful. I walked into the room and decided to take a walk. The Acropolis was nearby, so the walk was not that long. When I got to the Beulé Gate I saw a guard nodding at me and gesturing I come to him. I walked over and the man spoke to me “My apologies, lord. Please follow me” And I did, we walked towards the Acropolis, by a road the tourists did not normally walk. And he looked around slightly nervous. When we got to the Acropolis, we were at the rear of the temple. Just outside of it. He gestured me to wait and I decided to comply. Clearly the man was nervous and he was aware of me, although I had no way of knowing how much he knew. It was a minute later when the man with the white beard appeared again. Still in a Victorian style suit. He looked at me and observed me. “Well, Well. So you are my grandson.” I looked at him and did not speak, confirming it seemed so trivial and to be honest, he never introduced himself. “My name is Zeus, or better stated I am what was once Zeus. I took the heavens and it made me strong, but pollution has diminished my powers. Yet we will get to that later. I see that Hades is regaining strength at a phenomenal rate. Yet Poseidon and I are not that lucky. Pollution has tempered our powers and that needs to be resolved. I saw how you chained Perses again and that was a lot more epic than you thought it was. I am surprised you lived this long, you also got powered by the Kraken and you got the attention of Oceanus. It is time to reveal a few facts. In the early days the fates came to me and Hades. They told me that unless your abilities were bound and cursed you would end like us and we would end. To completely sever you from the physical sides of the Olympians would be our salvation. And as such we did. Your powers would return to some degree. It was out intent for this to have happened a long time ago, but the fates stopped us, specifically it was Atropos who stopped us. She was right it took another 4 centuries when our powers started to unravel, except the powers of Hades, but Hades was also affected, we just did not know how.” I looked at Zeus, The fountains of Tartarus were never designed to take on that many souls, they were clogged. Heaphestus had a solution, but it needed a person to do this and I did. Hades is still recovering, but in the near future he will be the most powerful of all Olympians. Still we need to find balance, it is the only way to make this work. Zeus smiled. You learned the lessons of balance? I understand it to a larger degree, most people do, but the greed driven do not care. Zeus nodded, he looked at me and pondered what he had heard. I looked at Zeus. We need to wait for Hades to be more and more restored. Heaphestus needs to upgrade the fountains, that I essential and at that point we need to make harsh choices. Zeus looked at me. We will need the son of Apollo Asclepius to do the opposite, we need to indue sickness in the human population. Enough for over 90% of them to pass into the next passage. This planet is dying and thy are in denial, Poseidon lost over two thirds of his power and it will not return, the oceans are more and more lifeless. The worlds of Gaia needs restoration and the absence of people allows for that, but it will take centuries. Zeus nodded. I do not like it, we are their custodians, not their rulers. I nodded, but these children have lost view of reality, greed has consumed them. It is a lot worse then the rulers prying for carnage in the temple of Ares. In the age of christianity it only got worse, greed was rampant and this world suffered greatly. We need harsh actions, it is too late to be subtle. Still the oceans will repair to some degree, the fish that are now extinct will never return, as such part of the powers of Poseidon and Oceanus are gone forever. As the pollution in the air is restored, so will your powers. You will not get all the powers back, but a lot more than Poseidon has. Zeus nodded again, but not as much a Hades? No, Hades as he was pushed into Tartarus became the custodian of souls and they renew him, in the old days it was thousands of souls, now it is a million times more and soon that will set the balance of scales in a different stage. It is the result of short sighted human greed. Zeus pondered what I had told him. But we are their custodians, it is not right. Is it? I asked. What do you do to a child who runs through the house with a burning torch? Now it is not one child, it is a a group of hundreds of children, all running the same stupid route in houses all over cities, cities are burning down and time is now no longer a option we have. The christians have gone overboard. The Jews and Muslims made the same mistakes, but to a much lesser degree, the Hindu in the east are making the same mistake. They are now well over one fourth of the population. This is the only option, a disease that hits them all, it evolves over time and it will kill more and more all whilst their option of aging is removed, but we have time for that and when the population is diminished by 90% we can halt and see what they do next, all; whilst the seas can repair to some degree. Over the decades that follow we can take aim at the rest and see what is required, but for most it is now too late, it is them or the world, which still gets them killed in the end, but then the loss is 100%. 

Zeus looked at me, he saw the logic, even in the complete madness, the almost frantic levels of insanity, there was a logic that was undeniable. Zeus nodded. How will you progress? First I will need to wait for Hades to regain much more of his strength. Then I will need to talk to Asclepius and see what he can do and perhaps what he can brew, but I do not know if he will accept my thoughts. His focus is healing, not taking lives, but he could do it much more…ehh humane than any of our other solutions. Zeus nodded, he knew what was next, but he did not speak his mind. I continued, Lord Hades will accept my thoughts. Better to go on with less people then not go on at all. He still wins in the end and we will have to accept that the seats of power will move to Tartarus with Hades at the head of that table. Zeus nodded again. You come a long way in the longest travel possible, you see what needs to be done. Clotho told me, but I did not believe her. Yet you prove to be true to the Olympian mindset and that will be acknowledged. When will this start? I cannot start this in the next 5 years, tomorrow would be best, but the larger settings are not ready and the only thing we will unleash is chaos, chaos that will get too many killed. This must be done carefully and not before Asclepius is back with us. Zeus looked at me. He waived me away. I must think on this. No final actions are allowed until I agree to this. I bowed to him. He suddenly turned his hand around, I felt a piecing discomfort in my arm and suddenly Psychofagos was in his hand. He looked at the weapon and nodded approvingly.  His hand went over the bident and he handed it back to me. Psychofagos hd changed ever so slightly, there was a yellow gleam coming from the metal. I stared at the meta and it was like there was a Layer under the layer showing lightning rods. Like a fractal weave under the weave. Zeus looked at me and pointed at the bident. It now has the power of teleportation. Do not use it rash as it relies on your energy levels to do so. I nodded. The power can be used as long as you have energy and any energy lost will take a little time to restore. Jut be aware of that. I nodded, bowed and walked away. 

I walked back to the hotel I was staying at. I would fly back, no reason to alert the authorities regarding a ticket not used. I had to contemplate a lot more today and over the next few days, more important to see where ever Asclepius was now, because that was one element I had not found an answer too, but I would report to Hades and he could have some answers there.

1 Comment

Filed under Stories

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 22, 2022 · 09:50

Two contemplations

My mind was considering ‘The rut of the game’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/10/18/the-rut-of-the-game/), I made two larger contemplations. The stage of Keno Diastima is (for) now complete. I cannot improve it at present with more tales and it is three seasons. This approach would allow for both a sequel and a prequel and perhaps my mind will set to writing that in some near future. From season one where I described the arrival, the center console, Iconography, food, drinks, seafloor and the path leading to the window. Then we entered season two where it was more and we get to journey on some of these on how they got where they are now we learned more about languages and talking through icons and there we see the first issues of individual stress. I moved through the setting of the window and the larger stage of why. I left why in the middle and touched on it but never dug into it, I dug a little deeper now. It all comes to a stage where we get to ‘the room’, and we learn more on the food preferences in the two seasons. Season three takes a much larger issue and there are two teams now, they are separated by time so communications is a much larger issue, they stressed to a much larger extent and the people are wondering how to get home. We see more on an evolutionary stage and the stage of invasion, but I do not want to write too much about this here. One loses control and decided to end it all, and makes the moves to do so and whilst doing that he discovers a lot more than he bargained for and the image he gets then will set the premise of what is going on and there the story ends. It allows for a prequel as well as a sequel and in no way can we tell what is what but only fear what is here. OK, that rhymed a little more than I expected.

In the Greek story it was about new methods. Then I realised that these people would be worth almost anything to a government, their isolation makes sense now. Yet the arrival of a new player (the main character) set a few things in motion. As such the corrupt politician and his entourage ploy makes sense. Then I added the fuel of ‘sort of’ sibling rivalry. As such I can now consider stories and reasoning of uncle Zagreus. One more player comes in (keeping it a secret) and as the main character gets more powerful the envy becomes an optional stage to introduce Nemesis, and with these players added we get a new turmoil and we see more issues and I want to stage a larger setting to the laws of Zeus. It is an idea that came from the movie Immortals, but that would make sense in this day and age and with Zeus limited in powers, as is Poseidon, now with Hades regaining strength he becomes the most powerful of the three gods and he seemingly has plans too (I imply in the stories without committing to it) and now with daddy being the biggest and baddest god of all Zagreus wants his share as a son of Hades. And these settings come the foundation in seasons two and three when big bad daddy comes into his own right the main character gets to see what a bastard he is and how soothing mommy is, he has the power of both which I need to use somehow, but I am still working on that part. Optionally giving more insight into the one stone. These two contemplations are on the mark and they are as important as any IP I have. If my creativity comes from and through stories I need to fuel both as they optionally could lead to more IP.

Leave a comment

Filed under Stories

Tagged as , , , , ,

September 25, 2022 · 21:06

Seasoning too

To be honest, it is actually all about season two, but I am typing this whilst I am hungry. My mind is calling for all kinds of images of lamb cutlets. I have no idea how many I can eat, but it is a lot and I is hungry. So whilst the season ended with finding of finding Hades alive, season two will start with the grandson (Nikolaos) experiencing Tartarus and growing in the process. As the fountains are brought back to life, we learn in the first episode why they stopped functioning. We also learn (after a while) that time stops in tartarus, as such there are portals to tartarus, but tartarus cannot be part of this world. There is an essential step here but I am avoiding it for now. What happens is about the setting of Hades and if we see that pollution weakens all, the fact that the dead fuel Hades, will make him seem the most powerful of the three gods, none of them realised that over 175,000 day every day last year alone. It is a rather larger stage and even as not all enter tartarus, the massive amount that do clogged the fountains, as the fountains are brought back, Hades will be getting more and more power and becomes the most powerful of the three main gods. The other two are diminished due to pollution. So there is the initial stage. Pollution is not going to stop, so this works for us as a story. So as Nikolaos comes out of Tartarus in episode three which gives an implied timespan of 3 weeks and he will learn that he only missed 10 minutes. Season two will set a larger stage with Hecate, it will also call the setting with his real mother (Macaria) and father (Ares). Both stayed away from him for reasons and we get to learn of one of those reasons. Ares will give us the next leg of the race. I need to see to a few items to find a reason why he would be in Yemen. Then we get a few more items that intertwine with the blood of helios and we see that there is more at play. In the meantime Hades is gaining strength. So I need to add a story of Nikolaos getting taught sweet death by his mom (Macaria). From there we are set in a stage where I need to adjust the view from the mortal to the immortal but I am still working on that. I reckon that season 2 will contain 8 episodes with a nice cliffhanger that will reveal a new challenge. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Stories

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 4, 2022 · 19:16

Wheels of a scribe

It has been 6 months since I saw Poseidon and Oceanus. 6 months and a bit since the Kraken gave me additional powers and now I am reflecting on what was, what I was and what I am becoming. I could feel elements of my body, but not much. The moment the Kraken flooded me something happened, something the powers of Perses did not achieve. The power within me started modifying me and repairing me, even issues I was never aware of were repairing through the powers of the kraken. I reckon that this was in the first month when I started to feel whole, not Olympian, not a mere mortal but something in between. I still believe I can be killed, but it would take maximum effort (was that a quote Deadpool had?) to bring it about. The speed at which I healed was uncanny, that much I have experienced. In all this there was a shift in Psychofagos as well, it was a bit more than a bident now, and even if I looked at it, I felt fear within me and I wielded this bloody thing. But in 6 months a lot happened. My eye sight upgraded over time even more. It is hard to describe,  I saw the old way, the olympic way and now I see even more, but is it my Olympian part? The views seamlessly overlapped and at a moments notice I saw one, the other or all. Like a simple switch in my brain, which gets me to the next part of it all, the thoughts from birth came flooding in, my brain now recollected ANYTHING that I had seen and the Olympic side could enhance it, like watching 3d TV in front of me, allowing me to reexamine the past as I saw fit. It was about three weeks after the initial event with Poseidon that I was walking the streets of Athens. There were all kind of people out there and some tried me but others held them back, almost like they knew that it was the worst idea ever. I walked down Faonos away from the park when my mind picked up on something. It was mild at first, then louder, almost like a shriek. I looked at the sky and made 360, there it was, it was the sign of Hades in the sky. A clear sign if there ever was one. I walked into its direction, a walk that took close to an hour. I ended up in front of a hotel named A for Athens. I walked in and asked for a room. The man looked sceptically at me. Another room sir? Is something wrong with your room? I slapped my head. Sorry, Raki. It was the best excuse I could find on short notice. The man smiled. He gave me my key and a letter. I made a puzzled look. The man smiled and pointed towards the corridor. Would you like som coffee brought to your room? Yes, please I responded and gave him a 20 euro bill, the man nodded. Right way sir. I went down the corridor and found the door that represented the number on the key and walked in. The room was empty, the bed was made and there was nothing that stood out. I wondered what this was about. I checked the room and saw nothing out of place in any view I took. I looked at the letter and I was about to open it when there was a knock on the door. The man had brought me a coffeepot filled with coffee, he poured a cup, placed it on the table and placed sugar and cream. There is enough for two more cups sir, enjoy the evening and he quickly left. I opened the letter. Hello, we have not met, we should. I will be at the Temple of Hephaestus at 10:00, I heard breakfast is at 07:00, the Sfakianopita is amazing in this place.  See you at 10:00, please do not be late.

I took the message for what it was, an invitation, but an invitation by who? I set my phone alarm for 06:30 and I decided to sit in the chair and drink some coffee. It was better then I expected, always a nice surprise. And after that I laid on the bed and took a restful stance. I had learned that  even as I did not sleep any longer, laying and relaxing still had a soothing influence on me. Even now I felt the energy of the Kraken drown every cell in my body and when that was done the energy reverted every cell in a combined powerpoint. There were thousands of PowerPoints within me at this time and they all screamed energy. A feeling that was relatively new to me and I rested. When I opened my eyes I looked at my phone. It was 06:29 and a few seconds the alarm went off. I switched off the alarm and I was getting pretty good at not breaking things. I got up and had a nice hot shower. And I was about to dry myself when I looked down and noticed something odd. It was bigger? That as definitely new. I looked at myself in the mirror and I looked better, stronger, more muscled. I was still no Schwarzenegger (thank you very much), but I was decently on par with any highly trained gymnast or athlete. I got down as the tables were still being set. Sir, breakfast will be ready in minutes. I nodded. He gestured me to the side where the tables were set and I nodded again and set at the table pointed out to me. What will you be having sir? I looked at him and voiced “I heard good things about your Sfakianopita, I will have that please. With coffee.” Yes sir was the response and the waiter walked to the kitchens. 

The meal was served and it was indeed outstanding. I had a second coffee and it was close to 07:45 when I was done. I walked by the front desk and asked for a tourist map. I wanted to see the Temple of Hephaestus. Was it far away? As it turned out it was a mere 10 minute walk. I went back to my room and contemplated who I would meet and why there? I left the room a little over an hour later and walked to the Temple, it was 13 minutes later but I did stop twice so I was still half an hour early. As such I scoped out the place by walking around the temple. I saw nothing out of sorts and I also did not see anything Olympian, and so I walked into the temple.

Part 2
The Temple was like all the Greek temples. Empty and a little too elaborate. I walked through it in _under a minute. I stared at the building again, just to see if there was something hidden, but I could not spot anything. I was about to walk around the building again when a voice stopped me.

No matter Olympian, you cannot see what is there. You see Zeus decreed a long time ago that our temples are ours and ours alone. We can be near another temple, but until the person who it is for invites us, we cannot see or do anything. It is even more so that the invited person can only see what we allow that person to see. I looked at the man, he seemed to have similarities with Hesiod, his sculpture. His short silver and black hair, the style and the slim golden band around his head was different, but that was about it. He gestured me to follow. I had walked this empty corridor before. He then gestured to one of the columns. Follow me fast, you will drop a little but nothing an Olympian cannot handle. He walked into the column, I hesitated for a mere fracture of a second then I walked in. I fell and fell for about 10 seconds and landed on my feet. It was OK, there was no pain or anything but my mortal side would be quite dead, or at least with both legs shattered. The room was nicely lit, there were workbenches, a forge and troughs of liquid. There was some Roman style chair with a small table with fruits and I reckoned that it was a up with wine, that was what it smelled like, but a little stronger and more overwhelming. He grabbed another cup, he filled up his and a second one and handed me the second one. The drink smelled sweetening, a strong grape sense and I took a sip. It was like clusters of grapes exploded in my mouth. It had some fermentation, but it was strongly fruity and the overwhelming need to take another sip grabbed me hard. I took the second sip. I then looked at Hephaestus, he was sizing me up and grinning. Never had a bottle of Dionysus finest did you? I shook my head. Don’t worry it happened to all of us, the man is a wine marvel. Give me your bident! It was not a question. I summoned Psychofagos and handed him over. He looked at the bident and saw the shoulder part. Nicely done, not you though was it? Again I shook. I would think not, still it is a decent piece of work, even If I say so myself. He felt the shaft and started to examine it, he then looked at the end of the shaft. And the part attached to the tines of the bident. He then started to measure it with his fingers, like a carpenter of old times. He then started again and grabbed a piece of chalk. He put markers on the shaft and grabbed some kind of pruning knife and carved a path in the shaft, three paths about 7 inches long. He then grabbed some kind of gutter and took a little out of the middle of the shaft. He did this three times. He then walked to his workbench, looking all over the place, a second and third workbench were scrutinised and at the third He seemingly found what he was looking for. They were like beads of metal, he grabbed a small hand from one jar and a second hand from another jar, he then walked around looking for something. It was a much smaller jar and had some fine powder silver in colour and covered the beads with them. He walked to the forge and grabbed some stone jar. He threw the mix into it and placed it into the fire. The fire seemingly worked itself because the jar was glowing red in seconds. As that was happening, he walked back to the first workbench and grabbed some small pot, he took of the lid and grabbed a small piece of wood and placed them on  small table. He grabbed the red hot jar with his hand and moved his hand in circular motion and placed it back on the fire. He then grabbed some clay tablet and the gutted and made a small line on it roughly 8 inches. He then put the tablet on a small cork and let it drift in the trough with water. He looked at it for a second and seemed satisfied. He then grabbed the jar and slowly poured the red hot liquid on the clay line. The clay tablet sank just ever so little. He put the jar back where it was in the beginning, by the forge. He then looked at the clay tablet and waited for a few seconds. He then grabbed his wine cup drank the wine, filled it with water and threw the water on the metal rod. The water sizzled and he stared at the result. He grabbed the newly created rod and measured it next to his pinky. He measured two parts of the phalanges and grabbed the end of that measurement and broke it with the nail of his thumb. He did that twice more and grabbed the three pieces. They fit the small guttered parts exactly. He then went to the table and dipped the piece of wood in whatever that was. He slowly dripped it into the wedge he had created, grabbed a piece of some kind of leather from his belt and tightened it as much as he could. He did that for all three parts. He then cautiously placed the bident on two support parts. He looked at me, do not touch it for now. He went back to the second bench and looked trough some baskets. He had found something. He also went to the third table and grabbed some sort of nail and then another one. He walked back and tried whatever he had found on the end of the bident, it did not fit. He threw the  piece on the fire and in seconds it was hot, red hot. He used both pinky’s to widen the object. He looked at it and seemed pleased. He then fitted it on the shaft end and grabbed it with his hand to tighten the object. He was pleased and grabbed the nail. I now noticed that the second one was a fraction thicker. He pushed it into the shaft and removed it. The other nail was slimmer, but had small thickenings on it. He grabbed the branch again and smeared the liquid on the nail where the nail was thinner and then cautiously pushed the nail in, he then seemed to focus on the nail as he pushed harder, or so it seemed. He looked at me again, leave it for now, he walked into another room and got a chair out and placed it next to the other chair. He gestured I sat down. I did and got a large filling of Dionysus finest. He looked at me. The bident is now different. What it was it remains, I added an element that allows you to send shockwaves when the shaft end hits the ground. You will likely need it and more important, it can be used anywhere. I was not in favour of this, but you have proven yourself to be honourable, that was what Poseidon said to me, and that man does not ever talk much, not even before the issue with Oceanus started. But his word has value, as does the word of Zeus and Hades. Those two have been unheard of for much longer than Poseidon’s silence. “What happened?” I asked and he shook his head. Not my concern and not my interest. They leave me alone and that suits me just fine. I know where you are headed next, give them this from me. And he handed me a small package. I looked puzzled, how did he know? Do not worry, the action strands of Olympians are easily seen, you have centuries to learn that part. I put the parcel away. We spoke about all kinds of issues over the next few hours and it was at that point Hephaestus looked at the bident. He walked over and felt the shaft. He nodded and handed it over to me. “Do not put it away, examine it first and try it first” I did and he was right, something was different, not off, but out of balance, or better stated it was more balanced now, the metal parts had repaired the imbalance that the shoulder part had added. 

I tried a few more movements and on a mere notion I hit the shaft end to the ground, something I still regret, the shockwave was enormous. Hephaestus was thrown straight through the room, I was untouched, but everything else was all over the place. “Put it away” he ordered. Now clean the mess you made, he was not a happy chappie. I had made a mess and I cleaned up the place as well as I could and then he gestured to the other side of the room which I ordered as well. He looked at me and said, well that improvement works. I nodded. He took me back how I got in and going up was no hassle at all, it was like gravity stopped for most of the trip. And it was not long thereafter that I was back where I started. He walked me to my hotel and gestured the manager. They obviously knew one another. I went back to my room with a cup of coffee, it was late in the evening, or so I thought, it was not until the next morning that I saw the papers, I had been away for three days. 

1 Comment

Filed under Stories

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,