“To train with the sword, first master sweeping.
When you have mastered sweeping, you must master the way of drawing water. Once you have learned how to draw water, you must split wood. Once you have split wood, you must learn the arts of finding the fine herbs in the forest, the arts of writing, the arts of paper making, and poetry writing. You must become familiar with the awl and the pen in equal measure. When you have mastered all these things you must master building a house.
Once your house is built, you have no further need for a sword, since it is an ugly piece of metal and its adherents idiots.”
– Meti’s Sword Manual
Sunshards
A game of Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Once upon a time there were ten suns. That is too many suns.
The sky burned with their combined heat. The land scorched and blackened. The people fled down, down, down. Bunkers became cities. Cities became empires. Empires became nightmares. Always down they dug, day by day marching further from the suns, day by day slaving to build a kingdom to rival hell. With masks of power and terrible new forms of organization, with harnessed magic and enslaved machines, every atom was accounted for. Every puff of chlorine gas, every happy habit, every ancient spell was catalogued, weighed, marked, and assigned a price tag. An inverted pyramid formed in the depths and all the slime flowed towards the pit.
And then one day a princess decided that this had gone on too long. She ascended into the sky and with her bow slew nine of the ten suns, one after another. They fell from the sky and shattered upon the earth and the heavens were for the first time in many ages clear.
The planet erupted. The hunger of the pit was at last unleashed and it sought to flee into the stars. Great silver elevators to the sky were built, a web of orbital shipyards arose one after another amidst the shattered wreckage of the suns, and without a second's hesitation the wealthy launched themselves into the void. For a long moment the planet breathed out all the poison that had grown within it.
And then, when only those too poor or too damned or too compassionate were left, the rains came.
The planet erupted back into life. The rainforests bloomed and exploded. Trees and grasses dormant for ages burst into life. The mountains came to be covered with flowers and the air became cool and soft. After an age of greed and hate and scarcity, civilization found itself in a state of abundance.
And then, the greatest treasures of all. Nine girls found the nine hearts of the nine slain suns. Within them they found magic limitless, enough to alter the world around them to match their dreams. These were the first Sunshard Princesses and their wars were dances.
Axiom: War is dance
When two princesses stand upon the field it is not to kill or injure. When a sword is drawn it will not taste blood. Battles are waged for hearts - the hearts of onlookers, the hearts of your foes, one's own confused and conflicted feelings. The greatest warriors are the ones who can break the hearts of others. Defeats are humiliations and imprisonments, victories are celebrations and vindications.
Axiom: The past is buried
All the wickedness of the ancient days still exists below the surface. Great abandoned cities of machinery, terrible and toxic systems of commodification and slavery, sick and deranged artificial intelligences. Some treat with these creatures and relics. Some find strength there amidst these demons of forgotten ages. Abandoned and inert, it will not strike out on its own - instead it waits with bargains ready to embrace those who have been driven to despair.
Axiom: The world is renewed
All things are young. The natural environment is flourishing, science and technology and magic are freed from ancient restraints, music and art and culture are flowing in rivers. The world is being re-invented moment by moment and there are no ancient masters or legendary traditions. Plants and animals find new expression with each day, sorcerers push the frontiers of magic, and the internet exists as a new, quiet, exploratory technology of basic communication methods. Nobody has all the answers, no precedent has stood for long, and more miracles are born with every passing moment.
When you have mastered sweeping, you must master the way of drawing water. Once you have learned how to draw water, you must split wood. Once you have split wood, you must learn the arts of finding the fine herbs in the forest, the arts of writing, the arts of paper making, and poetry writing. You must become familiar with the awl and the pen in equal measure. When you have mastered all these things you must master building a house.
Once your house is built, you have no further need for a sword, since it is an ugly piece of metal and its adherents idiots.”
– Meti’s Sword Manual
Sunshards
A game of Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Once upon a time there were ten suns. That is too many suns.
The sky burned with their combined heat. The land scorched and blackened. The people fled down, down, down. Bunkers became cities. Cities became empires. Empires became nightmares. Always down they dug, day by day marching further from the suns, day by day slaving to build a kingdom to rival hell. With masks of power and terrible new forms of organization, with harnessed magic and enslaved machines, every atom was accounted for. Every puff of chlorine gas, every happy habit, every ancient spell was catalogued, weighed, marked, and assigned a price tag. An inverted pyramid formed in the depths and all the slime flowed towards the pit.
And then one day a princess decided that this had gone on too long. She ascended into the sky and with her bow slew nine of the ten suns, one after another. They fell from the sky and shattered upon the earth and the heavens were for the first time in many ages clear.
The planet erupted. The hunger of the pit was at last unleashed and it sought to flee into the stars. Great silver elevators to the sky were built, a web of orbital shipyards arose one after another amidst the shattered wreckage of the suns, and without a second's hesitation the wealthy launched themselves into the void. For a long moment the planet breathed out all the poison that had grown within it.
And then, when only those too poor or too damned or too compassionate were left, the rains came.
The planet erupted back into life. The rainforests bloomed and exploded. Trees and grasses dormant for ages burst into life. The mountains came to be covered with flowers and the air became cool and soft. After an age of greed and hate and scarcity, civilization found itself in a state of abundance.
And then, the greatest treasures of all. Nine girls found the nine hearts of the nine slain suns. Within them they found magic limitless, enough to alter the world around them to match their dreams. These were the first Sunshard Princesses and their wars were dances.
Axiom: War is dance
When two princesses stand upon the field it is not to kill or injure. When a sword is drawn it will not taste blood. Battles are waged for hearts - the hearts of onlookers, the hearts of your foes, one's own confused and conflicted feelings. The greatest warriors are the ones who can break the hearts of others. Defeats are humiliations and imprisonments, victories are celebrations and vindications.
Axiom: The past is buried
All the wickedness of the ancient days still exists below the surface. Great abandoned cities of machinery, terrible and toxic systems of commodification and slavery, sick and deranged artificial intelligences. Some treat with these creatures and relics. Some find strength there amidst these demons of forgotten ages. Abandoned and inert, it will not strike out on its own - instead it waits with bargains ready to embrace those who have been driven to despair.
Axiom: The world is renewed
All things are young. The natural environment is flourishing, science and technology and magic are freed from ancient restraints, music and art and culture are flowing in rivers. The world is being re-invented moment by moment and there are no ancient masters or legendary traditions. Plants and animals find new expression with each day, sorcerers push the frontiers of magic, and the internet exists as a new, quiet, exploratory technology of basic communication methods. Nobody has all the answers, no precedent has stood for long, and more miracles are born with every passing moment.