Story Time with Pants - The Block

Gather around you little nooblets, Grandpappy Pants is going to tell you all a story of days of yore.

Thousands of years ago, before the dawn of man as we know him, there existed a magical place named Rubi-Ka. Here the happy folk called The Xan lived and played and frolicked with the Silvertails. They lived in peace and harmony since all of their needs and wants were satisfied by a magical font of limitless power and energy.

One day, much like any other day on Rubi-Ka, the Xan were knocking about enjoying their lives and company of one another. Everybody was doing this except for one Xan who was named Figaro. Figaro was a special Xan who was able to see things the others simply could not see.

Figaro would go to the font and instead of getting wine and grapes he would procure fancy, intricate toys which he would give names like “Train” and “Ball”. The other Xan saw these toys and wanted to play with them as well. Figaro was a kind and caring friend to all and allowed the others to enjoy his toys, however, as rumors spread of their existence demand quickly exceeded supply and the other Xan started to grow jealous.

It wasn’t long before the more enterprising Xan took Figaro’s Train and Ball to the font and demanded their own copies be created. Their will was done, and the font generated copies of the toys in limitless numbers. Now all the Xan had trains and balls and they were happy, for a time. Once every Xan had a toy the allure started to wear off and they turned to Figaro and demanded that he make new and exciting toys.

This cycle of creation, alteration and improvement on Figaro’s toys lead to the eventual development of the Xan technology and culture that we have discovered today as Figaro’s influence began to spread to other Xan innovators.

After the Xan unionized a small group became concerned that the power may not be limitless. Their curiosity lead them on an exciting journey of discovery to find out where the font obtained its power. After thousands of years of study and investigation they found that the font was, indeed, fueled by a small, stone block that emanated an intense power.

These Xan built a grand temple around The Block and devoted their lives to keeping The Block safe. The Keepers of the Block kept the artifact safe for countless years until the other Xan began to deplete the font. Neither group realized that the font served as a counter balance to The Blocks great and terrible power. And, when it reached a critical point, it set into motion the terrible cataclysm that ripped the planet apart.

Since then The Block has had time to replenish the font and they live in harmony once again. The Block resides safely on Rubi-Ka, protected by the Temple that the Keepers of the Block build around it. The font, however, was ripped away from the planet in the cataclysm due to how weak it was and currently resides in the Shadowlands.

Today, The Block is guarded by a group of Hip-Hop Atrox Warriors who belong to the organization NKOTB (New Keepers of the Block) and they prevent all access to The Block, keeping it safe inside of the pyramid in the City of Home.

The End.

From the Journal of Leviticus, Keeper of the Block.

It's been 5 years since my team and I discovered The Block. I dare not use typical data cubes for this, lest the information spread to places it was never meant to go. When I speak of this, I mean the Takers. They are the true enemy.

On this hot little red ball we call home, the search for more power and utility has always been a concern for our people. When we finally found this source, we learned of its history and subsequent exploitation.

My original name was Anton DeVry, and I am - well, was - a scientist. My people were bred for labour, but the term 'labour' for me can mean many things. I have a passion for knowledge and the work that goes into it. That is my labour, and it is about the love of my world and its people. So, I became a scientists to study and work on free energy. This is something that angered my superiors. They told me that my simple mind did not understand things like profits and losses. Selling energy helped the economy, which in turned established community, which in turn crafted progress. This all starts with profit.

I didn't quite grasp the entire meaning of the word profit when I first started this project with my colleagues. But, the truth of my position now is that profit leads to greed. Greed for progress can be just as destructive as any other kind. So, when we found this ancient energy source and learned how easy it was to be harness we had to formulate a new plan on how to keep it out of the wrong hands.

So we crafted a story. Not your typical story, but a sort of mystery. It was the only way to break the ties that bound us to Omni-tek Research and Development. Now, we call them the Takers. In fact, everyone is a Taker to some degree. The ethic we instill is how do we share with a amicable community that we can trust. The clans are almost far worse at taking. The seed of corruption within them lay within their self-centered practices and culture. They claim lordship and pass around title to each other without so much as a single iota of responsibility to it. Anyone with a gun or a blade can become King of the Hill to them. Knowing what I understand historically about the title of "King" leads me to think this is an apt statement. The Divine Right, they used to call it. Heaven - a place we later learned was a false impression and some thousand centuries later we finally caught a real glimpse of, was a sort of over-romanticized dream that people off power used as an excuse to rule over the ignorant masses.

So we took our lessons from history and crafted our own little niche. Figaro, and later his colleagues, established in their texts that the source of all things (The Block) was a compressed node of energy and matter, surrounded in what can only be termed as perfect mathematical planar geometry. This cube-shaped caul that surrounds the block is completely impermeable, except when one application is applied to it to extract the contents of The Block. We were able to get a reading from the Block a few times, but its immense mass and power destroyed our delicate instruments from overload. Eventually, we researched the meaning of that in Figaro's texts. The Xan word for it is "U'undal" which has several translations, depending on its use in their sentence structure and vernacular. This word has been used to describe a basket, a piece of fruit, or an embrace. However, its also used for the concept of Star.

When my project leader, Dr. Philip Moss (later became known as Sir Thessalonicus) determined the approximation he turned to me with the most startled look in his eyes. He said, "My God, its full of stars..."

Thus was the catalyst event that changed our teams lives. This project led us to one of the most fantastic voyages one could ever hope to take on. It broadly changed the way we looked at the world, and our interaction with it. The Heavens were only sending us messages, and when we asked ourselves the questions of our existence and what our journeys meant, we only had faith to guide us in a way. But here we have actual scientific proof of creationism. It leaves us with more questions then it does answers. Figaro was not specific in speaking about the origins of The Block. It clearly de****ts his travels and the eventually discovery of The Block. It does not however, specify if he made it himself, found it on a roadside, or stole it from someone else. Only the translation of discovery. It is truly a mystery. One, I might add, that I and my friends have devoted a lifetime of study to.

So, we left behind misleading scraps of information to tell a false story about our disappearance. We left our superiors enough lies and important facts to throw them off of our trail. I hope that this will be enough for know.

I am not saying this is Heaven, or some sort of Idyllic Paradise that some people think it must be. We debate internally on that, but ultimately we are left with some pretty heavy questions. The truth of the matter is that we have found something more important than us, and we have devoted our lives and our passion to seeing that it never gets used for destructive purposes. If we destroy things, we learn nothing. There has to be some shred of observable evidence to be left behind or else we never question our actions. If we never question our actions, then science is for the sake of science and nothing else. Science is meant to serve humanity in all its forms, not strangle it or use it to become a 'King'. This is why no one side of this Class War can have The Block. It must be protected at all costs. Our manpower is very little, but our resolve is strong. Even if we may never have the numbers to protect it with skill at arms, we can defend it through force of mind, and perhaps even a bit of trickery...

Anton DeVry, PhD.
Formerly of JAME.

Sir Leviticus
New Knight of the Block.

"True courage is never holding back despite the odds stacked against you. However compounded is the thought that even if you win, or gain that which you desire, there is nothing wrong with trying even harder after that. The results just may surprise you." - Mehar Izgimmer.