Marduk Thal'kr
"It seems everywhere I look, all I see are people rushing about as fast as they can to either perpetuate or bear gleeful witness to the next act of endlessly escalating cruelty." I declare before a packed theater full of young men in rough and tattered clothing - if mostly laundered - allowing them to escape the 'unwashed' delineation between the haves and have nots of this technologically advanced world, "They shout in the streets, 'Come and see! Come and see!' and they come and they see, and they bear gleeful witness to scenes of barbarity and savagery that further degrade and debase the human condition."
I stood above these men, not just physically because of the stage or my prodigious height, but socially. I descend from one of the founding families of the Desh'ea megaopolis. My cousin sits on the Reksium Throne. I live in an ancestral palace walled off from the common folk. They live in human warehouses, sustained by meanest welfare. If their numbers get too high, we aristocrats will negotiate a war with one of our neighboring city states, slap guns into their hands, and send them off to go die for some made up yet convincing reason. The ones that live will be declared great men, have medals pinned to their chests, the ladies will love them, and in twenty years we'll do it again. In between we'll keep them nice and distracted with bread and games so they don't have the capacity to think about their systemic poverty and oppression.
Not that I focused my public speaking events on that particular cycle. No, I kept politics out of events like this. Human politics is such a low priority in the face of the real dangers mankind faces in this far flung future. Best to attend to the real problems before addressing the ancillary threats. What use is there in cleaning your room when the house is on fire?
"There is a moral sickness in this city." I continued my sermon, "And it lives in our hearts. Each and every one of us, and each and every day we feed it with cruel, greedy, and perverse deeds. We give this moral sickness more and more strength every day and bemoan the fallen state of our world like we didn't project evil into it. And I know that each of you thinks to himself, 'I'm not that bad. Maybe not even a tenth as bad as someone else. Maybe not even a hundredth.' Well let me tell you today, brothers, that when you and a billion others are just a hundredth as bad as that man, you still generate ten million times as much evil as he does."
I cleared my throat for the the rising heat in my tone, "I've prescribed the cure for many years, telling all who have ears what must be done. Perhaps I should have prophesied to insects and rodents, to the rockcrete and steel for all the good it did in those early days. For when you tell someone that this life they've been living, this life of butchery, larceny, and adultery, that they must stop, that they must repent. Do any of you believe that they rent their robes and poured dust on their heads as they wailed in horror at what they'd done and left undone? There will be a day of wailing and the gnashing of teeth, when the evil we have fostered is visited upon us. 'Mercy! Mercy!' we will cry, and there will be no mercy! For we deserve no mercy!"
I cooled it back down for conclusion and call to action, "Repentance comes from a broken and contrite heart, so go home today, examine yourselves, examine your homes, your neighborhoods. Think of the evil you do, and the good that you leave undone. Ask yourself if what is broken can be fixed, if what is filthy can be made clean, can it be fixed, can it be made clean for even a day so long as someone tries. Now you may think, I can't do it, it's too much, my efforts will amount to nothing. Remember this: when we all lift together, there is no load too heavy. When we travel as one, there is no obstruction impassible. When mankind rallies together, there is no state to far gone to right."
And thus ends my contribution this evening to the survival of the species.
My name is Marduk Thal'kr. Though my heart longs for a life of debauchery, I maintain the routine of an upright and righteous thirty six year old. I am married with three children. My home is in the cloud district of the north east section of Desh'ea, where all the villas are. Though I am one of the hundred thirty men in charge of this multi billion citizen city-state, I work as a quasi-evangelical preacher. My sermons are primarily attended by impoverished young men, though the multiple charities I have established over the years cater to all those in need that we can service. Despite taking my responsibilities with utmost seriousness, I never stay out late, returning home before the middle of the evening on even the most busy days. After seeing my children to bed I am known to spend time in physical training on my expansive estate grounds, but I am always abed well before midnight. I have no problems sleeping despite the many directions my attention is pulled each day and my understanding of the many existential threats I must stand strong against, always getting eight hours of restful and effective sleep each night. I attribute this to my effective stress management and conflict resolution skills. Though many of my peers feel personally attacked by my strict condemnation of barbarity, hedonism, and decadence, I do not allow these hurt feelings to fester and build up enemies. I make sure that no matter how my words might inspire rage, it never becomes a matter of winning and losing, and no one loses sleep at night. I carefully manage our society, and hope to one day move us onto a less self destructive path. Although, if I were to conquer this city, no one could stop me.
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Surprise! My long awaited return from illness starts with a chapter for one of my teaser works. I don't like multi SI protagonists, but I need each of these stories to be distinct so I chose this one to be a crossover with my Levid's Magical Wheel of Reincarnation series and explore the magic of friendship. Plus if any setting is big enough to require multiple inserts, then 40K is it.
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