Eternal
While creating a book for all the masses to read and absorb might help solidify a remembrance of you and Brenda, you’re thinking on a bigger picture.
“Wait, you want to tell your experiences from the past seventy five years?”
“Well, just the most memorable ones. Obviously I’m not going to focus on the days where I just sat at a desk reading skirmish reports or what I was eating on a particular day.”
“Do you realize how long that’s going to take?”
“I know it’s not going to be in one night. I want to tell the whole story or at least as much as I can.”
“That’s pretty ambitious. I figured you were just going to start from Nalin’s independence from the Empire at most.”
“See that’s just it, I, WE didn’t just suddenly appear when we took official control of Nalin and later Naleen. We’ve got a lot of history behind us. We’re Eternals and we’re the last of our kind. There should be some sort of lasting record of us.”
“Last of our kind? There’s a whole nation of them if you remember.” Brenda reminds you.
“Yes and that’s exactly my point. Do you think it’s going to last? Do you think any of new generations are going to be stable enough to think beyond their own petty power? I’d wager that they don’t even continue the method to create anymore of them, now that Edgar’s dead. He was the only one who was trying to leave a lasting legacy beyond himself. The rest of them? They’re going to wonder why they’re creating potential rivals and no longer bother.”
“You might be right about that. So, you weren’t interested in creating this in a more positive light for people to remember you?”
“Ha ha, I’m pretty sure such a task is impossible. No matter how much propaganda I churned out for the masses, I’m certain it wouldn’t make the citizens start believing I’m a nice person. Even the military doesn’t think such a thing. This isn’t going to be about making me look good. I’ll let history decide that, but this written account will at least provide a solid guide from which they can judge.”
“But won’t it still be biased?”
“Probably, but given that I want to include everything, I’m still not portraying myself as some benevolent ruler with a pleasant background. Now you said you would help, did you still wish to? I mean I want to include everything, but I guess I can leave out anything that portrays you in a negative way.”
“My love, I was right along side you on your less popular decisions, in fact I made a lot of them myself. I’m not innocent and I would imagine the average citizen wouldn’t consider me a nice person either. Well, maybe nicer than you, but you’re a hard act to follow.” Brenda says with a smile.
You and Brenda immediately get to work on your project. You and her take turns doing the writing for the most part, but the pressures of ruling sometimes get in the way, so it takes longer than it probably would have if you both didn’t have other responsibilities.
Your ambitious project takes more than a few years to complete, but when it is finally finished you definitely feel a sense of accomplishment. It may not be conquering an enemy or territory or anything like that, but if this goes the way you want, you will have achieved much more than simple victory. You will have achieved a kind of immortality.
The huge tome immediately copied several times when it is complete. The great thing about being a ruler is you’ve got underlings that can do this. You make sure to keep the original writing for yourself. The first copies go out to a few Naleen schools, libraries and other places of higher learning where you decree that it is to become required reading. (Another great thing about being in charge!)
In time there probably isn’t a single citizen that hasn’t at least heard of the book, if not read it. There is a slight backlash to “telling all” however. Some students, professors, intellectuals and other academics take the opportunity to use examples from the book to prove what tyrants you are and Brenda are and how if Naleen is ever going to achieve its maximum potential then relics of tyranny need to be gotten rid of. An increase in protests about silly “freedoms” and “rights” pop up a little more.
An annoying side effect to be sure, but a predictable one. Executing them all would only prove their point of course, but you really don’t disagree with them in the first place. You and Brenda ARE relics of tyranny. In fact you stated as much in the book. You were created by a government obsessed with control and molded into Eternals to enforce that control. You can’t help what you are and you’re not going to apologize for any of your actions.
In any case, if it wasn’t this, you would’ve gotten protests about something, it’s been a while. Besides you have more than your share of intellectual defenders as well your loyal military, so you’re not worried about revolutions anytime soon.
“Wait, you want to tell your experiences from the past seventy five years?”
“Well, just the most memorable ones. Obviously I’m not going to focus on the days where I just sat at a desk reading skirmish reports or what I was eating on a particular day.”
“Do you realize how long that’s going to take?”
“I know it’s not going to be in one night. I want to tell the whole story or at least as much as I can.”
“That’s pretty ambitious. I figured you were just going to start from Nalin’s independence from the Empire at most.”
“See that’s just it, I, WE didn’t just suddenly appear when we took official control of Nalin and later Naleen. We’ve got a lot of history behind us. We’re Eternals and we’re the last of our kind. There should be some sort of lasting record of us.”
“Last of our kind? There’s a whole nation of them if you remember.” Brenda reminds you.
“Yes and that’s exactly my point. Do you think it’s going to last? Do you think any of new generations are going to be stable enough to think beyond their own petty power? I’d wager that they don’t even continue the method to create anymore of them, now that Edgar’s dead. He was the only one who was trying to leave a lasting legacy beyond himself. The rest of them? They’re going to wonder why they’re creating potential rivals and no longer bother.”
“You might be right about that. So, you weren’t interested in creating this in a more positive light for people to remember you?”
“Ha ha, I’m pretty sure such a task is impossible. No matter how much propaganda I churned out for the masses, I’m certain it wouldn’t make the citizens start believing I’m a nice person. Even the military doesn’t think such a thing. This isn’t going to be about making me look good. I’ll let history decide that, but this written account will at least provide a solid guide from which they can judge.”
“But won’t it still be biased?”
“Probably, but given that I want to include everything, I’m still not portraying myself as some benevolent ruler with a pleasant background. Now you said you would help, did you still wish to? I mean I want to include everything, but I guess I can leave out anything that portrays you in a negative way.”
“My love, I was right along side you on your less popular decisions, in fact I made a lot of them myself. I’m not innocent and I would imagine the average citizen wouldn’t consider me a nice person either. Well, maybe nicer than you, but you’re a hard act to follow.” Brenda says with a smile.
You and Brenda immediately get to work on your project. You and her take turns doing the writing for the most part, but the pressures of ruling sometimes get in the way, so it takes longer than it probably would have if you both didn’t have other responsibilities.
Your ambitious project takes more than a few years to complete, but when it is finally finished you definitely feel a sense of accomplishment. It may not be conquering an enemy or territory or anything like that, but if this goes the way you want, you will have achieved much more than simple victory. You will have achieved a kind of immortality.
The huge tome immediately copied several times when it is complete. The great thing about being a ruler is you’ve got underlings that can do this. You make sure to keep the original writing for yourself. The first copies go out to a few Naleen schools, libraries and other places of higher learning where you decree that it is to become required reading. (Another great thing about being in charge!)
In time there probably isn’t a single citizen that hasn’t at least heard of the book, if not read it. There is a slight backlash to “telling all” however. Some students, professors, intellectuals and other academics take the opportunity to use examples from the book to prove what tyrants you are and Brenda are and how if Naleen is ever going to achieve its maximum potential then relics of tyranny need to be gotten rid of. An increase in protests about silly “freedoms” and “rights” pop up a little more.
An annoying side effect to be sure, but a predictable one. Executing them all would only prove their point of course, but you really don’t disagree with them in the first place. You and Brenda ARE relics of tyranny. In fact you stated as much in the book. You were created by a government obsessed with control and molded into Eternals to enforce that control. You can’t help what you are and you’re not going to apologize for any of your actions.
In any case, if it wasn’t this, you would’ve gotten protests about something, it’s been a while. Besides you have more than your share of intellectual defenders as well your loyal military, so you’re not worried about revolutions anytime soon.