Elevated Nickels

We live in an instant gratification society. We like to be told what to like, told what to think, told what to do, and told how to do it… and we want it fast. It really has become fascinating watching our culture turn into drooling idiots that spend an average of 7.5 hours a day staring at one type of screen or another. You’re looking at a screen reading this. I was looking at a screen writing it. When I get done writing this, I will answer some text messages, and when I get home, I will watch TV while looking at a tablet.

And so on

And so on.

And so on.

Surprising that Japan is so low on the list.

As a matter of fact, even the information that we receive on those screens has changed to the growing need to have instant access. Now, THIS phenomenon is something that I have just noticed in recent years. It started by me just noticing it on websites or blogs on geek-culture, but it has become more and more mainstream.

Heck, even I dabbled into it here on Happenings and Happenstance, which can be read - HERE.

I am sure you have figured it out by now. I am talking about the “Top 5 List.” 

Ah yes, the fan favorite of little nuggets of information presented in a way that is fast, informative, usually funny, full of opinion, and a way to engage the audience. In fact, there are even Top 5 or Top 10 lists that explain why Top 5 lists are so popular.

Soak that in. 

A list to tell a person why they like lists.

Worlds within worlds.

We have truly entered into a Bizarro world, where on the surface, it appears that we have abandoned all reason and rational thinking. It scares me to even entertain the factuality of that statement, but there it is.

So, in truly Bizarro fashion, I think I will join with my fellow mouth-breathers and provide some helpful assistance.

The Top 5 List Of Topics You Can Find Top 5 Lists For! 

(abridged version)

1) Top 5 “Pop Culture Anything”

For all intents and purposes (yes – it is not intensive purposes), this particular type of Top <blank> list can be glommed together with movies, music,video games, or really any type of entertainment based media.

These types of lists run the gambit from the Top 5 most violent video games, to Top 10 dumbest movie plot twists, or even Top 10 most underrated prog rock albums. The categories are endless. If you want to find any information concerning any type of entertainment, I guarantee that there is a Top <blank> list to outline it for you.

It's like seeing who can out-cool the next person.

Here’s a crazy thought though, why don’t YOU decide what the most violent, underrated plot twist is?

Well, we all know that isn’t going to happen, so when you get a free chance, check out the website WhatCulture.com. 

This website is almost exclusively lists based on entertainment media or entertainment themed subcultures. When I was checking this website out, it almost appeared that this website alone has created the template for short attention span blogging. I just googled "whatculture" and got:

Ranking Blink-182’s Hit singles from worst to best

10 Superstars that hit rock bottom after WWE

The Cure’s Top 20 songs

10 YouTube celebrities who earn more money than we ever will

25 best Alex Turner songs

Blah, blah, blah….kill me!

This website even gets more absurd with: 10 Movies that are one mistake away from being masterpieces. Give me a freaking break! It’s websites like these that encourage the sentiment that one opinion matters, but another doesn’t.

One of the movies that was “one mistake away from being a masterpiece” was Prometheus. I got some news for you Mr. Writer Guy, that movie was so disjointed and pointless, even fixing one mistake wouldn’t give it “masterpiece status.”

Next thing you know, this guy is going to try and tell me that The Graduate is overrated. Oh wait, someone just beat him to it: Smiling LDS Girl's Blog: Ten Most Overrated Movies (yes The Graduate is on her list)

How can this ending shot be anything BUT genius?

Don’t get me wrong, expressing your opinion is great, but when did an anonymous blogger become an authority on what is or is not overrated?

I want to be perfectly clear on this, I encourage making and speaking your opinions. I do it myself, and I support the blogging community. What I am attacking is this societal ideal that if you read something, it must be taken as an expert opinion.

Maybe that’s a blanket statement, but make your own opinions! Don’t let strangers make them for you.

2) Top 5 “Random, Useless, Garbage”

Have you ever thought to yourself that some people seem to know everything – well, what I really meant to say, people who think they know everything? Yeah? Me too.

Or, have you ever watched Jeopardy and thought to yourself, “How in the heck do they know that?”

His Jeopardy swag is FIERCE!

Do not worry your pretty head, dear reader. 

There is a Top <blank> list to help raise you to the status of those fortunate individuals who have an endless supply of potpourri uselessness filed away in their heads. 

So much uselessness, that it appears to be useful.

I know that this may be a shocker for most of you, but there is a website called…wait for it… Top5.com. This was the freaking mother-lode!!!!

It was everything that I ever wanted right at my fingertips, and right at the top of the page, there it was. It was a shiny beacon of hope calling out to me to explore everything that embodies "Top 5": AMAZING FACTS.

Not only were these facts amazing, they were broken down into history, science, and RANDOM!

 random AND amazing???

It can't be, can it?

Yes!

Top 5 things you didn’t know about gold

Top 5 most garish celebrity graves

Top 5 strangest things found in the belly of a shark

Top 5 most terrifying roller-coasters

And my personal favorite…

Top 5 crappy, shameful, junk-on-wheels, American cars

I just LOVE the judgmental, indignant tone of that last one. The mere idea that the opinions of whoever wrote these lists is espoused as credible or noteworthy takes narcissism to a whole new level.

The authors of that blog.

Not all lists that purport to provide the reader with amazing insight to useless information are as bad as I might be painting them out to be. Take, for example, the website Buzzfeed.com. This website can actually make the reader become dumber for wasting time on it.

Their list, 23 useless facts that you totally need to know is a lighthearted piece that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is literally 23 useless facts. 

In a lot of ways, it’s hard to take Buzzfeed seriously at all….even their attempt at news.

3) Top 5 “I have traveled to this place to make you feel jealous”

Ah, travel! So many do it, so many others wish they could. Did you guys hear about that Dutch student who faked an exotic vacation “as a project” for her university? It was all done through Photoshop. She simply took pictures of exotic locales and shopped herself into them so well, that the pictures looked extremely authentic and believable. Her reason for doing so was to demonstrate how our online lives can be manipulated to become anything that we wish. We can do or be anything without anyone being the wiser.

Doing it right!

As a point of research, this experiment is really fascinating to me, and true with anything that goes viral, not only this project became a meme and joke unto itself, but it created a trend of fakecationing (like what I did there – with that portmanteau of fake and vacation?). 

It actually created a nice Top 10 list, Ten ways to fake the ultimate summer vacation.

So this presses me to ask a question: Why is it necessary to create the illusion that our boring, mundane, 9-to-5 lives are filled with glamorous retreats to exotic destinations?

Simply put, because everyone else is doing it.

The website HomeAway has an incredible Top 10 list called “The 10 best vacation spots you may not know about.” 

How exciting would that be? You and your loved ones or your closest friends taking off to a place that is so incredibly awesome that the only people that know of its existence are its residents!!!

I tell you what. You would have plenty to brag about on Instagram and Facebook.

This list includes such exotic locales as Charleston, SC; Orange Beach, AL; and Lake of the Ozarks, MO. When did South Carolina, Alabama, and Missouri become places of interest?

We don't take kindly to city-slickers.

The Nest's Top vacationing spots list is a little more what you might think would be traditional locations to truly want to go to: Paris, Brazil, Greece, Hawaii, etc. But hey, why bother even going?

Purewow’s 8 Easy ways to go on vacation without leaving your home can give you that perfect experience without stepping on a plane. Once you choose the right filter with your Instagram account, you will be painting your friends’ faces GREEN with envy from all of the pictures from the exciting adventures you have been on.

4) Top 5 “Things we noticed, because we don’t get out enough”

I think that it is funny how something that is made of plastic with children’s candy hidden inside has become synonymous with “kitchy-meta-reference.” My friends, I am talking about the easter egg! 

Not that one.

Lately, it seems that movies and video games (especially video games) have really made a lot of effort in providing little inside jokes or clues to let the viewer or player part of the inside joke. It isn’t anything that is new, but it just feels like it is becoming more and more common.

It is agreed upon by most that the first easter egg was in an Atari game called Adventure, where a programmer secretly inserted his name in the code, so the player could find it if he or she wanted to spend the time looking for it.

Yay! You found it, now go outside and play!

There’s the rub. If they wanted to spend the time looking for it.

So there are two things that are possible here. Either, gaming journalists have extensive teams constantly seeking out any possible easter eggs in video games, or there are waaaay too many people with toooooo much time on their hands.

                                         

I say this because easter egg lists are everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE, and they are extensive too.

I went to Gamespot.com and simply typed in the words “easter egg” with the ‘articles’ filter selected and got over 50 articles with talk of easter eggs, including the list: The Greatest Easter Eggs in Gaming.

I tested it against Google, simply typing “easter eggs” with quotes around it. This search yielded pages and pages of video game and movie hidden secrets that I’m supposed to be impressed and amazed by.

The 5 most elaborately hidden video game easter eggs

All the ‘Jurassic World’ easter eggs you may have missed

17 amazing Google easter eggs

10 Skyrim easter eggs that will make you want to replay it immediately

11 amazing Marvel movie easter eggs you never saw

The 50 best Pixar easter eggs

The list doesn’t end…ever.

It’s like EVERYTHING has an easter egg now.

"What do you mean by - everything?"

There are so many easter eggs available to learn about, there is even an online archive that lists them all ranging from movies, software, games, TV shows, and books!

Why do we as consumers care about or enjoy these things? Well, without doing any research whatsoever, I think it’s because we all like being a part of something. 

We enjoy being “in the know.” We like being “in on the joke.” And, with the creation and popularity of social media, many of us like being the first to know the secret to either share it or brag about knowing it.

I actually tried digging up any reason as to why we love easter eggs so much, and yielded no results - only more lists, and a few instances mentioning Adventure and how it was the first one.

This damn game again!

Is it a cultural phenomenon??? I don’t know.

Being a gamer, and a lover of all things geeky, these are some lists that I love so much. The funny thing is, I never look for them, and if I find one, I don’t even realize it.

For example, I love the Fallout series of games. They are spectacular open world adventures, which place you in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As with any Mad Max scenario, weapons are a must. 

There is one weapon in Fallout: New Vegas that is an exact replica of Harrison Ford’s laser tube from Blade Runner. In the game, it is referred to as “That Gun.” When I found it, I didn’t even realize that I had found something special or what “That Gun” was even referring to.

Wasn't impressed.

The gun sucked. I dismantled it and used it for scrap parts. Then, one day, I’m on WhatCulture.com (that site is addictive), and I see it on a list of Top easter eggs from Fallout games you may have missed, right there at number 8.

Truth is, I didn’t care. Having that gun didn’t change my experience playing that game, nor did I feel compelled to tell a friend that I had discovered it.

It just…was.

5) Top 5 “We know you like lists, but we can’t think of anything to make a list of, because anything about everything that can be put in a list has already been put into a list”

Here it is. This is the end all, be all of lazy writing and complete garbage being fed to us as consumers and denizens of the internet, and also, I’ve been trolling you this entire time.

The Original

You see, my wife told me that while she enjoyed the content that I posted about Seven Lions and the story surrounding that, she really couldn’t get that deep into it. She wanted more variety and topics that were beyond what I was pigeonholing myself into. 

I spent so much time thinking about new and different content that I ran into a pretty hefty bout of writer’s block.

This, but with less paper.

I promised you, my faithful readers, a post that was not Seven Lions related, and I struggled at what that could be. My initial thought was to create a list of some sort, but why? 

The more I researched, the more I realized that there are very few topics that have not been delivered in list format already.

If I were to provide you with the “Top 5 most action packed car chases” because I was just inspired by the complete awesomeness that was Mad Max: Fury Road, it would be no different if I posted the “Top 5 most incredible episodes of Game of Thrones” just because Season 5 just ended.

Those lists already exist.

They exist, because we demand them to exist. We demand them, because that has become the norm in blog-based journalism.

You deserve more from me.

That is why I gave you this.

I hoped you enjoyed our exploration of this topic. I think I provided you enough links and options to satiate your list craving for some time. But, take this into consideration – there is no reason why you can’t make a list of your own. People love them! Why not be on the end of providing something unique and spectacular or some form of insight that was never thought about before?

If you don’t think American cars are crappy, then make the “Top 5 reasons why the guy who said American cars suck is wrong.” Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's does. Express it. Don’t just take what some anonymous talking head on the internet said as the bottom line.

Unless that anonymous talking head is me!

Road Map to the Stars

Things have picked up around here, especially surrounding the "Seven Lions Trilogy" postings. A large amount of interest has been generated with where it is going.

Well, based on my stats, there are a lot of people that are new to my stuff, so I would like to just give the blog a bump and show a few things off.

Like a road map:

Not THAT one!

 For starters, for those interested:

The Introduction to the concept behind the "Seven Lions Trilogy" can be found - HERE

The outline of the "Trilogy's" mythology and the mix of the music can be found - HERE

My outrageously funny and somewhat sadistic approach to coulrophobia can be found - HERE

From there, I think the rest of it can be navigated by using the tabs at the top of the page.

Yeah, THAT one.

I will be posting this weekend, but it will not be a Seven Lions posting. Sorry, I know that there is a big demand, but I don’t want to just let you guys “binge” on the one topic and then split! Nope, we encourage a variety of issues and topics to be discussed around here.

As usual, you can find the FB “like and share” button on the right side bar, and there are a couple of share buttons for different social media at the end of this post. Just find the correct logo and click away.

I would appreciate it so very much.

What do you guys think about a giveway?

A contest to be a guest blogger on here?

Let me know what you think. If you have some ideas, just message me on google+ or FB.

(Obligatory outdated meme)

Have a good one.

Seven Lions Trilogy - The Mythology

Thanks for returning. I promise not to disappoint.

To start off, I would like to thank a few people. They have helped make this more interesting, and I think you should really check out their stuff.

For starters, I would like to mention Starla Moore. She is a truly incredible sculptor, but what is most incredible is that her art is actually jewelry. She provided the images of the keys mentioned. It's amazing, and I was taken back by it the moment I saw it. Please check out her items, they're beautiful!

Her homepage is: http://www.artbystarlamoore.net/fantasy-keys.html

Her etsy store is: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyStarlaMoore?ref=hdr

Her facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/starla.moore.7

I would also like to recognize black-rose-chain from deviantart.com. His art captivated me, and transported me to another world. His are the beings of the other realms.

His page is: http://black-rose-chain.deviantart.com/

Both of these incredible artists have made this project become: THAT MUCH MORE!

Let's Begin

I was recently watching a documentary called “Montage of Heck,” which is a brand new documentary on Kurt Cobain that was just released on HBO. It is being hailed as the definitive biography of what his life was like outside the confines of his band and his fame. A large majority of the documentary is visual art. Some of it is his own art, like sculpture and paintings, others were his scribblings and doodles that were on the same pieces of paper that had the lyrics of many of his most famous songs in their infancy.

Some of the art in the film is animation. It was really quite clever. The filmmaker took Kurt’s audio interviews, phone conversations, spoken word records, etc. and he created animated scenarios that illustrated and depicted what Kurt was saying. It was quite thought provoking, because sometimes when you listen to an audio recording of something (even if it is spoken word), it can be difficult to create a mental image of what is being said.

Well it is for me anyways.

Great documentary – sad. What a waste of talent.

You might be asking yourself, “Hey, I wanted to read this because I have been anticipating a new Seven Lions blog, and you’re giving me this sad-sack Nirvana-wannabe-90s-garbage!” Well, right you are. 

Spokesman of a Generation

You will be getting that, but I just wanted to demonstrate how a filmmaker used an idea to create a narrative. Not only did he create it, he convinced me, as the viewer, to believe the story he told me.

That is what I will attempt to do with this project. I have listened to some music set forth by an artist, and have created a narrative to go with it. There are many things that I am going to talk about that are not mentioned in the music, while there are many other aspects that are absolutely referenced in the music.

The fact of the matter is, I have been inspired by an already existing piece of art to create a piece of my own. I am being completely honest here, I will mention things that nowhere in the lyrics, liner notes, interviews, or otherwise are these things ever mentioned by Jeff Montalvo in relation to the Seven Lions brand. This analysis is beholden to his work, but I have woven the tale that he laid out.

I asked some people very close to me as to how I should approach this. One option was for me to just simply tell the story – to quite literally write a piece of fiction and post it on my blog. Well, dear reader, I don’t know if I am willing to freely provide my craft without any thought of the future. If I were to just “write the story,” then where is the hope for that movie deal?? The second option was to present the mythology that I have been inspired to create, and then provide the narrative that Seven Lions’ music provides.

This option seemed the best for me personally. It will be captivating enough to keep you, the reader, interested, but it will be vague enough for me to elaborate on at a later date. I mean, even Fifty Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fanfic.

Ew.

So yes, I have created a realm that has its own history. I have created beings that are woven into the fabric of its own mythology. 

I have spun a yarn. 

What I want from you dear reader, is to enjoy it.

For any of you that have not read the introduction of this analysis, you can read it HERE. For those of you who have already subjected yourself to it, then... just a refresher:

• Seven Lions has released four EPs and a number of singles and remixes.

• Three of those EPs present themselves, thematically, artistically, and lyrically as a trilogy. 

• Those three EPs are titled Worlds Apart, Days to Come, and Throes of Winter.


• That trilogy is a single cohesive piece of art that paints a picture and lays out a road map.


• I have read the map and studied the picture, then arranged the pieces in chronological order, and found a story.


• I am here to tell that story. 

I will be referring to certain themes in this initial overview that are directly associated with the lyrics and composition of the songs in question; however, I will not go into detail of how those themes meet the music until a later time. 

So, let's set the mood with a little music. As promised, this is the Seven Lions Trilogy as I see it. This is the narrative that pushed the tapestry that I have woven. I will get into track listings later on, but for now, just sit and listen to the tale.

House-Mixes.com

PRESS PLAY - THAT ORANGE TRIANGLE IN THE MIDDLE

The Locations

We are told by the title of the Worlds Apart EP that the story arc takes place on more than one “World.” Also, the cover of that album title displays a scene of two heavenly bodies, over the horizon of a third. If you are take just those things at face value, the setting of this saga is made up of three locations.

So what are they?

A hint is given in the track listing of the Worlds Apart EP. There are five songs, which is a perfect layout for a symmetrical motif. The third track, right in the middle, is the song entitled “Nepenthe.” This was a word that I had never even seen before. Being an English major in college, that actually surprised me.

I looked into it.

The pronunciation of the word sounds a bit like “neh-PEN-thee,” and its definition from Webster is “a potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow” or “something capable of causing oblivion of grief or suffering.”

That indicates themes of loss or yearning, but what does it really mean? Where did Seven Lions come up with that word, and why did he use it?

Further research shows that nepenthe is referred to in Homer’s Odyssey. What? Now we are on to something. OK.

How and why?

In Book 4 of the Odyssey, Menelaus (Helen’s husband) and Telemachus (Odysseus’ son) are meeting together. Without getting too far into the Greek myth or retelling the story altogether, there comes a point where Helen puts an elixir in the wine to bring Menelaus and Telemachus/the men out of their sorrow. She basically slips them a roofie.

Yeah, like that!

The verse goes as follows:

“Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, took other counsel.


Straightaway she cast into the wine of which they were drinking a drug 

to quiet all pain and strife, and bring forgetfulness of every ill.”

In the original Greek, the phrase “to quiet all pain and strife” is νηπενθές. That Greek word is translated to “Nepenthe.”

If we are to view Nepenthe as the “mediator” of two forces to end sorrow, then who are the forces? Obviously, Menelaus and Telemachus.

Menelaus is the King of Sparta and the husband of Helen. He was a central figure in the Trojan War, which was illustrated in Homer’s Illiad, and prior to Book 4 of the Odyssey, he is triumphant, larger than life, and an all-around warrior. After all of his conquests, he comes to realize the cost in human lives that war creates, but let me stress this: MENELAUS IS A WARRIOR. That is going to play a significant part in this analysis.

The second force that Nepenthe mediates between is Telemachus. Who is he? He is Odysseus son, and his role in the Trojan War was quite different. While Menelaus’ exploits are demonstrated in the Illiad, Telemachus’ journeys are outlined throughout the Odyssey. He is removed from the Trojan War to go in search of his father. Quite literally, his name translates as “far-fighter” or “far from battle.” That is not to say he could not fight. Once united with his father, he fights and slays over one hundred suitors, earning Odysseus’ respect. Many scholars refer to him as Telemacheia, and for my usage, I will as well.

I just like the way it sounds.

Menalaus = Warrior 

Telemacheia = Far from Battle 

Nepenthe = Between the two

These are your Worlds dear reader, three distinct worlds that have as much in common with each other as they have differences.

The art of the Worlds Apart EP depicts the landscape of the planet Telemacheia in the foreground. It is a plains-filled world that is slightly rocky. The image shows a river that leads to a city in the distance. This planet is the home of the Guardians of Nepenthe.

Worlds Apart

Not only does this image depict the landscape of Telemacheia’s surface, it shows Nepenthe in the sky with the planet Menelaus behind it.

The art of the Throes of Winter EP depicts the landscape of the planet Menelaus. This image is quite different. It appears to be more of a desolate region that is rocky and mountainous. It is obvious from the image that the climate is severe, with ice and snow covering almost every flat surface. This is the home of the Keepers of Nepenthe.

Throes of Winter

Now, the art of the Days to Come EP still lies in question. Does it depict Nepenthe itself? And what are those mechanisms floating in the sky? More on that later.

Days to Come

Before I move into this next phase, let me just stress that according to/in Homer’s work, Menelaus and Telemacheia are not enemies. Odysseus was very loyal to Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, but I think to truly grasp the triumph and tragedy of Seven Lions’ epic, you must have an understanding of the backdrop that Homer’s own epic creates.

Alright stop.

I have just dropped just some major knowledge on you, and you are probably asking yourself, “Where did he come up with this? There is no mention of ANY OF THAT in the music,” and you are right.

For this to work, dear reader, you are going to have to suspend everything you may or may not know about Seven Lions and his music. You are going to have to expand what you may or may not think what music is used for. Most importantly, you are going to have to use your imagination. The song lyrics and composition will, in my opinion, perfectly outline the plot of a story told. 

There just happen to be other nuances and elaboration that I have done to fill in the cracks. It was necessary. Remember, I was inspired by something, so I just ran with it.

Nepenthe

Now that we have deduced that there are three heavenly bodies with the one in the middle being referred to as Nepenthe, we must ask ourselves, what is Nepenthe? What point does it serve? 

The basic definition is that it is a satellite of sorts. It is an object that orbits the other two planets. It serves primarily as the moon of Menelaus and Telemacheia, a shared moon if you will. Because of the unique nature of two planets sharing the gravitational pull of the same moon, the planets’ environments are extreme, both in geography and weather patterns. Not only can Nepenthe be illustrated as a moon, it should be noted that it is also a device. It serves as a means of transport between the two planets. In a commonplace setting, it would simply referred to as The Gateway.

There it went!

The space that Nepenthe occupies between the two planets is referred to commonly as The Reach. To travel between the two planets is referred to as Reaching. That is not to say that travel is the only definition of the word “reaching;” it holds deeper meaning for many different reasons. I will go deeper into that a little bit later, but for now, all I really want to mention is that traveling in space or time is the process of “Reaching through Nepenthe.”

Nightmare Fuel

Reaching is accomplished with a key. Both, the Keepers and the Guardians have keys to accomplish this, but the keys are not identical. They are drastically different devices, both in appearance and the way that they are used.

Beyond travel,  there is a legend that says that Nepenthe can be used for something more if both the Guardians’ and the Keepers’ keys are turned simultaneously, and THAT, dear reader, is the crux of our tale.

The Players

I’ve mentioned now the two factions that play out this drama of Seven Lions’ trilogy. There are the Keepers of Nepenthe, who inhabit the planet Menelaus, and the Guardians of Nepenthe, who have made Telemacheia their home. I am not really in a position to really say much about these two groups of beings except for what I already know.

By now, we already know that the Keepers’ home world takes its name from a central figure in the Trojan War who was a great warrior, so it seems reasonable to believe that this race of beings have made their claim on the known universe through war and destruction. They see Nepenthe as a tool to be used and controlled for their own benefit. Even the name that they are known by, Keepers, becomes synonymous with “to possess” or “to own.”

Life gets pretty rough on Menelaus.

As with a lot of cultures or societies based on war or conquest, this realm’s system of government is a patriarchy at its very core. That is not to say that women do not have any role in this realm, but those roles fall into the normal archetypes of High Fantasy ideology.

The Keepers have a legend about the Gateway concerning the two keys. It is their goal to possess both keys, which will allow them to turn Nepenthe into a weapon that will give them complete control over both planets, and ultimately the galaxy. The only thing that prevents them from this goal is the existence of the Guardians.

It will be theirs

The Guardians of Nepenthe inhabit Telemacheia, whose name can be translated as “far from battle.” Their aim is not to possess or control the Gateway, but to protect it. In many ways, they believe it exists to be worshiped and protected at the same time. While there are many duplicate keys within the realm of the Keepers that may be used to activate the Gateway, there is only one key to Nepenthe that is protected by the Guardians.

"

"Keep it secret. Keep it safe."

From a High Fantasy point of view, if the Keepers could be viewed as the warrior class, then the Guardians would definitely fall into the category of mage or cleric, possibly Paladin. The one charged with caring for the key has such an innate ability to communicate with Nepenthe, that it can only be defined as magic. The one with the key is always female, and she always is preparing another to take her place.

Through concentration and constant exposure to the key, over the centuries, the two of them have developed the ability to Reach without the aid of the Gateway. That is not the only power that Nepenthe has granted them. Control of the elements is the primary defense against attacks on Telemacheia. In many ways, what holds the Keepers at bay is the constant barrage of icy attacks by the Guardians on their home world. What the Keepers attempt to gain through warfare and military strategy, the Guardians counter with precision strikes of elemental magic.

They control more than The Reach.

There is a strong devotion to the two “Protectors of the Key” amongst all of the Guardians - they will stop at nothing to protect them and the key from any who try to claim it.

Whew.

Wow! That got my pulse racing! We have started a journey together, but I believe that our time is about up, dear reader. The next time we see each other, you will be brought into a tale of love, loss, betrayal, and redemption. A centuries old conflict will come to a head, and there can be only one outcome.

Until Next Time.