ALT★HERO as Spoiler Alert

Art predicts reality again. First the Yellow Vest battles in France, and now social media thought crime round-ups in Germany.

Germany Conducts Mass Raids Over Online ‘Insults’ Against Elected Officials

The German government has begun prosecuting its citizens for thought crimes, raiding the homes of hundreds of Germans who have allegedly leveled insults against politicians online. In an effort to prosecute”criminal content” contained in over 600 statements posted on the internet, Federal Criminal police raided scores of apartments and houses for incriminating evidence on Tuesday and interrogated 100 people across 13 German states for allegedly posting hateful remarks against elected officials and question the results of the 2021 federal election, the German news publication Der Spiegel reports.

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ALT★HERO #1: CRACKDOWN

To stay well ahead of the news, read ALT★HERO on Arktoons.

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A Direct Challenge

Russia and China are openly challenging globohomo’s New Neo-Liberal Rules-Based World Order.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting, on Wednesday, with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, for the first time since Moscow launched its military campaign in Ukraine on February 24. Unlike most Western nations, and some Asian countries, Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow and rejected calls to impose sanctions.

The neighboring countries will work to achieve “a multipolar, fair, and democratic world order,” Lavrov said after arriving in Tunxi, a city in China’s eastern inland Anhui Province, on Wednesday.

TASS quoted Wang as saying that despite “new challenges” to the ties between the two nations, “the will of both sides to develop bilateral relations has become even stronger.” The minister said this month that China’s relations with Russia is “one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world,” and hailed the friendship between the pair as “ironclad.”

Translation: US military failures in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine have led the two great regional powers to conclude that the wicked Empire That Never Ended has definitively entered its decline phase, which means that it can be successfully challenged.

We would be fortunate indeed to witness the defeat of global satanry and a restoration of Christendom. No one is expecting it to be granted favored legal status in China, but then, no one was expecting Constantine to reject paganism and embrace Christianity either.

And certainly none of us who grew up in the red shadow of the atheist Soviet Union was expected what has happened in Russia since 1991.

In the meantime, this joint statement makes it very unlikely that Russia will not follow through on its threat to cut off gas supplies to European countries that refuse to pay in rubles.

So far, the EU and G7 nations have rejected Russia’s demand to switch their payments for gas to rubles. Russia said it will not provide free gas supplies, suggesting that it is ready to shut off the taps. If that happens Moscow would lose between €200 million to €800 million each day of the embargo. However, Russia could redirect some of the gas to Asia. Europe would likely face an economic crisis not seen since WWII, as soaring energy prices would send the region’s economies into recession. So, who will blink first?

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The Russians are Panicking

But not for the reason the globalists would like you to believe. To the contrary, they’re worried that Vladimir Putin is going to stop too soon:

There is a true panic going through the Russian society. It is due to the talk happening in Turkey between Russians and the Ukronazis. This is a sore point with most Russians because in Russian history there have been plenty of examples of Russian diplomats literally wasting away what was acquired by the blood of Russian soldiers. And just to make it worse, Russians remember the infamous Khasaviurt agreements and the two Minsk Agreements. The notion of a “Minsk 3.0” absolutely horrifies many Russians, including myself. So this begs the question – are these fears founded, yes or no?

I think that they both are and are not founded, let me explain. Here are some of the reasons why these negotiations are creating fear, uncertainty and doubts:

First, if you want to denazify the Ukraine, why negotiate with Nazis in the first place? Does the concept of “denazification” not imply regime change in Kiev?
Second, what is the notion of dramatically reducing the combat activities around Kiev and Chernigov??? Does that mean that Russia has given up on the notion of liberating these towns?
Some of the delegates sent by Russia are rather pathetic looking, like the head of the delegation, Vladimir Medinsky.
What in the world is Abramovich doing anywhere near these negotiations???

Read the rest of the article for some possible answers to those questions.

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Polishing the Library

Now that the Arkhaven site has been stabilized, we’ve been able to get the Castalia Library store updated and make some of the books that had not been available to purchase available again. We even managed to find a few copies of THE MISSIONARIES and AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND squirreled away; please don’t get too excited, as both books are already out of stock again. So the first three books in the Library series are now sold out.

The more significant news is that both Library and Libraria editions of THE DIVINE COMEDY are available, as are DISCOURSES, RHETORIC, ETHICS, and THE JUNGLE BOOKS. The cover on the latter is especially fine, as a comparison with the more expensive Easton Press edition tends to demonstrate.

The next book in the Castalia Library series is POLITICS by Aristotle, which will complete the three-volume ersatz trilogy that we are publishing. While we may one day publish a Complete Works set of Aristotle, we will not do so as part of the main subscription. And don’t forget, subscribers can utilize their Library discount to purchase additional volumes at the subscription price.

On the production side, we’re now working on getting ATOB Vol. I, ATOB Vol. II, and DISCOURSES shipped in April and May. The bindery is having compressed air and water installed in preparation for the arrival of the machines, most likely in May.

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The Four Eras of Villainy

Alexander Macris provides a typically astute analysis of the evolution of the concept of the villain from ancient to postmodern:

In the introduction to his magisterial opus After Virtue, Alasdair Macintyre describes postmodern society as having fallen into a dark age, a post-apocalyptic state. But this is not the apocalypse of Mad Max. The apocalypse has destroyed, not our technology, but our morality: “We possess simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have… lost our comprehension of morality,” he explains. Postmodern society does not know what good is.

Being unable to understand good leaves society unable to understand evil; and so instead society pathologizes it. Evil becomes a psychological state that results from personal trauma, from some crucial moment when the world failed to show someone compassion, empathy, or trust, or left them exposed to the world’s cruelty. Every postmodern villain is a victim. Behind every figure of terror we find a terrorized figure.

Darth Vader appears as a towering tyrant in Star Wars IV. But the prequels reveal that Anakin Skywalker was a victim: enslaved as a child, separated from his mother, forbidden to marry the woman he loved, rejected in his aspirations by the Jedi council, dismembered by his former mentor, and then involuntarily made into a cyborg by his new one.

Hannibal Lechter appears in Silence of the Lambs as the quintessence of villainy, brilliant, cold, manipulative, remorseless. In the sequel Hannibal, we learn that he’s a victim: During World War II, the kind and gentle young Hannibal was forced to eat his sister by cannibal soldiers.

Lord Voldemort appears in Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone as the most powerful and evil sorcerer in the Wizarding World. But later we learn Tom Riddle was a victim, the product of abandonment by his mother. J.K. Rowling even says “everything would have changed if Merope [his mother] had survived and raised him herself and loved him.”

Kylo Ren enters Star Wars VII as a dark Jedi so powerful that he can halt a blaster bolt in mid-air. But Star Wars VIII reveals Ben Solo was a victim who felt abandoned by his father and betrayed by the paranoia of his mentor, Jake Skywalker.

The Joker, most infamous and vile of all of Batman’s foes, is revealed in his eponymous 2019 movie to have been a victim, too. Arthur Fleck is a mentally ill bastard rejected by his birth-father and humiliated by his coworkers.

Postmodern culture stops at nothing in its relentless transformation of villain into victim. Cruella de Vil is the most recent example. She appears in One Hundred and One Dalmations as a wealthy socialite whose life goal is to murder puppies so she can wear their skins. But the 2021 movie Cruella reveals that she, too, is a victim: Her birth-mother abandoned her and her adopted mother was killed by a pack of vicious dalmations. (I’m not making this up.)

The postmodern villain, then, is just a moral cripple. Psychological trauma has ruined the villain’s ethical system just as spinal trauma might ruin a person’s nervous system. We are meant to feel bad that they do bad. It’s not their fault.

I have to admit, I’m naturally prone to writing medieval villains, although I tend to put a modern spin on their self-perception. Anyhow, read the whole thing, it’s an interesting piece that will provide you with a useful analytical reading tool.

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An Interview with Alex Macris

The Dark Herald interviews game designer and Arktoons author Alexander Macris at the Arkhaven blog.

Yes, I’m pretending to be a reporter today.

Not. A. Journalist. A reporter, there’s a difference in my mind.

My introduction to Alexander Macris was rather typical for me. I was complaining about something. In this particular case, it was the Twitteratti canceling Tracy Hickman for promoting an upcoming revival of the Dragon Lance series. The Stans had decided that they were enraged that week over a tweet that jokingly threw some shade at Critical Role. Apparently, this tweet was attacking non-existent races, and for reasons that I am simply not stupid enough to understand, this is racist. In truth, I think the reason was one of economics. The demand for racism vastly outstrips the available supply these days.

I wrote an article about how ridiculous this all was. And also that I had absolutely no use at all for 5th Edition D&D.

It was shortly after this, that the Darklings introduced me to a new gaming system called Adventurer Conqueror King. And I took note of the game designer’s name Alexander Macris. That was my introduction to him.

He has had a widespread career in the genre, having been a publisher, a tabletop game designer, and now a comic book creator. His latest project is the graphic novel Ascendant, currently available as a webtoon at Arkhaven.com. Mister Macris recently set aside some time for an interview with me.

Dark Herald: Why did you create the role-playing game; Adventurer Conqueror King?

Alexander Macris: I’ve been a lifelong tabletop gamer and a tabletop game designer since undergraduate when I wrote Modern Spearhead. In 2008 I began to run a campaign using Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons as part of the “Old School Renaissance.” Unlike most D&D campaigns, my campaign advanced into the rulership of huge empires with mass battles with thousands of troops. Over the two years of the campaign I adapted and wrote a lot of new material to handle gameplay at that scale. As the campaign was winding down, my wife Amy became chronically ill with what we now know to be mitochondrial disease. As she became bedridden I found myself with a lot of time where I needed to be at home nearby while she was sleeping, thus engaging in some quiet activity. Amy suggested I should publish my gaming material. I had the good fortune of partnering with some talented friends who were also very excited about the idea, and we took advantage of the opportunity from the then-new platform Kickstarter to launch a crowdfunding campaign. The name Adventurer Conqueror King System was inspired by the old Conan paperbacks, “Conan the Adventurer,” “Conan the Conqueror,” etc. Our first Kickstarter was successful enough to fund a second and the business grew from there. Today ACKS is well-regarded as the best version of D20 fantasy for players interested in a “domain play” with robust rules for everything from mass combat to magical experimentation.

Dark Herald: When did you first see the problems that were setting in with the Big Two of DC and Marvel?

Alexander Macris: I don’t see the situation at DC and Marvel as a problem so much as an opportunity. DC and Marvel seem to have decided to pursue new audiences by embracing viewpoints that appeal to that audience. If their choice succeeds, they’ll prosper. If it doesn’t, they’ll endure the failure. Either way, their choice creates an opportunity for independent comic creators who want to offer storytelling in more classic modes. I couldn’t make money offering Star-Spangled Squadron if every comic buyer was satisfied with the latest offering of Justice League.

Read the whole thing there. And if you’re a comics reader, have a look at backing the crowdfunding campaign for the Arktoons comic ASCENDANT: STAR-SPANGLED SQUADRON.

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