Nocturnal Lights

The Nocturnal Lights phenomena, also known by the acronym NL, have been an unexplained feature of the Toppenish/Wapato/White Swan area of Washington for an unknown time. These lights have flown all the way from the top of the Ahtanum Ridge, across the valley floor and into the night sky at extreme accelerated rates that no known aircraft could accomplish. 

Their was an intense study of these done on the reservation by a David W. Akers, which was submitted to J. Allen Hynek of Project Bluebook; a project undertaken by the United States Air Force that now has a show named after it on the History Channel.

The study done by Akers looked at first hand accounts of these occurrences. However, no matter how many times these balls of light have been seen, we still do not have a solid idea or theory of what they are.

Some scientists postulate that the lights are phenomena related to the geology of the region. Others may see these as UFO's. Yet other theories point to these being spirits. Whatever the theory is though, none have any ground on real experiential data.

GM-less Table Top RPG

So it occurred to me that the world of table top role playing games has a serious lack in the offering of modes of play. Mainly, you need a Game Master to play, which most often times no one wants to be because they want to play the game no run the damn thing.

GM'ing is not a fun role after all. You don't get to play a character but are tasked with building a world that your players can inhabit and do things in. D&D remedied this with their board games which are co-op, yet sadly for paper and pen games where the majority of the resources are self-made, there is no option. Don't get me wrong, board games are great and all, but your limited by what is given to you.

World building seems to be something that should come easy to most but it is a time consuming effort. Even as a writer coming up with new stories, and ideas are both taxing because of the amount of time, research, and effort put into those activities.

So here is the solution for gamer's that want to seriously play a table top rpg, yet none of them want to GM. Split the role up between you. Salvage old material from old board games. Get creative, and make things that don't make sense to anyone accept you and your group.  Use the dice as a decider, whereas cards are used in the D&D board games. Just have fun. And remember, it's just a game and you can err on a 20 sided die.

Keep your eyes peeled for those GM'less gaming rules that I will be writing shortly and game testing.

Possibilities of Bigfoot and other Dimensions

I am not really a fan of Bigfoot. Maybe it is because I was an anthropology major and spent the better part of my twenties studying primates. You know, langurs, siamangs, and macaques. Pan Paniscus and Pan Troglodytes mainly, or as we call them, chimps. Which also brings me to the part where I do not believe that Bigfoot is an undiscovered primate species. This seriously makes no sense since every gun toting republican seems to go out and annihilate anything walking within one hundred yards of any populated area.  

I lean more on the idea that Bigfoot is a extra-dimensional being. He phases in and out of our world somehow and for some reason,  we will never know. It is like the texture of reality, something we think we know, but cannot really see. 

We are still like the children of some ancient civilization, who were given some technology advanced by a million years,  who would never truly understand it. Those who say they have the answer-never truly do. But the fools sure rush to follow. 

Here is a rendition of extra-dimensional Bigfoot from "The Burning Satyr."

https://burningsatyr.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/trans-dimensional-bigfoot/

In George Knapp's book "Hunt for The Skinwalker," he talks about Skinwalker Ranch in Utah where an inter-dimensional being was witnessed by a team of scientists investigating phenomena on the ranch. They described the being as large and featureless-as it crawled out of a hole that opened up at the bottom of a ridge. Maybe these featureless beings use some technology that projects what we see as "Bigfoot." The sighting of this creature was in conjunction with numerous Bigfoot sightings. 

It is definitely food for thought. 

Cold Lonely Nights Of The Raven

Cold nights I read from your tome of ravens,

Lore lost to time that has not but forgot,

I hear moans of death and rapping of graves,

A rap and tap my chambers Iron wrought,

For now hear my dreaded loathsome beholder,

A bodice laid to waste in fallen ashes,

Fire cracks and flesh burns with a great smolder,

That great rapping and taping of old gnashes,

Down the hill taken to a man in black,

Lovely flames consumed the spark in you ‘

Into abyssal eyes of this jack ‘

Blue smeared shades through a red lit darkness hue,

Alas I awaken but cold in sweat,

Hid under my covers in queer fret ‘

-
C. Gunnyon

Murakami, Naming, and Other Bull

I have been reading a lot lately. Reading Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle); he really gets you to question the nature of reality-the substance of what everything is made out of. You may think this sounds crazy, but it pretty much coincides with the book The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene that I have also been reading. 

Both authors talk about the texture of reality, as if it were something that we could discern. Something we could pluck out of someones body and give a name. Murakami wonders what death really looks like. Is death squishy with a hard core. Brian Green may even ask the same question, what is the texture of death - the geometry of death. After all, the universe has its own texture, its own geometric shape that we cannot see (but many a fool thinks they can). We think we can see a lot of things, but names are deceiving (titles, last names, first names, nicknames...all deceiving). Once we name something we take away the truth of what that thing is. There is power in naming, yet there is also deceit is at the heart of its nature. 

The sage Lao Tzu wrote "no name can name no lasting name." People I have personally known have found Lao Tzu confusing and complete garbage. But like the texture of reality, its what name we give to it which empowers it. People are given a family name, they attribute power to it because of the pride in it, yet strip away the name-no power remains. Strip away titles and we see only skin, sinew and bones. Naming was the first act in all creation myths across the world. It helped to define the texture of our reality and our gods. 

If death did have a form and shape, maybe it would be small and squishy like Murakami wrote, yet maybe it would be like a flat sheet of paper with a sore in the middle of it. That is the beauty of words and naming. Anyone anywhere can experiment with this and find deep meaning and truth in it. See how its shapes the dynamic, the texture of our culture and society. It is as constant as the speed of light.

-

C. Gunnyon