Out of personal interest (and a doomed but urgent desire to alter the
course of future posts), I recently took a look back over the general
thrust of war- related comments since what I interpret as Ashtan's first
official declaration of it's current war against Shallam. Exhausting my
patience long before I ran out of time, I nevertheless see a certain
trend developing here. See if these five figures correlate with your own
impressions, taking into account that the posts in question were subject
to my own interpretation and are by no means represent a complete study:


Gold spent on:

* Public comparisons of genitalia: 26000 gs
* Miscellaneous attacks from afar that do not fit other categories:
13000 gs
* Declarations of the bad-assery of one's House, city or Order: 6000 gs
* Whining in the guise of a public service announcement: 10000 gs
* Declarations, both long and short, seeming to lack any kind of point
beyond making one's voice heard: 8000 gs


As mentioned, this is a limited study of the posts in the two years or
so immediately following the declaration of war, and only those posts
connected with this war in any obvious way. In this small cross-section,
I count 63000 sovereigns that could have been put to better use in
practically any other aspect of our blessed lives. Much of this gold was
spent on posts that could easily have been included in a free message to
a particular person; at an estimate, one third to half of the surveyed
posts were specifically addressed to an individual. Please note that
this study ended well before the price of news posting was raised to
five thousand sovereigns each.

On a sadder note, and included in the same admittedly-rough study:

Pleas for peace: 3000 gs

With so many stirring up contention with their fellow Achaeans, is it
any wonder that we send one another over and over to the arms of Maya
who, in Her infinite wisdom and patience, continues to return us to the
living despite our conflicting beliefs?

Please note also that several categories--most notably 'Coded requests
to be slaughtered in the name of fleeting publicity', 'Statements of the
obvious' and 'Obscure arguments' were covered by one of the categories
quoted above. 'Public confirmation that one is a complete idiot' was
eliminated altogether due to space considerations. The readers may,
naturally, file *this* post under whatever heading they please.

Thank you for taking the time to read this scrap of nothing.

Cheers,
Lee Windsong

Penned by my hand on the 9th of Valnuary, in the year 464 AF.