1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Cools Media. 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,159 Speaker 2: Book Club book Club, book Club book Club. Hello and 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 2: welcome to the Cools one Media book Club, which is 4 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 2: going to be a rerun episode because, as you can 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 2: maybe tell by my voice, I'm too sick to record 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 2: an audio narration. 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 3: So that's why. 8 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 2: I'm going to run a rerun and I hope you 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 2: like it. We're going to rerun a story called the 10 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,639 Speaker 2: Free Orcs of Cascadia, and I think as things are 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 2: falling apart, it's important to remember all the people who 12 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 2: choose to live in the cracks of the system and 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 2: possible futures that that might bring, especially if those people 14 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 2: all have swords. Isn't that what matters? I think that's 15 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 2: what matters. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 2: we'll be back soon with my voice not being destroyed 17 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 2: by coughing. 18 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 4: It could happen here to welcome THEE Evans Robert podcast. 19 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 4: End of the World at the beginning of news. Yeah, 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 4: I think we did it right. 21 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: Evans Evans Robert. Who's here with us? 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 4: That would be kill Joy, Margaret and Lichterm and Sophie. 23 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 3: I like this. 24 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 4: M m's keep it. Lichtman Komma, Sophie, kill Joy Comma, Margaret, 25 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 4: Margaret Commas. Also, I could also attorneys general. You kill 26 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 4: Joy's Margaret. One of my hobbies is anytime I pluralize something, 27 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 4: attorneys generally it Margaret. How are you. How are you 28 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 4: doing on this beautiful December. 29 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 2: Day. 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 3: I'm good. I just got my booster shot and the 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 3: negative effects haven't kicked in yet. 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 4: That's good. How does it feel to have like, has 33 00:01:58,440 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 4: your internet sped up? 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 3: Now? I have a boost? Yeah. 35 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 4: I'm making the same fighting that everybody makes because it's 36 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 4: easier than thinking about the fact that Omicron looks like 37 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 4: it's going to be a real, real nightmare and the 38 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 4: world's never going to go back to you know, it's 39 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 4: not going back to normal. I miss it's it's being 40 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 4: able to walk into a bar and not worry that 41 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 4: I was going to catch a new variant of a plague. 42 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's a yeah. 43 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. How are you doing with the plague? 44 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,799 Speaker 3: I live completely alone and isolated, so yeah, well, which 45 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 3: I you know, I'm not sure this is how I 46 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 3: would have built my life if I hadn't done it 47 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 3: during a plague. Yeah, I mean I dream about interacting 48 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 3: with humans. 49 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 4: Yeah, just like a hugging a person that that you 50 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 4: don't know all that well, and it not being like 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 4: involving both of you risking your life. 52 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like a blood pact to Yeah, we're going 53 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 3: dug Yeah, and if. 54 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 4: We wind up in Hell, we'll scream at Satan together. 55 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 3: Come what may, you will hug. 56 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 4: You have written another story. I mean you wrote this 57 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 4: a while ago, as you did with the last one. 58 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 4: But we're doing We decided one of the things we 59 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 4: wanted to do to close this year out was a 60 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 4: little bit more fiction, because fiction, I think plays an 61 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 4: underappreciated role in revolutionary practice, in kind of every aspect 62 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 4: of being someone who envisions a different world. So we've 63 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 4: always i mean, it could happen here. From the beginning, 64 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 4: there was always a strong kind of focus on fiction. 65 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 4: And I'm really happy to be presenting another one of 66 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 4: your stories today. 67 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 3: Thanks. 68 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 4: You want to tell me introduce this piece? 69 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 3: Sure? This piece is called The Free Yorks of Cascadia. 70 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 3: It was first published in Fantasy and Sign Fiction, which 71 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 3: is the name of a magazine, and this one was 72 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 3: actually really important to me because Fantasy and Science Fiction 73 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 3: FNSF was one of the magazines that my dad had 74 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 3: a subscription. 75 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 4: To Yeah they go. This was a while. 76 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, this was a very and it was a very 77 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 3: important piece for me that it got published there. 78 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's awesome. Well let's uh, let's let's let's take 79 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 4: a take a hop in a publicly funded bus and 80 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 4: roll down to Storytown. 81 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 3: Speaking of taking one's life in one's hands. The story 82 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 3: is called The Free Orcs of Cascadia. You all know 83 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 3: the first part of the story. The song ended in blood. 84 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 3: It was two years ago in the summer. Rick Green, 85 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 3: the singer of Goblin Forest, crooned in his Osborne esque 86 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 3: voice to fifteen thousand Goblin Metal. A short man wearing 87 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 3: green body paint and brown leather stepped out from backstage, 88 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 3: drew a sword and cut the singer down from behind. 89 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 3: The last lyrics Greene ever sang were take me Back, 90 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 3: take me Back, take me Back to the Misty Mountains. 91 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 3: The man with the sword, of course, was Golfen Bull, 92 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 3: the rhythm guitarist for Crimpetool the opening act. He and 93 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,919 Speaker 3: his bandmates escaped in the ensuing chaos and remain at 94 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 3: large to this day. Neither band has released a song 95 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,559 Speaker 3: or played a show since the rest of Goblin Forrest 96 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 3: decided to call it quits. Without Green and Crimpetool, no 97 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 3: one knew what happened to Crimpetool. Fans deserted the genre 98 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 3: and droves, and overnight Goblin Metal went from stadium rock 99 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 3: fad to a niche interest of the obscure Canadian orc 100 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 3: cults were originated. It was no longer hip to be Green. 101 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 3: If golfen Ball had been trying to take the Goblin 102 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 3: Metal throne, as it were, he failed spectacularly. Rumors have 103 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 3: flown about motives and locations, but there have been no 104 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 3: arrests and no public statement from the band. All we've 105 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 3: had to work with were rumors until now. Earlier this month, 106 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 3: Orc Folk act Alcrith listed golf and Ball as the 107 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,239 Speaker 3: harpist in their liner notes of the single The Gray 108 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 3: Fog of a Ruined Forest. Alcareth was as obscure as 109 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 3: Crimpetool was infamous. The band had never done an interview, 110 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 3: not even a photoshoot. Like everyone else these days in 111 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 3: countercultural music, their videos featured only masked performers. I've been 112 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 3: casually obsessed with post civilization culture ever since the Communicate 113 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 3: from the Junkyard Rats of the Rust Belt, and I've 114 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 3: been covering music of pretty much every secessionist movement and 115 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 3: subculture I coud sink my teeth into. Since after I 116 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 3: saw those liner notes, I put out feelers to friends 117 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 3: and friends of friends, and I waited, and last week 118 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 3: I was invited to go to an orc village hidden 119 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,239 Speaker 3: away in the burned forests of Cascadia. I was invited 120 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 3: to be the first person to tell golf and Ball's story, 121 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 3: a Hellfire Harriet exclusive. Usually I post full interviews for everyone, 122 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 3: but reserve my travel diary for the patron to my blog. 123 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 3: This time, though, I'm foregoing that this story is too important, 124 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 3: so I've interspersed to the two below. All I knew 125 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 3: before I went was what everyone else knew. Three years ago. 126 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 3: A bunch of metal heads and hippies and burners and 127 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 3: nerds all decided to dress up like orcs and goblins, 128 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 3: and some of them took it too far and decided 129 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 3: to distance themselves from the rest of society. They got 130 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 3: really famous one summer, then that fame died in a 131 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 3: single bloody act, and who knows what kind of weird 132 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 3: ship they're up to. Now. Before you get worried, no, 133 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 3: I will never offer a platform to a fascist fascist. Fascism, 134 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 3: as it turns out, is the furthest thing from golf 135 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 3: and Ball's mind. What he's into is a lot weirder 136 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 3: than that. Still, it's sort of lucky that I survived 137 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 3: to write this story. So you killed a guy, Yeah, 138 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 3: I killed a guy. We stared in silence at one 139 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 3: another for a while. He wore rawhide and fur, and 140 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 3: not much of either. He wasn't painted up, but his 141 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 3: skin was sort of natural olive. His lower teeth were 142 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 3: filed down the fangs like any serious Orcs. There is 143 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 3: still something unassuming about him that I have a hard 144 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 3: time describing. 145 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, waiting for me to tell you about it, aren't you? 146 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 3: The interview was not off to a good start. Are 147 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 3: you worried about how your words will sound in court? 148 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 4: I killed Rick Green on stage with a sword in 149 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 4: front of thousands of witnesses. Talking to the media isn't 150 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 4: going to make anything worse for me at this point, 151 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 4: and I don't respect the authority of the US government 152 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 4: to hold me accountable for my actions. I will not 153 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 4: go to court. 154 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 3: So why'd you do it? 155 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 4: The old world is dying My world, the free Orcs 156 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 4: of Cascadia. We're not going to replace the old world, 157 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 4: but we will be part of its replacement. In order 158 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 4: to do that, we have to take ourselves seriously. An 159 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 4: element of that struggle is the struggle to create meaning, 160 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 4: to create a new sacred. I killed Rick Green because 161 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 4: he was defiling something meant to be sacred. How so 162 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 4: we share an esthetic, but he didn't understand what it 163 00:08:58,679 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 4: meant to be an orc. 164 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 3: You killed him because he was a poser. 165 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 4: I guess you could put it like that. 166 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 3: So the lesson here is, don't be a poser. 167 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 4: Don't be a poser. 168 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 3: You heard it here first. Kids, don't be a poser, 169 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,959 Speaker 3: or golf and ball will literally murder you. They picked 170 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 3: me up in the parking lot of grocery outlet in 171 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 3: northeast Portland. That's a mundane detail, I suppose, but perhaps 172 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 3: the single most remarkable thing about my trip was the 173 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 3: ever present contrast between mondanity and the bizarre. I bought 174 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 3: a case of coconut water while we waited, orcs might 175 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 3: like coconut water. Who doesn't like coconut water? They showed 176 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 3: up in a mid teens Honda Civic Sedan, and I'd 177 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 3: been hoping for something out of Mad Max. The two 178 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 3: women who got out, one cis one trans, both white, 179 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 3: were dressed in clean gray tank tops and leggings, like 180 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 3: half the women who live in Portland. To be honest, 181 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 3: I only noticed them in the parking lot at all 182 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 3: because the trans woman was cute. Hell Fire the sis 183 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 3: woman asked. She was tall and severe, with the fierce 184 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 3: but almost trustworthy look of a lone shark, or, as 185 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 3: it turned out, an Orcish enforcer. That's me, I said Fenric. 186 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 3: The this woman offered her name, but no handshake, fist 187 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 3: bump or hug. I nodded. Nor Inda, the trans woman said, 188 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 3: Like a lot of trans women these days, she didn't 189 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 3: bother to feminize her voice. Her name sounded familiar, but 190 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 3: I couldn't place it. How is this going to work? 191 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,199 Speaker 3: I asked. We're going to drive around back where no 192 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,439 Speaker 3: one can see us. Fenric said, We're going to take 193 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 3: your phone and laptop and any electronics and put them 194 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 3: in a faraday in the car. Then we're going to 195 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 3: put you in the trunk and drive out to the forest. 196 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 3: We'll provide you with a recorder and notebook when we arrive. 197 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 3: You'll get your stuff back when we leave. I nodded. 198 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 3: I'd pretty much expected this. Do you need to use 199 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 3: the bathroom? Nor Inda asked, have any medical conditions we 200 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 3: should know about? No, and no, I said, either of 201 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 3: you want a coconut water. Goblin Forest sang in English, 202 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 3: but Crimpetole's lyrics were all in Tolkien's Black Speech Dark Speech. 203 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 4: Our lyrics were in dark Speech. 204 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 3: Stokin referred to the language as black speech. 205 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 4: Tolkien meant well, but he was about the most influential 206 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,679 Speaker 4: unconsciously racist author of the twentieth century. All his villains 207 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 4: were either Green or Middle Eastern. When you engage with 208 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 4: the work of historical authors, especially when you make derivative 209 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 4: works a century later, you have to adapt to one's 210 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 4: own social context. Calling the language black speech today is 211 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 4: at best wildly misleading. Its name is a translation anyway, 212 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 4: It's possible that dark speech is just as accurate. Besides, 213 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 4: Tokien didn't write the language. He only wrote like sixteen 214 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 4: words or something. We wrote the rest. Most of us 215 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 4: prefer to translate the name of it as dark speech. 216 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 3: Since when are murderers pc? 217 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 4: My status is a person who has ended the life 218 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 4: of another person, carries no implications about my personal ethics 219 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 4: other than that I clearly believe there are circumstances under 220 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 4: which it's okay to kill someone. 221 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 3: Imagine being at the Renaissance Fair when the apocalypse hits 222 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 3: and you're stuck trying to reach creates society surrounded by 223 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 3: swords and minstrels and these and thows. You know how 224 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 3: that sounds like either heaven or hell, depending on who 225 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 3: you are and also who you're stuck there with. That 226 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 3: was my first impression of the village of Gray Morrow. 227 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 3: The fires out west have burned forest after forest and 228 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 3: small town after small town, and no one tries to 229 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 3: deny that pretty much every bio region on the planet 230 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 3: is going through transformation right now. It's in the worst spots, 231 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 3: these dead ecologies that the post civilization movement has found 232 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 3: its roots, like wild flowers growing up between paving stones 233 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 3: or rats hiding in the walls, I guess, depending on 234 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 3: who you ask. Gray Morrow sits in the scorched graveyard 235 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 3: of a Douglas Fir forest, halfway up a mountain, occupying 236 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 3: the remains of an evacuated town. Slab foundations are all 237 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 3: that remain of the original structures. A seasonal creek runs 238 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 3: through what was recently a river bed at the edge 239 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 3: of the village and long abandoned train tracks skirt the 240 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,839 Speaker 3: ridge above town. Even armed with all of that information, 241 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 3: you'd still have at least seventy or eighty possible spots 242 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 3: to search satellite imagery with help. Of course, I can't 243 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 3: imagine that the Big six techs or the US government 244 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 3: don't know where Gray Morrow is. The residence of gray 245 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 3: Morrow in general and Golfenboe in particular, had an awful 246 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 3: lot to lose by letting me write this report. Noorinda 247 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 3: let me out of the trunk, and she smiled when 248 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 3: she saw me. Her bottom teeth were filed. That should 249 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 3: have been unnerving, but I've always been a sucker for 250 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 3: face tattoos or anything that really shows someone as going 251 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 3: for broke. Fenrick just stared at me severe. Being severe 252 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 3: was pretty much her thing, as far as I could tell. 253 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 3: She took a sip from her coconut water. Three other 254 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 3: cars filled a makeshift parking lot. The village itself was 255 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 3: surrounded by a wall built from blackened logs, set upright 256 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 3: and buried in the ruins of the road. My escorts 257 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 3: had changed clothes en route. Fenrick looked like a bandit 258 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 3: out of Skyrim, complete with iron puldron on one shoulder 259 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 3: and a hand axe strapped to her belt. I won't lie, 260 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 3: it was a good look. I'm no fashion reporter, but 261 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 3: I figure half the magazines in New York would love 262 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 3: to get someone out here and take pictures of Orcs 263 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 3: like her. Noorinda wore a simple, modest dress of undyed wool. 264 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 3: Imagine a Viking kindergarten teacher who also wears a rather 265 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 3: large dagger horizontally on her belt at the small of 266 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:12,199 Speaker 3: her back. My crushing on her intensified. She handed me 267 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 3: a spiral notebook in an old fashioned digital recorder, and 268 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 3: we walked into the village. A lot of people say 269 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 3: that you killed Rick Green because you were jealous of 270 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 3: Goblin Forest's success. That the Orcish code insisted that if 271 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 3: you wanted the throne, you had to kill the reigning monarch. 272 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 3: Golf and Bull stopped fidgeting and stared directly at me, 273 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 3: his dark brown eyes boring into me. 274 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 4: That's bullshit. I'm sorry, it's like three layers deep of bullshit. 275 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 3: He was still staring at me. I was starting to 276 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 3: regret this line of questioning. 277 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 4: Okay, to start, there are pretty much two ways to 278 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 4: interpret the Orcish Code of Honor. It's not written down anywhere, 279 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 4: but there's some strong central themes, like an interdependence between 280 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 4: individual sovereignty and collective identity. We value strength. The idea 281 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 4: is that everyone develops their own strengths, whatever they may be, 282 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 4: for the benefit of all. One should be as self 283 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 4: reliant as one is able to be, both for one's 284 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 4: own sake and again for the community's sake. I care 285 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 4: deeply about this. That same basic idea, though, can be 286 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 4: interpreted two different ways. 287 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 3: So there's a split in the orc community. 288 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 4: Damn right, there's a split. The free Orcs are matriarchal 289 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 4: and the or Scene are patriarchal. 290 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 3: Golfin Will produced a cigarette from god knows where, considering 291 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 3: how little he was wearing, and lit it with a 292 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 3: lighter from the same mysterious origin. It wasn't tobacco, it 293 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 3: wasn't weed, maybe mugwart. 294 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 4: The matriarchal way of interpreting those tenets is roughly anarchist. 295 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 4: It's anti authoritarian, an anti nationalist. At the very least. 296 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 4: We respect the wisdom of elders, children and women, self 297 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 4: identifying women, but the hierarchy is anything but rigid, and 298 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 4: the guidelines are anything but laws. Most importantly, our sense 299 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 4: of community or tribe is fluid. Gray Morrow is a 300 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 4: free orc village. Go fifteen miles southeast and you'll find 301 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 4: a larger village lonely mountain there or scene. The patriarchal 302 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 4: way of interpreting Orkish tenants is roughly fascistic. Authority is absolute. 303 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 4: Rank within the hierarchy affects every aspect of one's own life. 304 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 4: It's not racialized, but it's nationalistic. There are very specific 305 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 4: considerations of who is and isn't a part of any 306 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 4: given social grouping, and definitions of strength tend to skew 307 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 4: toward boring shit like physical size and power. 308 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 3: So you tell any doubters that you weren't trying to 309 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 3: claim the Goblin throne because your faction of Orcs doesn't 310 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 3: work that way. 311 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 4: No Orkish culture works that way. Even those fascistic shits 312 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 4: don't work that way. Among the or scene. If you 313 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 4: kill your superior, people aren't going to just suddenly start 314 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 4: kissing your ass. They will literally flay you and turn 315 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 4: your skin into a battle flag. You advance in rank 316 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 4: by demonstrating your capacity to lead. This isn't some fucking 317 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 4: Hollywood bullshit. Evil is a lot more banal than that. 318 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 3: I didn't have the heart or maybe the courage to 319 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 3: tell him that. To me, to pretty much any outsider, 320 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 3: Hollywood bullshit is exactly what the whole place looked like. 321 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 3: When you say battle flag, what do you mean? Who 322 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 3: do they do? Battle with? 323 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 4: Us? The free orcs? Are you at war for the 324 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 4: very soul of our culture? 325 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 3: How'd that start? 326 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 4: When I cut down Rick Green the Mountain King? 327 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 3: You killed him because he was the leader of a 328 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 3: rival faction, then, not because he was a poser. 329 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 4: They weren't a rival faction until I killed him, But 330 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 4: sure he was a poser, though all fascists are posers. 331 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 3: Did you go on tour with Goblin Forrest specifically to 332 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 3: murder him? 333 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 4: Yeah? Probably? 334 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 3: What do you mean probably? That was a very specific 335 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 3: question about a very specific intention. 336 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 4: I mean, I guess I'd been thinking about killing him 337 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,440 Speaker 4: for a while. It was premeditated, and it wasn't you know. 338 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 3: No, I don't know, because I've never killed anyone. 339 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 4: So it's like, I've known Rick Green almost five years. 340 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 4: He and I and maybe thirty other people. We started 341 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 4: this whole thing. Goblin Metal of the Orcs all of that. 342 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,160 Speaker 4: Rick Green's always been a fucking bastard. I figured I'd 343 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 4: probably kill him one day for being kind of a 344 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 4: Nazi or whatever. Then we go on tour together and 345 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 4: I tell myself, hey, if this goes badly, I can 346 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 4: always just kill him on stage. You've got to understand, 347 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 4: Orcis culture wasn't even a year old at that point. 348 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:20,439 Speaker 4: We weren't split into the Free Orcs and the or 349 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,919 Speaker 4: Scene yet. There were only maybe five villages total. We 350 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,600 Speaker 4: were just starting to explore what it meant to be ourselves, 351 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 4: what kind of culture we could build. Then, while we 352 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 4: were on tour, I hear he's got himself crowned the 353 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 4: Mountain King. And this isn't a game. I don't know 354 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 4: how to get that through to you or your readers. 355 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 4: This is our life. It's one thing to put on 356 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 4: a silly hat and pretend to tell people what to 357 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 4: do in some larp somewhere. But Rick Green had gotten 358 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 4: himself coronated for real dictator over actual people. So I 359 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,160 Speaker 4: killed him. The Free Yorks split off the or Scene, 360 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 4: closed ranks, and we've been at war ever since. 361 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,440 Speaker 3: Am I safe here? He didn't answer me, at least 362 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 3: he didn't stare me down again. He just looked off 363 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 3: into the distance, maybe towards lonely mountain. I've been to 364 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 3: LARPs before, where when you show up, they make you 365 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 3: put on garb. That is to say, they make you 366 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 3: wear period appropriate clothes, or whatever weird interpretation of period 367 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 3: appropriate that particular group of LARPers had come up with. 368 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 3: As I met the denizens of the village, they all 369 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 3: came out to the parking lot to introduce themselves. I 370 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,640 Speaker 3: realized they didn't insist on anything like that because they 371 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 3: weren't LARPing. Pretty much, every one of them was dressed 372 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 3: like either a Viking re anactor or a fantasy game villain, 373 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 3: but it wasn't an act. About thirty adults and eight 374 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 3: kids lived there, running the age gamut from six months 375 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 3: to seventy eight years. They told me their names and pronouns. 376 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 3: About a third told me she, a third he in 377 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 3: the third day. Many of them were white or past 378 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 3: as such, but a significant minority were black. Neurinda told 379 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 3: me later their orc villages with substantially higher proportions of 380 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,679 Speaker 3: people of color. That might be true, but I got 381 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 3: the impression she said it to convince herself or me 382 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 3: that the free Orcs aren't a specifically white phenomenon. No One, 383 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 3: no one decent, likes looking around their community or seen 384 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:08,640 Speaker 3: and seeing only white faces smiling back. After everyone introduced themselves, 385 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 3: immediately forgot all their names. There are only so many 386 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 3: fantasy names like Lazari and de Molin that you can 387 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 3: hear before they all just sound the same. Narinda and 388 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 3: Fenrik flanked me as we walked through a gate in 389 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 3: the wall into the village. It's strange to say village 390 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 3: in America. We don't really have villages here, But in 391 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 3: some ways Gray Morrow isn't the United States. And to 392 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 3: be certain, it was a village, maybe ten or fifteen 393 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,199 Speaker 3: houses crowded together along either side of a single potholed street. 394 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 3: Two architectural styles reigned, junkyard shacks built out of railroad 395 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 3: cars and regular cars, and traditional American log cabins, many 396 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 3: of them were adorned with solar panels. At the end 397 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 3: of the street, near the black palisade, the beginnings of 398 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 3: a stone tower stood fifteen feet high. I wasn't sure 399 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 3: if I was impressed or not. On one hand, the 400 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 3: village couldn't have been around longer than three or four 401 00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 3: years and they had already done so much. On the 402 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 3: other hand, and it was filthy. Everyone was filthy. I'm 403 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 3: kind of obsessed with the post civilization movement, so I 404 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 3: wish I could tell you everyone looked well fed and happy. 405 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 3: They didn't. People looked proud, and they didn't look miserable. 406 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 3: But there was an intensity in everyone's eyes you simply 407 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 3: could not mistake for happiness. A trash pile needed tending 408 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 3: near the front gate, and some of the animal hides 409 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,760 Speaker 3: stretched for tanning had begun to rot. Everything looked like 410 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,480 Speaker 3: it was about to fall apart, both physically and metaphorically. 411 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 3: What now, I asked when we reached the central square, 412 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 3: a stone cobbled chunk of what had been once an intersection, 413 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 3: now decorated with poorly tended gardens and rustic benches of 414 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 3: dubious quality. You're here to interview Golfenbah, are you not, 415 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 3: Fnrick asked. I am. Golphen Bol doesn't live here. I 416 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 3: waited for her to elaborate. Golfenbol lives in the forest 417 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 3: with the rest of his band. He's on his way. 418 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 3: You'll meet him a bit outside of town. I'll take 419 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 3: you to him when he gets there. Someone near the 420 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 3: gate shouted and both of my escorts flinched bodily and 421 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 3: turned to look. It was just a kid chasing in 422 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,959 Speaker 3: another k with a wooden sword. Fenrik and Nerindo were 423 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 3: on edge. Something was about to happen. Tell me about 424 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:10,880 Speaker 3: your new band, Alcareth. What does the name mean? 425 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 4: Alcareth is the dark speech word for the phase of 426 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 4: the moon on the last night before the new moon, 427 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 4: the last sliver of light. Alcareth is a holy day, 428 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 4: a day of self reflection. Our band's music attempts to 429 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 4: capture that spirit of self reflection. On Alcaireth, we listened 430 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 4: to our naysayer and think about ourselves and our community 431 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 4: your naysayer. Free Orkish villages don't have leaders, We have naysayers. 432 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 4: Two years ago we tried rotating leadership. It was ineffectual. 433 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 4: We didn't need leaders. We stuck with it anyway because 434 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:46,399 Speaker 4: we felt like we had to, because those were the 435 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 4: rules we had come up with. Then one person said, basically, 436 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 4: this is bullshit. We don't need someone to tell us 437 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 4: what to do. We need someone to tell us what 438 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 4: to stop doing. We need someone to tell us what 439 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 4: we're doing wrong. Every new moon, every village picks a 440 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 4: new name naysayer. That person spends the month picking up 441 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 4: heart group structures, observing what's happening, being critical on alcareth. 442 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 4: We fast and listen to the naysayer. They don't offer 443 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 4: solutions necessarily, but instead bring our problems to light. Does 444 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 4: that work surprisingly well? Except about a third of the 445 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 4: naysayers end up leaving after their month. Some go to 446 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 4: other villages, Some go to live in the forest, like 447 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 4: Nearinda al Sareth's singer did, but most leave the woods. 448 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 4: As we put it, most go back to civilization. 449 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 3: That's why Nearinda's name is sounded familiar when she didn't. 450 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 3: She introduced herself. To be honest, I saw your name 451 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 3: listen in the liner notes and didn't pay much attention 452 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 3: to the rest. 453 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 4: That's an argument for me to take my name off 454 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 4: our next release. 455 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 3: If there is one, why did you put it there 456 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 3: in the first place, Why did you agree to this interview? 457 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 3: And what do you mean if there is one? 458 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 4: I told you we're at war. Yeah, we're losing that war. 459 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 3: He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. 460 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 3: He didn't strike me as a man who was afraid 461 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,440 Speaker 3: to cry, but he was clearly trying to keep his composure. 462 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 4: There's no way that Gray Morrow would have let you 463 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 4: talk to me here if any of us thought that 464 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,640 Speaker 4: Gray Morrow had a future. There's no way I would 465 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 4: have talked to you at all if I thought I 466 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 4: was going to be alive to see another Ulcereth. 467 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 3: Why are you losing? Why are you going to die? 468 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 4: It's not a question of military efficacy, or of bravery 469 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 4: or strength or any of that shit. It's just a 470 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 4: question of numbers. Orsine Society is a military society. Every 471 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 4: member fights. As far as we can tell, They've got 472 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 4: fifteen hundred warriors. We've got five hundred. 473 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 3: So use guerrilla tactics. Golfenbal shook his head. 474 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 4: Striking Rick Green down from behind was a cowardly action. 475 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 4: I can justify it almost by the fact that Green 476 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 4: had declared himself my monarch. But the Orsine warriors are 477 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 4: my peers. They would not stalk me in the night. 478 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 4: I will not stalk them. That sounds, I know how 479 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 4: it sounds. So this interview I want to be remembered. 480 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 4: I want the free Orcs of Cascadia to be remembered. 481 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:05,719 Speaker 4: I put my name on the liner note, so that 482 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 4: someone like you, an anti fascist music blogger, would talk 483 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 4: to me. I leveraged my own infamy to draw attention 484 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 4: to what we're doing, what we've done. 485 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 3: I fucking hate the tragic utopian trope? What like seriously, 486 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 3: like fuck you? Okay, I know I'm here as a journalist, 487 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 3: but I'm not going to write your fucking obituary. I 488 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 3: don't think I've ever turned on an interview subject like 489 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 3: that before. I get it. Hopeless causes are beautiful, But 490 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 3: as I understand it, the whole goddamn point of holding 491 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 3: on to your honor more firmly than your life is 492 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 3: because the world is a better place for everyone if 493 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 3: more people did that. Right, Okay, the world isn't a 494 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 3: goddamn better place if you let your subculture. And I'm sorry, 495 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 3: I know it's very serious and I'm not trying to 496 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 3: downplay it, but that's what this is, A musical subculture 497 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 3: be taken over by fucking Nazis, and I respect that 498 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 3: you're going to fight them for it. That's cool. But 499 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 3: if you consider buying some guns, maybe a few drones. 500 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 3: They'll come in here with spears, right, and you'll fight 501 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 3: them off with other spears. It's twenty twenty five. Man, 502 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,200 Speaker 3: there are fucking Nazis everywhere. If you don't give a 503 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 3: shit about going to jail or dying, then fucking shoot 504 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 3: the Nazis who are trying to kill you. 505 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 4: You don't understand, You're fucking right. 506 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,400 Speaker 3: I don't, if I'm being honest. Most of the time 507 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 3: I was waiting, I spent flirting with Narinda and avoiding 508 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 3: talking to Fenric. Miorinda asked me to keep our conversation 509 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 3: off the record. We didn't talk about Gray Morrow or 510 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 3: the orc thing much. Anyway. Everything I learned about the 511 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,400 Speaker 3: village and its culture I learned by observation only. An 512 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 3: elderly man came by and offered us cold tea and 513 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 3: wooden mugs steeped BlackBerry leaves, sweetened with juice from the berries. 514 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 3: He said, no caffeine, no other particularly strong medicinal effects. 515 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 3: The three of us took cups from his platter, and 516 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 3: he continued down the street passing out drinks. No one 517 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 3: else approached us. I watched people go about their lives, 518 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 3: though the tension in the air was thick. I saw 519 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 3: a few people look at cell phones and spent a 520 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 3: not inconsiderable amount of time trying to decide if that 521 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 3: was hypocritical and or bad opsec Eventually I gave up, 522 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 3: because frankly, it wasn't my business, and one of the 523 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 3: most interesting things about all the post civilization groups is 524 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 3: all the bits and pieces they choose to carry over 525 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 3: from mainstream culture. Finally, after an hour, Fenric stood up 526 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,160 Speaker 3: come with me. I followed her to the other side 527 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 3: of town and through a smaller gate. On the other side, 528 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 3: a box truck that had seen better days sat on 529 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 3: a road that had too. We skirted around the truck 530 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,880 Speaker 3: and up into the black forest. The scorched hills looked 531 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 3: more like meadows than forests, with green grass and undergrowth 532 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 3: broken only by black spikes of burned trees. We followed 533 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 3: the path this way and that, and soon I was lost. 534 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 3: Soon after fog set in, I was further through the 535 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 3: looking glass than I had realized. I imagined us lost 536 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 3: a mile from a town full of people who give 537 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,919 Speaker 3: a double meaning to the word stranger, and probably at 538 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 3: least an hour's drive from civilization. My guard hadn't shown 539 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 3: me much in the way of kindness, and I was 540 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 3: on my way to meet someone I knew to be 541 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 3: a murderer. It's the kindest shit I live for. If 542 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 3: I'm being honest, I love my stupid, fucking weird job 543 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,639 Speaker 3: and the stupid fucking weird world we live in. Thank you, 544 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 3: my readers, for making that possible for me. Be sure 545 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 3: to check out my Patreon page if this is the 546 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 3: first thing you've read by me. Lots of members only 547 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 3: content over there, including a few snippets of orc song 548 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 3: from Narinda. The only thing I saw in the distance 549 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 3: was a single black spire, thicker than the dead snags 550 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 3: around me. As we approached, it came into focus as 551 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 3: a boulder jutting up into the sky like an angry finger. 552 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 3: Sitting at the base of it was a short man 553 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,879 Speaker 3: with a sword across his lap. Golfenbol. I'll leave you 554 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 3: to to it, Fenric said. She left me alone with 555 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 3: an armed murderer. I sat down across from him, took 556 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:37,360 Speaker 3: out the notebook and recorder, and asked him questions. All right, 557 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 3: convince me. 558 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 4: We can't fight them dishonorably, because you can't protect an 559 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 4: idea by defiling that idea. We don't want them to 560 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 4: destroy our way of life, but we don't want to 561 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 4: destroy our way of life ourselves either. 562 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 3: The basic problem with the ore scene is that they're 563 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 3: interpreting your coat of honor to mean might makes right. Yeah. Yes, 564 00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 3: By facing them an open battle and nobly dying or 565 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 3: whatever for your goddamn plan is, you're just letting them 566 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 3: make might right. You're letting their superior numbers dictate what 567 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 3: your culture has to look like. It's like majority voting, 568 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 3: but even dummer because more people die. I expected them 569 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 3: to double down on his position. Most men would. 570 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 4: What do you suggest instead. 571 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 3: Fuck, I don't know. Don't be here when they attack, 572 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 3: Go somewhere else, stay on the move, build your strength. 573 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 3: Oh shit, that's what Rick Green was doing, wasn't it. 574 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 3: Huh Goblin Forrest singing in English, a stupid name like 575 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 3: Rick Green. All that shit was designed to make Goblin 576 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 3: metal more palatable to the masses, to get fans, to 577 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 3: get recruits for his stupid, fucking fascy goals. 578 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 4: Yep, do that. 579 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 3: I mean, don't become fascists or change your name or 580 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 3: make your music worse. Everyone knows Goblin forst and have 581 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 3: shit on krimpatool. Just don't be obscure for the sake 582 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,959 Speaker 3: of being obscure. Fucking advertise you have a decent thing 583 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 3: going here. People are abandoning mainstream society left and right. 584 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 3: No political pun intended. Make it easier for them to 585 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 3: get here. Make it so that when you fight the 586 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,600 Speaker 3: fashion your epics, swords and spears, Viking deathmatch, you win 587 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 3: better yet, make it so they don't even want to 588 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 3: fuck with you because they know they lose. 589 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 4: I don't know whether that would work. 590 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, but dying doesn't work either. 591 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 4: The Ark way of life isn't meant to be some revolution. 592 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 4: It's not meant to supplant the mainstream. It will never 593 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 4: appeal to the mainstream, not without losing its soul. Would 594 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 4: you live like this? Would you want to? 595 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 3: You're right, I'm obsessed with you weird subcultures, but I 596 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 3: wouldn't want to live like you. We both stared at 597 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 3: each other in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence. We're 598 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 3: both just thinking, okay, scrap that. You're never going to 599 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 3: get big numbers. You don't need big numbers. You don't 600 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 3: want big numbers. You don't need recruits, you need allies. 601 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 4: What would that look like? 602 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: God? 603 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 3: Damn all Orkish men not actually listen to women's ideas. 604 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,720 Speaker 3: I'm used to guys just talking over me or shutting 605 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 3: down completely. If I get mad. 606 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 4: Free Orkish men, I would hope know how to listen. 607 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,600 Speaker 3: Guns break the spell and the spell you're casting here 608 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 3: it's powerful, it's good. So no guns. Other people have guns, though, 609 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 3: Let those people stand guard or make their arm presence. 610 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 3: Note outside or scene camps, other people have access to, 611 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 3: say doxing, how many recruits are the or scene going 612 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 3: to get if every time some wanna be forest Nazi 613 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 3: dude joins, someone tells his mother what they're about, or 614 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 3: access to the media, How many recruits are going to 615 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,760 Speaker 3: join if everyone knows the orsine or posers putting out substandard, 616 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 3: watered down goblin metal just to try and lure in 617 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 3: impressiable military aged men to fight their holy war. 618 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 4: You'll write those stories. 619 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 3: I'm not going to write you any propaganda, but sure 620 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 3: I'll tell the truth. 621 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 4: How do we get allies? 622 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 3: But at another single, maybe a full length? The Gray 623 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:45,959 Speaker 3: Fog of a Ruined Forest was the best shit I've 624 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 3: hurt in years. You're redefining folk music just like you 625 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,520 Speaker 3: redefine metal. Put out shit like that and I'll cover it. 626 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 3: Talk to more press, maybe someone other than you. Not 627 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,800 Speaker 3: everyone's going to be sympathetic to what you did, even 628 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,360 Speaker 3: if that fucking guy was a fucking tree Nazi. A 629 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 3: hunting horn cut through the fog and through our conversation, 630 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 3: and my subject's face fell into despair for a half 631 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 3: second before determination took over. 632 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 4: What's that interviews over? I thought there would be more 633 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 4: time another day. At least, we have to get you 634 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 4: out of here. 635 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 3: Turns out Fenrick had taken us on a purposefully circuituitous 636 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 3: route into the woods. It wasn't a quarter of a 637 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 3: mile straight down hill before Golfenbolt and I reached the 638 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 3: box truck at the back entrance to Gray Morrow. Miorinda 639 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 3: and Fenrick stood there talking with a kid, maybe fifteen, 640 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 3: who was out of breath. She was dressed in scraps 641 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 3: of fur and leather and cloth, like you might imagine 642 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 3: a medieval beggar. It wasn't until I noticed all the 643 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,120 Speaker 3: twigs and sticks and moss tangled up in the fabrics 644 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 3: I recognized it as camouflage. I saw about thirty the scout, 645 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 3: for that's what she was said about. Fenerick asked exactly 646 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,959 Speaker 3: thirty ten with pikes, ten with tower shields and swords, 647 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 3: five archers, two scouts to command, one noncombatant. I'd guess 648 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 3: a surgeon, but I couldn't promise how far away I asked. 649 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 3: Fenric glared at me for interrupting. Five miles Nearinda said 650 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 3: probably three and a half by now downhill. We have 651 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 3: time to get you out with the children and the elders. 652 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 3: The scout had just run five miles up hill because 653 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 3: she was too stubborn to use a walky talkie or 654 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 3: a cell phone. We should evacuate every one. Gulfenbol said 655 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 3: what Fenrick asked. We've got walls and almost even numbers. 656 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 3: Fuck them, this is our home. I wanted to shout 657 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 3: at her. I wanted to shake her, to tell her 658 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 3: this wasn't a fucking game, that it wasn't the twelfth century, 659 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 3: and that killing people or dying over some squatted chunk 660 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 3: of nowhere was somewhere between stupid and reprehensible. I didn't, 661 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 3: though I'm a good journalist, this isn't the place for 662 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 3: us to debate this, Nernda said, and all four of 663 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 3: them walked through the gate and left me standing by 664 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 3: the truck. That was why the gardens were untended, and 665 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 3: the trash was piled up and the hides were left 666 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 3: to rot. They were expecting this. They'd lost their will 667 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 3: to pretend like their lives were going to continue to 668 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 3: progress forward. I'm not the first to suggest that nihilism 669 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 3: is the dominant affect of society today, with climate change 670 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 3: destroying communities and bioregions all over the map, with the 671 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 3: economic crisis deepening, in the wealth gap widening. I think 672 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 3: all of us are guilty of forgetting to tend our gardens. 673 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 3: All of us have a hard time figuring out why 674 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 3: it matters whether or not we deal with our trash. 675 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 3: All of us have proverbial or literal Nazis marching on us. 676 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 3: The Nazis the free Orcs of Cascadia are dealing with 677 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 3: are the literal variety. Some costplaying fascist was about to 678 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 3: stick a sword between Nearinda's ribs. Bill rose in my throat. 679 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 3: I don't know I believe in love at first sight 680 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 3: or any of that shit, but I just couldn't handle 681 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 3: the idea. I fucking hate honor. I will never be 682 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,319 Speaker 3: an orc. I got lost running through solutions to the 683 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,799 Speaker 3: problem of hypothetical arrows and swords that were going to 684 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,760 Speaker 3: interfere with Lorenda's continued existence. Most of those solutions involved 685 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:53,120 Speaker 3: assault rifles, which I didn't have access to. Cars though 686 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,319 Speaker 3: were available. What's thirty warriors of medieval armor versus one 687 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 3: station wagon driven by an angry woman with a lead 688 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 3: foot put the odds and my favor. I wasn't going 689 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,880 Speaker 3: to do it, though. Instead I waited to evacuate. I 690 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 3: don't think that speaks well of me. Individually and in groups, 691 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 3: people came out through the gate and loaded bags and 692 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 3: baskets onto the back of the truck Neriinda returned with 693 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,520 Speaker 3: a simple backpack sewn from rawhide. Most of her belongings 694 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 3: were probably wherever she and Golfenboul and the rest of 695 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 3: Alserth lived. She handed me my phone, I didn't have service. 696 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,280 Speaker 3: I wondered whether or not she and golfenbul were dating. 697 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 3: It wasn't relevant to the present moment exactly, but my 698 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 3: mind always as a way of thinking about bullshit to 699 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,480 Speaker 3: avoid thinking about impending doom. Another important effect of our 700 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,479 Speaker 3: generation distract ourselves with disaster with petty things like love 701 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:44,319 Speaker 3: and jealousy. I don't know what you said to Golfenbolnerinda said, 702 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 3: but whatever it was worked. He just convinced everyone to evacuate. Everyone, 703 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,920 Speaker 3: I asked, shocked, everyone except him and Fenrik and Gorn. 704 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 3: Which one's Gorn, the man who brought us tea? Do 705 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,840 Speaker 3: you remember him? He's old as shit, though, I said, 706 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 3: because I have no fucking manners or common sense ones, Yeah, 707 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,680 Speaker 3: he's old as shit. He's a linguist by training. His 708 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 3: main hobby is writing morbid poetry and dark speech, and 709 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,319 Speaker 3: when he can't figure out how to say something, he 710 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,799 Speaker 3: just makes up new words. He developed about a third 711 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,280 Speaker 3: of the language, did all that shit before orc culture 712 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,279 Speaker 3: was even around. He's also a widower three times over. 713 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,919 Speaker 3: He doesn't give a shit about dying. His last chat 714 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,439 Speaker 3: book was called soon I will return to the earth. Oh, 715 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 3: Gorn is going to die today. Golf and Bull and Fenric, 716 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:28,440 Speaker 3: they're going to hold the wall as long as they 717 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 3: can and then fall back to the woods. And you, 718 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 3: I asked, I'm driving us out of here to another village. 719 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,840 Speaker 3: Then I'll take you home after that. I don't know, girl, 720 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 3: I don't know. If I signed up for this, I 721 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 3: might leave the woods go back to being a vettech. 722 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 3: I just nodded. I was too biased to offer objective 723 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 3: life advice. Oh, and golf and Ball said, to give 724 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 3: you this. He said, it's in case he dies. He says, 725 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 3: you're right, you shouldn't have to write his obituary, so 726 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 3: he wrote his own. She handed me a piece of paper. 727 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 3: I piled into the back of the box truck with 728 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 3: forty other people, many of them in tears, many of 729 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 3: them in shock, and we drove away from Gray Morrow. 730 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,880 Speaker 3: None of the three Free Orcs survived the battle. Gorn 731 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,280 Speaker 3: died impaled on a spear while holding the gate. Fenric 732 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,040 Speaker 3: was killed by an arrow that struck her in the 733 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 3: back of the neck as she and Golfenbol ran. Golfenbol, 734 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 3: Fenric's lover turned and stood his ground over her body. 735 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 3: I didn't know any of that yet. I found out 736 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,080 Speaker 3: when Mirinda found out two days later. Maybe all three 737 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 3: of them would have survived if I hadn't interfered, and 738 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 3: they'd all fought with equal numbers, Maybe more of them 739 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 3: would have died. Maybe I can forgive myself, Maybe there's 740 00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,719 Speaker 3: nothing to forgive. In the back of the truck, by 741 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,839 Speaker 3: the light coming in through a crack in the steel wall, 742 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 3: I read Golfenbol's note. 743 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,200 Speaker 4: All my life, I didn't give a shit about anything. 744 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 4: I liked weed and metal in whatever counterculture trend was 745 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 4: big in a given year, but my heart wasn't in it. 746 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 4: I just went through the motions until I became an 747 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 4: orc saying I'm an orc and meaning it isn't like 748 00:37:57,520 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 4: a trans man saying he's a man in meaning it. 749 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 4: Gender is a social construct that goes back as far 750 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 4: as I understand, to the beginning of humanity. There has 751 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 4: always been gender, and there have always been people who 752 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,920 Speaker 4: transgress the roles assigned to them at birth. An orc 753 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 4: is a social construct that we just fucking made up. 754 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 4: I mean, I guess the orc is an archetype too, 755 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 4: but it's a fantasy archetype. We know what's make believe. 756 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:23,080 Speaker 4: Make believe is what gave my life meaning. I promise 757 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 4: you that for me. The day we decided we were 758 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,560 Speaker 4: orcs was the first day that the sun shone benevolence 759 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 4: upon the world. It was the first day that color 760 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,839 Speaker 4: radiated from everything I saw. It was the first day 761 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 4: that the rain on my roof tapped out codes of meaning. 762 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,320 Speaker 4: It was the first day of my life, my real life, 763 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,840 Speaker 4: my first ulcerat I fell in love with the world. 764 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 4: Everyone finds meaning in different ways. I found meaning by 765 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,400 Speaker 4: believing in some shit we made up and letting that 766 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:53,080 Speaker 4: be real. I was born Jason Sanchez. I died Gulfumble. 767 00:38:53,760 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 4: I'm not sorry. That was great. 768 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:07,120 Speaker 1: That was so fun. 769 00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,719 Speaker 4: I mean, not my narration, the story. The story, not 770 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 4: my narration. Mm hmm. 771 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:16,560 Speaker 1: The second way finished, we all just got that little 772 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: smirk on our face, like. 773 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:24,720 Speaker 4: That was delightful. Yeah, Margaret, you're the best. Oh yeah, 774 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 4: I mean, if I were going to be in orc 775 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,400 Speaker 4: there would be rifles but problems. 776 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is absolutely This is like a really good 777 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 3: example of what I mean that when I write utopian 778 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 3: fiction or like fiction about other societies. I'm not saying hey, 779 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 3: everyone go do this or like this is what people 780 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 3: should do. 781 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:46,839 Speaker 4: No, I mean I liked that. I like it. I 782 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 4: like that I've had that experience in other cultures, you know, 783 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,640 Speaker 4: places like slab city and different kind of encampments and 784 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,200 Speaker 4: whatnot that I've spent a lot of time and as 785 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 4: a journalist where it's like I'm fascinated by and I 786 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 4: respect aspects of this, but like I I also think 787 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 4: some of these things are that you're doing or dumb 788 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,360 Speaker 4: or I don't understand why you do it or this 789 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,879 Speaker 4: isn't like you know, but you don't. Your notes don't matter. 790 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:16,359 Speaker 4: You know, that's not your job, although actually having an 791 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 4: impact in that way is kind of Yeah, I don't know. 792 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 4: Somebody go, somebody go make an orc village. Yeah, yeah, 793 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 4: I'll go out there, I'll report on it. 794 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 3: We'll go. 795 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:27,560 Speaker 1: It'll be fun. 796 00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:30,360 Speaker 3: Don't take the band name all sorts, though I already 797 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 3: stole that. 798 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,239 Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a number of dope band names in here. 799 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,160 Speaker 3: All right, people should make orc folk. I'd be really 800 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 3: excited to. 801 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:49,240 Speaker 4: Hear make orc folk abandon civilization to live as fantasy creatures, 802 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,800 Speaker 4: fight fascists, all that good stuff. 803 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, Margaret, is there anything you'd like to plug? 804 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,279 Speaker 3: Well? I do you have a new book out or 805 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,920 Speaker 3: a reprint of an older book called A Country Ghosts 806 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 3: that is a more directly utopian book. It's out from Akpress, 807 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,919 Speaker 3: came out last month, and I think that's it. That's 808 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 3: the main thing. Oh, you can support me on Patreon, 809 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 3: although it's no longer supporting me on Patreon. It's supporting 810 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,240 Speaker 3: a publishing thing that I'm starting back up with people 811 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 3: called Strangers in the Tangled Wilderness, and it will publish 812 00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,879 Speaker 3: fiction and memoir and like the kind of like more 813 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,040 Speaker 3: culture side of radical politics and less the like theory 814 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:29,760 Speaker 3: and stuff. 815 00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:31,960 Speaker 1: What's the patreon. 816 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,879 Speaker 3: Patreon dot com slash Strangers in Entangled Wilderness? Because why 817 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,400 Speaker 3: would I pick short names for things? 818 00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:42,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, don't do that. Yeah, And we have a live 819 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: show coming. 820 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:46,360 Speaker 4: Up right, Robert, that doesn't sound like us. 821 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,760 Speaker 1: It's a virtual live show of for Behind the Bastards 822 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:55,440 Speaker 1: with our friend prop that's on Thursday, February seventeenth, allegedly 823 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:58,800 Speaker 1: momenthouse dot com slash Behind the Bastards. 824 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:00,799 Speaker 4: I can't confes more deny that. 825 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:05,320 Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, we've got you a lawyer on here before 826 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 3: you can. 827 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:06,800 Speaker 1: Sure. 828 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 4: Yeah, let's let's get Moira on the horn and. 829 00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: More come on the horn and tell us if we're 830 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: actually doing this thing show? 831 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 3: Yeah? 832 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 4: Are we also? 833 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:17,640 Speaker 3: Are we alive? 834 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,279 Speaker 2: That's another question? Oh? 835 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,479 Speaker 4: I text her that most days. All right, Well, thank 836 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 4: you Margaret, and thank you all for tuning in in 837 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,239 Speaker 4: the first year of the rest of the next year. 838 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:37,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, yo, it could happen here as a production of 839 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,760 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, 840 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,480 Speaker 1: visit our website cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us 841 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,319 Speaker 1: out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 842 00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,720 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts, you can find sources