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Free Fiction: A Newspaper Article From The World of Battle For the Wastelands. Also some books and films I've been perusing lately.
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Ministry of Land and Resources Offers Free Farms For Retired Guardsmen

Stenhus Posten
By Nils Berglund

The Obsidian Guard, in partnership with Sejera's own Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), has formally put out another call for retired guardsmen or guardsmen considering retirement to apply for lands in the Basin.

"Since the defeat of the Camrose Confederation eight years ago, hundreds of millions of acres in the eastern and southern Basin have been vacated due to the vagaries of warfare -- the death or flight of the original occupants, failure of irrigation systems, or other causes," said Erica Wivell, a spokeswoman for the Obsidian Guard. "Hundreds of millions of acres of land that, if put to good use, can support a family or many families, but at present are lying fallow, serving as haunts for bandits, or simply not being put to efficient use."

Wivell went on to say that Grendel, Lord of Sejera and First Lord of the Northlands, believes very firmly that those who have helped win this land should be the ones to benefit from it. Consequently, members of the Obsidian Guard eligible for retirement or who have already retired may apply for a land grant. Experts from the MLR will interview them and any families they intend to bring with them to determine their eligibility for a land grant and, if so, what type of grant they might receive.

"Generally speaking, a veteran colony dedicated to farming should be self-sufficient in terms of labor, both in quantity and in skill," she continued. "A veteran with a wife and children skilled in agricultural pursuits would be able to put a large amount of prime farmland to good use, while a single man without agricultural skills might be better-suited for a personal home and a different occupation."

She added that local labor, though often available, is best not relied upon, especially in sensitive matters.
 
And this boon isn't solely for those who've faithfully served their twenty years. If a guardsman has received a medical discharge due to injury or illness, doctors and agronomy experts will judge their fitness for particular jobs and if their kindred can take up any slack. Wivell cited the examples of Sergeant Chao Wang, given a medical discharge for epilepsy after ten years' service, who now owns a prosperous farm in a veteran's colony near the interior entrance of the Pass, or Private Abbas Naifeh, who lost a leg at the Battle of the Iron Horse and ironically now shoes horses at the veteran settlement of Klókskapr near the borders of the new Firebird Host in the northeast.

But any interested veteran would be advised to act quickly. Wivell emphasized that available lands between Sejera and the Pass are filling up quickly and requirements for skills and capital to claim the remaining land are rather strict. Further east, in the regions of the Basin across the mountains from the lands formerly ruled by House Merrill and now under the control of our loyal allies from the Flesh-Eating Legion, the requirements are less strict. The Obsidian Guard and the MLR will even provide capital and tools for deserving applicants. Although the risks are greater, the rewards will be greater still.



So how did this policy implemented by Grendel, Lord of Sejera and First Lord of the Northlands, work out? The answers can be found in Battle for the Wastelands and "Son of Grendel."
 

My Latest Books and Movies

Here're some books I've been reading and films I've been watching lately, if you're looking for something interesting...

Outlaw King-This is a Netflix movie featuring Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce, carrying on the fight for Scottish independence after the death of William Wallace. It's a broadly well-done and entertaining film and it's more historically accurate than Braveheart. The ending is unfortunately, in TVTropes terms, a bit of a Wall-Banger, but that doesn't spoil the film. Great for making my elliptical runs go faster.

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story-This is Abraham Verghese's account of how he became a doctor in small-town Tennessee and dealt with the arrival of HIV in the mid-1980s. It's interesting on multiple levels--not only is it a history of the early days of AIDS in the vein of And The Band Played On, but also about life in Appalachia, how the American medical system in this period functioned generally, and the Indian immigrant experience. And it's so well-written that the people's accents come through when I read it.

The Power of Greyskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe-This is basically a Netflix cultural history of He-Man. I haven't finished it yet, but it gets into the nuts and bolts about how He-Man was created and it's an interesting look at the 1980s toy and comics industry.

Shiloh: A Novel-This was Civil War historian Shelby Foote's historical novel about the Battle of Shiloh. There's a whole lot of useful information here and it's a quick read.

King Kong-This is the 2005 film adaptation by Peter Jackson. It's generally well-made and the acting is great--Naomi Watts' Anne Darrow is absolutely Adorkable, Jack Black's Carl Denham is charismatic and we see his love for film as a medium even though his idiocy gets a bunch of people killed, and Adrien Brody's screenwriter Jack Driscoll convincingly becomes an action hero. However, it's too self-indulgent, as you can tell by the three-hour runtime. The Myopia Movies episode on it is slated to come out March 18, so mark your calendars.

Space Cowboys-This movie was pretty obviously made to cash in on astronaut John Glenn's return to space as an old man. It's got a lot of humor to it, but the film takes a major turn about 2/3 of the way through when it becomes The Hunt For The Red October in space. The Myopia episode is slated for January 28.
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