Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Battle of Caelum

The Battle of Caelum

Greetings valued readers. Yesterday I mentioned that I was actually at the Battle of Caelum. Yes, it was me and Dorian, my now wife (then my crush) Ina, Rodin and a couple of city council members from Caelum that stood against the Salusian army. The largest gathering of soldiers in the entire history of Harappa.

The Salusian army was a grand sight for sure. The soldiers all dressed sharp in their blue and green uniforms. Banners and flags in blue and white billowed in the breeze. The generals in their feathered caps looked quite splendid.

I’ve read some historical accounts of the battle that claimed there were no shots fired. That is not true. The Salusians fired several shots at us but they did not know that we were standing behind a nearly invisible plexi shield that the Librarians had provided.

Rodin himself fired two rockets that flew over the Salusian army as a warning. The rockets got the attention of the Salusians and their top general immediately sued for a parlay.

It was during that parlay that the Earth starship Marcus Johnson made its appearance. Rodin persuaded the Salusians to abandon their mission at that point. That ended the Battle of Caelum.

One point I don’t think has ever been mentioned is that Rodin had a secret weapon he never had to use. Rodin and Ina the day before had buried a series of metal plates in the ground near where the Salusian army was to approach us. If they had not quit the fight when they did, if they had tried to prosecute their plan of attack Rodin would have pressed a button that would have activated those plates. They would have emitted waves that would have excited the metal in the Salusian guns, heating them up. In a moment they would have been to hot to hold. The Battle of Caelum would never have become a shooting match.

Next week we’ll get to Carmini’s time on Earth.

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: More on the Keepers of Harappa

What were the Keepers up to on Planet Harappa? 

Yesterday we discussed the fact that the Keepers disappeared from history in one moment, their entire compound destroyed in the Harvest Day Tsunami. Mary Carmini is the only influential Salusian to have survived. Certainly some of their craftspeople survived but their leadership vanished.

Before the Arrival, Salus was involved in a program to increase their influence in all planetary issues. Caelum the city of the Founder had not lost its preeminence and Salus wished to change that. There were rumors that Salus was purposely fouling the water system of Caelum.

Caelum had made diplomatic overtures requesting Salus quit their water program. Salus did not respond. At least not until they sent an army to Caelum. I was at the Battle of Caelum. History tells us that that was when we first saw the human spaceship as it used the upper atmosphere to slow down. Doing so left a large orange streak in the sky that all Harappans saw. Most Harappans did not know what they were seeing at the time. They did not know they were seeing the end of their world.

That is what history remembers from the Battle of Caelum but I know the whole story, the real story.

Tomorrow: the Battle of Caelum

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Keepers of Harappa

The Keepers of Harappa    

Greetings joyous readers. Yesterday we started discussing Mary Carmini’s involvement in the Harappa’s first contact with Earth. We know that she was one of the Keepers. 

Who were the keepers? Salus was originally founded by Marcus Johnson’s son Andrew Johnson when he left his father’s religion after the Founder named Donna Moreland as his successor over his son.

Andrew Johnson was not a dynamic leader. A council of the wealthy elite formed to guide Andrew in the initial building of the new city. When he passed the Keepers became the leadership of Salus. They expressed their authority through the Salusian Bishops who ran Andrew’s church.

History does not tell us just when the Keepers moved out of the city. Salusians always kept to themselves, the Keepers more so than their common citizens. Secret Society comes to mind when thinking of the Keepers. We know so little about them. They ran things for generations but completely disappeared on Harvest Day without even a whimper.

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Mary Carmini and the Tarsans

Mary Carmini and the Tarsans

Mary Carmini has been portrayed as a villain in most historical accounts of her time in the galaxy. Not much is known of her life before she became involved in the first diplomatic mission from Harappa to Earth.

What is known is that she came from Salus. It is not known if she was born there or in one of their satellite villages. She was one of the Keepers or wealthy elite.

The Keepers ruled Salus from the background much like the LC on Earth did. They lived in a compound near the coast, west of the city. Of course the compound was destroyed in the Harvest Day Tsunami.

Historians believe her husband was one of the more influential Keepers. It is suspected that he was responsible for Mary being on the diplomatic mission.

The other Salusian on that mission to Earth was known only as Rand. He seems to have been sent as a body guard for Mrs. Carmini and nothing more. He returned to Harappa on the first return and was not heard from again. It is assumed he died in the Harvest Day Tsunami but that is not confirmed.

Tomorrow we discuss the Keepers influence on Harappa

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Notes from the Author: A discussion of my "Process"

Notes from the author: A discussion of my process.

Where are we going? How are we going to get there?

As many writers as I’ve met I’ve seen that many ways to write. Some authors spend a great deal of time outlining their story. Others just wing it. I do a little of both.

When I sit down to the keyboard I know where I am going but not necessarily how I am going to get there. I begin by knowing the beginning and the ending of the story. I’m not always clear about some of the details of the journey until the fingers fly across the keys and reveal to me the story’s secrets.

I’m currently working on the final rewrite of Kusha, and I’m writing the first draft of The Mother of the Galaxy. I have a strong and vivid picture of the last scene in the last book. I eagerly anticipate writing the scene but wont let myself write jump ahead. When I get there I have to have traveled the road the characters have.

I’m not going to tell you what that scene is either. You’ll just have to wait till this summer. In the mean time I’m polishing up Kusha for a winter release.

Kusha is written. There are no new surprises here for me. I just have to clean up the typos (a big issue for me since my spelling is horrible) and make sure there are no time line problems or such. A few characters need a little more flesh on their bones and one or two spots need the drama cranked up a notch. This is an action story after all.

When I rewrite I simply read the story section by section looking for ways to better tell the story. I go back and forth with my life partner and muse,

She reads and shares her thoughts. I incorporate them (or not) and start over. 

As I’m working on the final book The Mother of the Galaxy I do so with the finale in mind but much of the road ahead a mystery. I know our heroin Max Gavaskar will be in jeopardy and that there will be a great political conflagration over planet Harappa. I have good things in store for Earth and my Estonian and Cascadian friends.

I already have the start of the book where she receives her own personal star ship which she will christen the Peter Higgs and the shuttle will be called the Dodje, names from the recent contest. (note to the winners: the books are in the mail, thanks for entering)

So . . . at this moment our little Max is beginning her latest journey across the Milky Way (or as the Fordians know it Galaxy One). Look for it this summer.

Next Friday I’ll offer up a defense of the Gavaskar Field theory over some new discoveries that some think might negate the rotating universe theory. (hint: don’t give up so fast!)

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo.

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The Harappan Curse

Dorian and the Harappan Curse

Greetings stalwart readers. When Dorian’s speaking tour ended after the Greenfield Blast he and Alex were given a place to stay and rest for a few days while the Friends considered their next step.

It is my understanding that this is when Dorian and Alex’s relation ship moved to the “next level”. Prior to this they had been too busy to get any deeper than the surface.

However, it turned out that this is when Alex contracted the Harappan Curse. 

The rest of the Harappan delegation, except for Mrs. Carmini, were already under the protection of the SID. They contacted Dorian through the Friends network and brought him and Alex in. Of course Alex survived the Curse and was nursed back to health.

The Harappan Curse was something we just learned to deal with on planet Harappa. Everyone got it at some point. Most people survived it but not all. The SID came up with an inoculation and began a major program to protect their staff and eventually all Earthers. The disease was wiped out on Earth.

After the Fordian scientists discovered the mechanics of the disease we now know much better how it works. I’m not a scientist but it has been explained to me by one (the Mother of the Galaxy herself) that people who have been afflicted with the Curse have a slightly stronger gravitational pull than those who have not been exposed to the illumaphane.

How this made an impact on Galactic History is that it was discovered, by Dorian Thain, (on his second visit to Earth) that people who had been inflicted with the Harappan Curse could safely make a space jump without suffering any of the harmful affects that humanities primitive illumadrive afforded.

Since the SID had prevented any of their people from contracting the disease it made it more difficult for them to travel space until they learned from the Lors how to craft vessels that made star travel safer.

Next week we’ll discuss Mary Carmini’s early days on Earth.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Dorian tours Earth's America

Dorian’s Tour of America

Greetings fellow readers. We’re going over Dorian Thain’s lecture series where he planted the seeds of demise for the Green Bible.

After the first few talks people knew who Dorian was and wanted to meet their first real alien from another world. The Harappans were segregated from the human population when they first got to Earth, so that when common Earthers had the chance to meet one they jumped at the opportunity. Wether they were really interested in his message or not.

Dorian would never admit it but his wife Alex has confirmed this for me. Dorian caused quite a stir among Earth’s population of people romantically interested in men. Young women and some men began showing up at his talks with more on their minds than intellectual intercourse.

Dorian has complained to me that there were times he had difficulty speaking because of girls in the front squealing for all they were worth.

Beyond the romantic attentions Dorian was also faced with overly fond homeowners. Hosts all wanted to befriend the alien among them. Dorian was showered with gifts everywhere he went. Of course he could not keep them. He had no place to put things, so they were given to the Friends. Someday I’ll share some of the odd things people tried to give Dorian.

At one stop Dorian was given the opportunity to enter a sweat lodge. Lodging is something we did in the White Mountains so Dorian was thrilled to participate. He initially thought it would be a great way to recharge and consider his actions on Earth.

It turned out to be something else, however. When Dorian stripped down to enter the lodge he exposed his tattoo for the first time on Earth. The Greenies had banned tattooing so his was the first skin ink people had seen in generations. If the young women of Earth were attracted to Dorian before, when they saw the exotic art on his chest and arm they went nuts. Dorian told me once that he was glad he’d met Alex before he’d exposed his tattoo. So many girls reacted to the look of the skin art, he said he felt better that Alex had fallen in love with him and not some image that was only part true.

For her part Alex once said to my wife Ina that she was at first repulsed by the tattoo but came to love Dorian anyway. Now I think Alex has her own small tattoo but I nor anyone I know has seen it.

Of course at this time Dorian only had the one eagle on his left shoulder. Later we’ll tell how he got the matching one on the right shoulder.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss how Dorian found out about the Harappan Curse.

Never Mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Dorian and the Friends Pt. Two

Dorian and the Friends: Pt Two

Greetings wild readers. Yesterday we told how Dorian was knocked out and abducted by Alex Hunter, his eventual wife and lover.

There must have been some attraction from the very beginning since the two immediately started working together despite how they met. Within days Dorian was meeting with supporters of the Friends telling them about his and the other Harappan’s disbelief that Marcus Johnson wrote the Green Bible.

Initially they gathered with people in private homes but soon the meetings grew too big for such venues. Dorian spoke to larger and larger crowds until the Greenfield Blast which ended Dorian’s lecture series and began the Earth Revolution.

Dorian’s talks were advertised through the tab network of the Friends. It was just a matter of a few days from Dorian’s first talk to Greenfield but the talks were shared repeatedly on the Friends tabs and almost everyone had heard Dorian’s views before the SID could take any action to stop dissemination of what they considered seditious information.

Tomorrow we’ll describe a couple of meetings and how Dorian’s tattoo became famous.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Dorian and the Friends Part One

Dorian and the Friends

Greetings intrepid readers. We’ve been discussing the first Harappan Diplomatic Mission to Earth. This week we’ll delve more deeply into some of the characters involved.

We now know that when the Harappans arrived on Earth they were detained by the LC who held them captive in a fake town called Johnson’s Corner.

We further know that some of the Harappans were eventually rescued from this captivity by the SID.

When the SID came to free the Harappans from the collapsing LC two of the Harappans were already gone.

The LC had been targeting Dorian Thain for conversion since he was the youngest member of the delegation and they felt the most pliable. Before they could make real their goal he was abducted by a group called the Friends.

It is claimed but not proven that the Friends evolved out of an ancient Earth cult. When the Greenies took over the Friends went underground like most other religious groups. What they did that others did not was to form a network using SID tablet computers. The SID and the LC so believed in their hegemony that they never considered the need for a security system for the tabs.

Alex Hunter was a member of an extreme group of Friends. She was tasked with bringing Dorian in. She did so with a tranquilizer dart.

We on Kusha now know Alex as the wife and great love of Dorian Thain. Apparently he does not hold a grudge for how they met.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss how Dorian became involved with the Friend’s plan to damage the control of the LC.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Notes from the author: The new blog schedule.

Notes from the Author: I hope you are enjoying Philip the Bard’s telling of Harappan history as much as I am sharing it with you. This is a story I have lived with for forty years.

Right now I’m working on Harappa’s future. That is I am working on the final draft of “Kusha” the next book in the line as well as writing the first draft of “The Mother of the Galaxy” the dramatic conclusion of this saga.

My hope is to have “Kusha” ready this winter and “The Mother of the Galaxy” out this spring or early summer. I have contracted the artist who did the cover for “The Gavaskar Field” to do a cover for “Kusha”. I’ve seen the rough draft and I’m looking forward to sharing the final with you soon.

What all this means is that I will be scaling back the blog (but only slightly). I’ve been posting six days a week, everyday but Sunday. My new schedule will be to post Philip the Bard Monday - Thursday and Friday I will have a post from my own observations.

I look forward to your comments.

Earth Year 2013

Never mix red wine with Oodo.

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Leaving Johnson's Corner

How the Harappans got out of Johnson’s Corner

Greetings noble readers. History tells us that the SID (Science and Industry Division) rescued some of the first Harappan delegation to Earth from captivity by the LC in Johnson’s Corner. We also know that two of the Harappans were freed from captivity before the SID became involved.

Dorian Thain was the first Harappan freed from LC custody. The Greenies felt that Dorian, being the youngest member of the delegation might be the most open to manipulation. He had been set up with a very pretty young woman. History knows her as Sandy Colt but we don’t know if that was her real name. It was later revealed that she was actually a double agent for the Knights of Tarsus, who also thought Dorian would be their best chance for a convert among the Harappans.

Sandy was trying to move Dorian in the direction of joining her movement when he was abducted by another underground movement who called themselves the Friends. It is suspected that the Friends grew out of an ancient pacifistic Earth cult but that cannot be proven.

When Dorian disappeared from Johnson’s Corner, Sandy Colt and the other Tarsans shifted their focus to Mary Carmini who turned out to be very open to the Tarsan overtures. Mrs. Carmini left with the Tarsans and became a leader in their movement until her untimely demise on planet Kusha many years later.

Next week we’ll discuss Dorian Thain and Mary Carmini’s involvement in their respective Earth Movements.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Who were the Scribes and Criers?

The Criers and Scribes

Greetings pretty readers. We’ve been discussing the LC or Leadership Council. They were the ruling body of the Greenies and controlled Earth government during the entire Pax Veridis. Their genius was not their governance but their style of governance. Once they took over they began the process of moving into the background. Eventually no one knew anyone who was in the LC.

The LC became a nameless faceless puppeteer of society. They stayed so until the Knights of Tarsus, under the leadership of Harappan Mary Carmini assaulted their private compound during the Earth Revolution.

So then, how did they exert their influence? Through their two arms the Crier’s Guild and the Scribes.

The Crier’s guild actually predated the LC. They formed during the “Decades of Disaster”. As infrastructure collapsed especially in western North America the Criers began as a response to a lack of news.

The Criers affected a strict moral code and where they had influence they were considered paragons of society. They were involved with the initial spread of the Green Religion. More established media outlets would not cover the fledgling religion but the Criers embraced the Greenies.

When the LC made their move for power they incorporated the Criers into their organization.

The Criers for many decades after that maintained the appearance of independence from the LC but records show that they were in the LC’s back pocket as soon as the LC had control.

The Scribes were established by the LC to be record keepers and as the LC stepped into the background they were moved forward to be the arms and legs of the government. Hubris is the marked nature of the Scribes. They came to represent themselves as the elite of society. They even tried to suppress information that showed the Criers were an older establishment.

Both groups crumbled and disappeared as soon as the Earth Revolution began. Seen as the faces of the hated Greenies members of both groups found themselves denying their involvement.

When the Tarsans launched their assault on eastern North America people who had been in the Criers and Scribes were singled out for persecution. Many were publicly hanged.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: The LC finally meets with the Harappans

The LC meets the Harappans

Greetings mellow readers. When Harappans first arrived on Earth they did so filled with excitement at the possibility of establishing formal relations between the two occupied human worlds.

The Earthers had a different view of this meeting. The LC took the stand that Harappa was an Earth possession since it was discovered and founded by subjects of the LC, humans from Earth.

They insisted that the Harappans were all subjects of the LC. The Harappans were told that they could either move to Earth or stay on Harappa, but only if they agreed to submit to LC control.

We now know that their intention was to take over governance of Harappa by force if needed. Fortunately history tells us they were never able to accomplish this.

Geoffrey Swain one of the Harappan Ambassadors was also a Johnson Scholar. He argued with the officials in Johnson’s Corner but made no headway.

It wasn’t until the LC started loosing their hegemony that the Harappan delegation was treated with any diplomatic respect. Eventually the SID removed them from Johnson’s Corner and engaged them in formal negotiations between the two worlds.

Little did we know then that the SID, originally our savior on Earth, would become such villains.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Johnson's Corner

Johnson’s Corner

Greetings beloved readers. We’ve been discussing the first delegation from Harappa to Earth. When they were released from quarantine they were taken to Johnson’s Corner.

None of the Harappans knew this until much later but Johnson’s Corner was a fake town. It was built specifically to confine the Harappans and keep them from mingling with the general population.

The Leadership Council or LC who ran the world at the time had some fears, justified, that the Harappans might have some seditious information about the Earth Messiah, Marcus Johnson.

The entire town was peopled by LC representatives. 

The Harappans, especially Mary Carmini chaffed at the restrictions placed on them. They were not contacted by the LC in any official capacity for days and whey they finally did get to meet an official from the Earth government they were simply told that they were under arrest and that Harappa belonged to the LC. More on this tomorrow.

Simple entertainments were provided in Johnson’s Corner not unlike what the rest of the world experienced but news was very strictly controlled by the Crier’s Guild (more on them in a later post).

The Harappans began to suspect that they were being held in a gilded gage but could do nothing without outside help. That came for Dorian Thain and Mary Carmini from two different directions.

Never mix red wine with Oodo.   

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 87

Earth Year 2479