I) There was, at one time, a great galactic EMPIRE which ruled a whole galaxy ind was sticking its fingers into a few others. They were everything a great Interstellar EMPIRE is expected to be: Intelligent, witty, sensitive, but powered by great ambition and over-confidence, and awfully stupid about a few very important things. As is not uncommon for such EMPIRES, they decided that their home planet w lot in the most convenient spot for the governing of all those stars and planets. TWo options existed. They could redesign the entire planet into a noble spacecraft, or mundane affairs of administration could be moved to a more accessible planet (accessible to both home planet and the rest of the local Galaxy). Nobody gave a shit about the first idea, so the second idea was realized by default. The rulers of this galactic EMPIRE moved to an uninhabited but hospitable young planet, grew a cheerful and hard-working humanoid labor-force, and made themselves to home. One problem prevented this move from being the ideal solution. Unbeknownst :0 the galactic government, this planet, and oddly enough (in connection with some great karmic debt), the exact site of the new capital city were the center )f unimaginable and undetectable cosmic forces (natural and otherwise). In other words, the political center of the galaxy was being driven bonzo. Normally, exotic temptation could be over-ridden by the strength of ties 'with the home planet (which, with the "conquest of space", paradoxically became stronger than anyone could ever have imagined, hoped, or desired). things developed, the colonists of this new government world did a bit more than rebel. During a relatively quiet period, they went over and hit the home plan 'lith everything they had until they were reasonably certain that their place origin was a few stray hydrogen atoms. Quite soon, the entire galaxy was in a rather nervous and unhappy state. rebellions came and went. Factions formed and dispersed. On the capitol planet, they'd soon all killed each other off. As a result of the planet's unique qualities and the nature of the violence, "PSYCHO:NUCLEAR" fields formed the planet was being haunted by some pretty weird ghosts. Eventually, the inter-colonial wars narrowed down to two camps. Uneasy peace was made between them. Both, however, felt more and more the negative Influence of the haunted planet. Both had placed their entire populations on spaceships under the care of one person. Both care-takers independently decided to drive their ships to the haunted planet and destroy it so they could be free they reach the planet at the same time and discover each other. They also discover that the cheerful and hard-working humanoid labor-force has turned in i thriving primary civilization and have developed complex associations of their own with the haunted area. (Remember to make notes on culture and games.) The two groups also discover that they're of the opposite sex. They form a meeting place between their spaceships and, in an encounter that resembles a 19 cent boxing match, out-takes from a cooking show, a game of scrabble, a kinky sex movie, and a cat-fight, make certain agreements. Both know already that to destroy the source of their separate problems the explosion must be based on another PSYCHO:NUCLEAR reaction. Both agree that t present condition of the humanoids is adequate for this. However, only one such explosion can be arranged and it will not be sufficient to obliterate the entire power center. This is important because over the years subtle physiological a psychospiritiual changes have caused a slight evolutionary drifting apart of two groups. Each group is now effected by different parts of the power center PSYCHO:NUCLEAR explosion can be arranged powerful enough and properly direct :0 free one group. It's tough luck for the other.
They agree to lay fundamental plans for the explosion together and separate .t a pre-ordained time with pre-ordained signals. They return to their own 'hips. The male leader wakes his female ~d the female leader wakes her male. 'y the traditions of marriage and espionage, they all must change sex before beginning. The female ~d her male become FROGMAN and ANDREA, ~d the male an ,is female become SANDY - BAXTER. «Note that the roles of Dominant and submissive switch between Facade and Reality». After years of preparation, LEODA throws a party, FROGMAN burps and the ra .s on. ,) LU'mER HOPJOHN -- Little is known, publicly, about this sad little outcast is supposed that he died horribly around the age of eleven sometime in the mid-sixties. It is known for a fact, however, that he was brilliant, had a strong sense of experimentation, was completely confused sexually, was a transvestite, and in nightly trance states wrote a series of books, including 'Rainy Day Wonderland, Postcards from Chaos, ~ ~ of Bedtime Stories, The International Encyclopedia of Drivel, and Bloodlust in Ratland. All but the have been published and have gone out of print. Bloodlust in Ratland consisted, at the time of Luther's disappearance/death .f about 400 pages of disconnected notes, for the most part incomprehensible vulgar except for a number of vicious and actionable 11 literary characters. Legal problems and general disinterest drove it into obscurity. Luther's earlier works consist of anecdotes of mysterious significance, 'far-fetched speculations in nearly every field imaginable, demonic poetry and magical incantations, all tied very loosely together. Unlike the last work, obese books are often disturbingly clear in style. their tone ranges from _. .Ho
DIRT CHEAP BACKGROUND NOTES -- 1975 -- PART TWO: Including Ratland and The Game
3) Originally there were two classes of colonists for this new ruling planet: Dominant and Submissive or Thinkers and Laborers. This was how they'd come to their new home and this was how they probably would've gone on, if the vast majority of the Dominant class hadn't gone mad. Although in the early stages this madness led to incidents of cruelty, the Thinker's restraint deteriorated so quickly that the Laborers escaped virtually unharmed. These survivors soon degenerated into semi-primitive tribal groups dotted about the general area of the Thinker's only city, the capital city, located on the West Coast of a large continent. A few groups became nomadic hunters, but with the exception of one tribe, they all died out. The one tribe that survived was driven far east until they came to a river. A vision came to one member of the tribe, the first in a long line of wise-men, a vision that the tribe would prosper as long as it kept close to the river. The vision also included practical instruction on how to build and use boats. The tribe followed the river to the ocean, and set up a community there. The community eventually became a large city, surrounded by farming and fishing communities, all of which possessed a high degree of civilization. Meanwhile, the city of the Thinkers came to an end in an immense explosion. As few descendants of the Laborers were foolish enough to spend time near that area, there were few, if any, casualties. The explosion had many witnesses, since it lasted for several days of worsening tumult. The sights and sounds which preceded and accompanied the explosion drove some insane and gave rise to many superstitions, making the city's ruins very taboo. The river city,. first called ONKA, later called DUN, had forgotten its relationship with the people of the West Coast, and took what little news it got with curiosity and incredulity. The leaders sent an expedition to the West. They reached the ruins of the city and sent back runners reporting of exotic riches. The expedition itself was wiped out by a Western tribe soon after leaving the city. As a result, ONKA learned the art of war quite quickly and wiped out many Western tribes and drove the rest into the hills. For a while, ONKA had a hard time figuring out what to do with its "exotic riches". Such things as communicators, recorders, entertainment consoles, calculators, computers, etc., had been found. Soon, people found that they were coordinated electronically to operate together, although no one knew quite what they were for, or quite how damaged all of this equipment was. For the moment, however, they found the incomprehensible gibberish they got out of all of this equipment quite entertaining and somewhat addictive. One careless individual had himself connected to just about everything he could use and was sitting quietly in an unused room. The room wasn't unused for long and he was asked to leave. He made the error to trying to gather his gear and carrying it into the next room without turning any of it off. He tripped and fell, got up quivering, went into a strange long dance, and fell exhausted, screaming wildly about spiritual ecstasy. Wise-men confirmed that he had reached instantaneous enlightenment. He died several days later, and for a while was «incorrectly» commemorated as the first person to play "THE GAME." Wise-men went to work on a device or group of devices with which to induce this state safely. Many were tried, but none quite did the job right. The complex of devices called "THE GAME" was introduced full-grown by a junior wise-man who claimed to have merely received it from two mysterious and furry-looking MESSENGERS. Everyone thought this sounded suspicious, so they killed the junior wise-man but kept THE GAME. The first G~ complex was built like this: the Control Box or Director was a large black box with 22 Dancer Switches, an interpreter capacity control set at 100 (With minor adjustments, however, interpreter capacity is theoretically infinite), with Dimension, Intensity, Sensation and Duration controls. Connected by wave patterns were the twenty-two «for 22 characters)} costumes through which participants performed. Surrounding the participation area were 25 interpretation discs (one-quarter of the First Director's unmodified capacity) on which the interpreters sat. The playing of THE GAME was essentially the same for many years. Wise-men (or experienced players), acting as judges, would prepare moldy slices of bread for inspection. Interpreting the mold configurations, the judges would decide which of the 22 characters would be portrayed, the Duration, the Dimensions, the Sensory Depth and Extent, and the Dramatic and Thematic Intensity of THE GAME. Players would put on the costumes of the selected characters. These costumes amplified many of the player's abilities and added a few more «must figure that out some day)}. Interpreters would sit naked on the interpretation discs. The disc surface and taped wires to temples, groin, and organs intensified sensory, perception and acuity greatly. Action would begin was costumed players began reacting to stimuli and interacting with each other. Interpreters would. perceive all of this with heightened senses and their streams of thought would be recorded on tape beneath the discs. From the time of the First GAME onward, the history of the river people would be influenced greatly by THE GAME. Then began the obsession which would remain with these people and characterize that general area: Now that the ruins of the MAD CITY were part of UUN, the people of ONKA wanted that city rebuilt. Interpretations and commentaries of THE GAME had hinted at the rebuilding for many years and these hints, coupled with The MAD CITY'S strange attraction could not be ignored. By this time, THE GAME had reached such a revered position that interpretations and commentaries covered and influenced every area of ONKA life. Oddly enough, this influence was not nearly as great in the area most intimately connected with THE GAME, the West Coast. Although the religious, educational, and recreational value of THE GAME was recognized, day-to-day problems of colonization and the interest in excavation competed for the attention of these people. It would, however, be a long time before the desire for rebuilding the MAD CITY could be fulfilled. Numerous problems began plaguing ONKA. Agricultural, economic and cultural trouble hit simultaneously. The long line of wise-men had ended in a clique of corrupt bird-brains. THE GAME was dominated by professionals who had organized into tight guilds and unions. Sensationalism and athletic exhibitionism dominated, and a number of GAMES were known to be rigged. To make matters worse, the truly talented, versatile and sensitive players began disappearing one by one. As occasionally happens in the history of a society, natural disasters and social upheaval struck simultaneously. In such a state of upheaval, plans for reconstruction of the MAD CITY were made and dropped with some regularity. Also, the MAD CITY was something of an unclear obsession and no one really knew what was being built or rebuilt. Each successive plan was based upon completely different conception of what the MAD CITY had been and/or should be. Eventually, leadership went to an aggressive, and intelligent young barnstormer. He knew how to handle money, agriculture, and people. Most of all, he knew what people wanted. He knew little about THE GAME, and nothing about the MAD CITY, but he did know what people wanted: an amusement park. He began by building an entertainment empire, based around a film studio that came to be known as THE RATWORKS. The main cinematic output of the RATWORKS embodied the WALLACE RAT cycle, a series of cartoons. They took place in the Kingdom of Animals, after the King had died (the King's death was never fully described but unkind allusions were often made). Quick changes in power were taking place in the Kingdom, accompanied by cruel purges. Religious conflicts also took place, ultimately narrowing down the battle between RHEINHOLD DUCK and MILFRID MOLE. Apart from the fact that both suffered from disoriented sexual identities and that both left a lot of corpses behind them, they were quite different in their approaches. MILFRID sought a return to traditional values: frequent and bloody tortures and human sacrifice. RHEINHOLD was more of modernist, blathering on about the search for redemption and committing indescribable debaucheries. WALLACE RAT was far more provincial in his views--he was a mercenary, working at different times for-both parties. The cartoon enjoyed less success than had been hoped for and more success than we, from our safe position, might expect. Actually, much of their popularity rested on the whole-hearted and (we can be sure) sincere endorsement of HAWLEY's patron, SLUGGO THE THIRD. SLUGGO THE THIRD may have thought twice when the WALLACE RAT exhibit was officially opened at RATLAND. The Robot Rat began uttering prophesies in a mock-religious tone. Not only were these prophesies far more dismal than SLUGGO's own recently announced ten-year plan, but they included references to the Ruler's recent past which contained a lot of delicate information, to say the least. We can be sure that the Ruler's anger turned to terror as soon as the RAT began performing "Signs and Wonders" for the gathered crowd. In fact, rather few of the gathered crowd actually survived the RAT's "Signs and Wonders". One of the few survivors was a boy named FREEDMAN, who believed that the RAT was speaking of him when he prophesied that he would soon return (always a good thing to prophecy) using one present as his physical vesseL
At the same general time, a group of people slowly appeared who, although they could never realize THE GAME back to its original notoriety and influence, did raise the seriousness of THE GAME and the quality of playing to previously unimagined levels. They were monk-like in behavior, wearing red robes and masks. In fact they seemed to be made from only two molds: male and female. The height, build, height, voice, and mannerisms were the same for each member of the group. Their only activity (in public at least) was the instructing, preparing and judging of GAMES, and maintenance of the machines. «They were never seen to play THE GAME themselves». They had nothing to do with anything else (much to the chagrin of political factions seeking to use them). The only exception took place during flood-relief operations. They came, made themselves useful, and left, without ever uttering a word. The most popular theory about their origin said that they were the players who had disappeared. (This for all practical purposes was universally accepted, since the finest players and interpreters continued to disappear. There came to be an unwritten rule that to avoid being elected into this group, one must playa deliberately poor game in the middle of a good streak. All who tried this, regardless of their ability, never disappeared. All died of GAME addiction soon after.) It was believed that their own individual identities were consumed by GAME addiction and were replaced by player/interpreter characteristics. (This was suggested by the incredible feats they performed at the floods. If, however, they were in a constant state of readiness for GAME-playing, why were they never seen playing? It has been suggested that their playing was too subtle, too awesome, or too strenuous for the public. It has also been suggested that their minds were always playing, that they translated everything into GAME patterns, reacted by playing and interpreting those patterns and translating that back into everyday words and actions.) When asked any questions about themselves, they would answer, "I simply manage THE GAMES." There were then known as the MANAGERS. The MANAGERS brought a number of major innovations which, although not directly affecting either the playing or interpreting, improved greatly the conditions under which THE GAME was played. The MANAGERS, while never appearing to be aware of the outside world, made use of UUN's advancing technology. They developed a new level of participation with a sophisticated communication and recording device which picked up both the interpreter's sensory inputs and interpretive outputs and transmitted them to receiving observers. A viewer could receive any number of interpreters or select the one or ones he wished to concentrate on (one at a time for beginners, eight being the usual maximum clearly comprehensible for the experienced). Receiving could be done either live or from recordings made by the device. This was valuable for both students and commentators (and apparently much less addictive). The MANAGERS also introduced more sophisticated and subtle measurement and analysis of the bread mould. . These analyses would cover wider areas of GAME organization. Through mould analysis, MANAGERS would not only make the decisions analysts had been making for years, but also selection of candidates for each particular position (competitions in large areas could be strong) and selection of the equipment to be used. It is logical that selection of participants would come under mould analysis eventually (previously it had been under union control), since the proper combinations of personalities would lead to more highly desired results. The MANAGERS also understood that GAME equipment, particularly costumes and interpretation discs, reacted strongly to each other and to the participants who used them, quite apart from the design and construction variations and similarities, and would develop strong individual characteristics. The MANAGERS knew how to bring the best out of both the player and the machine. Participants who accepted the authority of the MANAGERS also had to accept their regulations on playing frequency. This not only helped weed out bad players but served a a precaution from addiction for those not prepared to take the risks.
This was of little importance to the aggressive and imaginative young leader, or his plans for the amusement park. It is possible that MR. HAWLEY, the chief designer and engineer of the amusement park, had a particular dislike for THE GAME and worked hard on the park in an effort to displace, discourage, and discredit GAME-playing. . The fact that he, like just about everyone else, kept a fairly cordial relationship with Wise-men and GAME unions was because their pettiness and eccentricity allowed them to exist in his world-scheme. Everyone (in power) hated the MANAGERS, who were impossible to back-scratch, recruit, bribe, threaten, or anything else, due to their obliviousness to everything outside of THE GAME. Everyone also feared them for their indeterminable powers and the possibility that they would have supreme power if THE GAME reached its old level of influence. When MR. HAWLEY arose out of nowhere to become the founder and ruler of the great entertainment empire, he was known only as MR. HAWLEY. Soon, however, his underlings began assigning him pet first names. It became a sign of status to use the right name in the right crowd. The most popular pet names were Carroll, Joyce, Kafka, and Corso. After the Revolution, however, only two names survived: Conrad and Marlowe. The fact was that MR. HAWLEY hated his real name, Fletcher. Another feature of HAWLEY's life was that he had the largest collection of MAD CITY artifacts. He had successfully reconstructed much of the old communications equipment, so that those awful and bizarre images were completely omitted. He is also supposed to have been the one who found "The "Collected Works of Luther Hopjohn", although these were never made public until long after Hawley's death. His plans for an entertainment empire are believed to have been based upon his studies of MAD CITY culture. The park was finished in several years.
It was called, for reasons known only to HAWLEY (and no one saw any reason not to humor him) RATLAND. Everything went fine for about 20 years. UUN prospered, the population grew, colonies spread, HAWLEY's Entertainment Empire got on its feet, THE GAME lost enthusiasm, and the pesky MANAGERS were starting to dwindle. The 25th anniversary of RATLAND was rolling around. New exhibits were being built. A grand tour with HAWLEY and the once aggressive, imaginative and young, now complacent, conservative and old, leader (Sluggo the Third, by the "way), was being planned. It is inappropriate at this point, due to its complexity and "the "ideal" expediencies of background notes, to dwell on the events of the Anniversary celebration. This area will be covered in the detail notes after this section. The result was, however, that several hundred people were killed, HAWLEY was driven insane, Sluggo III was crippled and progressively went insane, and RATLAND was closed for good. When the SLUGGO REGIME fell with RATLAND, the government was taken over by a group of hard-nosed, suspicious and humorless middle-level executives (actually the highest level execs still living), who ran the government ruthlessly. A group of them saw that they had built themselves a terrible image and moved for a more removed position of power. After knocking off their opponents in a staged coup, they set up controlled elections and had a popular and easily managed GAMES hero elected PRESIDENT. "" The surviving members of the ruling clique set about ensuring their survival by establishing a fanatically dedicated security force, the DONGS, and a common enemy, BLACKFIST. The man in charge of the DONGS went a little crazy, turning them and himself into what we know them to be today. He knocked off all but one of his co-leaders, MELVIN WILDWOOD. WILDWOOD had been liaison man with the RATWORKS and the preceding REGIME. He had spent his life collecting useful items, particularly information about everybody he knew. WILDWOOD had placed in BLACKFIST's hands the details of both the DONGS grisly initiation rites and the PRESIDENT's engineered election; he had to work consistently to maintain a delicate balance between these three forces. This new REGIME was a grim-faced, stolid bunch. Due to the revolutionary fighting that leveled most of ONKA, they covered over most of the ruins, called it OLD CITY, and called their own capital NEW CITY. They blamed the MANAGERS for everything, including warts, and outlawed THE GAME completely, and destroyed as much of the equipment as they could find. Sluggo III disappeared, incidentally, with neither trace behind him nor friends to mourn him. The West Coast survived with little violence. But, some of HAWLY's more pragmatic underlings killed HAWLEY in his sleep, with as many of his relatives as they knew of, and destroyed RATLAND. Then, impersonating a Revolutionary Group, and calling themselves the ELEMENT KINGS, they handed the West Coast over to NEW CITY as liberated territory, keeping nothing for themselves but all real power. This group included: The AIR KING, who went through several different philosophies as a youth searching for the meaning of life. The revolution and the change of power left him embittered and cynical--unlike the others he had no shield against the loss of faith and the sudden changes. He was an outsider, making it harder to rationalize pre-revolution hi-jinks but easier to adjust to life after the revolution. The SEA KING joined the HAWLEY group to use his various talents. He was always sexually immature and clumsily got coworker LEODA DUNWOODIE pregnant. Since he was a zealous HAWLEYite and she got along poorly in the group she was thrown out. Since the revolution, he has remained the strongest follower of HAWLEY ("Make as many happy as you can at any cost."). The EARTH QUEBN wanted to be beautiful forever. She became a crackerjack executive administrator and in return they gave her a small fortune in cyborg - spare parts. The FIRE KING was a government spy-zoologist who was lured by a high salary to work for HAWLEY. He ducked out of the revolution and re-surfaced later, offering the ELEMENT KINGS his help and displaying his ability to go to bed with practically anything. They organized under the AIR KING and built and installed the PRESIDENT, and hired LOLA HELMET to act as daughter, and OSCAR to impersonate the PRESIDENT whenever a real human being was needed. "LOLA HELMET is the PRESIDENT'S "DAUGHTER". She is on the first meeting fat, jovial, efficient and headstrong. She is on the second meeting one who uses other people ruthlessly and rarely leaves a vulnerable spot untouched. She is on third meeting, in the degree of hostility she bears people, like one possessed. She is, needless to say, on fourth meeting very insecure. Her parents were executives in the HAWLEY organization. She was raised by standards of efficient management, and this cool up-bringing, coupled with the paradox of growing up near the man who makes so many people happy and living in a atmosphere of corporate and political corruption, left her rather jaded. Then, seeing all of this fall in the Revolution and having to survive the change in power made her fully embittered. FREEDMAN is the only person that LOLA tries to act honest towards. She used to beat him up a lot. This is because she loves him. Several years back they sort of had an affair. FREEDMAN did this only to talk her into locking up NORMAN. She complied and NORMAN disappeared. She felt that the only way to win FREEDMAN was to give him the world. This was easier than it looked since the PRESIDENT was a robot (occasionally replaced by an actor in disguise) and since she was hired as daughter to take care of human business and program the PRESIDENT, all she had to do was re-program him. This is why the ELEMENT KINGS became Revolutionaries--they (actually the last surviving HAWLEY executives) are the ones who built the PRESIDENT--not to rule the world but simply to lead unmolested lives. This is why LOLA tried to have BF and the EKS form an immobilizing alliance. For all her cunning and ruthlessness, the PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER is, at heart, quite romantic. She thinks of herself as a beautiful princess, her father as a wise but bewitched king, HAWLEY as the wicked wizard who cast the spell on her father, WILDWOOD as the evil prime-minister who now rules and holds the key to her father's spell and FREEDMAN as the vagabond prince who will free her father and the country from the sinister legacy of HAWLEY, conquer WILDWOOD and his hoards of demons (dongs), and in the final reel or chapter, marry her and succeed her father.
Just as things were settling down, there appeared one day, where a city block once was in the Depths of OLD CITY, an immense, plain, windowless building, with a plaque over its single door, reading, "THE GAME INSTITUTE". It's interior will be described elsewhere. NEW CITY officials were worried, and rather than confronting the MANAGERS, who had sprouted like weeds inside the Institute, they closed OLD CITY off more than ever (as of now it had already become a popular home for criminals, lunatics, misanthropes, and private people). . It is not known how long this government would have lasted. About 75 years later, the whole area was destroyed, and Civilization was returned to the level of a few groups of savages by what was later called a "PSYCHO:NUCLEAR" reaction. It was supposed to have been caused by complicated conflict between the Government, a ROBBERY GANG, and several subversive organizations, some of which consisted of agents from other planets. Hostilities left THE GAME INSTITUTE buried deeply in rubble, though it, and no one in it, were harmed. What follows is a partial listing of some of the major characters, many from the above mentioned ROBBERY GANG, and their feelings and attitudes about both THE GAME and RATLAND. Differing opinions exist concerning the relationship between RATLAND and THE GAME. In part, this is due to misunderstandings of the relationship between the exoteric and the esoteric. FREEDMAN, of course, doesn't like to talk about RATLAND, but he displays a strong layman's interest in THE GAME, fostered by his associates, HASHFORD and FILLMORE. While these two display no serious, dedicated interest in anything, evidence in conversation suggests that they have a lot of knowledge about a lot of subjects, including RATLAND and THE GAME, even though they have not been published in any of the respected journals. Regardless of what they themselves suggest, BAXTER and SANDY display little knowledge about anything except burglary and are, in fact, quite uncomfortable in contact with anything but the most shallow expression of either. ANDREA maintains some interest in matters of culture in general and FROGMAN maintains an interest in following ANDREA around. Of course, LEODA remains obsessed with RATLAND, but she sees THE GAME as an occasional minor distraction. WILDWOOD, however, sees potential in a merger of the two groups as part of his long-range social re-organization plan. BLACKFIST thinks of RATLAND as a diabolical scourge on the world with THE GAME as the only salvation. NORMAN, one of the "New Scholars" of the RATWORKS, thinks of RATLAND as a giant multi-level sick joke whose final punch-line he has yet to uncover. He finds THE GAME to be too much trouble to learn and says very little about it, but would probably surprise people if he broke his silence. We were unable, not surprisingly, to solicit TORNADO GIRL's opinion on this matter. The PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER thinks of both THE GAME and RATLAND as great obstacles to the welfare of society and her own plans. The PRESIDENT has had a lot of fun with both and cannot, try as he may, figure out why other people take the matter so seriously. The ELEMENT KINGS thinks of themselves as enlightened beings (in an almost Gnostic sense) who are the only remaining mortals who understand the true meaning of the RATWORKS as a whole and they see the re-founding of RATLAND as the first step in saving civilization. They think that THE GAME will fizzle out if the people have their minds on the right RAT-ideas. SALOME agrees with whoever pays the bills. OSCAR disagrees, of course, but the ELEMENT KINGS have exerted such a strong developmental influence that he is unable to argue the matter with them.
THE END