Jinx’s Vacation
Wine, Women & Blood
Her blood drops fall, one…two…
three, Jinx squeezing her finger as the
circular ripples dance along the wine’s
surface, her blood magically imbuing
the ruby liquid with a subversive
charm. Then she brings her punctured
finger to her lips, licking it, and her
self-inflicted cut vanishes as quickly
as though it were never there.
“Bring me Nybotha,” she says,
pushing the goblet across the table,
and then pouring another for herself.
Soon, the half-elf warrioress is
before her, her red hair gleaming in
the first rays of dawn. It is not their
first drink together, but Jinx hopes that
this will be the last that is required.
“Today is the day.” Jinx tells her. “A
toast,” she picks up her glass, “to
victory.”
“To victory,” Nybotha echoes,
taking the goblet closest to her, as is
now customary, and drinks. The
blood, entering her as it has before,
entwines about her spirit, releasing its
spores into her soul and feeding the
weed that Jinx has therein planted.
Long has Nybotha felt uneasy with
this sense of reality growing within
her, but incognizant of the trickery,
she has had no ideal place to attribute
her misgivings and so has simply
accepted the changes within her as a
requirement of the new knowledge she
has only recently obtained. This
knowledge is that the universe is much
larger than she once imagined, and
that beings of which she had only
dreamt are, in fact, both real and very
dangerous. Hence, the acquisition of
power is not merely a right but a duty,
for power, like riches, will flow
somewhere, and someone will obtain
it and use it to their own ends. ‘Why
not me?’ Nybotha now reasons, as is
the reasoning of all who seek it.
Then she remembers Uncle Cedric.
What would he think of all this? What
would he think of his beloved niece
having pledged her soul to a devil?
Jinx sees the sudden misgivings in
Nybotha’s eyes and thereby reads her
mind as simply as were it an unfurled
scroll.
“He wants you back,” Jinx says,
answering the thoughts in her
Jim Vassilakos
student’s mind, “and I don’t want any
quandary before the mission.”
“Quandary?” Nybotha asks.
“Doubts. If I tell you one thing, and
your uncle tells you another, I don’t
want there to be a split second of
hesitation.”
“I’m a soldier. I know how to take
orders.”
“Are you sure you know where your
loyalties lie?”
“…Minx and Kyna told me that you
are of their race, the devilkind, and I
have heard many stories of them.
However, what you’ve done for me
and my people does not fit well with
the tales.”
“Are you not half-elf?”
“You know that I am.”
“And the other half…?”
“I told you my father was human.”
“So was mine.”
“That explains much…, but what of
your mother?”
“She is... I don’t know if you would
understand the difference, but she is
half-demon and half-devil, and she is
immortal. She is the daughter of a
goddess.”
“What goddess is this?”
“A name that shall not be mentioned
here.”
“Why haven’t you told me any of
this before?”
“Would you have understood?
You’d never left your world. How
could you imagine another?”
Nybotha ponders this momentarily,
thinking of all she’s witnessed in the
undead kingdom that is the Necrology
of Dis.
“I don’t need to imagine anymore,”
she finally answers.
“Cruel, yes,” Jinx nods. “Stable,
yes.”
“Do you prefer it?”
“I need both. There are times that I
do get the urge to kill, gain power, be
protected.”1
“Is that what this is all about?
Gaining power?”
1
GM: “Oh, experience points.”
Jinx’s Player: “You have different levels
of blackbelt in our world. D&D is that type
of world. We know we have to kick ass to
improve.”
“No, this is about gaining a home
where I can relax and have friends. I
can understand the extreme of
Kakaljak or your uncle, and I can
understand the extreme of the drow,
but I can’t accept one or the other
extremes by themselves. If I can ally
the two to where I don’t have to be
deceptive as to who my friends are,
then that can be my home. The Hells
are one extreme that I sometimes
crave, and the work that I will do
there…I don’t have to worry about my
conscience since I’m dealing with
beings who are guilty.”
“Guilty of what? What did they do
to go there?”
“Some are born there; some have
always been there, but it’s definitely a
culture that I want to belong to.
Remember, we can be born guilty.”2
“And what about me? Am I guilty
too?”
“Of believing the half-drow were
guilty.”3
2
This, I feel, is fundamentally false, and it
was commonly employed as a source of
reasoning by those in favor of the notion
that people could be justifiably born
slaves. Hence, after all the speechifying at
the war council (see last issue), I am
surprised that Jinx should succumb to this
notion. Nonetheless, I did not have
Nybotha question it except insofar as
applying Jinx’s reasoning to her own state
of grace.
3
When Jinx first met Nybotha, Nybotha
was leading a war party on a hunting
expedition. They had ambushed Jinx’s
party as well as the half-drow who was
leading them through the forest, but the
battle had not gone quite as Nybotha
planned. I still have the rudiments of a
write-up in the form of PBeM
correspondence which took place after the
actual scene was played out. This is now
slightly over ten years old, and it might
make for an interesting A&E submission,
so I might try to put it together for next
month, just so that those who are interested
can see how Jinx and Nybotha first met,
although I’ll admit that I’m somewhat
hesitant, because it continues these sorts of
installments where Jinx is really much
more powerful than any other characters in
the scene, and so it doesn’t have the sort of
suspense that might be invoked by a more
traditional sort of scene where the hero
must survive by use of his wits. I suppose
we may get to those sorts of scenes
 “Those were different times, though
not so long ago. Is everything fixed
now? Has the truce held?”
“From what I hear,” Jinx slowly
shakes her head, “the alliance may be
fraying…some might even say
burning because of a few who want it
to burn. Night raids by unknown
parties have been occurring. I’ve sent
Malina, Sheetah and Ilix to douse this
flame.”
“Any clue as to who is behind it?”
“They look like elves in the night.
That’s all we know.”
“Have there been reprisals?”
“Nybotha, you think acres; I think of
a continent. I have already delegated
this assignment. It is no longer of my
concern. They’ll report back to me
when then need to. You need to look
beyond mere acres.”
Nybotha thinks on this for a
moment, reflecting upon how puny
her power seems compared to Jinx and
her many minions. In sparing, Malina
was as quick and skilled as she, and
yet she has witnessed her, Kyna, and
Minx all obeying Jinx’s orders without
hesitation. Even the library of the
Necrology, which, of course, she was
never able to see in full, stretched on
and on, seemingly endless. She thinks
of her uncle Cedric’s little study,
which he took a lifetime to build, and
it is not difficult to contemplate the
disparity in power and knowledge
between Hell and the little castle she’s
called home.
“I am trying,” she finally responds.
“Your city pays taxes to the same
prince that the other leaders do, a
prince who used to do quite a bit of
business with Lord Vargar. Dasartros
keeps your numbers low so you can’t
revolt while you pay your worst
enemy to be your champion. After we
return from your training, and I have
my next opportunity to spend time
here, we will convince Cedric and the
other leaders to stop paying these
taxes, force a confrontation, and then
destroy Rallu and its prince. That last
bit I haven’t shared completely with
the others, but I hinted at it.”
“What did they say?”
“They wish to see if I can back my
words.”
“What is it you need me to do?”
somewhat later, when we return to Hell
and, more particularly, when we return to
Malsheem.
“Regarding Cedric, be honest yet
vague. Let him know that the work
you will do, once you are trained to do
it, will benefit Foundation and its
surrounding communities in a variety
of ways.”
“You didn’t tell him where we
went?”
“Oh, no…where you train is
information that can’t be shared.”
Nybotha can’t help but smile,
imagining her uncle’s shock were he
to learn of her recent whereabouts.
“I’ve told him not to engage you in
conversation,” Jinx continues. “It
doesn’t mean he will respect that.”
“If he asks me questions, I shall tell
him my mind is preoccupied…that all
my thoughts are with my prince.”
“That is suitable.”
“I feel as though a change has come
over me. I am ready to learn more.”4
“Well, finding out who killed one’s
father can spark a curiosity, but know
this... I knew none of this before I
decided that you’d be the one given
the offer for this position.”
“When did you decide?”
“When I knew the drow needed a
female to respect as a negotiator.
Likewise, the elves would have
someone to represent them as well as
the humans. And your family has
history here and is trusted.”
“So more for what I am than who.”
“No…you also made the choice to
give it a try. That is not easy for
people to do.”
“Give it a try?”
“Peace,”5 Jinx clarifies. “And
instead of Cedric finding a way to talk
to you, you should talk to him, and
when he asks about me, don’t be
ambiguous about our relationship…
me being your master. He needs to
accept that so that he can accept
himself as the ruler of Foundation.”
“And if he should ask if I will ever
return?”
“Oh, you will return, but it could be
as long as a couple years, and when
you do, you will be the overseer.”
4
In retrospect, I find this line highly
suspect. Implicit to Jinx’s blood magic is
that the enchanted victim isn’t supposed to
consciously recognize that they are
changing. Nonetheless, I probably just
wanted to keep the conversation moving
and couldn’t think of anything else for
Nybotha to say.
5 asking about Jinx and from whence
Nybotha helped Jinx to forge the treaty
between the humans & half-drow.
“Meaning?”
“You will make the decisions for the
area unless they unanimously say
otherwise.”
“And this you have said to Cedric?”
“In roundabout ways, yes.”
“What of this would you have me
say to him?”
“I prefer the suggestions I give those
I work with to be broad, yet I want the
parameters to be clear enough but not
so clear that those I work with ever
question their freedom.”
“Freedom? You think I can forget of
what was said at Vargar’s lair before I
shorn off his head?”
“Make no mistake, I’m your master
until I feel you’ve come far enough,
and one of my responsibilities as your
master is to train you.”
“Train me for what?”
“Negotiating…being able to speak
on your feet. If you feel the need to
always be specific with those you
oversee, you may have to share things
with them that needn’t be shared.”
Nybotha regards Jinx for a moment,
unsure how to respond.
“Look at it this way,” Jinx
continues. “If the drow invited you to
dinner, and you saw some of them
eating a human leg, and you see a
marking on the leg, perhaps a tatoo
that was a symbol of the thieves’ guild
that was threatening your town…in
actuality, they would be doing your
town a favor. Yet is it really necessary
to share with Cedric what you had for
dinner with the drow?”
“He would not understand.”
“Take it further. If some of the
powers you gain are needed to take
down someone that is making
problems for the alliance, you might
want them not to know you have the
power to magically melt your victim
with acid even while you are swinging
your blade.”
Nybotha blinks momentarily,
wondering if Jinx is joking but also
knowing better than to ask. Then, very
quickly, she remembers her first
encounter with Jinx and the powers
that she witnessed, the black lightning
and the horse that could fly.
“What is to become of me?”
Nybotha finally asks, emotionless.
“Responsibility.”
Later, when they meet with the
others and Cedric approaches her,
she comes, Nybotha answers thus:
 “Like all of us, from a mother and a
father.”
Comments on A&E #402:
To those who responded to my essay
of #401, I see that my words have not
met with complete and resounding
approval.
Paul Cardwell asks, “Which Paul
pontificates about roleplaying?”
I apologize for where I was overly
vague. I suppose that all the Pauls
pontificate about roleplaying to some
degree, but I was referring specifically
to Paul Mason who can pontificate
like a pontiff…and then some.
Paul Cardwell adds, “I thought the
exchange of pontification was the
purpose of A&E.”
It would seem that we had thought
similarly. As you may recall, some
years ago, I began exploring modern
geopolitics as a way of furthering my
education in preparation for
developing a near-future RPG. This
entailed some rather long-winded
pontifications on my part as well as
many questions, but instead of being
allowed to discuss ad infinitum, the
outcome of these efforts was the
current two-page limit on politics.
How this squares with your notion that
the purpose of A&E is “the exchange
of pontification,” I’ll leave for you to
determine. Suffice it say that for
myself, the exchange of pontification
has been curtailed, but I understand
and even agree with the rule that has
been put in place. I just wish everyone
would live by it, allowing each to
write as they wish, so long as this two-
page rule is studiously observed.
Eugene Reynolds writes, “…it is…
my duty to make my points
persuasively enough that people will
freely respond, without malice.”
Poppycock & balderdash! (I always
wanted to say that, and you just gave
me the perfect excuse…hence, I thank
you). Let me attempt to tell you your
duty, as I understand it. Your duty,
quite simply, is to say the truth of
what you believe…period…full
stop…end of sentence. Putting this
another way, it is your duty to testify
to all of us the truth as you understand
it in whatever words come to mind,
and then to edit to the point you are
saying what you want to say in the
way you want to say it. Ty is doing
this. He’s writing as he desires,
because the effect he wants is partially
to offend. After all…what is the
written word without a little surprise
here and there? Some of us try to do it
with humor. He does it with outrage,
and his choice of words brings color
and drama to what would otherwise be
somebody else’s words, but not his
own. You may, if you wish, look upon
it as a performance by a professional,
for that is perhaps what it is.
Now, you might say that he is
foolish for writing in this way, and if
you did say that, you might even be
right, but there are pros and cons.
After all, Ann Coulter gets a lot more
attention that Charles Murray, and I
don’t think it’s just because she has
better legs, although she certainly
does. There’s a tradeoff, and Ty, being
as intelligent and capable as he is, has
no doubt weighed the pros and cons
and made his choice accordingly.
Regardless, if this is truly the voice
that resides within, then he is called
upon to share it with us—it is his duty
to do so—and then it becomes our
duty to try to understand him as best
we can…and correct him, if we think
he is in error. Humility, of course, is
helpful on all sides, but of paramount
importance, I think, is honesty and the
preservation of the freedom for people
to be honest with each other.
Patrick Riley writes, “There is a
point where you have to tell your
argumentative cousin or in-law that
he’s full of shit (or just dull) and to
shut up.”
If this were a party and we were all
speaking to one another vocally, I
would accept your point, but we are a
written body, and Ty has made it a
standard practice to segment his
politics to the last two pages of his
zine, which, I might add, is more than
anyone else has done in order to
facilitate those who would prefer to
skip it to just skip it. This, I think, has
given him the right to say what he will
of public figures, which is a long-
standing American tradition that I
would not hear of changing.
To more precisely address your
example, think of this as a house of
many rooms, each person able to go
into this room or that room to hear
what so-and-so is saying. Your cousin
or in-law who is “full or shit (or just
dull)” is there in one of those rooms,
and he’s chattering away about stuff
that just makes you absolutely livid.
Now, are you going to go tell him to
shut-up, or will you simply make it a
point of not entering the room that he
is occupying, chattering away for any
and all to pay attention…or none at
all, depending on who wishes to enter?
That is the sort of family that we are,
and the only incentive that you have to
shut him up is because you don’t want
his ideas anywhere near you. You
want him out of the house, even
though you don’t personally have to
listen to him if you don’t want to. Let
us just be clear on that, unless, of
course, I’m not clearly seeing things
from your point of view, in which
case, by all means, feel free to correct
me.
Marco Subias writes, “It is good that
you enjoy much of what others write,
even if their worldview is substantially
different than yours.”
The truth, I’m afraid, is that my
“worldview,” such as it is, is
something of a joke. It’s like a tattered
flag, being blown this way and then
that, always mutating in response to
new ideas or information…always
contradicting itself…a mixture of
perceptions that can never see eye-to-
eye. I think this is probably true of
everyone, to some degree, but after a
certain point, I think, most people
come to the conclusion that they know
enough to decide what’s what and that
they’ll probably believe forever what
they believe today. I am also guilty of
this to some extent, I suppose, because
I have clearly fixed my mind upon the
first amendment as being something
sacred, something that we need to
practice in our beloved A&E, even
though there are many who would
prefer to continue business as usual, as
has been the case over the past four-
hundred and some odd issues.
Granted, I’m not going to win; I
know that. How do you get monkeys
to stop being monkeys? It’s like
asking them to stop liking bananas.
Just ain’t gonna happen. But I can
attempt to raise their attention to my
way of thinking, and if they start
throwing feces, well…I guess I’ll just
have to duck.
And, of course, it’s not really fair of
me to draw this analogy to monkeys
hurling feces. It’s not fair at all,
because there are times, I agree, when
speech has the power to really poison
people’s minds, and I haven’t yet
figured out the answer. I don’t want to
go into specific examples, but suffice
it to say that the teaching of
intolerance, I think, has the potential
to be very dangerous. Hence, I’m not
an absolute purist when it comes to
freedom of speech, but I’m about as
far on the curve as you can get without
reaching that final point where
anything goes.
Nonetheless, Ty wrote only against a
political figure…not an entire class of
people. He observed the line as it is
tacitly drawn, the line we all know and
observe, and so as to the character and
content of his remarks, I can find no
fault with him other than that I, some
of the time, disagree. And so what?
I’ve been known to disagree with
myself more often than not, and so
disagreeing with another is certainly
no cause for alarm.
Steven Warble writes, “His continual
use of derogatory nicknames,
character slurs and absolutist
language raised the volume of those
opinions to a level where it seemed
that rational, intellectual rebuttal was
useless.”
First of all, let me just say up front
that of all the arguments that I have
read thus far on this topic, yours, I
think, are far and away the best. You
get right to the heart of what bothers
people about Ty, you cite examples to
back up your reasoning, and you make
your case in what appears to me to be
a reasonable and logical way. In short,
I commend you on all counts.
Nonetheless, I find that I must
respectfully disagree with your
conclusion.
The point isn’t about what Ty has
written. The point is that we must let
him. We can disagree; we can debate;
we can point out his errors if we so
desire, but when people resort to
arguments about his length, this is a
cop-out; when they publicly wish he
would depart our company, it is cruel
as well as closed-minded; and when
they complain about his tone, they
would do well to watch their own.
Fundamentally, freedom of speech
isn’t for the people who you like or
agree with; freedom of speech is for
everyone, no matter what they’re
saying and no matter how they choose
to say it, because in the contest of
ideas, a truth will ultimately emerge.
People will not all agree upon it, but
enough will do so that society will be
able to evolve, but this can only occur
when people are able to say what they
think, no matter how odious and
confounding this might be for people
who would rather they just shut-up.
Human societies have this awkward
tendency toward group-think, and it’s
constantly getting us into trouble.
Subcultures are no different. A novel
or a movie comes out, and suddenly
girls are putting on white make-up and
black lipstick, thinking they’re ultra-
fashionable, when what they really
need is for someone like Ty to come
along, slap them upside the skull and
tell them there’s no such thing as
vampires.
re Joshua’s comment to Louis, you
translate it as “please more gaming,
less politics,” which I would have
tolerated if he were to have said it as
you just did, and I would have even
concurred if he were to have said it
generally, to everyone, as opposed to
cherry-picking his targets. Why do I
say cherry-picking? Joshua himself
was talking politics the last time he
contributed (in #401). For someone
who actively criticizes others for
talking politics, one would think he
would make it a point not to do so
himself. Ah…but he was doing so in
reply to Spike, so I guess it must be
okay when Spike is talking politics.
You see the problem with this whole
discussion? In my opinion, Lee’s two-
page rule made sense, and that should
be the end of it, unless someone wants
to petition her to lower the limit to a
page or even half a page, which would
be perfectly fine with me. But
wherever it is set, that should be the
end of it. No more of this trying to
shut people up just because somebody
happens to disagree with them.
You know…they say that one man’s
garbage is another man’s gold. So it is
with political discourse. You read Ty,
and you think, “how rude,” and I read
him, and I think, “how beautiful.” It’s
really pointless for me to try to explain
it, because we just don’t see it the
same way, but when I read his politics,
I see a savage beauty, a place where
his ideas meet his emotions, and they
shoot out, violently incinerating all in
their beam. I enjoy it, and I really
think he’s found his calling.
In my way of thinking, every one of
us has this light inside us. Emerson
talks about it in Self-Reliance6. Ty’s
light happens to be a blow torch. I can
accept that. But just as I wouldn’t
want Louis Farrakhan ruling the
world, I still get a certain enjoyment
from listening to his speeches. His
ideas are extreme and his mode
bombastic; so what of it? He doesn’t
constitute a credible threat to our
society, and his ideas are not totally
baseless. His words can have the
effect of making us think, just as all
strong language has the tendency to
bounce within us, touching who we
are. That is why we read. That is why
we contribute to A&E…because it
gives us the opportunity to ponder
ideas with people like ourselves…
only, much of the time, a good deal
smarter (and Spike has commented to
me about this illusion, although I’ll
admit that I’m still suspicious that it’s
not an illusion but a genuine fact).
Your point is that Ty comes across
as arrogant. Trust me, he’s not the first
person to think himself certain of his
views. Most here are this way, even
those who are less obvious about it.
The only difference with Ty is that he
is so certain that he is willing to throw
it all out there, guts and all. And that,
to me, is what makes him all the more
interesting. There is certain to be a
great deal about which he and I will
never agree. So what? If we all agreed,
what a boring world it would be.
Nonetheless, I agree with you
insofar that it is important that even
among people who fervently disagree,
some sort of intellectual dialogue
should be possible. It, of course, may
be too much to expect that one might
actually change the mind of another,
but the possibility for change should
always be there. About a year ago, Ty
brought up something about global
warming in A&E, and in private
email, I expressed my concern to him
that it might well be real and very
serious. I had seen “Crude: The
Incredible Journey of Oil” on TV.7
I’d thought it worth watching
regardless of one’s opinion, since it
appeared to me to be so scientific, at
least from a layman’s perspective. So
we talked about it via email, and Ty
was forceful and absolutely certain of
6
www.youmeworks.com/selfreliance.html
7
http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/
his own opinion, but he was also kind
and polite, and although we had
different views at both the beginning
and the end of the conversation, he
was respectful. In fact, we should have
had this discussion in A&E, because
then we could have at least served as
an example of how to have such
conversations. But, of course, I’d
already sworn off politics, since I
knew that to even have such a
discussion would likely summon the
anger of those who feel that the two-
page limit is insufficient.
Thinking differently, even believing
the opposite about a very important
subject, is not grounds for war, nor is
it grounds to tell others to be quiet in
various ways, some polite and others
not. On the contrary, it is grounds for
discussion, because only when we
explore our differences do we come to
accept that own perspective is a
product of our personality and the
information that has influenced us,
and…at least what I think I have
realized, is that we are each living
with a form of myopia, as though we
were each in these little specimen jars.
Each of our perspectives are unique.
How can I explain this without
appearing too bizarre?
Forgive me if this is to end up being
one of my ridiculous tangents, but I’ve
long had this picture of us that I can’t
get out of my head. I imagine us each
as little dots on the surface of a sphere,
a huge sphere out in the middle of
nowhere. And the location of each of
these dots on the sphere represents the
sort personality that we have or
perhaps the sort of views that we hold.
In the beginning we think this matters,
but later, I hope, we will realize that it
doesn’t, because put them all together,
and that’s how the sphere is formed.
We are dots and we are also the
sphere, and just as history flows to
where we can only imagine, teaching
us lessons as we inevitably make
mistakes, almost like a child taking its
first steps, so too are we only capable
of making this journey so long that
each one of us is adequately respected
by the whole.
Why is Ty’s opinion important?
Because it is. He’s a dot on the sphere,
just like each of us. His opinion is as
valuable as our own. And even should
he turn out to be wrong and to change
his views, having written as he has
will no doubt be useful to him, as my
own writing was to me, because only
when we remember ourselves as we
were can we realize that we are always
growing and changing, and that this is
inevitable as well as desirable, and this
should also give us humility, because
we must always accept that none of us
can see the whole picture. None of us
is so wise.
As a family, which is what we are,
we have a duty to one another to be
welcoming and patient and kind and
truthful. That some may find Ty’s
political speech offensive is allowable,
but the right way to criticize it is to do
so constructively. I’ll conclude with
an example:
“Ty, I think we get the gist. You’re not
crazy about Obama. Great. Most
democrats weren’t crazy about GWB,
and some things that were said may
have been a little bit over-the-top, so
if you feel you must reply against the
new President in kind, that is certainly
your right, but know that by doing so,
you are reducing yourself to the level
of those democrats who attacked Bush
at every opportunity and with the most
forceful language available to them.
Just as there was then a right way and
a wrong way to criticize the Bush
administration, so too there is now a
right way and a wrong way to criticize
the Obama administration. You know
this, just as the Bush-haters knew it,
but if you choose the right way, you
will have upstaged them, and that
would be a fine thing for them to have
to eat…that they were out-classed by
a Republican.”