Taribo Tagötöka

**Rumors**

 Exerpt from the Villains of Infamy, by Patricia Reyes; Alleged Speach by Tavibo the Mad in the Former Protectorate of Garrison at Duck Valley.

My kin, l have come to a decision.

For the past three nights I have had difficulties sleeping, as you all well know. What I have not told you is that in each night I was visited in my sleep by the soul of a great man, urging me to take up arms and cast down Moloch.

On the first night I was visited by the Sage Milhous, a Presiemperor of Old America tragically cast down from the Eagle Throne in the East by the machinations of wicked men. He told me that such a fate as his would soon befall the Totally Righteous and Blessed Emperor in Sacramento, and unless I acted mankind's only chance of escaping Moloch's prison will become as dust. I told the Sage that all is well, and that the fair Governatus Susan Ann continues to defend the Bear Throne, but the Sage chastised me. He warned me once more to not be fooled by appearances, as he had been before his throne was taken from him.

On the second night I was visited by another specter, urging me to act. That night in my dreams I was taken high above the skies, carried aloft by the mighty arms of the Guru Sagan. He showed me the path to the stars, to the final ladder that leads to the Nirvana beyond Moloch's Prison, where all righteous souls wait. He showed me how the ladder was crumbling, slowly being torn apart by five cougars wearing blood-red crowns.

Great Sagan spoke not once in this dream, but his intent was clear. And yet I could not bring myself to raise my sword to war. Has our Empire not suffered enough already? Thousands have died in the madness of the General of Gaia, and I refused to have the blood of thousands more stain my hands.

On the third night I tried not to sleep, for fear of who shall come next. But sleep I did, and it was the third visitor who showed me the truth. The Lawgiver Himself, clad in his armor of white-scale and crowned with the wisdom of the ages, showed me a vision of the Imperial Palace in Sacramento. In this vision I saw the Palace overrun with oni, feasting on the bones of starving men and women and engaging in all manner of decadence and brutality. At the center of the savagery was a mountain of burning tomes, and atop the mountain was a bear, chained to five eyeless condors that hovered above it. Each time the bear attempted to move, the condors would swoop down to peck at the bear's eyes until it ceased its struggling.

The symbolism was clear. The Lawgiver, may he slay Moloch as he slew the Demon-Tyrant of Baja, commanded me to rally the loyal, the pure, the brave, and march to Sacramento to free his kin.

He told me that though I am not of his blood, in mastering his teachings I had become of the same soul as his. As one who had the soul of a Yudkow, it was my duty and destiny to cleanse the Palace of oni, smite the five beasts, bring Harmony to the land.

Thus, my kin, I make my declaration. We shall act. Spread the message far and wide. Muster the tribes, call forth the righteous. Like a great wave we shall fall upon Sacramento and wash away the unworthy. The Emperor must be saved, and if we must stain ourselves red then let it be so! The soul of a Sage is with you. Our righteousness cannot be denied!

(Patricia Reyes (2590-2650) was a scribe working with the Office of Translation, a minor governmental office in the Californian Bureaucracy tasked with translating foreign languages and collecting foreign literature to be added to the Library of Wisdom in Berkeley. During the Green Sash rebellion she fought to defend the scholar-city from the Gaian horde, and afterwards served as a translator when Kirk Gable sent a small force to the Pauite tribes of the Northern Protectorate, to ascertain the loyalties of the tribes. After the rebellion she continued to serve as a functionary in the Office of Translation, and spent many years transcribing accounts from various veterans of the Green Sash Rebellion on both sides. Her book the *Villains of Infamy* was popular among the soldiery and civilians, but controversial for the Aristocrats of California. For them, merely the fact that the book does not entirely cast the rebels as monstrous fools was tantamount to treason, and in Fresno the book continues to be banned from publication. In San Francisco however her books, particularly her biography of Goldin Moore, are extremely popular. An Elderly Reyes eventually died of cancer while travelling to Hearst Monastery, where she hoped to spend her days in retirement.)