Once a Dream Did Weave a Shade...
15 Jul 2021Tharik Otoli
The Adventures of Prince Tharik Otoli: Space PirateFollow this link for the full anthology!
QUEENS
NYC
EARTH
SOL
SOMETIME IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY...
In ancient times, before the Empire and the Federation - when the Hegemony of Hollywood ruled the Earth and when bandits like Jack Sparrow and Abduwali Muse sailed the oceans of the planet - on a fairly busy avenue, in a relatively well-to-do neighborhood, in a outlying district of one of the planet's most well-known and richest cities, there was a somewhat unremarkable little suburban house, with a wide driveway, and a comparatively large backyard paved with red bricks. In this house, with his wife and three boys, lived a man by the name of Tharik Otoli.
Late one evening, Tharik shot upright in his bed, and screamed.
His wife, Electra, quickly woke, "another nightmare? Iraq again?"
Tharik wiped the sweat pouring from his brow, "No baby, I mean, it was combat... kinda. You know that video game I like?"
Electra rolled her eyes, "Your dorky space game?"
Tharik smiled, "Yah, that's the one, Elite Dangerous." Tharik paused to lean in and kiss Electra on the forehead, "I dreamt I was my character in the game- this comically haughty space-pirate turned politician. I was giving a speech in front of my subjects on my space station and an assassin shot me in the chest!" Tharik was still breathing heavily, the dream did seem very real.
Electra, "Ugh... you pay too much attention to that game and your clan! I thought you got bored and stopped playing?"
Tharik nodded, "I did for the most part, but I am still involved. They often come to me to make some major decisions and I end up getting involved in modding the discord. There's a lot of drama you know?"
Electra sighed deeply, "I know, you've told me. How can people get so upset and excited about a video game? Isn't it supposed to be for fun?"
Tharik shook his head, "Well yah, but you know, there's a lot of very young adults and plenty of kids that play. They take it very seriously and some really get into it, like it's a big point of pride and can be very competitive." Tharik paused a moment and recalled the multitudes of mornings he woke up to angry messages from strangers on the internet, "Believe me, I've gotten worn down by the about the amount of vindictive I've dealt with as a result, and then got angry on the internet myself!" Tharik sighed, not happy with how quite a few regrettable interactions and server moderation events played out, especially those late at night during a bout with insomnia and after several cocktails. He glanced over at his phone regarding the displayed time, 3:04am, "Anyhow, I never really got into that aspect of it, there are better games for that kind of PvP."
Electra shrugged, she wasn't even entirely sure what the word, Pee-vee-pee meant, "Geeez, why don't they get outside and play a real sport? I mean they would develop their body at least! You spend too much time sitting down in front of your computer yourself you know?"
Tharik lay back down in bed, "I mean, it can be fun, but lately the devs came out with this new upgrade where you can leave your spaceship and there were all kinds of bugs and so..."
Tharik continued to drone on, he went through an exhaustive list of the many issues with Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. He put forth his many opinions on how and why the failings occurred. He spoke about how running a discord server and a video game clan is difficult and time consuming. He highlighted how he believed engineering ruined the game and created a massive grind and a huge imbalance. He touched on the endless argument of Solo vs. Open Only and how one side rightly points out that the game is better with more players, but the other side insists if they don't want to be shot at by people with an obscene advantage, then they have a right to play a game they purchased however they wish. He spoke about how discussions among players become very heated on this and many other topics and how it should be about having fun - but instead it sometimes ends up being an angry affair more confrontational then drunken European soccer fans from opposing teams meeting in a bar after a game. As he continued to prattle on, the beautiful Electra quickly drifted off to sleep. At some point Tharik stopped mid-sentence when she began to snore ever so slightly, "Babe? Ugh... yah, it IS just a game. But it's a pretty fucking cool game..."
Imperial Corsair Prince Tharik Otoli of New York City, The Bane of Maia, The Scrouge of Borann, The Gentleman Pirate of Colonia, Deciat's Plague, and the Viceroy of Daibais closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
And so dear reader, this may well be the end of Prince Tharik Otoli's adventures. Perhaps, we may never know what became of him. We know that his children grew to be influential citizens of the Empire, but what of the man himself and his wife, Lady Electra? Some say that they led a small group of colonists to settle an Earth-like world Tharik once discovered somewhere between Colonia and Sagitarius-A, whereupon Tharik crowned himself King. Others insist he was finally tracked down by his enemies and made to pay for his crimes. The most practical-minded though acknowledge that he likely served as the Viceroy of Daibais for as long as he was able and then finally retired to Cemiess to live out his days with his wife, as she often pestered him to do so. Whatever the end was, it was likely not a very good story and probably anti-climatic. With that in mind, thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed reading these stories as much as I, your humble author, enjoyed writing them.
HUZZAHHH!!! GODSPEED, AND LONG LIVE HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY!!
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