Hello Grandmother,

So who is the man at the top? Who, in the grand scheme of things, really runs the world? All I have is a title: the Blacksmith. He designed, built, and executed the vampire takeover of the Illuminati. Other than that, I have little to go on. Legend has it he designed weapons for the Illuminati for 500 years. He was the go to architect for weapons of destruction for those in the dark shadows who could pay up. Then one day he decided that he was more qualified to rule than anyone he was working for. He struck back with a plan of speed, brilliance, and strength, with an army of his undead brethren at his side.

All I seem to hear–and it’s really very little–is that he’s a master manipulator, who uses everyone against everyone else. He balances every favor and grudge against one another, like an expert blade.

But what is his goal now? What does he seek to achieve, now that he’s got everything? Is he satisfied wreaking his petty jealousies on the world? Is his thirst for power quenched by leading his vampire siblings in an arcane bureaucracy? If anything, at the moment, he may be the planets greatest ally, while simultaneously being its most voracious parasite, because no one has more invested in the status quo’s survival than the man at the top.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

So I think it’s about time we address the issue of why we’re still here.  August 10^th, 2009 was a pretty likely date for the end of the world.  Sure, it’s not 2060, 2000, or 1843, but it seemed fairly preordained, at least according to the arcane sources I look into.  August 10^th itself is a usual date that many dark texts say will be the last day, though the year is almost always in doubt.

But we’re all still here.  So what does that mean?  It certainly means I need to be less trusting of the books that prophesize our doom.  It also means that, very likely, someone tried to end the world and failed.  Last year on August 10^th, the last remaining old men of the Illuminati tried to sell the earth to a dark force that would have enslaved humanity and split the world down the middle.  I stopped them.  This year, despite all my research and investigation, I had no idea who was trying to end the world.  But August 10^th came again and went, and nothing happened.  So someone else must have stopped it.

The more I learn about the world, the more secrets I discover in the shadows, the smaller I feel.  I really have nowhere to begin looking for what really happened that day.  Did the vampires do something?  They have the most invested in maintaining the current power structure.  It certainly doesn’t keep with their reputation, but at this point they may be earth’s greatest protectors.  Or was it a robot victory?  Did the robots, who so desire the earth for their own, fend off an invading attack to save us all?  As the two most powerful forces in the world, they are the most likely culprits, as well as the ones who could save the world without someone like me finding out about it.

It could just be me– I could just be crazy.  But I believe that something happened on August 10^th.  I believe, for good or ill, someone is keeping that a secret.  Whether it’s healthy for me or not, I’m going to eventually find out what it was.  Because if I really want to save this world, I’m going to have to find all the malleable places where it’s about to fall down.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I just can’t trust vampires.  I’m not saying that vampires don’t do good things, but at the end of the day, if they put their neck on the line for you, they except you to do the same.  And I’m not giving them access to my jugular that easily.  So it makes me fairly suspicious when I receive a present from one.

The auction for Jakob Lawrence’s known treasures was last night. From my understanding, it was almost exclusively a vampire affair.  I wanted to be there, but I’m not exactly on the vampire’s guest list.  No humans, even the last of the Illuminati, were to be admitted.

But the vampires know that there are still treasures out there that Jakob hid– that they didn’t know about.  At least one thinks that I know, because they left a box on my doorstep, with a note calling it “a favor”.

Inside was a device.  Something I’m sure Lawrence coveted.  A 700 year old Aztec machine.  Markings on it indicate that it was a gift from the gods.  It’s slightly rectangular shaped, covered with hieroglyphics, and seemingly made of solid stone.  And it has a USB port.  So far, I haven’t been able to get it to do anything.

The box brings so many more questions than answers.  But the most important one is:  what am I going to have to pay for it?  And how soon?  Because whoever I owe a favor, will come to collect.  And they won’t be willing to leave unsatisfied.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

The funniest misconceptions I think that people have about robots is that you can’t program them to feel.  If anything, emotions are more programmable than logic, because they have a set of rules.  You get information that is detrimental, you get angry.  You learn something positive, you smile.  Once a being has a set of goals, say survival and procreation, emotions are the simple, natural reactions to that.  So, that being the case, it was only a matter of time before robots formed movements of their own.  Political movements, social movements, even artistic design movements.

It’s comes out that the car Jakob Lawrence died in was artificially intelligent.  Also that it was a member of the Levers of Fate movement, a fringe robot group that dreams (in very vague, undefined terms) of an eventual robot dominated world.  This leads to an easy conclusion that the Levers are responsible; that this was some kind of political suicide attack.

But I don’t buy it.  All that does is make the Levers a target.  They’re a small group, without a history of fanatical attack.  The way talk of robot revolt is spreading around the un-patched masses, their rhetoric comes across as somewhat plain and unremarkable.  For the most part, they serve as a haven for unaffiliated car robots that need a place to gripe on a Saturday night.

So this changes the question to:  who gets something out of framing a small robot fringe group?  Who benefits from casting the blame on them?  My best guess is that the beating of bat wings is blowing the blame in their direction.  More worryingly, does this go beyond procuring the Illuminati’s secrets?  I know it’s something that I tend to be biased towards anyways, but I can’t help the feeling that whoever is behind this wants to instigate a war.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I thought the Illuminati were dying out. Turns out that someone is killing off the last of the Illuminati.  I know this because a year ago I prevented them from bringing about the end of the world.  When you do something like that you get a little obsessed with making sure they don’t try it again.  Now my investigation has turned into a murder case– and I find myself having to risk my neck to save them, because I don’t want their secrets falling into someone else’s hands.

Jakob Lawrence was off of any kind of official record long before he left the mortal coil.  He was a secret king of the world, a spy-god, existing in the shadows and controlling the world through a network of operatives who had no idea who they were working for.  He was the Illuminati’s best liar– and that means he had the best real secrets kept to himself.

The fact that he died in a car accident at 150 miles an hour is beyond suspicious.  Now the question is:  what happens to all of his leftover prizes?

I know the vampires want them.  It makes them less suspect for this death, in a way, because I know they would have preferred to keep him alive to question him about his secrets, if they could arrange it.

Dying in a car makes it hard not to suspect the robot hegemony, but I don’t see what a robot suicide attack gets them.  Was it a revenge killing by an upset, unloved toy?  Were they afraid he had shutdown codes?  Why now?  I know the robot hierarchy in the western U.S. is in disarray.  Was this a power play?

The more I look into it, the more it appears that some smaller group has to be behind this.  If this were done by the major powers — robot or vampire –it would have been much more discreet.  Instead there are a million questions, and too many people looking into it, myself included.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

The world didn’t end today. So that’s good. I’m not sure why, but I think for today we can be satisfied in knowing that it didn’t. All the indicators, the prophecies, the broken seals–they amounted to nothing. The world keeps spinning, at least for the moment.

I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I saved the world. Just like you taught me to when I was a kid. World goes on though, and gets into trouble again, and survives– all without my help. But I feel like my reactions to everything are different now. Because the better I feel about what I did, and the more I think about the problems the world is facing, the more I realize I’m not going to be able to stop myself. Changing the world is like a drug. Now, I can’t look at anything without seeing how it needs to be fixed.

As much as I love you, I learn new things every day that seem to contradict what you raised me to believe. Yes, the world is run from the shadows, that much is true. But it’s not some secret Illuminati cabal that’s in charge, running the world from the darkness anymore. The Illuminati are dead– or dying off very quickly at least. Because the funny thing is, the best people to rule from the dark places are already dead. It wouldn’t be a big deal, except that there are plenty of people on this earth who have a hard time staying in their coffins. Over the last generation, the decrepit old men who have run things for millennium have been replaced by their healthier, stronger, and smarter ancestors, who have become bloodthirsty immortals — vampires.

You may not know this now, but when I was a kid you taught me that vampires are weak-hearted, emotional, and prone to short-sightedness. Turns out those are the qualities that make you most likely to be in charge of masses of complacent humans. The thing about vampires though, is that once they’re fed, they are not very good free thinkers. They can bully and control people, but in the end they are helpless against innovation. As they suck the life from people, the desire for greater things are sucked from them.

Innovation, however continues with or without human beings controlling it. The minds of robots achieved consciousness a century before the vampires took over. The Illuminati just kept them hidden in the dark like unwanted toys. Robots have been tired of human backwardness long before the vampires started instituting more regressive policies in the darkness. Now the robot movement has fermented into a near rebellion. I can’t seem to tell if it’s my new addiction to saving the world or my keen senses of trouble that convinces me this is all leading to a new doomsday. I believe the petty acts of violence of robot terrorists on unsuspecting vampires and the vampire oppression of robot evolution are nothing compared to what is coming.

The motivating factor in all of this is that I don’t think either side gives a damn about humanity. I’m not going to let them do anything that would cause you harm. I haven’t figured out a plan to stop them yet, but I’ve got to do something – I’m going to do something. Even if, for now, it’s just words on the web. I guess I can see what I’m doing now as being the night watchman for the world — keeping an eye on a conflict that lives hidden everywhere. The worst part is I can’t even tell you my real name. If you’re reading this (and lets be honest, you probably are–this is exactly the kind of thing you love) you have no way of knowing who I am. But I have to keep you safe – I will keep you safe. You can call me 1159. I’ll be watching the clock to warn you before we hit midnight. And I’ll be your watchman in the shadows tonight.

-1159

Hope you’re all still here tomorrow.

I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but if you can get off world, I’d recommend it.

So make sure to pay your bills.  Wouldn’t want service to run out before the apocalypse.