August 26, 2025
The series was called “Empire of the East”.
1.The Broken Lands (1968)
2.The Black Mountains (1971)
3. Changeling Earth (1973), also titled Ardneh's World
4. Ardneh's Sword (2006)
The first three books are tightly connected, dealing with the West's struggle to bring down the Empire, in which Rolf plays a vital role. The fourth novel is set much later.
LSDF Saved My Life.
Grade 5 had been tough. I'd just returned to the school, North Bendale Primary. I had spent the previous 2½ years at a school called Ionview. There I had attended a special ED class, to correct my Dyslexia. My class size there had varied between 10 – 15 kids, and I'd had lots of opportunity to to receive as much attention from the teacher as needed. During my last 6 months there, I'd had some limited exposure to “regular” class size, by attending a regular school grade 4 science/social studies class. It had been quite an adjustment, going from a class of a dozen kids, to one of 3 – 4 times that. I understood the work well enough, just as I always had, that wasn't the problem. The problem had been making people understand my words. What I might have intended to say: “On Saturday I went to my grandma’s house. We baked cookies and then I played with my cousin in the yard. It was really fun.” What probably came out Dyslexic Grade 2 Writing: “On Satrday I wet to my gamas hous. We kukes an then I plaid wit my cusin in the yrd. It ws rily fn.” Only I would have tried to draw the letters sideways and backwards.
LSDF Example of Dyslexia
I was fighting an up hill battle everywhere I turned. My father who used to brag about how smart he was, I think meant it as an oxy moron. Because All I ever saw was him being an idiot. By this I mean, he understood that what the school officials had told him about me was, that I was a “SLOW” Learner, which in his mind, made me only slightly more than retarded. Which is laughable considering that every IQ test I ever took scores me routinely above 160. :
140+ = Genius or near genius
120–140 = Very superior
110–120 = Superior
90–110 = Average
So my problem is, mom & dad go to parent teacher nights, the teacher has good things to say about me, and there's dad, telling the guy that, I'm a slow learner, when I'm in the top 1% of the class. This extends to home life in every way, he was smarter, faster, stronger, more capable, mentally, emotionally, physically, and, spiritually. I never quite figured out what that meant, maybe he was better at believing in god than anyone ever was, or could be. Anyway it made for a lonely place to try to display my accomplishments.
Maybe I had a death wish, because its never a good idea to be the smartest kid in the class, but my intelligence seemed to be my only good weapon. I went out of my way to make those 30+ kids feel like the idiots they were. Yup I paid for it with isolation, being bullied, but I was superior. In many ways this attitude kept me sane, then came a day in early summer between grade 5 and 6. Because I was a loner, and I had very little parental supervision, I'm on my 10 speed bike, and I'm all the way over at Victoria Pk Rd/Eglington Ave E 19 kms from home. There I'd almost had my bike stolen by a group of kids, who'd been more afraid of the store owner than me. This experience scared me a bit, and for some time after I stayed closer to home. Which too often brought me into contact with those fucking little bastards who'd bullied me. The fact that there seemed to be trouble where ever I went, led to some very deep feelings of sadness, and loneliness.
LSDF Dad's Insanity Image 1
Unable to stand the constant threat that my mother and brother posed, instead of hanging out at home where it was supposed to be safe, I instead could be found at the Scarborough Public Library. Earlier that year at some point, I'd read Tolkien's LOTR, and had been blown out of the water by it. Since, I had talked to umpteen thousand people about finding more like it, no one knew of anything that came close. Then one day in grade 6 at the library, I'm talking to librarian, and she asks me if I like magic. I wasn't sure about that. I understood that LOTR classifies as, SY/FY fantasy. As far as that genre went, I didn't enjoy it very much, preferring Heinlein, Clarke, Herbert, type “Hard” SYFY. Then she unknowingly hooks the 11 year old me, starts talking about a nuclear war between east and west. That I could relate to, dad had spent all that time with Capon trying to force geopolitical puzzle pieces together. “The pretender HRH Prince Michael of Albany being an Antichrist. Europe no longer having border control is the recreation of the Holy Roman Empire. Israel stands alone against an overwhelming HRE. China rescues Israel, but is left in ashes. The true Antichrist arises in America”. A 10 year old boy listening to his father's insanity.
This then being my spiritual environment, it made little sense to pray to god to make things better. The logic simple, if He intended for things to go/be that bad, what hope was there for a little boy suffering abuse/bullying? My father's addiction destroyed the relationship he had with Capon, who seemed to both enjoy, and quietly laugh at dad's idea(s). Instead of trying to figure out the nonsense in the bible, he tried to direct dad's attention towards vibration/frequency. When the relationship crashed and burned, the man had seemingly truly offended dad, his retort had been, “How dare you tell me how to raise my family!?”. Dad's outrage had been honest, but as with everything with him, flawed. Six years later, everything that Capon had warned about, had come to pass.
Shortly after dad had met him, the man had said to me that, one's Grail quest was an independent journey. That had meant absolutely nothing to me. The only thing I was understanding was, that everything that he talked about was, anti - church. I wasn't entirely behind it, but I was leaning heavily towards it. God and his church hadn't been very nice to me, I figured there had to be a better way. There had been, dad's low vibrancy had chased him out the door, he had rightfully chosen to protect his energy. Your Grail quest is indeed a personal journey. Its not a church, there's no one to guide you, I mean lie to you. There are no authority figures, except for other travellers who have been where you are, and who can both advise, and empathize. What it needs from you is commitment, and a higher vibrational frequency.
LSDF Your Grail Quest.
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