Why is fate determined on having me experience the same feeling again and again? The feeling when one gets excited about something you think is going to be good, only for the ground to crumble under your feet at the very next moment. I felt it when I discovered LU was shutting down. And I feel the same way now. I cried for LU, I cried for the LMBs, I cried when I discovered the Stromling Series would never be finished. But my sorrow then was nothing like what it is today. Today is a dark day.
Before I continue, I'd like to say that I hold no illusions that I could convince you or Jonna to act otherwise than you intend to. I know well that you hold strongly to your beliefs and my little speeches can't do much to change your minds. And although I would love to get more time with you, that is not what I intend to do. But there is something that you said in this parting message of yours that I can't leave without talking about. For it is an insult to the KOTOS stories. It is an insult to me, the other Knights, but most importantly an insult to yourself. And I choose not to focus on that, because although the insult exists, I don't really feel insulted. Instead, I want to focus on the mindset that led you to say something so terrible, without even realising how horrible it is.
How can you say that our stories are useless? That they are a waste of time? Don't you see that they may reach out to someone and touch their hearts? That they may make you think? Broaden your horizons? Make you feel more deeply about something? Don't you see that the sheer entertainment you look down on doesn't have to be a bad thing? Don't you see that we can express ourselves through them and communicate? Don't you see that one can praise God with them? Don't you see that even beyond all that the fact that these stories brought us all together is a good thing? The stories we make may be fictitious, but their effects are real enough.
Tolkien, Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, George Orwell. I could name many writers and other creators as well, but these come to my mind right now. Would you say that their writing was useless? Would you say it was a waste of their time? Do you think that they didn't change the world for the better if only for a little bit if only for a few people if only for a short while? Do you think that humanity cannot learn anything from their stories?
Because this is whatt you're doing when you say that the KOTOS Series is useless. You're rejecting art. For yes our stories are art. You may not think so, but they are. What else could they be? Our mind might think of other things when we hear the word 'artist', but we're artists, too. Literature is art. And so are our stories. And I get it. This art or another isn't for everyone. Especially, when it comes to fiction and fantasy. For you, the best thing might be to get away from all this, but don't you ever for a second think that there aren't other people in this world for whom it's good. More than good, in fact. And though art might not be what we might call practically useful, calling it useless is the word of the ignorant. For besides cultivating the spirit, making us feel more wholesomely, making this world a bit more tolerable and helping us imagine it better, art can be used to approach God. Find ourselves. Discover others. We can use art to His glory. We can create art while keeping to His spirit.
Didn't the Bible say that God created us in his likeness? And isn't God the greatest creator of all? The greatest imaginer, the One who built the very World? In creating our own worlds don't we follow His example? Can't we come closer to Him, if we do it right?
You said that what Perry has to say about the Venture League is that while it's not necessary for the Nexus Force, it wouldn't be as fun without it. I disagree. The Venture League has ways to benefit the Nexus Force in which no one else could. Yeah, maybe they weren't necessary per se, but then again who is? They've got something unique to give and that makes them important. It's the same for art. It's the same for our stories. There's more to them than fun.
You played Lego Universe, you read and wrote stories about it, but it seems to me you missed the point. The importance of Imagination. How it allows us to change the world around us, how it gives us the power of change, the power to be different, unique. In the game, this was more literal, but this is the way of fairy tales after all. Lego Universe wasn't a fairy tale, but fantasy always seems to incline a little towards it. If you try to deprive yourselves of that Imagination, will you become monstrous versions of yourselves, mockery of what you used to be like the Maelstrom was? I don't know. Probably, nothing so dramatic as that, but personally I think something would die inside me if I tried to distance myself from story-writing. Perhaps, it's not the same with you. Perhaps.
Stirling. You say you start regretting joining in the first place, but you shouldn't. We had a great time this while. I couldn't imagine a life without you. We got so much from you. I am very glad that I got to see you as a writer and I'm sad you're leaving that role. When something good ends, that end is bitter. But that doesn't mean we should resent that happiness for losing it. To live sadly is better than to not live at all.
About Stirling Silverstine, I'm sorry, but I do not intend to kill him. As it would seem, neither do the others. Instead, Stirling will have a glorious arch, a glorious role in the story, to sing your praises eternally. Or something. I'll try. And if you think that we might not write him well, then you may come back from the depths of inactivity and correct him yourself.
You say we may bump into each other again. I do not like that. We shall not bump. It will not be random. It will not be accidental. I may be speaking of ending and farewells, but in truth, I think otherwise. If you think for a moment that we'll just let you sink into the darkness of inactivity, then you're wrong. I don't know about others, but I intend to do my best to keep in touch with you both. You gave us an email address and told us to use it for something truly important and non-fictitious. But you know what? You and Jonna are truly important to me and our friendship is by no means fictitious. So, I will not let it die. This is no longer people from the Boards that you didn't know that well slowly disappearing. This was a sad phenomenon, but not something terrible. However, you two are people I've known for a quite long time. I've talked to you a lot. Shared with you things that I haven't shared with people in real life. Seeing you go is something I simply cannot allow. Not in the same way it happened with others. You said once you'd plans for doing video conferences with us in a year (from then) and meet physically in two. Or I think those were the numbers. I simply hope that such plans will not be entirely foiled.
I want to ask some things of you, though.
Firstly, I'd like you to release everything you've written that you've not published. I have TDD #2 in mind, but I don't know if there's anything else. Furthermore, I'd like you to share your plans for your stories with someone. If we are to continue using your characters, we want to do justice to your vision.
Secondly, when and I repeat when I continue the Veritaloquers you'd better come to read it, for the sake of all your reminding me of it and how you wanted me to continue it. Because I hope that despite your decision to stop writing, that won't mean you'll stop reading what we write entirely. Indeed, you might need to distance yourself from the KOTOS Stories and maybe thee LU stories in general. I understand that while experiencing a fictional world for a while might not be bad, letting yourself be consumed by it is. And so you may have to learn how not to be. And I don't know how long it will take you to be able to get into contact with these stories without being tempted to succumb to these ways you find to be faulty. It might be years and years, but remember that I write stories, so that I can share them with people. Because if I don't, I'll have to deal with an overflowing amount of them stuck in my head. And so whenever you decide to do so, I'd be happy if you could read my stories. You and Jonna are the only people who've read the entirety of the Story of a Minifigure and that means something to me.
I might have more to say later, but for now I will leave it at that.
Stirling, I was honoured to meet thee, glad to be thy friend, sad to see thee go.
As always, best of luck in thy endeavours.