TT-02 The Letter K (13) by PjeterMamrick on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

From: Tall Tales 02 (Introducing)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What in the Two Worlds is going on here, then, matie?”, I hear you asking, “The letter ‘_k_’ isn’t in the Kimbric alphabet anymore!” Well, I understand your unease, O Astute Readers outside Kimbria (“Kimbria,” mind you, not the “Red Zone”), and in a way you are correct. The letter “_k_” has disappeared (or been exiled, or excommunicated) from the language by now, although it refuses to be deleted from the occasional ancient and very significant word (in general, these are place-names like “Kimbria,” “Kwm-ran,” and “Kaergenydd,” as well as “Kimbric” and so on). But, for ages, the letter “_k_” was an essential part of the language’s orthography, and for sure the change was not popular in the least. Why and how, therefore, was this symbol driven so shamefully from the alphabet?

Well, here’s the answer for you, but I must explain a few things first. Centuries ago, there were gangs of treacherous extremists rabble-rousing throughout the Islands of the Disunited Kingdoms from a headquarters somewhere in the Old Motherland of Kimbria (according to the propaganda spread by the Exalted Authorities). On the sly, more than a few today believe that they were terribly worried there was some source of accursed power – that is, an extremely potent one – hidden in Kimbria, in Hollygorge at the foot of Karadog’s Chair, maybe. Allegedly, the rebels were using the supernatural forces there to fight a highly successful guerrilla war against both the Communion of Cosmolatrists and the Gritty Government.

Of course, everyone also knows that the printing-press was invented in Kimbria at that time. “Khronikles of the Kimbrian Kollektive: A compilation including calamity, comedy, and counsel_” was the first book to come out of this press. Needless to say that this is a set of tales that are rather racy, very funny, serious and exciting, extremely satirical, and full of so many anti-establishment ideas that challenge everything represented by the Church and the State. Folk all over the World loved hearing the “_Khronikles “ in the original language, claiming that there was some magical power in them even if you did not understand all the words (and they still say that today). Then, soon after the “Khronikles “ appeared, the Oppressed Society of Independent Tabernacles (may the Source and Ground of Being bless them), illegally published “Kritikal Kommentaries on Every Koncept Koncerning the Kreation, Konstitution, and Kulmination of the Kosmos Komplete: A collation of the clearest volumes containing the conclusions of a cornucopia of contemporary considerations communicating crucial convictions.”

You can imagine that the great academics in the EGO’s Commission for Enforcing Conformity and Suppressing Mental Errors were livid [ó]. They announced that the letter “_k_” was diabolical since its three strokes mock three sacred things: the indivisible unity of the Cosmic Power; the fact that odd numbers represent truth; and the understanding that the triadic, masculine nature of “plus” cannot exist without the dual, feminine nature of “minus” to complete and annihilate it.

The representatives of the Tutelary Tyranny insisted in addition (highly unconvincingly in my opinion), that “_k_” was totally unholy and blasphemous since it was sacred in the ancient faith of the monstrous raving lunatics of the Sintu Valley. In the first place, as evidence, they drew attention (almost deceitfully, I’d say), to the fact that the letter “_k_” is so common in the everyday life of the population (and this is just as true today as it was then). The lakes there are full of water-lilies (“_kamal_”), the symbol of life, and the crows (“_kaw_”), the pigeons (“_kotur_”), the doves (“_katij_”), and the koel (“_kukil_”), fly and nest amongst the fields of saffron (“_kong_”), the lanes (“_kocha_”), the lakes (“_kwal_”), and the bridges (“_kadal_”). On top of that, the folk there love drinking green tshay (“_kahwah_”) from brass goblets (“_khose_”) and eating lightly-leavened flatbread (“_kulcha_”). The women wear headgear (“_kalavalyun_”) consisting of a long, folded cap (“_kalpush_”), and everyone carries a pot full of hot embers (“_kangri_”) and wears a cap with flaps to keep warm (“_kantopa_”) during the freezing-cold of the hibernal season (“_kathyush_”). Well, that’s nice, isn’t it, but no-one would complain about it, would they – not in a blue moon? Of course they wouldn’t!

So, here is the true reason for the hatred of the Supreme Father-Church. There, too (in the words of the Damning Bull), in the far north of the Fruitful Vale, the savages under the command of the Pundits of Kasheyra indulge in the shameful practice of Kundalini Yoga to idol-worship hellish entities called Kailashapati and Kali, and Kanna Yoga to implore the anti-Lord Krishna. Most heinous of all (roared the Condemnatory Constables), the base blasphemers teach that it is possible for human beings to seek divine grace (“kirpa_”) from these non-existent forces, by constantly asking the questions “_kus, kati, kar, kem, kot?” (“who is, whence, when, who does, whither?”), regarding the source, nature, and fate of the All-World, over and over until they fall into an ecstatic reverie. And then, after communicating mystically with the Font of Existence and Final End of All, they will endeavour to live life as if they were Kalpavrikhsha, the Eternal Wheel, rotating silently and unimpeded, performing “_nishkama karma_” (that is, acting without hope of reward), and being filled with pity (“_karuna_”) towards every living thing in its suffering and angst. In this way, the vile fools imagine they will become like Kamadhar, the helmsman (“_kewat_”) of the Life-Boat (“_Jeevan Kishti_”), taking the Thorlin to a New World of Flourishing (“_Kalyana_”).

Well, under this excuse, the Presidium of the Pedagogical Prebendaries commanded that the letter “k_” was not to be used in Kimbric anymore, and that it would be necessary to burn every copy of the “_Khronikles “ and the “_Kommentaries_” containing it. At the same time, they began a campaign to prosecute those using the language as heretics and traitors in the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts, promising that the apostates would be punished by being burned at the stake. The consensus these days is that by belittling Kimbric and preventing people from using it to an ever increasing extent (as well as keeping control over all the official versions of the Most Gripping Stories in the World – in their opinion – in the “Old Books” and enforcing the credos of the “Handbook of Orthodox Lore”), the Authorities hoped to extirpate the language entirely, and that this would be a devastating blow that would help to extinguish the Resistance throughout IDiKi and beyond. With ruthless determination, they succeeded in ridding the language of the horrifying letter “_k_” (more or less), and in exiling a substantial part of the Kimbric population too, when many of the countryfolk faithful to the “old ways of the forefathers” fled to establish communities in the Heart of the Continent in order to escape the persecution at home.

But the Magnificent Ministers created an even worse problem by accident, because their rash actions fanned the flames of disenchantment in Pretany. Following this, there arose from nowhere a secret society established on doctrines regarding the supposed enchanting characteristics of alphabets, dead languages, and the myths and beliefs of far-off lands. The “Kowled Kult of the Konsekrated Kleansers” (“KKKK”) was (and is) its name, and it is exceedingly secretive. Furthermore, in no time, this Illuminated Inner Circle of initiated adherents began using forbidden and exceptionally dangerous techniques from the Sintu Valley (and every corner of the World in truth), to summon and harness ancient energies (see here “The Gate of Fire and the Key of Ice” and “Of Metal and Water” in “Countless Curses of the Profane Peoples”). Truth is stranger than fiction, they say – not to mention the unintended consequences – but that’s the fun of on-Mansha’s “Principle of Organic Pleroma” for you! [ó] That is, the Ecclēsia Generālis Omnipotēnsque. — Pjetër Mamrick.