"Shah Wars: Episode 79: Revenge of the Seyyeds"

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eroonman
by eroonman
10-Jun-2008
 

A long time ago in a Farsi land far far away...

...the Empire is on the verge collapse. The Emperor's many weaknesses as an ineffective ruler have finally come to fruition as the hierarchy of the system around him slowly begins to unravel and cave in on itself.

The fickle lords of power and position filling their pockets and the court for years, have now begun to see and mutter, that the kingdom they have been helping prop up is not going to last much longer, and 2 years earlier the weakest among them, began to ferry family and fortune to the distant Planet Hollywood to resettle, to flee the looming war with the Seyyeds that they feared, would inevitably destroy their home and all they had helped create.

The Emperor was largely bed-ridden now, spiraling ill from the guilt of his great squandered opportunity, he now realized that his brutal suppression of the opposition in the country, along with the many other mistakes he had made on the advice from the self serving advisors provided to him by the System he had pledged himself to as a young man, had ultimately backfired. He realized now that the look of contempt his father often gave him as a child, banishing him to the women's compound of the palace, and the doting of his stronger more sure twin sister, were all true. He should never have been King. His empire was now lost, and his inability to be the ruler he was expected to be but unprepared to be, sank in slowly and spread into his soul along with the cancer he now carried in him.

25 years earlier after being merely placed on the throne during the "Throne War", a proxy battle funded by the System, to deface and humiliate his opponent then Prime Minister Mos-Adeegh, a feeble old man with the massive hawkish nose, and angular stern eyebrows. The King remembered the old man's face now, as he sat alone in his office awaiting the latest news from his Secretary. He remembered the look of astonishment and then, resigned surrender, on the old man's face during the staged military trials he had ordered to convict him of the treason he now realized was nonesuch.

As if on cue, as if watching from a peekhole, the Secretary burst in, "Time to go Your Highness, everything has been arranged". The King looked up, and at that exact moment noticed how old his Secretary looked, and that possibly, one other mistake he had made along the way, was to have a Secretary older than himself. Maybe he would have been less out of touch? "Sir, time to go, please." the Secretary pressed.

2 years earlier, the evil lord of the Seyyed, Darth Ruh, was suddenly and unexplainably freed from his life prison sentence for insurrection and treason, imposed by the King decades earlier. His prison-keeper Lord Aragh, the evil ruler of the planet Karbala, and jealous sworn enemy of the King, seeing the King's preoccupation with the many problems he was now facing, towards the end, poked a last final finger in the eye, and allowed the Seyyed and their growing support of cultists to go free, and regroup on the far side of Planet Paree, on a moon state known only as Chatel-9.

And from there Darth Ruh grew stronger and stronger each day, and slowly and surely drew his plans of revenge against the King.

Ruh was defiant, passionate wizard as a young man, and even though he had spoken large amounts of undeniable truth against the empire, had over the course of the many years spent in prison, become consumed and controlled by the religious belief in a Force that all people maintain at more of a distance, because of it's great power. Having given himself unto it however, this made him yet one more prisoner of it's mesmerizing power, and slowly he became more and more convinced that maybe, possibly, in him, the great prophecy of the 13th, was true after all.

Meanwhile, back at Queen Deeb-Ah's palace, preparations were being madly made by the ladies in waiting, to pack the children and make all the arrangements for the uncertain period of exile whose length was certain. The Queen's main concern was with the Crown Prince Rez II, suddenly designated as the immediate heir to the throne through a rushed last minute arrangement by the Secretary. Although she had been the first to be crowned as a Queen, and could have legally ruled in place of the King, she still adhered to the tradition of the male heir her culture had expected. She often wondered to herself and imagined how she would rule, then brought herself quickly back to her place, the matron of the country, it's culture, arts, and education of it's people. As she was often reminded by the Secretary, it was not her place to meddle in men's ways.

Her only job now was to protect her son and shuttle him away to safety for an uncertain future. And she made those necessary preparations calmly and gracefully. From the corner of the room, unbeknownst to anyone, with tears silently rolling down her tanned cheeks, the smallest of the 4 heirs, Princess Leila watched her mother give out the orders to her attendants. Her eyes were slits and she clenched her fists to her chest, trying to still the fright and trembling in her young breaking heart.

Meanwhile, Darth Ruh's secret commands and orders for the final attack, were being spread throughout the temples and shrines of the country, through an ingenious device used commonly for harmless musical entertainment. Now, the cassette became a lethal weapon in the hands of lesser priests and the powerful Merchant Union, as they began to slowly draw in the noose around the rapidly thinning neck of the Emperor. It would only be a matter of days now.

The lords of the court, now in full retreat, with their greed in full view, having moved their personal fortunes off-planet, now unashamedly began to loot the coffers and they blatantly snatched at the wealth of the country, like crows at carrion of huge sums, to hidden banks and safe untraceable accounts they had set up for the remaining treasure. The lesser lords, more loyal and honorable, remained behind, led by the longtime kind Prime Minister Lord Veyda, watched in disbelief. The country was indeed rich, and the discovery of the large reserves of the rare material known as Petroleum, was largely the reason the King and the country, had what little feigned respect it did, with the other planets in the rest of the System.

Now smelling his inevitable defeat at the pious hands of Ruh, their true loyalty shown, all the planets of the System now watched and waited for the inevitable, the tragically quick and final end to the largest Empire ever known.

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it's not the readers fault RE: Cynicism vs Irony

by critic- (not verified) on

You should read the criticisms again and work on how to bring your point home.
Don't worry and keep practicing, you have the command of the language and all you need is to work on the anger issues and resolve the hang-ups you feel, maybe then you can write in an effective way and relay the irony to the readers too.

Good luck to you


eroonman

Cynicism vs Irony

by eroonman on

While the Iranian diet contains more than it's fair share of cynicism, what is painfully obvious is that we simply aren't getting enough irony.

You Can't Always Get what You want


jamshid

Don't people get tired of

by jamshid on

Don't people get tired of repeating the very same lies that the mullahs fed them 30 years ago? Yes, the very same mullahs who are today brutalizing Iran.

It is a funny thing to see people "oppose" the mullah while at the same time, they are still repeating those same mullahs' words like parrots.


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Thanks for ruining StarWars for me

by Anonymous8 (not verified) on

forever!


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what a waste...

by critic- (not verified) on

The writing is good, the Star Wars references and the parallels are entertaining, but the bitterness in the tone takes a lot away from the freshness and humor.
You can do so much better!!!

First you have to make up your mind: do you want to make light of what happened in 79 or not! you can't have your cake and eat it too. It was a sad time, even a terrifying time, so why are you trying to make it sound entertaining or humorous? It's obvious that you are not over the trauma of it yet to be able to write something refreshing and original and bring it home.

Too bad! this piece is just a waste of time because of all the cheap shots, assumptions and accusations, the whole bitterness that seeps through, the one no mask can disguise, even the Hero Mask of Eeronman!