[Event]Play

[The following has not been reviewed for potential political missteps that Daveth's politically astute enough to have picked up, but at this stage, I feel I just want to get it out there, having spent so much time writing it up. So, consider that 'corrections' may be made, and just take this as entertainment.]

The play is simply called 'Gestalt'. It's set during the Long night, in the Age of Heroes. The hero protagonist, Lord Bran, is fighting a long feud with another lord over a contested border, near a thin strip of resource-rich land. ('The darkness of this time lends support to the darkness of mankind's heart. Just as the times erode the strength of law, so too are the bonds between people similarly attenuated, as they grasp at desirable things which are not their own.') As a side-note, he has a largely-silent trustworthy and competent bodyguard with a morningstar.

Suddenly, his land is attacked from an unexpected direction, by enemies unknown ('M'lord, we cut and cut, yet they bleed not, and they do not die. M'lord! You cannot kill what does not live!').

Bran mounts a spirited defence, and while it gives time for his civilians to flee, it's defeated, and he and his people are forced to flee his lands ('I have a duty to the land, but land without hands to work it is but barren rock. My people are safe, and we will return, and in doing so will my duty be properly discharged.').

Bran moves ahead of the horde, giving others the advanced warning he didn't get, and attempting to build a coalition of lords to fight off this threat ('We never saw it coming, too busy watching each other to pay proper attention outside').

The war descends into a gruelling delaying action, buying the humans time to organise. During one of these fights, Bran is wounded, though his life is saved by his bodyguard, who carries him off the battlefield. Forced to recuperate, he falls for a noblewoman tending his wounds, who he later marries. ('I came here for you to fix the hole in my side, and I find you've fixed a hole in my heart I never knew I had.')

Bran continues trying to form a coalition big enough to fight the Others. Some lords recognise the threat, and agree to work together. Others place their personal interests first, noting that the path of advancement avoids their lands. ('Curse your petty-minded natures, then. This is not a war for personal profit, this is a war for the dawn! If you can't think of the world beyond the land you control, then you don't deserve the land you have.')

Perhaps surprisingly, Lance, the noble he was feuding with, recognises the need for Bran's plan to succeed, and works hard to support him, eventually forming a bond between the two prior rivals. ('The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. And right here and now, as we face a horror heretofore unseen, you stand beside me. Let that, then, be the measure you are known for.')

Bran receives a report that the lords who didn't join with them, hoping to merely wait the crisis out, have been surrounded, and every person in their land cut down. And then the dead rise again and join their attackers, swelling their ranks to apocalyptic numbers, impossible to hold back. And they will arrive where they are before they can fully evacuate.

Seeing no way out, Bran goes to the godswood to pray. ('Oh gods, I beseech thee, in these trying times, it feels like you have abandoned us. Our weapons do naught but delay our foe, and our fallen join their ranks. If we stay and fight, we will be overwhelmed. If we abandon our posts to save ourselves, we will be shattered by the massacre we leave behind us. Please. If you are still there, help us. How can we defeat this foe?') And he receives a vision, though the audience just see his reaction.

The next scene is a council meeting, as various lords argue between themselves on what to do, when Bran kicks the doors open and strides into the suddenly silent room. "I know how to win. Where the weapons made by man have failed, the weapons made by the gods will succeed." and he tosses a crude stake into the middle of the room. "The gods have spoken to me. Plunge weirwood into the heart of the Others, and they will truly die. My lords, I call on you to stand by me, stand with your gods, and protect this land. With your body, with your blood, with your life if needs be." He is doubted, but when he points out their other options, with Lance's support, he manages to persuade the other lords to go along with his plan.

They cut down the weirwood, apart from the heart tree. ('I promise you, we and our descendants will repay you tenfold for every tree we cut down here today.'), swiftly carving stakes from them, until finally, they stand before the oncoming horde, with naught but some wood and their faith to preserve them.

Noticing the men are waving, Bran gives a speech to rouse their spirits. ('I could hate them for what they've cost me, but hate is a corrosive emotion, leading to naught but despair. Instead, I love. My love for the kingdom. My love for my wife. My love for you, my loyal companions. That is what sustains me. Why we will win. For they may see love, but they understand it not, and in that ignorance, they are undone.')

The fight is long and bloody, but ultimately victorious, and for the first time, the humans throw the Others back in defeat. Back, into the far North. And as the last of the fighting dies down, the sun finally appears on the horizon, witnessing their victory.

When the celebrations and funerals are done, Bran presents a problem to the lords. 'The Others are cast back for now, but their lands are too inhospitable for us to follow. Where once they have come, they will surely come again. If not in our generation, then in one to come. We need defences, and we need men to man them. Men of honour. Men of faith, who will remember what happened here when it has faded in the memory of others. When this is seen as a mere tall tale, they must keep to their duty. For the sake of the realm, they must sacrifice everything else. For the sake of the kingdom, do we have a volunteer to lead and organise this force?'

He looks across the lords, but none wish to give up their life of luxury for the sake of others. He's about to volunteer himself, when his wife walks in, obviously possessively holding her belly. Understanding what this means, he hesitates, and in the gap, Lance steps forward and volunteers. ('I'll do it. I'll lead those who will Watch the Night for the Other's return, or for worse to come. But I cannot do it alone. I'll need your support. Your men. Let the strength of our Watch reflect the true strength of our nation. For it is in our bonds to each other that we find our strength as a people, and we will rely on those bonds in the years and centuries to come to keep our ranks populated.')

The play ends with Bran and his wife slowly walking across the stage, a babe in swaddling in her arms. ('Is it right that I should be so happy, when so many others have lost so much?' 'Oh, hush, husband. Pleasure is merely it's own reward, but the gods reward those who do their duty with honour. So, stop worrying, and enjoy the fruits of your labours.' After a few more paces. 'There is one thing that confuses me, though, husband. How *did* you manage to get that wall built so quickly?' 'Ah, well, that is a *tall* tale...') and they walk off-stage.

[Placeholder]

[Play added, in unreviewed form.]

[Great read! Thanks for posting!]