Jack of Harts

The Russian Federation took the Second Great Depression as an opportunity to solidify their control over the traditionally Russian territories the West had taken from them over the years. They capitalized on old Russian pride to bring their far-flung people together, and shot all the terrorists that resisted the return of Mother Russia. The Russians were very accomplished at finding and killing terrorists. They never seemed to run out of them. Though they did run out of old Russian territory to reclaim. With the Western Alliance standing up to face them, the Russians took a step back to gather their reunited peoples into the all-inclusive Russian state. It was a good time to be Russian. Not so good to be not-so-much Russian.

One of the secrets to China’s expansion during the Second Great Depression was that they did so slowly. Lightning attacks breached defenses at need, but they advanced slowly with overwhelming force and numbers. They killed those too stupid to run, and allowed the smarter ones to flee their advance. They slowed their advances to allow refugees and even soldiers to get onto evacuation ships. China did not want to capture the idiots and the free thinkers. They wanted the land and those willing to serve whoever owned it. They allowed the patriots to run with the hope of returning one day to liberate their conquered homelands. And then China made certain that was a forlorn hope by taking hold of their conquered lands with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove.

I’ve been working on clearing my Mom’s house for a while now. Taking it slowly, one piece of a room at a time. Thanks to some help from friends, I’ve got the upstairs basically done. Got some areas that still need clearing, but it is mostly done. I’ve also been working on the basement, which became Mom’s storage place after I moved out. It’s been a slow progress, as such things are, until it goes fast. Fast was this weekend. I had one room mostly done and decided to hit it the rest of the way on Saturday. And then a friend called up asking if I wanted to play a game. Well… yeah. And the room I’d just cleared was my old game room. So for first time in the better part of a decade, I just had friends over in my old game room. That is pretty awesome.