The Ether Equations
by Paul Franklin

It took Greg seven months to devise the equations. He worked on them in his off hours and spare time. Aided by a suite of mathematics programs and specialized applications, he came up with a solution.

Greg examined the numbers on the screen and mentally went through the calculation for each one. They all seemed to be right, although he had more faith in his computer’s ability to provide the right numbers than his own.

Turning in the swivel chair, Greg stood up and walked over to the tangled mess of wires on the floor of the garage. The bird’s nest of cables curled around a triangular wooden frame assembled on the floor. At each corner of the triangle, a small LED panel displayed numbers that corresponded to the numbers on the computer screen. Walking around to each panel, he inspected them and double checked them against the computer.

Greg walked out of the garage, closing the door behind him. It was several minutes later when the doorbell rang. He put the three beers he was holding down on the counter. Opening the door to Sandeep’s smiling face. Greg poked his head out the door. “Where’s Rachel?” he asked.

“Well, hello to you too,” Sandeep said. His midwestern American accent threw people off at first because of his obvious Indian heritage.

“Oh hey, Sandeep, sorry. I thought you were going to pick up Rachel?” Greg asked.

“I was going to, but it seems Rachel and Mr. Wonderful had other plans for tonight,” Sandeep said. “So, you got beer or what?”

“Yeah, come on in, they’re in the kitchen,” Greg said as he lifted his arm from the doorway. Following Sandeep into the half-lit kitchen, Greg leaned up against the counter, across from his friend.

Sandeep popped the top on one of the still cold beers on the counter. “You’re not having one?” he asked just before he raised the bottle to his lips and took a long pull.

“Nah, I’ll wait until after,” Greg said. Greg’s watch began beeping. He looked down at it, hit a button and it went quiet. “It’s time,” he said.

Sandeep grinned. “Ooh, how ominous.”

“Yeah, ominous,” Greg said with a grin. “Let’s go. After you.” He swept his hands in a wide gesture for Sandeep to head into the garage.

They walked out into the garage; Greg closing the connecting door behind them and locking it.

“What the hell?” Sandeep said. He stood staring at the wooden frame and the mass of wires and electrical equipment surrounding it. “Now I know why you’ve been parking your POS car in the driveway, but seriously, what the hell?”

“Yeah, it’s not very pretty, but it’ll work for tonight,” Greg said. “Okay, you know I’ve been telling you that I’ve been working on a series of mathematic equations?” He sat down in a chair next to the desk, gesturing to the other chair.

Sandeep sat down and swiveled to face his friend. “Dude, you’ve been ‘working’ on math since I met you in college. I was always surprised that you weren’t a math whiz at some school or accounting firm instead of a computer programmer,” he said. “When you start talking about transformations and number theory I just tune out. Sorry.”

“Nah, I get it. Math isn’t for everyone. But this time, I’ve actually managed to accomplish something. Something big. You won’t believe me now, but in ten minutes, you will.”

Sandeep stopped playing with the mouse on the desk and looked up. “What’s going on here? You’re starting to give me the willies.”

“All you have to do is watch. We’ll talk about it afterwards,” Greg said. “It’s time.” Sliding over to the computer, Greg tapped a couple keys and hit the ENTER key with finality.

There was a small hum as power flowed into the six nodes around the triangle. The hum continued but soon there were intermittent pops coming from the air around the wooden frame. There was a louder pop and the entire room thrummed with energy. Greg could feel it coming from the triangle on the floor. A faint smell like a spring rain filled the room. A figure started to form inside the wooden triangle.

The figure was an older woman, dressed in flowing robes. It appeared to be composed of smoke and darkness, but the smoke only filled the outline of the figure. Roiling patterns of light and dark coursed through it.

“Hello,” Greg said.

Sandeep still sat in the chair, his one hand holding his beer bottle motionless as he stared at the apparition. “What the –?”

The figure turned towards them until it faced them. The face and body were clearly visible now, the colors so vibrant they bordered on the surreal. Sandeep’s face went slack and one hand started to shake. “Naniji?” he said.

“Sa — n — de — ep,” the figure mouthed. The sounds reached them in stuttering segments making it sound like she was talking in slow motion.

The figure began to deflate as the form dissipated, growing less and less distinct. The humming sound died out and soon the garage was completely silent.

“That was my grandma,” Sandeep said.

Greg couldn’t contain the smile on his face. “Yeah, wild, aye?”

“She’s been dead for three and a half years.”

“I know,” Greg replied. “The equations are a way to contact the spirits of the dead.”

Sandeep looked over at his friend. “You know, this changes everything.”

One of the things that I am really starting to appreciate about comics is the artwork. It’s something I’ve always been drawn to, but nowadays, I seem to notice it more. Good or bad artwork can make or break a good title. When I stopped buying single issues it was because certain comics quality of artwork went so horribly bad that I didn’t even want to read them, despite the strength of their writing.

I’m not a collector of comics, I’m definitely in the reading camp. That’s why the current comic market is something of a double edged sword for me. As much as I love to read the stories of these larger than life characters, the prices on their stories continue to skyrocket.

The average price for a comic from one of the large publishers (DC, Marvel, Dark Horse) is $2.99 to $3.99. That’s for a 32-page comic book with 4-6 pages of ads, depending on the publisher and the title. I’m paying $2.99 for about 28 pages of material. On average, it will take me 5-20 minutes to read a comic. Assuming I read slower, savoring every word balloon and every splash page, that means that I would pay roughly $9.00/hour for comic book entertainment. By that calculation, that makes them even more expensive than movies, and far less expensive than the overpriced novels sold nowadays.

Some of this can be mitigated through the purchase of graphic novels and pulp-printed B&W (occasionally color) collections of older material. This is one of the ways that I’m catching up on a lot of the older comic material that I never read in my misspent youth is to purchase Marvel and DC “phone book” collections. These are reprint collections printed on cheap paper in B&W that collect entire runs of comics. I have several of these in my library including ones for Doctor Strange, the Savage Sword of Conan (great buy from Dark Horse, mostly because the original art/release was in B&W anyway), Sgt. Rock, Doc Savage, and John Carter of Mars. These make excellent travel companions because they are 300-500 pages each, contain entire issues minus the ads and letters pages (regrettably), and are a good bargain at $18-$20 each. This is somewhat in contrast to what I mentioned above about artwork, but one of the interesting things is that good artwork shines, even when it’s not fully reproduced.

Graphic novels are also going up in price, but are still much more reasonable than hunting down individual issues. Since they collect entire story arcs into one place, you don’t have to usually worry about tracking down crossovers or elusive low print-run issues. I don’t mind buying graphic novels, but some do start to stretch the boundaries of acceptable price, especially some of the Marvel titles.

Rational calculations frequently do not keep company with the short-lived pleasure centers of our brains. I will continue to buy and enjoy comics, but there will be fewer that make it into my shopping bag every Wednesday.

How?
My SWV is going to be built in layers. Using different levels of spiritual symbolism to represent the ideas I hold dear. Some people will have many layers, while others will only have a few and others won’t have any layers at all. It’s going to be different for everyone.

Why?
Building an SWV is a good way for me to really come to grips with all the things I believe in. Having spent most of my spiritual life as a Zen Buddhist, I want to expand that view to incorporate so many of the other things that I believe.

When?
I’ll never stop building my SWV. It will constantly be changing as I add and subtract elements that work better or aren’t working. It’s an ongoing effort, but it’s also a labor of love. Building my SWV will take the rest of my life. Hopefully.

Who?
This SWV is going to be exclusively my own creation, but also the creation of everyone I know and have known. I will incorporate people both real and fictional into these ideas. It’s important to me to not limit myself in any way. Every person I’ve ever come into contact with in my life has impacted me in some way.

Where?
My SWV exists in only one place. In my mind. Even as I am writing this down, the SWV is changing. It would be a never-ending task to document my SWV. That’s not to say that I won’t try, but the only true version of it will always exist in my mind.

So, in this series of articles, I’m going to walk through the building of my own personal spiritual world view.

I think the most important thing to remember about all of this is that it’s all a placeholder or framework for what I consider my true pursuit in life. The pursuit to be a better person. To be the best human I can be while I exist on this Earth. That’s the point of all this, and if something in my SWV doesn’t fulfill that purpose, then it doesn’t belong. I will talk more about what does and does not belong in a future article.

The book I’ve been reading that started all of this is this:
Ascension Magick

Battle for Moscow is an introductory wargame included with issue #24 of C3i from RBM Studios. The game has been published in a couple of different incarnations throughout the years, however, this is the first time I’ve ever played it. Currently it is being published by Victory Point Games along with several expansions using the same system that include other operations on the eastern front during WWII.

The game simulates Operation Typhoon which started in late 1941 as the Germans made one more push to capture the Russian city of Moscow. This final push was meant to finally break the back of the Russian army.

The production value of the game is excellent, as usual from the team at RBM Studios and Victory Point Games. The map is a nice glossy paper map with large hexes and counters that fit nicely in the hexes. The CRT and turn sequence are printed on both ends of the map so both players have their own reference. There is also a half-page Terrain Effects Chart (TEC) with the turn track on it. All of the parts of the game are in full color, including the rules so that there is no mistaking unit identities or terrain features. Counters are 1/2 inch counters in full color. Red for the Russians and grey for the Germans. Standard NATO symbology is used on the counters.

I think this is a good idea to get people used to the idea of NATO symbols. NATO symbology is not standard in wargames, but I find I prefer it to any other type of counter just because once you start to learn the symbols, it’s easier to identify units on the board as you get more familiar with them.

Each counter in the game represents a corps which equals about 20,000-40,000 men and all of their equipment. Players represent the German Commander or the Russian Commander in control of their respective sides. There are only two types of units in the game, panzers and infantry.

The rules come in a 4-page booklet. All four pages are rules, but there are a couple of paragraphs on the history of the game, the conflict, some balancing options and a note from the designer. I appreciate the inclusion of the balancing rules, which I think might help players enjoy this game more, depending on their wargaming experience level.

The rules are straightforward and easy to read. They use a mixture of classical case structure and paragraph structure for the rules. There is a bit of “chrome” in the rules, more specifically, rules that change the basic nature of the game so that it feels more like the conflict it is simulating. These extra rules aren’t difficult to deal with and seamlessly fit into the game. I didn’t have any circumstances that came up that weren’t covered in the rules.

A nice feature is the added rules that move this beyond an ultra-simple example of a wargame and into an actual game that can be enjoyed by both players despite what looks like an initial lopsided conflict. Not all is as it seems during the initial setup.

Some key elements of the game to notice is the turn order and the terrain effects. Both of these will dictate how each player takes advantage of their sides capabilities. Each side has different advantages and disadvantages above and beyond the simple combat factors on each counter.

The German player goes first, skipping the first two phases of his turn because of the setup. However, the German player gets Panzer units which can move before combat takes place. This is vital to the German exploitation of Russian weakness in their lines and defenses. Panzer units are the primary benefit for the German units. Their fast movement and double movement phases are what will get you into Moscow in time.

The Russians want to take advantage of terrain, railroads, and their replacements. By maintaining a solid front and supplying it with fresh units as much as possible, the Russian player can keep the Germans from waltzing all over Russia like they owned the place. The Russian defensive lines even up the odds even against three or four German units. Even when a Russian unit gets overwhelmed by a sea of gray uniforms, have no fear, you get plenty of replacements every turn.

There is no stacking and no markers in the game. This means is only ever one counter per hex, another wonderful feature. Players don’t need to worry about knocking over counters when trying to calculate combat odds or conduct a retreat.

In the 25 years since this was first designed, it’s obvious that the game has been honed to a very fine edge. Players will find themselves with a variety of winning and losing strategies to pursue. The Russian player will feel like they are behind the 8-ball at the beginning of the game, while the German player will quickly find out that the Russian replacements slow down their advance a lot quicker than expected.

This game can easily be played in under 60 minutes between two players who are familiar with the rules. One player teaching another could still get this finished in under an hour.

There is a VASSAL module of the Victory Point Games version of Battle for Moscow. They did a good job of adapting it and it looks quite good. I used the paper copy of the game that came with C3i #25 for my review. Here is a screenshot of the Victory Point Games VASSAL module.

Victory Point Games VASSAL module of Battle for Moscow

There are a few minor issues with the game. I think the primary detraction would be that the mid-turns (turns 4-5) might slow down a bit more than the tension filled first turns and the last turn. This might turn off some players who are hoping for a battle filled with casualties and huge swings back and forth. The CRT isn’t very deadly, especially to the Germans, so not nearly as many units will be removed from the game as you would expect.

The only other thing is that it is very clearly a wargame, and does not pretend to be anything else. You could mask the units and change it into a fantasy setting, but I don’t think that would be nearly as interesting nor as balanced. One of the reasons for this is the terrain on the map. The game relies very heavily on the terrain as a balancing factor for the two armies, and changing too much of that will ruin the game. The small map and limited setup options means that the game could have limited replayability. This may be a feature too, since the game is designed to lure people into the wargaming hobby.

Straightforward mechanics and light amounts of chrome really make this a great little game. It’s going to be too light for hardcore grognards generally, but they might be talked into it if you convince them you want to get into wargaming. There is just enough complexity in the rules to make it fun and replayable. It’s unlikely that this will be a frequent visitor to your gaming table, but it would probably be fun to break out in a cafe or dinner table when you have time to kill with another wargamer.

Further recommendations: Frank Chadwick’s Campaigns in Russia series, Red Star Rising by Multiman Publishing, Eastern Front by Avalanche Press

The comic starts with a miniseries that depicts the conflict between Tarot and her sister Raven Hex. Raven is plotting to take revenge on the normals, while Tarot seeks a balance between the world of everyday people and the hidden magickal aspects of it. The entire miniseries is contained in this first volume along with a one-off story and a small 4-page story. The miniseries doesn’t present any surprises in storytelling, but is enjoyable. Most of the main characters are introduced in the first couple issues and the story has plenty of action.

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose excels in several areas. It delivers on its cover promise of Tarot imagery, buxom women, supernatural action, and more buxom women. Most people seeing the covers at the local comic store would be tempted to judge it as another one of “those comics”, referring to the period in comics when covers had many overly endowed superheroines. It’s not too far off, but Tarot does manage to tell a good story and create interesting characters.

The stories in Tarot tend to have a message and that message is sometimes a bit heavy handed and repeated more frequently than needed. As would be expected, the message is the advocation of the Pagan/Wiccan lifestyle and religious views. This wasn’t an issue for me, but it might be a problem for a new reader. I expect anyone purchasing these books shouldn’t be surprised by their content, it is called Tarot Witch of the Black Rose after all.

Jim Balent is an excellent artist, even if the proportions on his women are more than exaggerated. In fact, they are quite ridiculous at times, and aren’t always consistent. His action sequences tend to fall down as they don’t have as much flow as they could have. Frequently panels will get cluttered with iconography or background elements that don’t necessarily add to the events happening. This is probably the weakest single aspect of the series. A cleaner format might help people appreciate the comic as a whole instead of as eye candy.

The storytelling is decent, but not groundbreaking for the first volume. It follows a predictable arc that most readers will have figured out before they get halfway through. That’s okay, I think the titilliation factor is still pretty high for the first few issues so the story doesn’t interfere too much with the lush visuals. Jim dallies with the R-rating by hiding the areola and leaving only statuary and other inanimate female depictions fully exposed. All of the women have something convenient covering them at opportune times, sometimes to the detriment of the actual panel when it really feels forced. It’s too bad he didn’t just aim for the Adult rating out of the gate.

Each issue is usually released with a limited edition lithograph, all of these are reproduced in the back of the graphic novel in smaller form, so it’s nice to see what we missed the first time around. The only thing I wish they would have included is the “Sword Girl” from each issue, which is a special feature in each issue of Tarot that has a picture of a female reader posing with a broadsword and surrounded by cards from a Tarot deck. It’s a fun way to check out new Tarot decks and just add a bit more eye candy into the series.

This is an entertaining graphic novel that’s entertaining and mildly educational about the Pagan/Wiccan lifestyle and religion. The story is predictable but fun, and since there is enough material out now, it’s a good place to start with and see the evolution of the series. This is Broadsword’s main print comic, so it’s easy for them to focus on this series alone and put their full creative efforts into it. This means a regular release schedule, plenty of extras to enhance followers and entice new readers. If you’re looking for some fun eye candy with a supernatural/occult angle to it, this might be a series you will want to check out.

You’ll have to follow the links in the beginning of this review to check out the artwork for Tarot Witch of the Black Rose. Jim doesn’t want anyone using it without permission, which I perfectly understand. I had planned to use a shot of the cover of the first trade paperback in this review, but we’ll have to do without pictures for this one.

Further Recommendations: Tarot Witch of the Black Rose vols. 1-9 available now, Basement Comics Cavewoman series, and Image Comics Witchblade series

Designer: Joseph Miranda
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes

Jena 20 is a quick-playing game of the battles of Jena and Auerstadt on October 14, 1806. One player takes command of the French army, and the other player takes over the Prussian armies of Brunswick and Hohenlohe. It is part of the Napoleonic 20 series from Victory Point Games.

The series rules are 8 pages long and they state that the aim of the game is to never have more than 20 active units on the board at one time, hence Jena 20.

There is one page of special rules for the game. The rules are simple enough that players won’t need to refer to them after the first few turns, except the occasional special circumstance.

As one would expect from the low counter density and the size of the battles (between the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, there were almost 250,000 combatants!), counters represent a large amount of men. The units in this game of the series represent Corps.

The map isn’t that large, so it’s easy to grasp the sweeping movements of the armies on the field. The French start with just a few units on the board, making it seem like they are in trouble at the start of the game. The Prussians have twice the number of units and command of most of the field, but all of these things change as the game proceeds. Despite this apparent advantage/disadvantage, the game does play out as being well balanced. The French player has a lot of work to do, but the Prussians can’t just sit back and wait for the French to do all the heavy lifting either.

Controlling usage of the morale track is key to playing this game well. Each player has a number of morale points that fluctuate throughout the game. These points can be spent as a resource to balance out combat odds or as payment for committing Guards units and reserves. However, they are difficult to come by in quantity, so it’s vital to spend them wisely.

Each game is guaranteed to be different because of the addition of the Random Event cards. There are only twelve cards, but they are recycled at the end of each night round, so it’s entirely possible to not see all of them in a single game. Each card is either applicable to both players (e.g. Fog) or army specific (Saxe-Weimar Cavalry). These cards seemed to balance out the game in some areas, and they are specific to each game in the series also, so they tie into the feel and the flow of the game.

While at first glance, the game seems simplistic, the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes. Players will find themselves making a lot of tough decisions in this game, despite the low counter numbers and the size of the map. Choosing between defense in one area and attacking in another is a frequent conundrum. This game requires a lot of thinking and it does so right from the start.

I think the inclusion of the morale track and the Random Event cards can give this game the appearance of a war-themed Eurogame, but I never got that feeling from it. It always played like a wargame, and the entire time I was making decisions based on tactical decisions, whether it was advantageous terrain or cutting off the enemy from his retreat path. It’s decisions like these that make this game so enjoyable. The limited time (there are only thirteen turns) and the limited number of units make sure that you are using every resource to the maximum.

This is an enjoyable wargame that fits the bill of being playable in an evening. Both players can try each side to get the most out of the game, and it has great replayability. The game plays solo but mostly as an exercise to test strategies against a real opponent. Jena 20 fits into the beer and pretzels wargame category, and it is a very welcome entry in that category.

Further Recommendations: Victory Point Games Napoleonic 20 Series (see website) Decision Games Folio Series (Liepzig, Marengo), Clash of Arms Games Campaigns of Napoleon System Days Series (see BGG entry).

Here is a first shot before I get started.

I ended up using the awl I purchased from Hollander’s a while ago. It’s thinner and has a better handle on it. Ome thing they don’t mention in the instruction book is that you need something to punch all these holes on. I flipped over the box that the kit came in and used that.

This entire book is composed of two covers, two flyleafs, and twenty single pages. A rather short book, but that’s becausd the paper used in Coptic binding style books has to be much heavier so that it doesn’t tear.

One of the problems I’ve had with threading the needles for bookbinding is getting the heavy duty waxed thread through the eye of the needle. I found an easy way to fix that now. I used my bone folder to flatten out one end of the thread and since it’s waxed, it stays flattened and slips right through. A helpful hint for those just getting started.

The first holes sewn through the cover.

Unfortunately, there is not much to see as the work continues. Maybe when I have about half of the book assembled, I will take another picture. So far it is a lot of threading through the paper in a simple but careful manner. I did not use the thread they sent with the kit because I wasn’t fond of the color. The covers are white, the flyleafs are black, and the pages are off-white. The thread with the kit was purple, but I have an off-white thread I use for binding folios that I thought would look nicer.

This is the flyleaf, the cover and six interior pages done. The spine braids aren’t looking too bad for my first attempt.

The completed spine:

The front cover:

The inside front cover:

The inside back cover:

Finally, the interior:

And that’s a wrap. Let’s hear it for insomnia, jet lag, and Lemon Chiffon Rooibos tea.

The Poblet monastery is far enough outside Barcelona to not be mobbed by crowds and yet it was very well put together. All of the tours of the monastery are guided, and our tour guide did the entire tour in Catalunyan. We made do with the few words we could understand and a small pamphlet in English explaining the different areas of the monastery. The monastery dates from the 13th century and has been updated into the 18th century. It was an amazing tour, and I would definitely recommend it. Rain and all.

After that, it was another drive, this time to our stop for the night, Valencia. I have a few observations about this. First, the drive down the Costa del Sol is not worth the toll roads you have to pay. You will only get a few glimpses of the ocean, and most of the majestic views you will get are inland. Next, Spain is crazy with industrialization. I have seen some of the largest warehouses just randomly sprinkled around the countryside. It’s kind of wild to see them just pop up from the landscape in the midst of a scenic valley view.

Valencia was, like many large cities, similar to many other large cities. We were only staying the night so we didn’t explore at all. We left early the next morning to get to our next stop. The much anticipated Almond Tree Villa outside Lorca, Spain.

I can say that it’s definitely worth seeing the museum, but getting there is really a toss-up. It’s expensive no matter what you do. So, just suck it up and do it if you’re ever in Barcelona. Describing the Dali museum is difficult. It’s Dali-esque, and if you know what that means, then you have a good idea of what an entire museum devoted to Dali would be like.

The ride back to Barcelona was pretty straight forward and easy enough. Our Garmin direction finder can be a bit of a pill at times, but it held up most of the time.

The rest of the evening was spent wandering the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona and getting rained on. We found some cool old cathedral structures and managed to avoid dinner again. We also passed on our chance to go to a Flamenco dance show tonight. We’re hoping to catch one later in the trip.

Dinner in Spain is kind of a hassle. You have a couple of basic choices in the tourist areas. Tapas and paellas. Tapas, despite the exotic name, are finger/bar foods served in portions. Paella is a massive rice dish with meat and vegetables. The other option is a three course meal including a dessert. So, we dodged all of these and opted for gelatos for dinner.

We asked the desk clerk the best way to get to the Sagrada Familia and he told us an easy way to get there. One Metro ride later and we joined the block and a half long line for entry. The wait was about 45 minutes. Once inside we had to do most of the discovery on our own. They are sorely lacking in signage for that place. There are multiple museums, alcoves, nooks, and crannies to explore while you’re there, but you’ll have to find them on your own. We spent a good part of our day at the site and then caught a quick lunch at a nearby sandwich shop.

Back to the room to regroup and choose our next destination. We chose the easy way out and decided to relax and try to find the open air market we visited yesterday. We didn’t find the market, but we did have our first experience with tapas. A rather nice looking place called L’Egipte seemed like a good candidate, so we sat down for a meal of tapas.

Our conclusion was that we probably chose the wrong place. The food was okay, but I think the ambiance was richer than the food. It isn’t a place I would recommend to future travelers. Then we decided to call it a night and headed back to the room, but not before a well-timed gelato stop.

This is our last full day in Barcelona, and I can’t say that I’ll miss it that much. I found the crowds of tourists rude and pushy. Getting around on the streets is an exercise much akin to being a pinball. The smells wafting around the streets smell more of sewage than some of the delicious foods being cooked. All the wait staff and information people we have met have been wonderful, but the crowds are difficult to navigate at best.