Thunderflash

Tonight I was at a dinner at which the Thunderer was honoured. He spoke briefly in reply, but his words, though slowed with great age, were sharp and clear.

It was interesting to see how his self-avowedly secular ethical system always came back to one idea: the state is bigger than you — and so, what you do should serve the state well. It appeared to us, listening amidst the ruins of the day, that the greatest crime was to make the state look bad, or otherwise to do it harm.

In these days, when his powerful allies Black Diamond and the Gnome are dead and gone, it is a great thing to see his frail frame unleash an echo of the ancient force that swept all before him and established a legacy in the region. Many of us, mere mortals, do not agree with him or the way he used that force; but what will replace it in this new world that even he acknowledged in his speech?