The New Rumors of things soon to come

I haven’t been in the cavern much lately. My sister, fachia, checked in a few times, though. I did get to attend the first book club meeting for Myss Terrie’s Bevin. It was really nice, even though there was only three of us. It’s a start though. I think we’ll end up having the meetings around the middle of the month. Fachia’s excited about it. She hopes to be able to use her bevin as a meeting place for fiction and non-fiction writers.

The DRC is gearing up to open more pubs for the guilds. We think there will not be an age to explore for at least another month. This is bringing mixed reactions from explorers. We keep getting promised to have more ages available to us, but it doesn’t happen. I realize restoration takes awhile and that there are a lot of things to be covered before an age can be declared safe to explore. Even the DRC is subject to red tape.

I respect the DRC, Yeesha, and the other explorers - and know they have good intentions, but wonder who to really trust.

The DRC is going through internal struggles, the bahro are fighting one another and we are in danger of being in the middle, and it seems that the very people who are able to let us know what’s going on from Yeesha disappear after making small announcements and dropping hints of things to come.

We’ve been told someone else will return. Many speculate that it will be Dr. Watson or even Engberg.

We’ve had hints of deception about ... but not from whom. Who is really the controlling force here? Who can we truly believe? I cannot tell.

Some explorers are upset that there are no new ages opening soon - that we’re being told about. Others are cautiously trusting the DRC on this matter. Even for them, it’s taking a lot of control to keep their faith in the DRC.

My conspiracy theories have not been abated, although Phil’s appearance has helped. I am not that angry at Sharper, but I do not believe he should be allowed loose to make his own decisions, especially with a gun. Phil had better be talking some sense into this guy, if the DRC will not ban him from the cavern and ages.

And that still bothers me - why the DRC doesn’t ban him. They have an agenda involving him and I’m not satisfied that they are not hiding it from us. Something is wrong there. Not sure what ... maybe that’s the deception we’re getting leaks about.

What if it’s Sharper who deceiving? Whatever agenda the DRC has for keeping Sharper around - whatever agreement they made with him - he could be breaking it. He was never a strong DRC person and refused to be a member or even considered one of them. And he did become overwhelmed by Yeesha during the journey and close to Phil before his disappearance. What if he is in some arrangement with the DRC and he goes against it now?

I don’t believe the deception will come from the DRC - they’ve always done whatever they need to do for funding. Although, having an arrangement with Sharper against the wishes of the explorers could be construed as deception.

The guilds could be a good thing or a bad thing. If the guild pubs are open to all and if the guild members are friendly and welcoming and forthright with all, it could be a good thing. I hope so. There’s enough speculation on how bad it could turn out, but not from me. I prefer to learn more about them first.

Myss Terrie’s Bevin have enacted their own guilds - I’m a member of two. They are internal guilds only for the Bevin, but others have taken offense to them.

One of the arguments is that it’s disrespectful to the DRC because they have the guild structure. If we were using those guilds for purposes outside of the bevin, where they interfere with other structures, then I’d agree. But we’re not. It’s for our bevin and our bevin mates’ benefits only.

Another argument about this from me is that there are explorers who wanted to form the guilds themselves in the cavern and tried going through the appropriate channels to get DRC approval. They never got it. And then the next thing they know, the DRC announces that they are forming guilds within the cavern - without even letting these folks know.

Now I call that disrespectful.