SKREKARYJAVEK

[Kotenku]

[tface=salt]SKREKARYJAVEK[/tface]

It is Scrave's word, and its meaning does not translate well to your silly and inadequate language. It means many things, but it embodies one principle, and it is what makes Scrave into Scrave, instead of Scrave into the silly Duke of Wind, who flails and boasts.
Let this book explain it to you then.

Skrekaryjavek is the challenge Scrave sets for himself

Skrekaryjavek is not the path often travelled. It is not the path less travelled. It is the path untravelled.

Skrekaryjavek is not easy. Skrekaryjavek is not smart. It is not the best way. It is Scrave's way.

---

On a deep and boundless ocean, the Goliath Hrnghibrblfard was sailing a stoneship west, in search of the first pillar of God. His mithril-line was cast into the deepest depths of the world, for he believed the first pillar could be found there below.

He sailed, and fished for many years, but did not starve, for to Hrnghibrblfard, years to him were as days to us, and he occasionally became peckish, but was always otherwise satiated by his all-consuming mission. It came about one day as the sun rose to the great warrior's unblinking eyes, that his hook had caught on something, and the stoneship was being pulled under.

Attending quickly, he grabbed hold of the line and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and as the hook came free, and his line suddenly grew slack in his hands, the sky seemed to explode around him.

A deceitful dragon, born from the void of time's beginning, as old as Hrnghibrblfard himself, chose this time to do battle with the Goliath.
Hrnghibrblfard was in great danger, but he believed in things greater than himself. He was a warrior of principle, and so he decided immediately how he should finish his opponent, for the idea of defeat was alien to his superior mind.

The battle waged on for many days, and Hrnghibrblfard's most worthy crew grew weary, and the dragon grew ever more wroth, and the Goliath was patient, and kept the ship aligned.

Sensing the chance he waited for coming close, he howled into the wind, and the Great Roc, Kiporolox grabbed him up, Harpoon in hand. Bellowing his challenge, which was heard from four directions, (as his voice carried around the world,) he called upon the mindless Dragon's attention from above.

He flew from the aft of the ship to the bow and ever upward, until the Dragon's maw gaped below him, and he dropped, the point of his harpoon aiming ever for the Dragon's innards.
He was wreathed in fire, but did not notice.
Finally, putting his weight behind his great harpoon, backed by the force of the sky which him down,  and buoyed by the sea that held up the Stoneship, and empowered by the dragon's own fire, Hrnghibrblfard tore throw the Dragon, scourging it from within. So it was that the four elements conspired around the Goliath, and the Great Dragon was slain. In the end, nothing was left aboard the Stoneship but black ash, the Goliath, and his stalwart crew.

It is possible that Hrnghibrblfard may have won much more simply, and much sooner, but that is not the art.

An easy victory is not Skrekaryjavek.

There are more tales. They will come too, in time.

[Kotenku]

There was once a small, cretinous thing, which was very jealous of Hrnghibrblfard's great power.

It challenged him ceaselessly. Every day, it demanded some new contest, and every day, no matter what rules it set, it was defeated soundly by the Great Goliath.

The cretin cried, and wailed, and schemed constantly, trying to find Hrnghibrblfard's weakness, and to exploit it.

For his part, the Great Goliath never considered refusing one of the cretin's challenges. Many questioned him, demanding to know why he wasted his time on the cretin's challenges. It was well-known that Hrnghibrblfard was devoted utterly to improving himself, and none could see any benefit to the Goliath for indulging the cretin's madness.

One day, the challenge was to see who could dig the most holes of a certain size, in a certain space of time. The holes were to be so small, that the Goliath had trouble digging them, and the cretin was advantaged greatly. In the end, Hrnghibrblfard won by a very narrow margin, and the cretin met with despair. It ran to a cliff, chased by the Goliath's booming laughter, and thought very strongly about casting itself onto the jagged rocks below.

Hrnghibrblfard saw this, and was distressed. "Cretinous thing!" he said. "Do not despair! I do not laugh at your defeat, I laugh at my victory, because you have nearly won this day! How shall you go to your death, when you have not defeated me? Come, let me teach you." And the cretin came away from the cliff, and looked up at the Goliath, with bitter thoughts, and venomous eyes.

"You lose every day for many reasons. You do not put enough thought into your challenges. You are not stronger, or faster, or larger, than me. You do not have followers, or friends, and there is only one being who respects you, and it is not you, and you do not know who it is.

"But all those things are secondary! Your fault is that, though you challenge me every day, you do not challenge yourself! You do not grow stronger, or faster, or more respected, because you do not try to. You think these things will come from defeating me, when these are things you must do first!
"The lumberjack does not build a house, and then decide he will chop his own lumber for its walls. A plowman does not put a cart before a horse.
"So hear me now, Cretin, because I say only one being respects you, and it is not you. It is me! Your devotion to this single victory is something worthy of respect and admiration. Never before have I seen one so dedicated to defeating me in the face of so much defeat."

At this, the cretin's eyes welled with tears, and he said "Then, reviled Hrnghibrblfard, I will not challenge you tomorrow, and I will not jump from this cliff, because I see that you would jump also, and get to the ground before me. I will go elsewhere, and I will hone a skill, and one day I will defeat you, and you will have me as the greatest of your followers, and the first to have bested you in any contest."

And Hrnghibrblfard replied, "If that is your wish, then let it be so. Go, and I will look forward to your great challenge."

And seven years later, the Goliath and the Cretin met again, and had a challenge of singing. And on this day, the Cretin, once so foul of voice, sung so beautifully that Hrnghibrblfard was defeated. And that was Skrekaryjavek.

---

There is an important lesson here, which Scrave tries to embody: Our greatest enemies are our best friends, for it is they who show us our weaknesses, when no others will. Relish their challenges. Give them the power to defeat us, and then rise above. That is the soul of Skrekaryjavek.

Furthermore, there are no problems which cannot be solved by throwing boulders.

[Kotenku]

Once, Hrnghibrblfard waged war on a foe who could not be harmed by strength of arm or power of spirit. This war was fought not for wealth or land or for any reason except that Hrnghibrblfard wished to prove himself equal to all things, for in this tale, he had not yet done so.

This foe was known as the Golem, for the theurgy of its craft meant that while few had the strength to damage its molten hide, none had the power to prevent its immediate recovery. From the earth, from the sea, and from the sun itself, the Golem's body was composed, and from these things it was immediately replenished.

Hrnghibrblfard railed against the Golem's impenetrability for a very long time, before determining that his efforts were of no use. While his blows would strike loose great chunks of concrete, blast away tsunamis of mist, they could not dim the light at the heart of the creation. He could not even cause it to turn aside or falter in its steady stride. Ever forward, and always along the beach, its feet awash in the surf of high or low tide.

While Hrnghibrblfard attacked, the Golem did occasionally strike back, but had no greater effect than a horse's tail does, swatting at a fly. For this, Hrnghibrblfard was dismayed, weary, and furious, but essentially unharmed.

As has occasionally been the case for Hrnghibrblfard, he had to stop and think of a new tack for the challenge that walked unharmed, before him.

Hrnghibrblfard asked "What is your purpose?", and there was silence from the Golem. He asked "Where have you come from?", and there was silence. "By whose hand were you crafted?", and finally the Golem paused, as if in careful consideration.

Eventually it lifted an arm wreathed in a whirling fist of sea-foam, and pointed ahead. It spoke with a voice like the heart of a furnace, and the roaring of the tide, and said "I will go that way.", it twisted and pointed backward, "I came from that way," it continued, "and I was crafted by no hand." Content, it resumed its march.

Hrnghibrblfard was puzzled by this. The beach they stood upon circled an island, and as the Golem appeared intent to keep itself no more than ankle-deep in the ocean, he asked, "For how long will you walk? What do you seek, walking as you do?"

There was silence, as the Goliath expected, though perhaps it was shorter then, than the first time. Eventually the Golem answered "I will walk until the sand becomes the sea, or the sea becomes the sand."

At this, Hrnghibrblfard pondered, and then roared with a laugh that shook the trees at the heart of the isle. "Then allow me to help you, if you wish an end to your journey, you need only turn around."

No sooner had Hrnghibrblfard said this, than the Golem struck at him, and knocked him into the surf. The Goliath was breathless and pained, as the Golem continued to walk forward, heeding nothing but its own uncanny motivation.

Hrnghibrblfard lay there in the sand and surf for some time, perplexed not only by the ease with which the Golem dispatched him, but at the ease with which the Golem dispatched what ought have been the answer to his problems. Resolved once more, Hrnghibrblfard schemed again, and discovered a plan that would solve the obstinacy of the Golem.

Working day and night for a week in the very spot where the Golem knocked him flat, Hrnghibrblfard dug a hole a ten yards wide and a hundred yards deep. Water flowed within it, and there was sand and stone aplenty deep within. Finally, he spoke to the sand, knowing it as the descendant of stone, and said "Close", and the hole was covered.

Hrnghibrblfard stood near the hole, and waited for the Golem to pass again. He waited a day, and then a week, and finally espied the Golem approaching. Eventually it stood within the range of the hole Hrnghibrblfard created. The Goliath asked "I see that the stone and sea which comprise your form contest with one another for dominance, as the ocean and beach do as well. Which do you believe will win out?"

Anticipating hesitation, Hrnghibrblfard was pleased when the Golem stopped altogether, caught up in the question.

With a silent command from the Goliath, the earth crumbled beneath the Golem's feet, and it tumbled to a great depth. Ocean rained down upon it, and it remained still. Standing at the bottom of the whole, the Golem seemed at war with itself, locked in indecision, it seemed to be unaware entirely now of what transpired.

Hrnghibrblfard began piling in loose rubble atop the Golem, burying it there as it debated, blind and deaf to its own peril. The light in its heart faded and grew dim, and eventually, Hrnghibrblfard could not see it any more.

His victory celebration is a legend unto itself, and does not belong here.

---

The lesson here has less to do with Hrnghibrblfard, and more to do with the Golem. Perhaps it will be well-heeded.