The Xaltis Chronicles
Giving infractions is a little subjective. I will admit. Let that introduction take us into our story. It is a simple story, but the implications are numerous: about the love of your country, the oppression from authority, and the resistance of one single man.
Anderson noticed Snowball’s signature. He’d seen it a couple of times before, and was familiar with the policy of always asking people to remove it. “It must be taken it down! Snowball? Who is this Snowball? Why he is as equal as anyone, even when some are more equal than others.” Anderson approached Snowball, as was the custom.
Please change your signature. The content in it is not appropriate for the boards.
But Snowball believed in freedom of speech. He did not understand why it was inappropriate. “I have my rights! You cannot force everyone to obey your needless rules! Have you no soul? If you censor this, what shant you censor whence?!”
Anderson, quick on his feet as always, improvised a response. Although he knew the motives were to restrict everything into the mumbo-jumbo of “Plusgood” and “Doubleplusgood,” he also knew he could not allow anyone to know as such. Cunningly he lied,
I mean she cups her breast, fondles her inner thighs, shows the lower portion of her butt, dances on a stripper pole, and removes her panties. It has way too many sexual overtones to be allowed on smashboards. Strip teases are not allowed, no matter how animated. >_>;
Snowball, however, was not to be out-cunned. Realizing this was only an attempt at reducing society to mindless robots, he replies “Oh certainly sir. Of course sir. I will remove it, sir, when I get the chance, sir. Please sir. I want no trouble sir.”
This initially seems to work. Anderson is thrown off the scent. Time passes. A full 24 hours tick by, as Snowball anxiously huddles in the corner of his home, making preparations and hoping no persecution will come his way from the evil state.
But no! Anderson is a robot—or at least a “human” who functions like one. He is programmed to visually check the entirety of the country everyday at the exact same time. Behind an innocent question, Anderson sets his trap.
Xalt:Why haven't you changed your sig yet?
Suspecting something, Snowball gives a simple answer, hoping nothing more will come of it.
Later, Snowball would claim he had said, “Oh I decided not to XD,” which would have altered the tone of his phrase significantly, potentially bringing the wrath of the state upon Anderson himself. However BigBrother noticed the difference and Anderson narrowly escaped with his life from our hero Snowball. At this time, the persecution of the state begins, and Snowball receives his first deathtoken. Of course, the reader is well aware the accumulating 6 deathtokens causes the Rover to be release, which will then gnash its teeth upon the owner until their blood has spilled and flows over the soil.
However, Anderson is a coward. Realizing he may be outmatched, and that his authority prevents him from taking successive actions over someone so clever as Snowball, he approaches a higher up. Anderson informs the Great Oni of the Lower Third that offending material has been posted, and must be removed. Fortunately for Anderson, he is able to use an excuse that his authority prevents him from removing the content himself, and thus “Must seek his highness’s help.” As if he had no other choice.
The Great Oni removes the suggestive image. Having had a bad sandwich for lunch, the Oni decides not to upset his stomach further by just eating Snowball himself, as would have usually been the consequences for disturbing the Great Oni. It appears that even God himself is on the side of Snowball.
But Snowball is no fool. To stop his protest now would undo everything he had worked so hard for before. So rather than sit by the wayside and do nothing, he takes action to continue to disobey the state’s rules. He literally could have done nothing to stop being in trouble, but our hero is far more noble than that. He decides he must reattach his signature, if he does not take a stand, who will? To display his bravery for the world to see, he writes openly
Imma put it right back on then. lol cause if mods can have racism sigs i can have that sig.
The sig to which he was referring was Attila’s "How to make purple drink" quote. Which other than purple, mentions nothing regarding color or race. Regardless, the sly Attila pretended to take the criticism to heart and removed his sig willingly.
Once again Snowball waits. He knows now he will feel the oppression of the state, as they have branded him with the evil number across his arms for his first transgression. He only hopes that enough others are watching to continue this fight for him, when he receives his deathtokens. Due to the branding, he's found quickly, the signature is removed again and he is given more tokens. This is the second time. However, the evils of the state conspire and hand him
two. Initially, Snowball is surprised. He wonders why the Rover is not consuming him already. But he realizes the evils of the state run deeper than he had imagined. By keeping him alive and seemingly giving him a smaller punishment than he may “deserve,” he is prevented from martyrdom.
The realization enrages Snowball, giving him new strength and daring. Because he has half of his life taken away because he only tried to display a strip scene on a public forum! He has done nothing! (We shall point to the irony of the direct action he took to redisplay the image initially.) How dare the state continue to censor this content! Others had tried to show the world that image, but where they failed, he shall succeed! “I am not a number! I am a free man!”
In his anger, he searches for what seems like days (but is closer to a few minutes) for an older writing of Anderson’s. “If I can’t escape the Rover, I’ll be sure to take Anderson with me.” He then writes a public letter, addressing three major problems with the state. In the first, he openly calls Anderson a dumb *****. While usually more elegant with words, Snowball realizes the protest is more effective in the common tongue. The second, he claims that the deathtokens given to him have been arbitrarily distributed. Surely the state has no right to give such horrible things over something as angelic and 3-year-old friendly as a strip scene. The final point, he rages against the state institution, claiming they have gone too far. Those like Attila who pretend to listen to the people surely are doing so for alternative purposes. In his 73 page discourse which he knows will bring his death, he outlines his thoughts on how to improve the world, while constantly illustrating the wrongs done to him and others.
But the state knows the power of the individual. To kill Snowball would complete his legacy. Instead Anderson decides to prey on his, and all humans’, desire to live. Perhaps this is the largest evil that has befallen Snowball yet, the refusal to grant him his wish and to treat him as equal animal as everyone else. Instead Anderson politely hands Snowball 2 more deathtokens, bringing his total to 5. To some uneducated outside spectators, this may have been misconstrued as mercy. Hah. Snowball clings to hope. Perhaps one day his message will get across. He intends to continue fighting until it does. The rumors are he has gone away, to improve his vision and strengthen his fight. The last note found from Snowball before he disappeared is as follows:
Its not really that bad IMO i guess. But I guess I'll leave it changed since i got like 5 infraction points for no reason and can't affored another one.
The beauty of this quote is that it shows how the state had to force him to stop. He would have continued to no matter what, only upon reaching the 5th token did he realize the value of living.
And like him, his fight still lives to this day.
