that was him. I just know it, that part when he muttered something, I bet he was saying how proud he was of u ihtrdb. Brother darkness was a great man and we shall never ever forget him

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Only one clan in the brotherhood have been tasked with overseeing the welfare of this twin.

The sadaherin Praetorian. As the BOA states, these were warriors spared by darkness from certain death after the Ascension wars. We are told in the BOA brother darkness admired their courage and so they were spared and granted citizenship as strangelanders. In return they swore eternal allegiance to him and him alone. Formed during the period of the Republic, they were also known as the Republican guard.

Only the Sadaherin know of the identity of this twin and their mission is to protect him at all cost in the real world. The BOA refers to them as fierce warriors who will serve their masters beyond death. They have their own ranking system and till today continue to sport their purple robes which harks back to the period when they were a proud nation in cyberspace. Though the Sadaherin exist today, much of their powers has diminished because the Council has limited their numbers to less than a 100 at any one time.

Their role today is strictly ceremonial. Though their numbers are insignificant, it is worth mentioning the Sadaherin control 100% of all the sporting clubs of the brotherhood. They are fiercely territorial and ultra fit even better soldiers than the feared imperial sardo khan though they are considered strangelanders. The Sadaherin continue to abide by their own code, known as the purple bible.

It is said, the Sadaherin have 19 stages of the term “death” so although darkness is no more it remains a mystery whether they really consider him as dead and gone, though many have said, they continue to serve him as a mark of the favor he once granted them even beyond the grave. This has been a matter of much speculation and is the main reason why the Sadaherin was inducted into the command of the Praetorian after the age of the emperor. He never trusted them, because they were after all the creation of brother darkness, neither could he eliminate them, because their existence is guaranteed by the constitution.

Only they have the identity of this twin and it shall remain forever a secret as the Sadaherin have lips as tight as oysters.

I dont normally post, but I feel, I must. If both of you want to duel by all means do so.

The Omertaen code which regulates the conduct of all brothers does allow for duelling, but pls bear in mind the vanquish is will be denied, "water, fire and shelter 500 light years from LS".

Please brothers we are known and respected for our reasonableness, let us not degenerate like the mindless idiots in the real world.

We are a fraternity governed by laws, so just kiss and make up.

Brother steamboy has brought forth some interesting viewpoints. I for one would like to participate in this scholarly discourse without the distraction of having to content with other distractions.

I appeal to both of you, lower your swords, it profits us none to be like those of the world.

We are after all supposed to be higher beings.

btw ihtrdb care to share why esteemed brother darkness is known as moas aka man of all seasons. I read the boa and found this was only mentioned after the age of reason, it only said,

"he was the seasons to him as the man who told tales to the girl who had losted her doll in the park....though he loved him with all his might, he stood always in the shadows always watching afar......a knight templar who always stood to serve..........then the man who had been the seasons to this youth had finished what he swore would be done...his brother had become the order of the flower of dreams.......long live the brotherhood!

I dont understand this part. You seem like a scholarly type perhaps you can shed some light into his past.

As for me, I think bro darkness exist.

Long live the brotherhood!

You want a duel Belflair. You want a duel we can have one. I stand by what I say.

Councilor Volariane (who incidentally is pretending to be colombo b), we all know your history. You were an officer in ns, but as I recount you were a staff officer who rarely ventured beyond your hermetically sealed air-conditioned bunker. So with due respect, you are hardly in a position to fathom what actually happened to brother darkness for him to have decided to do the things he did.

As for his smoking, drinking and predilection for dangerous sports, I have you know sir, darkness was one of the most skilful exponents and like all sport men’s he was not the first to push the envelop and test his limits. Believe it or not, this is what true sports men do, they go against mountains and they die, they sail against the seven seas and drown, they do many things only for tragedy to find and hunt them down, but this does not in any diminish their philosophy for doing the things they do. However, I can understand how you may not seem to realize this, since the only sports you indulge in is perhaps the occasional game of ping pong. So again you hardly have one ounce of credibility to speak on this matter.

As for your clap trap of the omertian code, please do not sprinkle fanciful metaphors and lexicons to lend credence to what you have already said. I do not know much about the affairs of the Council, but I can say with the greatest confidence most of the brotherhood have never ever considered the actions of the Council as anything beyond exemplary or even worth emulating. In fact, I will have you know dear sir, the Council today has alienated it’self from the brotherhood to such an extent, many of us long of the age of old, when brother darkness was still a councilor.

WHY MAN! DO YOU THINK HIS MEMORY CONTINUES TO LIVE?

As for setting good examples, do not presume to lecture us on how to set a good example to our own kind. Let me just say this, words do not maketh a man. Brother darkness knew something all of you in Liberation Square did not know, you can never talk yourself into the hearts and minds of others, all of you can is to simply behave yourself into this secret place. He knew this that is why when all you councilors do is to fight and insist for respect, that is all you are really doing is fight and insist and fight and insist you will till the entire universe freezes over, while darkness is already there.

Councilor allow me to give you a word of warning, when wolfs howl even the tiger seethes their claws, there is room for you here, but bear in mind, we have no time for your political propaganda or double speak Liberation Square high and mighty clap trap.

We just don’t and by the way, as brother darkness always said, “I do not fear………” I am Minister Belflair, head of the COCDBH

Good sir need I remind only since you have a special fondness for the Omertiane code, there is also the provision which allows one brother to challenge another to a duel, should there be cause to do so under the Praetorian order. Be very careful here, you have been forwarned!

moas may have been a great man, but it is important to separate the man from his works. Some of you may think I have a gripe against him. I do. Firstly, I cite him for being a less than perfect leader. Whether you like it or not, moas was a very charismatic leader and his capacity to influence and persuade should never be underestimated. While many of the older brothers may be in a better position to make informed decisions about whether to buy into his ideas or not, this may not be entirely true when it comes to our younger cadres, who may not have the experiential knowledge. This highlights the importance of good and responsible mentoring.

Moas was a poor leader in the sense he smoked, drank and was even reckless in the way he pursued his hobbies and sports. In the BOA we are told, he climbs without ropes and booms down trails at break neck speeds. He is also a well known bond breaker who has no compunctions to break his agreement and what about his views concerning our country?

Gentlemen, I want you all to consider one thing, are these the sort of values we want to impart to the young. As I said, he was a very charismatic leader and in paying tribute to him blindly and failing to separate the man from the myth, him from his works, we do a great disservice to those who look up to us for leadership.

The brotherhood is a fraternity of gentlemen who are first and foremost honorable, courageous and just. This is laid down squarely in the BOA in the form of the ormetaine code aka oath of omerta.

Was moas a good mentor?

Ihtrdb, you have obvious done a good job in your research and have certainly raised some thought provoking questions concerning bro darkie.

Let us assume you are for one moment right, let us just say he did not actually exist and was simply a product manufactured to appeal to the likes of us. What sort of man would he have been? The answer would be exactly the sort of man darkness was.

The reason why most of us can identify with bro darkie is bc he wasn’t perfect, he had a past and some say a tortured history. He certainly had a lot of psychological scars. At the same time, he was represented as a failed scientist and I wonder why those people who created him painted him that way. Perhaps they wanted to show us his fallibility? Or that he like us was simply another Joe like all of us?

What I cannot figure out is how the character huan guan in the xt version of the love story can suddenly jump out and assume the role of a real person? It seems to me, at least the father or fathers of the game must have planned this whole thing in the beginning. They would have to post thousands of post in forums to make it look at if darkie was actually a real person or spread thousands of rumors he was seen here and there.

In this regard I have something to add, we are always told bro darkie was always seen in the mrt or standing in a bus stand, that seems curious to me, but retrospectively, it doesn’t any more, because these scenes suggest a man who is in transit, so this may be why, no one has actually had a heart to heart conversation with him. In fact, I searched the entire BOA and on practically every occasion, he never once spoke for any extended period of time on any subject, that to me is a curious observation, you wish to follow up on ihtrdb.

At the same time bro darkie was no ordinary bloke. I am sure many will agree the tech section of the book of ages is the best piece of sci-fi work ever done in Asia. It is so detailed that I always have this impression, whoever the person who started all this was must have really put his whole heart into it. So it is so unusual, that he probably did the same for the character darkness.

I must say at this point, I really don’t know what to think any more. Life after all imitates art or is it the other way round.

dude those are awsome pics man

rock on

Thank you all for yr kind support. I look forward to the moment when I can address the council directly.

Dear minister,

as you know there are only 4 space stations in the strangelands. The dimitri is the largest of them all. I designed her. She has a displacement of over 4,000 metric tons and is fitted with the latest technological innovations.

My cosca is not big, there are only 3 of us here, but not only are we in charge of the traffic control, but we also control the light jumps undertaken by heighliners.

We also provide a storage facility and refitment services, this is how we earn our credits.

It is not boring, we find it very interesting infact. I used to play trains in the real world, this is a variation which I enjoy very much, there is never a boring moment in our job and we are all very happy here.

From the dimitri, we wish you all god speed.

Brother steamboy

see your point IHTRD. Well spotted. Care to share with us other revealing details in the xt version of the love story? Much appreciated.

btw I know you space station chaps handle the traffic control, logistics, berthing etc. Dont want to sound lofty, but dont you chaps find it boring? Care to explain how you generate credits and what you find so interesting abt this role.

We will be paying u chaps a visit sometime within the week, hope to RDV with the dimitri then.

tally ho!

I just want to know did he finally ream the 3rd wife?

brother darkness was not a angel, he never once represented he was pure. He probably smoked, dranked and even womanised, but I believe he was a true kindred spirit.

Sure he was opinionated, but tell me what leader doesnt take a position and even feel the need to defend it from time to time.

He may have been a failed engineer in the real world, but so what? A man is never judged by one point in his life and ultimately he made good, that is all that really matters. If he did sell the game for 3 to 4 million, I am for one happy for him.

What really commands my respect was how he or others he worked with put the game together. It was brilliant.

Today there are hundreds of brothers throughout singapore who still revere and respect this man.

I just have a feeling, he is still walking around singapore with his cheap plastic briefcase.

no one joins the red beret just to have a good time. Most of them were highly motivated and idealistic young men who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.

I always tell myself this whenever I feel the urge to judge bro darkness.

I cannot even imagine the hell this guy went through, it must have been an unimaginable hell.

I dont blame him for becoming cynical and suspicious of authority during the latter part of his life.

Neither do I blame him for throwing his medals away. Every man has a limit and he just crossed the line.

If I had been in the same situation, I would probably have done the same thing.

ihtrdb whatever you may say abt the father of the game, I personally believe he existed in blood and flesh. I have never seen him, but I cannot imagine all this was put together by simply a imaginary man who never ever lived.
I just cannot.

However, in since someone here as invoked "audi alteram partem" and it has been seconded, let us just say my cosca agree to disagree with you.

Good effort.

Thanks very much ihtrdb. We will be inputting new access key code 161265 a per your advise.

Tell me are we still using the old or new transmission codes for secure postings? Pls advice as we are unable to praticipate in your thread to discuss brother darkness.

Looking forward to KOHO guiding us in line.

Long live the brotherhood!

That evening on my way back from lectures, it surprised even me when I started feeling sad for the third wife. Sadness till then, had only been a distant island, it was like one of those picture postcards of some faraway beach in the Caribbean – though I have heard of it and probably seen or read about it countless times, it never really had the effect of permeating my heart which resembled a piece of industrial grade metal – my heart after all was not even my own they belonged to the monsters who I served – I for one did not own enough of myself to even consider my own heart my own property –I had stepped into a world where men such as myself could never afford to be even themselves – we are the damned!

So why did I suddenly find myself feeling sad for the third wife? Why did I even dream of a life with her? – had I conveniently forgotten, I have sold my soul to the devil by serving the triads as the man who carries the briefcase for the four houses of Yu, Wong, Lim and Gan. They are my masters, I am simply their servant and as for her, she might as well be in distant star a million light years away.

In this fantasy world, I imagined getting a normal job as an engineer living perhaps somewhere in America, where I would even be content to drive a second hand clap up car – we would save like normal people for fridges, television sets, sofa’s, dinning tables and those sort of things – from time to time, when there was enough to spare, I would buy her a drop of gold and this would bring a smile to her. Later on when my bosses saw, I was a man who could be entrusted to do bigger things (because I reasoned surely this world and the gangster world cannot be so different – there will always be a place for serious men like me, who could always be depended to see things through) – and when we had saved up enough to buy our own house, complete with a yard and a verandah – I would probably have more time and even pick up a respectable hobby like photography – perhaps even pursue a master’s and eventually a doctoral degree – perhaps even fulfill my dream and work as a scientist for NASA – and while I studied through the night – she would content herself with reading or watching her favorite soap opera – occasionally, she would make me a cup of cocoa and we would simply sit down, talk and laugh the way ordinary decent folk turned the great wheel of life, page by page, chapter by chapter till this book of life would close quite happily.

Like the lies I told myself from time to time –mine dissolved whenever, I saw men in dark expensive suits like myself appearing over the horizon with machine guns in this dream life – the world is round and no matter how one runs, one can never really run from men like myself – they could always be counted to square the accounts – this is the way when a man joins the triads.

I cannot tell you when I started to plan for a life with the third wife – all I can say is it started very much in the way a prisoner, innocently shifts his bed closer to the wall one day only to find chips cracking from a wall, he once regarded as unbreakable – only for this man to dig more and more till finally escaping through a tunnel.

That night I cut my hand to in an attempt to wake myself up from my illusions, I reckoned the pain would jolt me out, in the way a hammer shatters a china bowl, but I felt neither pain nor distress – instead the only thing that flowed from this wound was a dark fluid – as I stood there naked in the moonlight I realized I had become a part of darkness and it had become part me – as long as I remain apart from my her, my light – I would always be one with darkness – I have become darkness!







PS

I have encrypted this using the facility at the "dimitri" so that the other brothers can access it in the real world, even if it has been deleted. A shadow copy will always remain in the server, access key:161265

Time is not on my side gentlemen, this thread will come to an end soon, but let me leave you all with this.

Many of the observations noted by minister and sadaherin are mentioned in the original love story (extended version). This has led me to conclude in this last two years much of who or what the person called darkness was or is, is fictional.

I believe many of us have confused the father of the rpg with the fictional character. I don’t know precisely how this has happened or whether the ppl who owned the game planned it this way, but I am convinced it has happened.

I have attached a section of chap 39 of the love story (EV) to just prove a few simple points, in it I want you all to note, 3 observations.

1. The main protagonist mentions, his life long ambition is to aspire to be
scientist and one day work for NASA. We all know the father of the game
was once a failed scientist who harbored dreams of working on rockets.

2. How the father of the rpg came to known as the man we all call
"darkness"

3. How we all know him as the man who always carries a briefcase.

In this excerpt, the main protagonist is fantasizing about leading a normal life with the third wife (the wife of a gangland boss who he serves to finance his under graduate studies in London).

He wants to take her away from the world of crime that he has suddenly found himself trapped in, but laments at his inability to do so. In short the chips are stacked against him. Even if he manages to elope with her, he realizes they will be hunted down and killed so he searches for a way.

At this point in the story (this section is too long so I have not posted it), we are told, he has become the man who carries the briefcase for the four houses he serves in the name of the old man. His primary responsibility involves collecting proceeds from the triad syndicates operating in China town. He is so to speak the bag man.

Our hero rises fast in the gangland world, bc many see him as an educated man, when the story opens, he is in his bedsit where he begins his lamentations.

I thank you all for lending me your ears.

My name is "steamboy", I am a 3nd stage science officer with the rank of Lt Col commading the space station "Dimitri" in the Altinnien System des:925949-002- HUANG.

Long live the brotherhood!

IHTRDB, I have submitted yr petition to the council. As the leader of sadaherin, this is my privilege.

The council in primus has informed me, they will assemble a quarom to hear your petition on the next sitting of the council meet.

The proceedings will be broadcast via utube in the real world at primus time 98877 actual earth time 29-7-06 @ 1600 GMT

You have been ordered by under the code of sadhar to be there, an escort will arrange your transport.

Please beam us your membership code to make the necessary arrangements.

Under the principle of audi alteram partem, every brother has a right to petition his case before the council.

we hope this is will end your speculation once and for all and we do not take kindly to you using this site to post your greivances.

Long live the brotherhood!

we will help you IHTRDB, like the 30th we hope your intentions are noble. We are a fraternity governed by laws, we all respect brother darkness and sincerely hope this is not an attempt to smear his name.

If all you wish is to conduct an investigation under the laws of omerta every brother has the right of "audi alteram partem".

As the leader of my cosca, I will invoke your privilege and we shall endeavor to assist you the best we can.

Thks for posting the extended version we really appreciated it.

brother Ihtrd,

spoken to my crew as well, we are technocrats in the strangelands serving under the 30th.

all agree on all the points presented by minister. will add the following:

a. bond breaker, he ran away as a military scholar
b. ladies man (possibly)
c. gave us all the impression he was a man with a past, though none of us can elaborate.
d. possibly an orphan, bc he never ever mentioned his father or mother, but he certainly had a brother who he loved very much (perhaps even a young twin????)
e. during his ns, he was one of the few ns men who actually saw real combat in cambodia. He described it as a "secret war". He was injured and highly decorated, but the experience damaged his trust and faith in the army, bc he realized he was expandable, he wondered perhaps whether it was bc of his citizenship and the fact he was an orphan, he never forgave either the army or the republic. Threw his medals into Pierce reservoir (at least 20 accounts of this story, but they differ in accounts)

Another thing, none of us can agree on how tall he is, some say 5.7 others 6.5. I find the gap quite startling perhaps you have something here.

We are willing to cooperate with you only bc we like to believe your intentions are noble, if they are in any way dishonorable in so far as this is an attempt to smear the name of brother darkness, we dont want to be part of it.

The 30th is the largest cosca in the strangelands, we will pass on your message to the other coscas.

Long live the brotherhood

IHTRD, today you come across clearer. I see your point. I am just interested to know what is your motivation?

I have personally never ever seen bro darkness bfr, not even once.

From the many accounts this is the impression our crew has of the father of the game.

(1) He is lean.
(2) Crew cut.
(3) carries a plastic black briefcase.
(4) always takes the mrt & bus.
(5) smokes malboro cigs.
(6) drinks only guinness stout
(7) has a deep scar just above his right eye.
(8) has very intense eyes.
(9) served as an officer in the elite "red beret" in NS.
(10) defense scientist. some say he is failure, others say otherwise.
(11) not the talkative sort, moody, sullen and contemplative, comes across as a thinker but with a hint of sadness.
(12)extreme sportsman.
(13)all agree he is the father of the rpg.
(14) 70% say he is a malaysian, 20% singaporean, 10% ABC

If anything else springs to mind, I shall post it here. Many thanks and I hope this comes in useful in your analysis. You know me btw.

I am not here to insult brother darkness. I just dont think he ever existed.

For example everyone who claims to have seen him always mentions he is carrying a cheap plastic briefcase. rite?

Some brothers have even speculated this briefcase is lined with titanium and contains the secret blueprints of the time parallax machine the father of the game single handedly invented, rite?

It was so valuable he carried it everywhere and even sleep with it handcuffed, rite?

There have been over 700 recorded sightings of the father of the game in Singapore based on my research and on practically every occasion he is seen carrying a briefcase.

Where did this myth come from? Certainly not from the BOA bc it never ever mentions him carrying a bag.

However in the extended version of the love story, he even writes in detail about the bag he carries, coincidental huh!

So what I am saying is many of the early brothers who played the game read this extended version and must have recounted the same story to other brothers who came into the game latter.

The story got told a few times and eventually it simply became accepted as a fact, the great scientist and his cheap plastic briefcase.

I have the original version of the story and I can prove it! So stop flaming me, I have a right to my POV!

brothers, I am a lover not a fighter, so pls stop flaming me. My point is simply this has anyone actually see him, yes I know there is a bike, climbing, cycling team and there was even a tsunami team comprising of the fittest brothers aka the republican guard aka Shadarine Preatorian.

However, was anyone see him. It is always, he was here or he just left or he will come soon, but really has anyone really seen him?

I saw the tsunami photos of the brothers in Indonesia, I was personally very proud, the brotherhood was there, all of you looked very macho, brave and all that with all those fancy equipment and paramilitary gear, but where was brother darkness?

I am not for one moment suggesting he doesnt exist. I remind myself over 3.7 million americans believe they have been abducted by aliens and over 300,000 ppl have actually seen Elvis, but let us get real when was the last time any of us saw the father of the game?

Just my POV

Long live the brotherhood!

One word to describe the brotherhood: 白... *fill in the blank*

But for the sake of free press and speech, you have my salutation.

IHTRD, what is your point? If you are saying darkness once wrote and sold an online story, it doesn’t surprise me one bit at all.

I am still trying to figure out what really is your bone of contention? Care to explain?

Darkness developed a serious RPG, as someone rightly commented this is not halo, warcraft or everquest, if you want to go and play “I shoot you and you shoot me” games, then go ahead.

The median age of the brotherhood is 34.4 for your information, hardly kids stuff we don’t much care for glossy graphics, it is primarily a RPG based along the dungeons & dragons format, where people have to spend at least a year studying the manual before they can be considered serious gamers.

Yes there are complex plots within the game, but tell me what serious RPG doesn’t? Care to explain?

The reason why people continue to play this underground game is because it is interesting. Like any game which requires cerebral fitness nothing is ever what it seems , tell me what RPG tells you all the solutions? You will find none, because they wouldn’t be called RPG if they resembled pokemon.

As for the brotherhood part, I agree it is all very much in the spirit of fun, of course most of us don’t believe in the existence of a secret brotherhood, but it adds to the mystic and mystery factor.

Besides I always find it makes my day whenever I chance across a brother in the MRT or in Raffles Place, bc we always have plenty to chat about. Like trekkies or star wars fans, we are really not so different from them. You may laugh at us because occasionally some brother goes too far and decides to build a model of a Heighliner in his back yard and decides to live in it, but every genre has it's cadre of diehards.

Again I ask what serious RPG doesn’t encourage the formation of a fraternity, club or association? Care to answer? Even people who play scrabble in Singapore have the scrabble association, so why should our game be any different? Care to explain?

IHTRD, this proves nothing, there is no secret the first part of the BOA is a love story. The only thing you have really demonstrated is in your version it is written in the 1st person, while in the BOA, the chronicler clearly identifies himself as the narrator.

Another thing if you say darkness never existed and no one has ever seen him. How do you explain the existence of the mtb team who gather every saturday in BT? And in Expo on every tuesday night? How abt the boxing and climbing club? How also do you explain the numerous occasions when other brothers have seen him in different parts of singapore? and how do you explain the emergency response team organized by the brotherhood during the last tsunami, r you telling me we all dreamnt it up, bc that is not going to cut with me, the brotherhood was there.

I dont know where you are coming from or what you point is. It seems to be very fragmented and confused to me.

Besides we were all there during the Pillium age and many of us actually saw him in the real world, so again, how do you explain that.

I know some people say the father of the underground game may have sold out, but if that is the case, so what? Darkness never ever presented himself as an angel, he may or may not have had a business orientated plan when he started the brotherhood, but so what. If he sold out and he managed to good ROI, I say good for him.

As for your assertion he was not a military scholar, scientist and was became unemployed bc of some scandal, where did you get all that from? I draw the line when you start casting negative aspersions on the character of others, unless you have evidence, you should keep your thoughts to yourself.

IHTRD, I am too shocked, I need time to digest this, I will be back again.

so it is true the man of all seasons started all this to earn money from secretaries, aunties and spinsters.

But how could it be so?

thks small bro apology accepted. Chp 4 as you all requested.

My mistress was the third wife of the old man who I served in the moment of my youth – she was the fairest of them all – like all women in the old man’s household, her place was set in ancient stone like the chair she occupied during her mah jong sessions with the rest of his other wife’s – this seat which faced the East, meant she was never the first to eat and always the last to leave the table and she was expected always to pour tea for the older mistresses and remain silent unless spoken too – this was the way politics was conducted in the household of the old man – whenever the old man visited, the older mistresses would be jealous of my mistress because he only had eyes for her – so both the first and second mistress would gossip behind her back and this saddened my mistress – as she could never seem to do or say any thing right, even when she tried so very hard to please them – in the afternoons, my mistress took long walks in the nearby park in Hampstead Heath, where I was expected to serve as her silent driver and body guard – I was always expected to stay seven paces behind her – seven paces was good, just enough room to roll, whip out my pistol and fire a shot – the old man had many enemies and for one took my job seriously- one afternoon during her walks, she stopped and turn towards me, in that one moment, I was struck by her tragic beauty, her eyes, mouth and almond shaped face all conspired against me – in the days that followed, I found myself imagining her wind sweep hair as she looked at me mournfully, the image clung to me like seaweed never ever once leaving me and even when I dedicated myself to study, there was just enough of her to torment me – eventually she confided in me her deepest and most intimate feelings which I swore never to tell another soul – and for the first time, I realize the depths of her sorrow – as time passed I came to relish the moment when we were together, the rustling of decaying leafs, the lingering aroma of her perfume, all these things I longed for but above all, I wished only to be with her – she always recounted to me the events of the day and I would listen to her, never once saying a word, except perhaps to nod my head to signify that I understood – on my 23rd birthday, my mistress gave me a pair of matching jade cufflinks – she swore me to secrecy and though I said, I was not in a position to accept such a valuable gift, she was insistent and thrust it into my hands – of all people, I had forgotten that which I had always reminded myself, that I was my worst enemy and I accepted her gift – in return, I bought her a set of pearl earrings – though it cost nearly a month’s wages, I knew it would make her happy and that was all that really mattered, I survived on sandwiches and instant noodles that whole month, but the thought of giving her something she would wear from time to time was enough to fill the void in me and I was the happiest man who ever lived – that Chinese New Year, the old man celebrated with eighty eight tables – it had been a prosperous year and it was also his moment when he would show off his new wife to the rest of China town – and though she sat on the main table and I was so very far away – when she saw me wearing her cuff links, she lowered her eyes and smiled shyly – though this lasted only for a moment, she was very much like a cloud being carried away with the wind as she gently touched the pearl earrings I had given her.

At age 23, I Huan Guan was like a sampan sailing into treacherous and uncharted waters.

if u say brother darkness doesnt exist, then why has so many ppl seen him?

Why does his post continue to exist in the memory of so many forums like icered?

If he really doesnt exist, who then was the man we all saw during the pillium, there must have been over 300 to 400 brothers who saw him, so are you saying we just all imagined it.

I look forward to your BOA original chapter 4 love story version. I have heard about it and I think if you want to be taken seriously, you should at least share it with all of us here.

As for the "stupid" reference, I am sorry, it shan't happen again.

We all know the original BOA was destroyed in the fire of the great hall in Primus, no one has a copy of it. Small brother he is just bluffing.

if you have it IHTRDB, lets see it. The original BOA version I hope and not the condensed format that we already know.

please do not flame me small brother by calling me stupid. I think that was uncalled for. I was merely stating my POV, I never once disrespected brother darkness.

I have all the chapters 1-205, my sis and her fren used to follow it and when I started playing the RPG I just thought maybe it did contain some anagrams or codes, so I hard copied it out.

I shall try to find it and when I show you, you will all know I am not talking crap and I have actually done alot a thinking abt this matter.

"I have the real deal brothers"

"pay US$40" that is rubbish. You make it sound as if it is warcraft, halo, everquest or warcraft.

(1) You cannot simply play the game, it is a secret fratenity stupid.

(2) You can only play the game after if you have 10 sponsors who are brothers who have accumulated more than 6,000 shekelians.

(3) US$40 doesnt buy you anything - that is the price they charge for the manual we all know as the book of all ages and the pandshamar dictionary.

(4) You need to be able to recite the oath of Omerta without reference to the written source.

If you claim to have the original BOA first part why dont you tell us what is the opening and closing lines of the 4th chapter.

This is another attempt by the council to erase the memory of brother darkness.

I see the council has detected us and has started deleting our post here.

Auto retrieve message 9003993-003 APOL "ADOSMENA" SING

It is good that admiral Osmeniane has provided us with this link, but all of you should realize it is a single link line using his server designation. This means all the post here are routed via his line and he will be held liable. By openly discussing the identity of brother darkness many of you have broken the oath of omerta. I feel you should all know although I believe most of you are disenchanted so with the council, it doesn’t really matter any longer.

Let me just say I don’t believe darkness every existed as a real human being, he was not a scholar, neither was he a scientist or for that matter the great hero that we all understand him to be. The reason why I say all this is because no one has actually seen him and bear in mind much of his persona was actually a marketing tool to sell his online stories to secretaries, JC girls and bored housewife’s before the blogging days.

This is the reason why the first segment of the book of ages which many claim to the cap stone of the game as we know it today was a love story. Many brothers today consider it a pre-sequel to the discovery of the time parallax anomaly. That is nonsense, the original market segment of the writings never intended to appeal to serious sci-fi cognoscenti’s. At the time when the person wrote this love story, it was sold online and subscribers had to pay a monthly fee of $15 for 4 sequels. The soap opera stories enjoy a period of commercial success in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. In a nutshell, the story revolved around the trials of a certain Huan Guan who fell in love with the third wife of some triad boss in China town.

The reason why so many brothers believe darkness was a scholar, engineer and scientist was simply because the fictitious character Huan Guan was at the time pursuing an engineering course in Imperial college London and guess what? His life long ambition was to one day work with NASA, so does that sound coincidental? Similarly, the reason why so many brothers believe he was once a military scholar was because, in one scene in the love story, where Huan Guan fought with the baddies we are told in a flashback how he once fought valiantly in the service of the republic in some secret war in Cambodia. Coincidence again!

I personally believe the man called darkness was simply an unemployed engineer hoping to earn some spare cash. After all at it’s height, he had nearly 7,000 online subscribers and 90% of them were females and each of them was paying $15, so it works out to be quite a tidy sum.

Later on we are told the love story part is simply a pre-sequel to a grander scheme of things, this is what the chronicler says, but guess what, who was the chronicler then? Darkness himself, so it was hardly an objective account, from then on the story evolves into a sci-fi manual. I have always asked myself why the man called darkness did a 180 degree turn and the reason is simple, the readership of his soap opera love story only appealed to girls and girls aren’t interested in gaming, so when the technology for online gaming came into the scene, he just saw a business opportunity.

This is where the BOA suddenly reads like a game manual with it’s description of Heighliners, anti gravity drives, tritium powered ion cells etc. I agree the technology section of the BOA is very well written and only a person who had a firm grasp of physics and space science could have done such a good job, otherwise it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of so many underground foreign gamers. This is also the point when we are told the man of all seasons aka darkness enters into the game having transported himself through time from the 1980’s to the year 6004. It was also the period when most serious gamers and role play exponents began to secretly subscribe to this underground game. The game was appealing because unlike other games it had the most comprehensive technology section and this spawn numerous forums where geeks were doing nothing all day except analyzing the various chapters of the BOA. There was even a group of gamers in Australia who believed the love story scene was an anagram or code which prophesied the coming of the Messiah Di Harami (the enlightened one), that was how ridiculous things became.

By this time subscribers of the game were paying US$40 to play an underground game. At this point no one knows how many subscribers there were. It all became very secretive and with the mystic associated with being a member of an exclusive secret society known as the brotherhood, it appealed no mainstream gamers. At some point the game was professionally managed. The reason why I say that is because the father of the game, known as darkness could not have known so much, many of the game constructs, philosophy and historical preamble were based loosely on a mixed bag Byzantine / Ottoman and Tsar period terminology. We know for example many of the terminologies associated with certain elements in the game are borrowed from Ottoman period artifacts, so was much of the architect in Primus and the initiation rights of the brotherhood is a direct borrow from the Jewish bar mitzwah ritual.

In fact the game became so complex by the Pillium age still under the time of legation rule – a dictionary was introduced into the BOA, it had nearly 3,200 new words to describe everything from implements used in rituals to even a historical account of how the Sardo Khan came to the service of the Empire.

After the Pillium age as one of the brothers mentioned, there was “the age of light” around this time, it is said, the man called darkness, great father of the game mysteriously disappears after defeating the Carphatians. This was also the period when the Jarrahan Saladin appeared. Contrary to conspiracy theories the Jarrahan did harbor a secret agenda to erase the history of darkness. In fact, their role was to iron out many anomalies which the Pillium war generated. The Carphatian attack revealed certain weaknesses in the games security protocol which allowed unregistered gamers to go on line and play using a LAN platform. After the Pillium war, there was too much rubbish in the strangelands, Japanese anime figures were even playing the game. There was even a Waltz Disney gang who entered and managed to establish a minion state in the strangelands. These were the elements the Jarrahan were specifically designed to eliminate. There was nothing mystical about them, they were just moderators employed by the game master.

Today there is only one such anomaly in the game, the Atomic Chimp and his advent children gang. Bear in mind, these characters are based on the Sony playstation final fantasy figures, they have somehow managed to remain in the game. We all know since the age of Pillium there has been over 20 imposters who claim to be either the reincarnation or reconstituted version of brother darkness, all have been kicked out, except the chimp. For some strange reason, the chimp cannot be kicked out from the game and till today he continues to insist he is darkness. I do not doubt judging by the way he writes, he is the best imposter amongst the lot, but I believe the reason why he has been able to remain the game for so long without being discovered is because he must be one of the original founding fathers of the game.

Darkness the character cannot be kicked out of the game. We know this from the BOA itself where it states, he was written within the folds of the events, that is to say unlike you or me who simply exist as an IP log subscriber and all our characters and powers are software and memory driven – the character darkness is the direct opposite, he exist in hardware format – I believe the monkey was on of those computer geeks who helped darkness put the game on line.

Of course there is great fanfare in the way he disrupts the game. For example, we all know the Monkey can appear and disappear as he wished, he and his motley crew call this the secret spells of eons, but the same thing can be accomplished with game patches and cheats. He is also known to be able to reproduce himself into 21 parts, hence the myth darkness is made up of 21 characters, again he laces all this with his clap trap age of old brotherhood nonsense, but again this can all be accomplished with game patches and cheats. He even has the ability to slow time, which he calls the Wearing ways and some of us mistake this for the power to paralyses his foes, but again all this can be done by slowing down the baum rate.

I have spent a lot of time writing this, I hope it will not be wasted, so in closing, there is no darkness, there never was and as for the game, it is only an underground game, nothing more or less. Neither for that matter is the brotherhood real, it only exist in cyberspace.

Long live the brotherhood!

I too fought in the pillium wars. I remembered brother darkness, the man who led the army of 10,000 against the amorgh. I will never forget it. The council has erased every trace of it in cyberspace, today you cannot even find one single reference, why is that?

I say down with the council!

Long Live the brotherhood! 140th Sardo Khan

I don’t believe a word you say “I too fought in the Pillium wars”. When I joined the brotherhood some 4 years ago, I was just a supervisor in a semi conductor factory earning $2,500. Today I earn $12,000 and it is all because of brother darkness. He was the one who gave me confidence in the original FC.

He hammered the shit out of me and he looked at me in the eye and said from this moment your life will change! I was so shocked I couldn’t sleep for 10 days! Because never before have I met someone who told me things so clear before. You are right his eyes are like I dont know what to say!

You say you know darkness but I believe you only know him like you know bush or LKY. All you atas ppl cannot see the goodness of brother darkness. In the Pillium war what the admiral said was right. We Asians always kena tekan by the white people, but who was the one who really whack them so hard even today, we control Carphatia! WE CONTROL CARPHATIA THOSE PUTEH PEOPLE HAVE TO PAY US MONEY TO STOP US FROM INVADING THEM TILL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As for the council who gives a fark abt those atas scholars, everything they say so atas, no one understands them.

I remember brother darkness, he was a simple man who carried a samsonite plastic brief case, his wife really damaged him, but he was a good and honorable man. He went through a lot of shit, but who doesn’t. I know he took the mrt and bus, but so what, at least he was honest and didn’t put up airs, even when the council sabo him, he was always with us the small people.

We will never ever forget him. I don’t care what the council does, I don’t believe he took money and simply cabut. Brother Darkness will return one day, just you all watch and see. He will come back again. He was the one who started this and a father doesn’t simply abandon his child. He will return.

Admiral Osmenian if this site is not the deadest place. I wouldnt be posting this.It is good that we brothers can talk to each other without the secret police spying on us.\

I agree with you completely. The Council has been systematically erasing the history of brother darkness since he walked out of the game. I too fought in the pillium war and I agree with you it was the brotherhood’s finest hour. Those were the days when the brotherhood stood for honor and integrity. Today the younger brothers are indoctrinated to believe Darkness was made up of 21 people or that he was a computer, some even say, he was half man and machine. All that is bullshit designed by the Council to rub out the real history of the man we all know as brother Darkness, the father of the game.

Brother Darkness was a real human being like you and me, he wasn’t a demi god. He was a failed scientist who didn’t quite make it in the real world. From what I gathered there was some scandal involving him in his work place and he had to leave under less gracious circumstances. It involved his secretary who suddenly became pregnant. His bosses wanted to sack her, but brother Darkness stood by her and so evil rumors circulated that he must have been the father. However, I do know he was not the dad, bc the guy who hantam her was a buddy of mine in NS, it didn’t help that this secretary had big tits. Eventually he was forced to resign and for a while he took to the bottle. His wife a high powered lawyer bitch filed for divorce and by the time she finished with him all his possessions fitted quite well into a NTUC plastic bag, so much for the great Darkness.

For a period of time, he did try to find sponsors to fund his research, but eventually even they called him a con man and he was ruined. So the failed scientist took to the bottle and whiled his time in sleazy gaming centers and gathered together a group (I don’t know how they met), they were JDAM, Harphoon, Maverick, Submarine, Solo, Bird of Prey and a few others.

The book of ages was written by darkness in less than 4 months. The first section was a love story set in Chinatown London, it was actually quite well written. This has been erased by the Council. The second part is the story of how the hero discovered the time parallax anomaly after completing his phd in MIT – the rest we all know. Though I admit the inspiration for the space travel machine was a stroke of genius that really set the game apart from the rest.

I personally believe brother Darkness did not simply walk away from the game, he was paid a huge sum some 3 to 4 million dollars by a certain Dato Vincent Tan from Malaysia. An ex insurance agent who unlike brother Darkness was a real con man. From then onwards everything becomes murky and no one knows today who actually controls or even owns the game.

Till today many believe brother Darkness continues to extract a royalty for all his virtual inventions which didn’t quite make it in the real world, but somehow managed to work brilliantly in the game world.

Many of the Imperial star cruisers for example are using his Turbinia magnetic drivers which are based on perpetual motion technology, he once researched on in the real world. This could be the only reason why the BOA is so detailed when it comes to the technology section. It contains reams and reams of mathematic equations which in the real world should work, but for some reason never worked. I suspect it was all based on his real work when he was still a scientist, no one could have been so detailed if they didn’t know the technology from the inside out.

I like to believe this was brother Darkness way to atone for his failure in the real world – he was determined to ensure no one in the world of sci-fi could ever disprove him, because it was after all sci-fi.

As for the man himself, I saw him about 3 times, he looked about late twenties but he could have been older. The reason why I say that is because he was too calm and he wasn’t fidgety only older men have this quality. He was lean with cropped hair like a commando. He came across as tough, but intelligent tough if you know what I mean. He wasn’t much of a talker and I didn’t find him in the least charismatic, but he had a boyish charm and shyness which endeared him to the beer aunties. He used to drink only Aor kauh bit i.e stout and when they got all drunk, they would fight it out. His best friend was Harphoon, though many though the mindless JDAM was his side kick because they were always together. He carried a cheap black plastic briefcase and they say, he had all his possessions in this one bag. He was a sad figure, but I remember his eyes, they were intense and sharp, they saw beyond the present Admiral to the time and place we all call the strangelands.

I am sorry Admiral that I don’t share your romantic ideal of the man they call Darkness. I for one believe it is dangerous when we start worshipping ordinary human beings. The father who invented the game was just an ordinary guy.

One brother, you only speak of the man called darkness, have you ever seen him? I actually saw him in flesh and blood. I fought beside him in the Pillium War. It was 3 years ago, during the period when all our gamers were mobilized to wage war against the Carphatians. Every single gaming outlet in Singapore was jammed packed.

We were attacked by a group of EU and US intergalactic gangsters who mounted a surprise invasion in the strangelands and they out numbered us in the thousands. I am sure all of you have heard of this legend, we the elders call the Pillium War.

By this period the Council had already declared Darkness a traitor and stripped him of his rank as Councilor and long list of charges had been leveled against him by the Emperor, one of them was treason. Yet Darkness did not fear, nether did he flee. Instead he dedicated himself to doing the right thing at the right time and he didn’t give a shit about the Council – he stood and fought with the rest of us, the little people. Where was the Council during this period? They were holed up in a posh hotel suite, issuing orders to attack when we should have retreated and retreating when we should have attacked! Their incompetence nearly finished us all off!

One evening as the chronicler mentions in the book of ages - Darkness stepped into a dingy gaming room in Boon Lay, most of us had been fighting for 3 days and nights, we were exhausted, resources were zero and moral was low. Most of the men were either sleeping on the floor or on top of each other. Despite our best efforts the enemy was too strong and most of us had either given up and others had even surrendered or abandoned their positions in the strangelands. The Carphatians were like locust, they came from every conceivable direction. By this period they had taken control of over 90% of the strangelands and even Liberation Square had been sacked.

That evening Darkness assumed his favorite post staring at the four central screens which showed the carnage in the strangelands from the Azzurean plains to Cartensian mountain peaks it was scene of indescribable grief – some of the boys even began to weep openly.

We had all seen him standing this way before directing the strategy for countless raids, but that evening was different – this was the first time, an amoh enemy had sprung a well organized surprise attack on us and we were fighting for our very survival. As he stood there, he looked hardly like a man in constant peril, a leader whose death could occur at any moment. Instead he looked as if the whole universe laid before him. It was his eyes, they were unwavering and sure, like a poker player who simply knows he has all the aces and victory was firmly within the palm of his hands. There was no doubt about it, I tell you, especially the young brothers.

When the others saw this, some stood to attention, it started with one or two, then the rest followed assuming their stations and for 3 days and 3 nights, the man they called Darkness never once ate, drank or rested – when news spread through out the gaming scene Darkness was personally directing the defense of the Liberation Square from a shop house in Boon Lay, all the brothers rallied in the strangelands from the highest to the lowest and after three long days and nights of fighting – we massacred the Carphatians and regained every square inch of the strangelands. Today in Liberation Square, the colors of the defeated lay like a heap of rubbish beneath cenotaph dedicated to the heroes of the Pillium War. Who was the one who saved us all? Definitely not the Council!

It was the finest hour of the brotherhood and I was there and saw it all.

After Darkness disappeared. No one knows why he walked away, not even I, or why he didn’t feel the need to even march up Liberation square to oust the Council. This will remain one of the enduring mysteries of the brotherhood.

All I know is, you can ask any brother who fought along side brother Darkness during the Pillium war and everyone of them would say,

“He was there at the right time, the right place but above all he had the character to do the right thing – and to do it so very well as to command the admiration and respect of every brother who fought in the Pillium War!”

If Darkness was still around he would have done the right thing regarding the case of Mr Brown. He would not have minced his words, neither would he take a cover my ass position.

As for the Council no one really cares very much for what they say anymore one brother, not in these parts at least, corruption is rife in the strangelands and we all know even the scholar class have failed us all.

The brotherhood has lost it’s way.

Now I await the charges of treason and the arrival of the Sardo Khan to relieve me of my command. Like Darkness, I no longer desire to play the game. I will be cashing in my credits for real money, it is a very sad day for me.

“For evil to take root, all it takes is a few good men to remain silent”

Admiral Osmenaine,
Auroran Deep Space Fleet Commander
Message has been broadcast from the Niberian Class starcruiser “ IMS Kembangan”

I salute you Mr Miyagi! Don't believe that bullcrap about staying on and 'fighting within the system.' That's how so many people have justified their hypocrisy. Screw that toilet-paper tabloid. You can carry on sending your message in other ways. I'll do the same, in my own way.

Once again, basic democratic rights take a backseat to Big Brother :( I'm waiting for the day when the cracks in this illiberal system give way.

The brotherhood started 5 years ago. Originally it was a boxing club started by 14 commodity traders who worked the midnight shift in Raffles place and one charismatic scientist. They met every Saturday in a rented house in Telok Kurau Rd. The ritual was pretty simple, we would all drink guinness stout, fight and go back home. Till today the brotherhood continues this infantile pursuit in honor of the fallen brother they all call the man of all season, simply known as Darkness.

Later on some of these traders were retrenched and realized they could make the same amount of money from the gaming community by brokering virtual commodities in Everquest. At first they were merely resellers, buying and selling only to kids online. During this period, the man called “darkness” who was a disillusioned defense scientist entered the scene in earnest.

Some say there are as many a 21 people who make up the character Darkness. Darkness was instrumental in taking the game to another level. He was a prolific writer and single handedly wrote the “book of ages”, a polygot love story cum sci fi clap trap that gave the brotherhood legitimacy in the international gaming community. What Darkness brought to the gaming community was the capacity to make sense of the holy grail of gaming – space travel by folding time.

The BOA is the official manual which allowed the brotherhood to monopolize all commodities in the game world. Not content with only brokering credits, stars and nick nacks, darkness was the first to create the machine known as the time parallax which allowed gamers for the very first time to fold space. He simply wrote it all out, the theory, concept and logic of space travel using this revolutionary theory based on an existing sci-fi concept first mentioned in the book, Dune. Where the novel Dune failed to elaborate, Darkness fleshed out the concept and by this time the brotherhood had attracted the interest of the scientific community, so scientist, engineers and computer experts joined the brotherhood and developed the virtual space travel machine.

Prior to the development of this machine – space fold or the ability to travel without traveling could never be performed, not even Sony can do it. For one it required too much bandwidth, everything had to be filed and reconstituted again, it would takes months to even fold lets say two action figures in a game because of the prodigious information that must be stored, the brilliance of the machine was it would steal bandwidth from other online users thereby multiplying it’s capacity a millionth fold!

The machine was first successfully deployed in the US game the Ascension Wars on the 21, February 2004, where it transported 21 battalions of Freeman across a stretch of space which would normally take 15 days to transverse in less than 2 hours. From that moment onwards, the brotherhood acquired the reputation as the “pandishah geneserit” of the international gaming community.

To regulate the financial growth the brotherhood created the spacing guild and commercially leased out it’s fleet of Heighliners (there are only two of them in the gaming world, please go and check this out for yourself in the internet) to the highest bidder in the net. Each of this Heighliners is operated by a team of full time gamers, who operate their servers out of India and one of them is in Singapore. Each Heighliner requires at least two dedicate servers to work properly and a lot of math is required to make it work. The skill set is known as prescience and the brotherhood has at least 19 full time navigators. You can go and check ebay, the last light jump was sold for USD$53,217.35 to a certain group of gamers known as the Altians who were fighting a war in the strangelands.

With the power to fold space, the brotherhood became a formidable power in the gaming community.

All gamers are organized into cells called coscas which can number into the hundreds or thousands and since all aspire to create a kingdom in a game board space fold is considered a strategic weapon which is monopolized by the brotherhood.

By this time, the spacing guild had established an entire four chapters in the BOA detailing the science behind the technology and had successfully established strategic alliances with some 349 coscas to secure their role as power brokers who could make or break a cosca – the one that controls space travel controls space! The guilds became so strong, they even controlled the council and some say, they are the real force behind the brotherhood. We all know the Emperor is simply a figure head, he is nothing compared to the guild navigators.

In the years following the development of the machine, the brotherhood controlled the gaming community by pitting one cosca against the other – in one famous battle involving some 10,000 gamers in the Ascension wars, the brotherhood deliberately engineered the downfall of the Janissary-Na-Dni by abandoning them to their impending doom in planet Huzz Ah Beh. The guild of navigators deliberately scooted off, leaving their clients who had paid in full, no means to execute a strategic retreat. The result was a massacre. This was the first time the brotherhood flexed their muscles in the international gaming scene. The incident referred to simply as “Ah-Bah-Dni Janni” remains the greatest shame of the guild and all attempts have been made to erase it from the BOA.

At it’s height, the Janni were considered an economic and technological threat to the brotherhood because they were developing their own space travel technology. Unlike the Heighliner technology used by the brotherhood, their version did not require so much bandwidth as it was based on time travel.

One of the weaknesses of the Heighliner technology is it requires a humongous bandwidth and the brotherhood is constantly stealing bandwidth whenever the guild executes a space jump.

The incident even forced Sony the online gaming providers to negotiate directly with the members of the brotherhood as they considered it an interference to their online subscribers and a ban was imposed on all space fold activities. They dismantled and scrapped the machine. A writ of summons was even issued in Hong Kong, but because they were not able to locate the real world address of the brotherhood – believe it or not, it was actually delivered to their virtual head quarters in Liberation Square in sector of Primus Udentes Prime! Where the brotherhood successfully negotiated the terms and conditions for space travel and undertook never to disrupt the game again. By this time, the brotherhood had evolved into a corporation, it had lawyers, scientist, developers, technicians and even a world travel help desk to facilitate it’s cadre of gamers to travel all round the world. The original commodity traders were edged out and professional businessmen were called in.

As for the Janni, they ceased to be a power to be reckoned with, they like the rest of the cosca’s today have to pay tribute to the brotherhood, an annual fee which serves as a retainer to give them access to space travel technology. So the brotherhood is now into online extortion. All this things are public information, they exist in scraps and fragments, but it is not too difficult to trace the steps of the brotherhood.

Today the brotherhood controls not only the spacing technology, but is actively involved in a mega plan the council of wise refers too as “samizdat” – these are virtual slave camps where thousands of virtual coolies are employed usually in China or India where labor is cheap to mine virtual raw material to be processed by virtual factories and transported by virtual cargo space crafts where ultimately, they are fenced by small time traders who eventually market them in a very real ebay. The trade runs into millions and the division which handles this lucrative business is known simply as the “Inter Spacing Federation of Metal Exchange” – located in liberation square.

Both the ISFME and the SG complement each other. To further secure the dominance of the brotherhood in the strangelands, the brotherhood has the largest deep space fleet simply known as “the fist of the emperor”. This fleet is manned by full time gamers who actively search out for the brotherhood of old or “avatars”, the original council of wise of which the man called darkness is supposed to be the rogue leader.

Darkness aka Man of All Seasons was voted out of the Council some two years ago. The scientist was heartbroken to see his invention used as troop carriers and was critical about the economic agenda of the brotherhood. Though he is considered a fugitive, he is still a revered figure and his name has been immortalized in the only cenotaph commemorating all heroes of the Pillium and Ascension wars.

Today some say the man called Darkness aka man of seasons is no more, his character died some 2 years ago when he was betrayed and his fleet was destroyed in the sector of Kimarlon.

Other gamers still believe he is alive and a secret truce exist between him and the brotherhood where his cosca controls the concession for fuel and minerals used by spacing vessels.

Then there are others who believe his character fragmented into 21 other distinctly different characters, one of them is the mutant, we all call atomic monkey – a hero in the Ascension Wars, he was once a man but was transformed into an ape after being irradiated by fission material and has since been searching for an anti serum to reverse his cursed condition and he and his motley crew known as the Advent children roam the strangelands causing havoc – you can check it up, the brotherhood has a bounty of USD$32,000 on his head (please go and check this out in ebay), the spacing guild want him out of the game at all cost! And the BOA refers to him as a “thorn in the face of the Emperor”. But the ape is diabolically smart, he and his cosca make money by stealing engineering plans and selling it back to the council of the wise.

Beware of the brotherhood. All I can say is where there is so much economic and technological interest. They will do everything to protect their interest and another thing Mr Brown money is involved here, loads of it. With so much money sloshing around in the trade of ray guns, force shields, special powers, space travel etc – the brotherhood are a bunch of serious businessmen who really don’t want to see the government regulating cyberspace. Why should they? They haven’t paid a cent of tax though they earn millions and so you understand why they did what they did to you. I do not support their actions, let me just say many of us in the strangelands do not either and feel you have been treated unfairly, but no one goes against the brotherhood. They are every where, you will be surprised how many people play the game and even worse still lose themselves in it.

I was never here. A brother who loves to play the game. The truth has to be told.

Long live the brotherhood!

U got backbone.

it's their loss.

he uses the word "calculate" too often. It simply means he was either trained as an engineer or someone who knows the quantitive language of logic. He doesnt care abt politics, but that is doesnt mean he doesnt appreciate the nuances, it simply means he doesnt consider it as relevant. I wonder what sort of man are we dealing with.........

This is probably the best decision you've ever made ......... the only way is UP UP and UP for both of you from now on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hang in there dude !!!!!!!!

he reads widely and broadly. Only the rich and free can afford to do so. I bet he even has a private library. He doesnt care abt convention. I wonder why? Perhaps he feels it he doesnt need to belong, again only the rich and wealthy can afford to be so forthright. Above all he knows what we wants and is not afraid to claim it as his own.

What arrogance? A mislead scholar no dount abt it.

he inspires fear doesnt he. I guess all leaders have too in one form or another.

I just think it is a pity.

Sometimes one has to decide if self-respect or money is more important... glad you made the right decision... we're behind you all the way!!

there lies the paradox of reading - it's purely self- selecting - anyone who can read, can be a part of it - but not everyone who reads the same lines can understand the same thing - and why is that so? Because while the latter is a state of mind, the former remains irrevocably a school of thought -

"So my dear friend, there is really no need for me to threaten you"

"Why is that so?"

"Because...because......because..... my friend, you already have an enemy who is even worse than me and you combined together."

"pray tell?"

"Yourself...you are your worse enemy......."

And with these words the rains came and the realization of his fallibility slowly seeped in. It would be a long night and an even longer day he thought to himself as he lowered the scimatar.

An excerpt from Nietzsche "the birth of trajedy"



A lowly brother from the spacing guilds.

Miyagi san, I salute your integrity and your loyalty to a friend. In this day and age, and in a country where people care more about covering their own asses rather than to stand up for their beliefs, it is indeed rare to see someone with the courage to go against an environment of oppression.

Salute, and all hail the Brownian Movement!!!! :-)

P.S. To you geekoids in "The Brotherhood"....you are nothing but a bunch of cowards who go around threatening people under the cover of anonymity. Your pompous verbosity does not impress anyone, and merely appear as the pathetic scrabblings of a pedant desperate to show off your lame facade of erudition.

"– therefore we urge you both to keep cyberspace free from any unnecessary controversies under the strongest diplomatic terms. Otherwise we may be compelled to re-evaluate our position again."

Hmm it sounds like this hacker group called "brotherhood" is threatening to resume their activities to hack you if you report them to the authorities.

So much for TODAY's alternative voice.

Michael Tan, the brotherhood have also commmitted a criminal act by the mere threat to hack mr miyagi's site. The government takes a very serious view of this and so does the blogging community. I for one hope swift action will be taken. The blogosphere does not need these destructive hackers regardless of how we might feel of their opinions.

A feeling of contentment washes over me as I watch Singaporeans sticking it to the Man... ah yes... good work bro.

Yea... I'm linking you on my site later today.
Quitting smoking is easy. My friend did it hundreds of times. ;)

*pat pat*

teacher girl, I am known in Singapore's tech forums, for example, Xtremeplace, Carma, Hardwarezone and VR-zone. Outside of it I do not venture, except Brown's blog. My life on the net has been since ARPA Bitnet, and if you search enough, it is probably one of the most internet exposed lives you could find. So there - I have nothing which I can hide anymore, as a result of certain decisions made over the last 15 years.

I have no relationship with the so called `brotherhood' - I have not heard about them, and would not even pay attention to their posts, if they did not imply my relationship with them.

But I can comment that they are a hilarious mix of good perception smeared by a Starship Trooper fantasy. My speculation is that they are a small group of english-speaking-background university graduates, led by a charismatic leader who types these comments (as the posts' writing style are similar), and if you give them enough attention they will post (under a Thor anonymizer, I presume) in other blogs in the future.

I say group, because a single person without discussion with his group, would not have come up with such precise perception of the situation. In fact, their perception has made mine clearer. I say university graduate, because they still have the refreshing fancy of military Sci-Fi, and english-speaking-background because a majority of this segment's geeks and nerds seem to bury their faces in sci-fi and fantasy genres. And they are moderates. As you can obviously see. They are rooted in the establishment but have enough bandwidth for alternate views, and yet see the other perspective and the implications of what's happening.

They would do good, of course, it is unfortunate that they couch their perceptions in an envelope not suitable for general consumption.

kudos to you.

i duno wat to say but... wow.

*hugz*

I have read some negative comments on both Mr Brown and Miyagi's blog. I seems like many supporters here actually try to defend both Mr Brown and Miyagi by responding to these people.

I see this differently:

(i) The fact that these people are here because the messages sent out threaten the entity which they support. In another word, hitting them where it hurts. These people are here only when they consider you as a formidable force to recon with. So it would be great if you have a whole bunch of them here, may be a little irritating for a while, but it is like mosquitos bite. Further more, it increase the number of comments.

(ii) The behaviours of such people are close to huligan and very like a terrorist. The more they work in this fashion will only prove to the world the type of people who will support the pappies.

With these 2 reasons, I see the need for more of these people to appear here.

Thx for fighting the good fight on behalf of other Singaporean. All the best for all future endeavours. :)

I actually want to be the dissenter here.

There are 2 ways of looking at it. First is that Miyagi has given up his right to speak for the blogging community in the mainstream media. Where he could have soldiered on and kept on fighting. Or at least, as somebody put it, "when you have a voice, whether it is in business, in politics, in academia, that voice is the source of your power. You always have to be the one telling the story." When they cut you down to 1, you'll still be able to reach out to others on a platform beyond those few of us who are surfers. To jump without being pushed - now the only people who will ever talk about us on MSM are the MSM reporters themselves. aren't you helping us get marginalised further?

The other way of looking at it is that if Miyagi hadn't jumped, he would have been pushed. If this happened, then people will look at it differently. Some will say he passed up a chance to make a dignified exit. Some will say he's brave because he didn't give up but fought to the bitter end.

Jumping off in protest because you feel some injustice has been done - how does that further the cause of the revolution?

Mr Miyagi displays the mark of a true friend. Standing up for what is right. Daring to stand up.
I salute you guys. Faster than I will salute an officer.
You are the brothers we will readily put ourselves in harm's way for. We need more men with character like you.

Jia you and keep on blogging man!

mr miyagi!

you will survive and prosper, whatever you do.

my public support!

Well done and good luck.

Kudos to you!

do you all notice one thing.....this michael tan is the only one who witnessed irtpc post in Mr Brown being deleted....note irtpc as the brotherhood said was an agent....one coincident....the other is whenever, this Michael Tan appears....the brotherhood post....what is the probability of two of these events happening at the same time.

Michael I do not wish to be rude, bc really I am a very polite girl, but can you pls tell us what your relationship with the brotherhood is?

You did good.

hmm.. interesting. wishing you two the best in your future endeavour. :)

Where shld I begin? I've been following the developments of the whole debacle on crossing frm the online world to the offline one and the subsequent decision of yours to call it quits at Today.

Saw that there have been at least 101 comments to your post and even more at MB (though trawling through some of em, sickens me that the whole issue gets convulated to other twisted subjects) However, that said, that is the beauty of the Internet. It attracts his supporters and some detractors. There's an 'equaliser' present and this essentially means 'a balancing mechanism' that somehow manages to present a myraid of views/opinions.

I wish local politicians would have a mindset change - to understand that the Internet is not some monster that would cause turmoil, disorder and anarchy. Far from it.

Trust me, the 'balancing' effect and nature of the Internet would save their asses. As much as they cannot believe it.

Stop labelling the Internet as 'new media' or 'alternative media'. The connotation is that it is unfamilar terrain that could misconstrue some into thinking that it has negative attributes that are potentially subversive; to the populace and the country.

It is a type of media, no doubt, with its own set of idiosyncrasies, advantages and disadvantages (just like other forms). Engage it. And by that, please dont give us oxymoronic phrases such as, and to quote,

"At the end of the day, we are all in search of solutions. By working together, by engaging in honest, constructive dialogue, we can do so........."

I dont noe how else more honest, frank and refreshing the column by MB was and how he was engaged constructively? Enough abt him, how have we been engaged? By shoving a harsh response in our faces and telling us, to lap it up? Or by statements made by politicians constantly justifying the need to demarcate and differentiate because naive little Singaporeans might become more 'heated' than 'enlightened'?

As a politican puts it, "But don't, in the name of humour, distort or aggravate on the emotional level. That sort of discourse does not generate solutions. It generates more heat than light."

It does not generate solutions directly. It generates thinking Singaporeans to have a heightened sense of awareness. It generate engagement. It kills apathy. It generates care and thought for the future of our country. With all of this, hopefully, solutions would be generated. And I believe it will.

Sorry for the long post. Rambled and couldnt stop :)

Like some commented, it is easy for people to say "quit lah, to support brown" when it is not THEIR JOBS and MONEY on the line. But you did it and I admire you for your tenacity. When dreams and reality clash, you chose the former and for that,you have my respect. I can't dare dare say I will have the balls to do the same if I were you.

Cheers
anonn

Why you quit...

Oh well.. Good luck to you la.

Maybe in 5-10 years time, you and mrbrown should go for politics in Singapore, I believe we will vote for u :D

As my former RSM used to say, "With balls that big, how do you walk?"

Bravo!

Way to go Mr Miyagi! I support your decision 1000%. You guys are so talented. If I owned a media biz, I would have grabbed you two to come churn for me! Let's have our parties and fun on-line and forget about those crappy papers, gah-men people and those with stamps on their eyes and mud in their brains (and ears)!

well done!

You've got my respect Mr. Myagi! =)

get your own media empire going....

I'm sorry to hear this, but I suppose a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Wishing you the best in your future endeavours.

Miyagi-san,

Arigato, you set a good example.
You are a true friend indeed.
We salute you!

Respekt

Mr. Miyagi,

I SALUTE you.

GOOD ON YA MATE! ;-)

Rest assured that all of us will be behind you dude. =)

Diplomatic Communiqué from the Council of the Wise,
Stardate 9330, location: Liberation Square, Sector: Prima Uldentes Prime.

Greetings Mr Miyagi,

We hope all is well with you and Mr Brown. Time is precious so allow us come directly to our point.

Mr Miyagi it is not our usual practice to interfere with the activities of bloggers. However recently, we (the council) have observed a series of disturbing developments in Mr Browns blog which may have otherwise posed a clear and present danger to our on going interest in cyberspace.

We do not care for politics. Neither do we wish to offer a comment as to who is right or wrong – these considerations simply do not feature in our tactical and strategic calculations - our interest is only limited to what we term, “the game”

The last thing we need is an excuse for the government to legislate and impose restrictions on our game because they feel either enraged or threatened by irresponsible activities in cyberspace – like I said, it is always about the game and very little else.

Please understand why we considered it a matter of strategic priority to command our covert “moderators” into the Mr Brown’s blog to attempt to cool matters. In doing so we are reminded of the latin maxim, “inter arma silent leges”. Where there is war only chaos rules and only the brotherhood has the power to restore law and order through the ranks of it’s scholars – be reminded always we will never hesitate to deploy every means possible to ensure our sovereignty in cyberspace.

Though we cannot claim any intimacy with your cause or even permit ourselves to do so beyond the interest of the game, we respect your position. In return gentlemen, we hope you will do the same and appreciate the delicacy of our interest and why our economic and technological destinies are inextricably linked together by our mutual acts and omissions in cyberspace – therefore we urge you both to keep cyberspace free from any unnecessary controversies under the strongest diplomatic terms. Otherwise we may be compelled to re-evaluate our position again.

We understand based on our intelligence reports, Mr Brown’s blog is currently being ravaged by a group of undesirables who are bent on mischief. Rest assured these elements have nothing to do with the brotherhood and ALL our covert operatives have been instructed to stand down, though a few have been ordered to remain there to observe and report their findings.

Our only wish is to be left in peace to play our beloved game. Surely gentlemen, this is not too much to ask?

Remember gentlemen we offer you our hand of brotherly peace in the form of this truce – consider our proposition carefully, as it profits a man nought to turn down the good will of so many who endeavor to work for a better tomorrow in cyberspace.

Meanwhile allow us all in the strangelands to wish both you and your families peace, good health and every success in your future endeavors.


The Council of the Wise (Elected Representatives of the Space Guilds)

Long live the brotherhood!

The 'schism between ‘the online and the [current] offline’' is reconciled, in our Singapore context, NOT by continued efforts fed by the blood of compromise. It should be resolved only by the battle for eyeballs in a truly free market. A TRULY free market.

While I respect your decision to resign, I can't help but wonder whether it is the best possible solution. For one, you yourself have noted a schism between 'the online and the offline'. By resigning, there is one less opportunity for reconciliation and one more chance for division.

Still, I can understand the motivations behind your decision. All the best to your future endeavours.

If your values are incompatible with the newspaper's enforced values, and if this enforcement may force you to change any of your key words, then quitting is an obvious and logical choice. There is no great amount of `thinking' which needs to be done.

Why should Atlas keep straining under the weight of a world which doesn't appreciate his efforts?

Of course, Atlas may not be needed anyway, because the normal course of gravity would keep the world up, and Atlas was straining under an illusion.

But Atlas, in whatever case, shouldn't keep straining to hold the world up if the world doesn't appreciate it.

Well done!!!

Their loss!
Hope that u & brown continue to do what u guys believe in!

And don't smoke too much!

- Spunky

oh dear.. i'm sure it was a very difficult decision..

rest assure there will be many people standing behind you and MB.

1 for all. All for 1. You are amazing, to stand by MB at times like tht. Damn proud of the both of u!

You mentioned TV cameras ... hmmm. Something like the vlog site Rocketboom.com would really be cool! I can SEE Johnny zhnging the cars if you had a vlog on that series!

Good on you mate.
*pat on your shoulder.
Supports will always be there.
Just make sure that you have enough bandwith to cater to the surge in netizens that'll be coming here.

come some music....!!!


gone is a black monday and come bright tuesday. if you cannot do TODAY let's hope for a better TOMORROW.

really interested in seeing more waves from the B&M Duo :D


As the chinese saying : " no Wind no up Waves"

Best regards
bOo!

Hey dude, you and brown have my support.
Things said already said, done already done.
Learn.
Let's move on bro.
Anything, I can do to assist. Do let me know.

Guess everything that needs to be said is said... no matter what decision you and MB makes... we respect your decision and we are very proud of you... wish you and MB well... really admire what you and MB did... JIAYOU!

You take care too.

jus when you think you are one of 'em, they stab you at the back... ha... when are we gonna learn.

you two hav my silent respect!

well done... *clap* puff...puff...

miyagi-san,
just to say I'm defending your right to smoke - I don't smoke and I would not encourage anyone. It's not good for you but you're grown up and as long as smoking is not outlawed then you should be able to do as you wish. Sure, smoking kills but so does driving, getting on a plane and eating bak kwa. Freedom of choice - in and of itself, is worth defending.

Good man. We are all proud of you and think you made the right decision.

good luck. god bless and we will support u always.

hi..wanna wish both of u the best..wanna leave a comment at mrbrown blog but his comment space at the moment is flooded wif ppl makin loads of unwanted remarks..

take care..n stop smkin..lols..lesser place to smk liao..

Good on you Miyagi.

Good on you.

Hi Mr Miyaki and Mr Brown ... YOU guys brought laughters to our lives! Pls keep 'em coming .. Don't stop ...

Well done Bro! A brave step.

TW

Mr Miyagi..

I salute u...now if only all other bloggers united to Stomp off printed media for awhile and be true to their roots!

Once again..i'm not worthy!

will always support u and mb

Wow wow! Well done Mr Miyagi. Friends like u r rare, and almost extinct. Mr brown is very very lucky :P

I'm in no position to decide which would have been better. But I respect the tough choices you've had to make.

Just don't pang seh us hor.

Do what u feel is right, behind u all the way!

Way to go, guys, that's a show of solidarity!! l salute you guys!!

Seriously respect, man. I buy turkwa t-shirt to support you.

Hey man, I applaud your wise decision. Who needs a column at Today anyway? :)

Miyagi miyagi miyagi,

Friends like you, who stand by your fellow mate, is few and rare. I salute your decision an both brown and you will have my support for your future projects.

Cheers

To quit or not to quit?

To quit is loyalty, not quitting is rational (if you need the income la).

Since you now have projects coming your way, perhaps this is the best time to quit.

Either way, you have my support. 加油！

My Miyagi,

I salute you. What you have done today, will one day be told to your children and your children's children of how you have stood up and gave the finger to the regime.


Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official...
~Theodore Roosevelt

Oh no! First no more mr brown, and now no more Mr Miyagi!!!

I absolutely respect both you and mr brown for standing by your principles. I hope that you will both continue to attract projects that will help to sustain your families as well as your websites.

As an aside, I do think people should be a litte less hard on the editors of TODAY ... I don't think they had much of a choice wrt to suspending mr brown's column.

All the best!

Miyagi-san,

I am sure that with you and mr brown's talent, you can survive without TODAY, which has shown itself to be nothing but a propaganda machine of this childish and insecure government. Think you should work on the Tur Kwa merchandise so that all your supporters have a chance to show their support at you and snub this crap government.

hey.. must have been a really tough decision. Really admire your courage and loyalty. You guys have my support and love! I am part of the MrMiyagi n MrBrown Fan Club, haha. :) Take care!

Thank God for you and Brown.

If nothing else, this episode has help Singaporeans to recognise what kind of society Singaporeans are really living in.

Thanks for making us see beyond the words of the politicians. We now know how they intend to manage opinion on the net.

Blessings Always!

Hi Mr. Brown and Mr. Miyagi,

I heard these words recently:

"Sometimes you gotta break the rules.
You never know when you're gonna get something inspired."

Kudos to both of you who have jumped out of your comfort in the box, and what an inspiration you are to so many of us. Thank you so much for bringing such humour, fun and joy in your articles and podcasts of our daily Singapore lives, especially after the humour, they give me another perspective from my fellow Singaporeans.

Moreover, what pride I have to be a Singaporean, to see the “wear brown” support shown at the MRT Stations today for Mr. Brown. Seeing these, I truly believe there are more good things to come, thoughts-maturing of our population and better development of our country.

MB & MM, please continue your good work, I look forward to more of your humourous but funny “analysis”. :-D

Thank you all.

HP

P.S.: BTW, how do I get on the contact list of the support Mr. Brown and Mr. Miyagi list?

mr miyagi,

take my hat off for your brave decision. and yes, i am sure projects and sponsors will continue streaming your way.

you and mb have churn out good stuffs ... keep them coming, will always support you two.

ice

I pity you and him, but what can I do??? we r Sinkee.

Good Decision, my estimation of you went up 10 fold. :)

Hi Mikey aka Michael Tan,

Really sorry for the cock up old boy - Tommy aka Tomahawk should have checked with the CIUB (cyber intelligence unit of the brotherhood) before implicating you as he did. Instead he just shot from his hip and the rest you already know. Besides who uses his real call sign in a covert operation?

Anyway here goes:

"TWIMC,

Please be informed Michael Tan has no affiliations with either the brotherhood or the council of the wise. Neither has he ever acted as an agent, nominee, proxy or in any other capacity to further the goals and aspirations of the brotherhood. The mistake is entirely ours and we apologise profusely once again."

Are you happy now Michael Tan? BTW we will be meeting up this coming saturday at chestnut ave in BT for our weekly MTB rides at 0700 hr, guess who will be receiving the dumbo of the year prize for being the worse secret agent for 2006?

Spokes person for the brotherhood - Space Barney.

(This message has been broadcasted from the Tiberian system on board the star cruiser "liberati")

Hi,

I think you made a wise decision esp after so many things have happened. I support you!

Support whatever decision you made....jia you =)

Love the podcast from you guys. Keep it up :)

Mr Miyagi,

Don't look back on your decision. I am sure it'll prove to be a good one.

Having worked in some high place in the civil service, my husband took a long time to make that decision to leave it.

While he only makes a fraction than before, he is a much happier person now.

It's never wise to have too close links with the Government, trust me.

Let your lives be free and conscience clear. That's more important.

Best regards ...

Right a book both of you, just dump all your columns in and pen somethoughts. I will buy it, am sure many others will to.

MARIO SAVIO

Mr Miyagi,

The fishmonger and vegetable seller associations of Singapore should thank you and Mr Brown for improving the efficiency of their members with the removal of your columns from TODAY.

Now they can wrap fish and veggies with fresh copies of TODAY immediately without having to read your columns first.

Salute you!!!

Everything has a boomerang effect. You both have done many good things for the common citizens, now's the returns. I'm sure tides of offers are flooding your door.
Be bless in all your endevours. Truly happy for both of you.

Please quit smoking - v bad for your asthma and father-to-be (if you're planning one).

Oh yes, waiting v patiently for the Brown Merchandize.

All the best!
You got my support!

Hey Mr Miyagi,

Great job! I'll continue support both you and Mr Brown forever! :)

I believe your popularity will have sponsors knocking on doors the moment they know that you have zero affiliation with Temasek linked entities...

May I suggest that you guys collaborate on a book of "nothing" ..... on all the notable entries in your's and Mr Brown's blog...


If local publishers are unwilling to publish it, send it to international publishers...

If book cannot be sold in Sg, then it will be even more sought after with high prices.

If Neil Humphrey can ... why not u guys?

OMG! I think we need to raise moolah to start a newpaper for all the struggling writers who needs to say what they wanna say! How does "Straits Days of Tomorrow" sound? We will need one of those printers ala the one they used to use during the world war 2 by lim bo seng. A basement to meet and discuss what articles to write and manpower to paste the papers on the walls and lamp-posts around the country...
Hmmm... too much hassle... thank god for the internet.

Keep writing and we will keep reading! :D

Good on you, Mr Miyagi. This selfless act demonstrates you have more principles than those GRC types. People like you and Mr Brown make us proud to be Singaporeans.

Wish you all the best. I am sincere when I said this, that it is definitely Today loss, but neither yours nor Brown.

Miyagi-san!

BAN ZAI!!! BAN ZAI!!! BAN ZAI!!!

DOM.

ps: oi!!!! will you or brown-san respond to my question about the advertising rates on your website and brown's? Thanks!

as alway. man will not do things 4 others, so i wish u do all this 4 ur self , n not 4 MB . lastly u will have my well wishes, btw wat business u n brown man doin? if it is a retail or wat, we can support u, u never know wat lines ppl work in r eadin ur blog.
peace outside

Hi there.

Enjoyed reading your articles. Too bad that this had to happen.

Im sure that once the Govt has decided to give us Singaporeans more media freedom, they'll regret e tough tone which gave u so much pressure.

i think in the drive to have more media freedom, its 1 step forward, 2 steps backwards. and this is clearly one of the step backwards....

but i hope none of us will resort to breaking laws (whether or not foreigners do it), cos in e end, it'll juz lead to a even bigger backlash...

cheers!

Just like what Ping said above: I AM POSTING MY COMMENTS HERE BECAUSE YOUR RESPONSE PAGE BOR-SENG-LEE (NO BUSINESS), SO MORE PEOPLE IS LIKELY TO SEE MY COMMENTS. (Oops, isn't that what Ping meant??) =P

Anyway...

Just another cheesy pat-on-the-back:

You two had done a great job to bring smiles with those oh-so-true blogs and articles. Don't ever let this small issue bother you; we all know what you are made of, partisan or not.

Given the quality of your works, I am quite sure several MPs and civil servants are secretly reading them using their PDAs/handphones thru' Wifi whenever they pass by a Mcdonald's outlet. Damn it, they could be wear BROWN UNDERWEARS in a coverted protest!!

hey, respect your decision, man.
you're standing up for what you guys believe in, and we're standing behind you for that.
keep telling the truth, in your irreverant way you always do.
keep the satirical flag flying high!

p/s quit smoking, lah!

??? Well if you are sure, behind you guys all the way...

Hi Miyagi

They fire your friend, you fire them. I have nothing but admiration for both of you. Glad to hear that your livelihood will not be very much affected. I salute you both.

Hey Mr Miyagi..

Kudos...

An illegitimate paper does not deserve the veil of legitimacy.....

You are much better - MUCH better - a person than to be one used to lend SPH the cover of legitimacy....

Kudos....

For taking a stand...

To borrow a Snoopy quote, "You're a good man, Mr. Miyagi." mr brown is lucky to have a friend like you.

Brown: this autumn's colour. White is passe.

Hi Miyagi,
There comes a time when a man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Today you have done it!
Congratulations and best wishes
Dr. Huang

Miyagi,

Taking a stand is never easy particularily when your close friend probably discouraged you from doing so.

Respect.

Oh yeah. Quit smoking please. So say we all.

Dear hedonistics anonymous,

Its not about death, its about how long you can tong3.

well done.

smoke less, quit smoking, die anyway.

btw, i think it's today's loss. not yours or mrbrown's.

Although I don't read Today (not commuter user), I am having mixed feelings about your resignation.

However, everything happens for a purpose. Since the suspension of Mr Brown's column. Your creativity went up another level. I will provide my support for you on your decision....except for that smoking part.

Miyagi, you have my support too! :) all the best in your future endevour

and yah.. quit smoking lah, in our small land, there's less and less place you can go and smoke freely, dont make life difficult for yourself ah..

i don't read today anyway. nobody's gonna read it in future.

not sure how good the money is. but no point staying with a company like this.

All the best. I never read your TODAY column anyway....hahaha. Online for me.

The both of you are the heroes that I want to but never dare to be.

Stay safe.

Way to go, Mr Miyagi!!

And yes, quit smoking lah. Every pack you buy you give 3 packs to the gover-min. Why contribute revenue which goes into the pay of the sick-ass mini$ter$, and none of that revenue goes back into helping smokers kick the habit?!

YOU ROCK!!! KUDOS!!! I support your decision and action to do what is right!!!

BOTH OF YOU RULE!!!!

ps - dun smoke liao lar... they are getting expensive by days. LOL

cool. all the best to everything you guys do. you'll have my support. continue to be the voice of the lay Singapore people who have no voice.

All the best to you and brown! You've got our respect, regardless of your choice.

Mr Miyagi

It must have been a tough decision. There's been calls to "do the right thing and quit"... that's because their own lives are not on the line...

I've enjoyed the stuff and you and MB have been churning out. Hang in there dude; I know this sounds terribly cheesy but whenever a door closes a window will open. I truly believe in this.


God Bless

PC

Hi Mr Miyagi,

You and mrbrown have my vote of support .

I would have left a comment at mrbrown's blog but it's been inundated with comments from trolls and people with nothing else better to say. Thankfully yours is still "safe" at the moment.

Good luck folks. I'm already looking forward to more great content (text/audio/video) from you two.

- ping

Don't worry, you and Mr Brown have full support from all of us. Forget about TODAY, look forward to Tomorrow.