Once Upon a Time

Long, long, ago I wasn't named Fracture. Fracture is something Duckie named me within the last 10 years. Before I was pretending to be Frank Tanner pretending to be Fracture, I was pretending to be Hans Dellard pretending to be Handler as a proud handler of the Bureaucracy trying to be the cancer that would rot the old Bureau from the inside out before Loveless had me executed in front of a class of students I was in the process of conditioning. But then that was a good call on his part because I was a fucking traitor. You see, before that I was pretending to be Travis Leer pretending to be the Traveler.

Most people probably aren't familiar with my deeds as Travis. I ran a nationwide cult of proxies. You know, until the bureaucracy became aware of me. Join or die is a hell of an ultimatum. But hey, blowing up the nerve center of my operation with me in it was definitely a mature and reasonable way to deal with competition.

I could keep going like that for hours but after Travis we lose relevance to the present. It all becomes old names and references to people and grudges no one cares or knows enough about to get any insight from were I to offhandedly mention them.

Suffice to say, I have been a lot of people over the years and more often than not who I was ends with a murder attempt or a coup of some sort that I survive without them realizing and I come back as someone else right under their nose to fuck them over. Its been a long vicious circle of wrath and retaliation that I have had the good fortune of surviving.

And you might think thats where the name for these blogs come from but uh... you'd be wrong.

See, there's no point in getting into who I was before I was Travis because you don't have context. So to give you the context you need to appreciate who I was and where I came from more than a generation or two ago we have to go to the beginning. The very, very beginning.

To back before I was an abomination of Gods, Monsters, and Men. Before my great and unfortunate rebirth, when I was just a child with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge with a goofy nickname.

Back when I was Wrath. Or as I use to spell it then, Wraph. Or as my parents would have called me Raphael Beekman, back when they were still alive in 1807.

That's right. Wrath has always referred to me. How fucking vain am I that all these blogs are named after me? I'm like Disney up in this bitch. But... probably way lamer. In my experience things are only ever cool when other people do them.

Fuck me right?

Whatever.

Wraph out!

Duckie's Lullaby

How do you start a story? An age old question that haunts many would be writers. The answer is, of course, from the beginning. And that's its own can of worms isn't it?

No such thing as a beginning. Everything that ever was and ever will be is a culmination of event's so seemingly inconsequential to one another that we can never hope to know how a thing truly began. You just have to pick a point and go.

Just think of the earliest most relevant thing and start plotting out a wide set of the important events. Then start filling in the big events with the little events. Then start filling in how each little thing came to be. And before you know it, you have a story.

When you go to publish it, you just find the most interesting block of events that fit in book size and publish that first. Then you can start publishing everything as squeals and prequel after you've got them hooked. Doesn't matter how boring or uninteresting those block of events are. People are gluttons, all they want is more.

But now I'm rambling. Suppose I'm always rambling. That's probably gonna be the bulk of this blog. What I'm trying to say is... this is a prequel and I don't know how interesting that's gonna be to read. I consider this time in my life to be more interesting by far. Everything else before I used Duckie to rob and punish the old Bureaucracy and started my own Faction with the funds... then passed it off and became a dog for yet another Faction... its all kind of blur. Maybe that's just history though. Never feels quite as happening as the present.

And while some cool and happening writers might use the foresight to whittle away past events to just show the important parts that played into things going forward to create some sort of narrative or give their work a point or meaning, I can promise you that I won't be falling into such trappings.

For better or worse, this is gonna be everything last thing I can recall. Maybe, just maybe, someone will find something useful in here. Or perhaps like the writings of my predecessor these words will drive you all crazy. Wouldn't that just be a special kind of awesome.

So how do you start my story? I can think of no better way than to repeat the way my story originally started for you all long before you had any broad sense of who I was. We're gonna start it with Duckie.

I know a piece of you is out there somewhere you sick fuck. I miss you. My arms and legs still hurt. About the only good thing you ever did is give me this kick ass handle and kill Highest Loveless.
So... This is dedicated to you. I'll sure you'll recognize it.

So much to say, so much to see.
So much in the world but not a thing to be.

This worlds so gray. Yet this fires so bright.
I chase it through the beasts but they whittle my life.

I press on and fight with all of my might.
I scream for help to find me. A hopeless plight.

When life is nothing but pain, it all feels the same.
At the end of the day, you are what you leave.

Creation requires sacrifice and my tatters of me are all I've to give.
My only solace to be, that my rage will out live me.

Yet at the end of my path, I find I'd take it all back.
Know that my only true win, was feeding the flame I died in.

This win could be yours. Just follow my course.
Let the Fire guide you.

Such terrible advice. I miss you mutt.

                   -Sincerely, 

                    The Man You Named Fracture