A Simple Conflict to Complicate: Dragonites vs. Enders

I was reading a book on the Book of Revelation (also known as the Apocalypse of John), called A History of the End of the World, by Jonathan Kirsch. He shows that the last book of the Christian Bible is a rage-fuelled mind bomb so potent that it has all but dominated Western culture at least since Emperor Theodosius turned the Roman Empire into Christendom by decree in 391. But the most important point I'm drawing from it in this entry is the extreme dualism the Apocalypse embodies. From at least the middle of Black Science all the way to the end of Spanner, America is torn apart by an apocalyptic duel between two factions determined to put an end to American democracy and replace it with an apocalyptic theocracy: the Gnostic fundamentalist Dragonites, the ultra-elitist conspiracy of self-described supermen who want to reimpose the old totalitarian caste system based on a cult of blood; and the Christian fundamentalist Enders, that group of militant cults determined to put an end to the world by force. Actually, the Enders don't have to be Christian; the Islamists and the Jewish Messianists are also Enders. Both factions see the world in ultra-stark black-and-white, either-or, with-us-or-against-us terms. If you're not for one faction, they believe, you are by definition part of the other. This is a "Gordian knot" that desperately needs to be cut before it destroys the world. In my dialectical worldview, there must be a third force dedicated to disrupting both forces. This force I call the Spoiler. But the Spoiler's disruptions are useless unless (s)he fights alongside, and for the sake of, the common enemy of both Dragonites and Enders: the people.

The Dragonites first show their power in Bad Company as they use the mercenary army amassed by Dictel Corporation to try to forcibly impose their ideal of Synarchy on an unwilling America. As Black Science begins, the Enders make their presence known in the form of a suicide bombing by the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus. By Points of Authority, the Dragonites and Enders have plunged America into civil war and are determined to destroy it so they can replace it with their own apocalyptic utopias. To prepare for this battle between the militant dualists, I'll need to insert a little course or two on dialectics: first, the extracurricular education of the sisters Charlie and Desiree in Bad Company, then Willa's defense in the middle of Black Science. Thus I'll prepare you for the coming of the Spoiler in Points of Authority.

In The Stargate Conpiracy, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince show a nasty apocalyptic streak in the new Theosophy-based, Egypt-mad, Freemasonry-inspired New Age fundamentalism, drawing largely on the works of Alice A. Bailey and Edgar Cayce. Many ancient schools of Gnosticism, including Manichaeism, are also heavily laden with eschatology. All eschatological systems, including Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, Islamic, and whatever else, ultimately derive from that of Zoroastrianism, with its final savior called Saoshyant.

Dr. Willa Richter-Thomas, main character of Black Science and a major player throughout the Spanner cycle, is the first to name the two factions, the Dragonites and Enders. Early in Black Science, she accuses them of trying to immanentize the Eschaton — meaning, basically, to force the End to come about and to force the world into the image of the apocalyptic New Jerusalem. She counters their militant dualism with her own dialectical understanding of the world. She is the one who comes up with the term "Spoiler" (while looking at her mischievous niece Shira, of course).

I should add that just because the Richter-Thomases have been fighting the Beckets, a leading Dragonite family, doesn't mean that they take the other side. The Enders hate the Richter-Thomases as violently as the Beckets and other Dragonites do.

I'll end by explaining the names:

• The Dragonites are said to take their name from the Dragon of the Book of Revelation. They take their name from the historical Count Dracula (Prince Vlad III of Wallachia), cofounder of something called the Imperial and Royal Dragon Court and Order. Dragonites, or just "Dragons", are members of this order. They think they're supermen, living gods, whose destiny is to rule the rest of humanity, who are mere apes, the Dragonites' natural prey. These are the real-life vampires. Any Marxist revolution would lead to their destruction, which is why they formed the Synarchist International to oppose the Russian Revolution. Capitalism is also a rebuke to their lust to rule.
• The Enders are those who want to end the world. Some of them really do want to destroy the material universe in order to replace it with a spiritual reality purged of matter. Others simply want to destroy the existing order and establish a totalitarian theocracy. Al-Qaeda are the most infamous of this class of Enders today. Terrorism has been the Enders' preferred method of seizing power for over 2,000 years.
• The people, naturally, are caught in the crossfire. The challenge, of course, is to wake them up. Both the Dragonites and the Enders mock them and claim they are incapable — spiritually, say the Enders; genetically, say the Dragonites — of waking up and freeing themselves. But I'll have to remind both Dragonites and Enders, though they'll never listen, that they're denying evolution. The Threat from Below will be nature's revenge.

Some of you will probably think my ideas are crazy. Sure they are. That's what makes them so entertaining and so interesting to write. And what could be crazier than conspiracy theory? There was an entire hit TV series based on just this idea: The X-Files.

One more thing: this clash between Dragonites and Enders works best in Spanner, which is set in a future "Euro-American Union". This is because most Dragonites are concentrated in Europe, while non-Muslim Enders have their highest concentration and greatest political power in America. Put the European synarchists and American theocrats together, and the inevitable result is war. These two elites, genetic and spiritual, are natural enemies. But both also have a common enemy: the people. As you probably guessed, I take the people's side.

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