‘Power — some just want to control anything and everything around them.’
HELLO, High Adventurer! If you are here to role-play Iron Crown’s exciting inventions of critical hits, then you are looking for guidelines that provide advice for the resolution of any action. Enjoy the story that unfolds as your attack roll decides not only if you strike your opponent, but how much damage and what critical results occur as well. Discover the truth — the character has found out he has been betrayed or lied to about something important greed — very common motivation and probably the main reason most people adventure. Mission — it could be given to him by a liege or his church, but he has taken it upon himself to complete it. Power — some just want to control anything and everything around them. [http://ironcrown.com/harp/] Meet the main player —
“I did not become President to preside over the death of the Philippine Republic. This much was my resolution when the last word of ‘Today’s Revolution: Democracy’ was written on September 7, 1971. At that time I had already suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in some parts of the country. One year and 14 days later, I signed the proclamation placing the entire Philippines under martial law. The sequence of events might very well suggest to the reader that I had been deliberating over the martial law decision for more than a year. There is an element of truth in this. But until the evening of Sunday, September 17, 1972, I continued to hope that we could proceed toward change and reform and realize in modest measure a Democratic Revolution, without having to accept the martial necessity.” [Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. The democratic revolution in the Philippines. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International, 1974, pp. 109-111]
“On that long night on Sunday, September 17, 1972, I pored over every document on my desk, scrutinized every evaluation of raw and refined data, every bit of classified as well as unclassified information, and discerned little by little the anatomy of a plot against the government of the Philippines.” [p. 113]
“The contingency plan adopted by my administration to meet the possibility of internal threats was known by the code name Oplan Sagittarius. We had taken the usual security precaution of setting up several dummy plans with this code name to identify possible security risks and leaks in our organization. I was disturbed to note that one of the dummy plans had come into the possession of the leaders of the political opposition party and was publicly discussed in the halls of Congress.” [p. 126]
A different player was the majority leader of the US Senate at that time (Mike Mansfield) with the US Senate secretary (Frank Valeo) who had reported in part: “Martial Law is maintained by the Philippine Constabulary, under the command of General Fidel Ramos, with the regular armed services standing in reserve. The latter are directly and heavily engaged only in the southern islands against the Moros. These tribal Moslems provide the principal resistance to the edict calling for a turn-in of weapons.”
A third player: “Upon the imposition of martial law on September 21, 1972, I assumed the role of a ‘media czar’ for the regime with my election as President of the Malacanang- controlled National Press Club of the Philippines, my assumption of the position of chairman of the Media Advisory Council and my being held out personally by President Marcos as the sole conduit between the military government and the practicing media… While functioning as chief propagandist for Marcos, I also served as a ‘Devil’s Advocate,’ a role which I had taken to heart in my honest belief that the imposition of martial law in the Philippines was a temporary emergency measure ‘to save the Republic’ from a Communist take-over. It was my pursuit of the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ role, which Marcos himself assigned to me in view of my ‘non-official’ status in the Palace, that eventually led to my disenchantment with the regime.” [Primitivo Mijares. The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. 1976 Edition, p. 22]
“Having fortunately walked the corridors of power in the official seat of the powerful duumvirate, I became privy and witness to the sinister manipulation of one man and his scheming wife during a dark hour in the tragic life of my country. This was my scoop, my exclusive story. I owe this story not only to myself as a newspaperman; I owe it to my suffering family which I have had to temporarily deny my fatherly love and attention in my pursuit of my rendezvous with history; I owe it to my country and its correct history. I set my appointment with history when I defected from the dictatorial regime of Marcos on February 20, 1975.” [p. 30] “I was probably naive to think that in the changed situation in the Philippines, as in the martial law situation, ideals would prevail, not realizing early enough that, as authoritarian regimes go, the ruling clique must perforce get the lion’s share of everything… Most of the things I have said – and now write about extensively – have been or are matters of public knowledge among the people of the Philippines. I am just here providing some heretofore unknown, but logically-acceptable links to fit things into the Marcos jig-saw puzzle.” [p. 33]
“I was an unwitting tool in some of the plans of Mr. Marcos for the imposition of martial law. As a matter of fact, I was the first newspaperman to write the full story of the imposition of martial law 12 hours before its official announcement. I have access in advance to the original copies of the martial law proclamation and the first six General Orders issued by President Marcos… While I went along with a martial regime, I never shook off my training of 22 years as a cynical newspaperman.” [p. 39] “I made an appointment with history when I defected from Marcos’ regime, and I kept my date with an important chapter of Philippine history when I testified before the Fraser committee.” [p. 48]
New game, new players for the 21st century?
