Ghyll:Conflict That Is Not Happening

If everything that has been written about the Conflict That Is Not Happening is true, it is certainly the oldest, most complex, and most difficult-to-understand social institution in the whole of Ghyll history, or prehistory for that matter. Indeed, some scholars have traced it as far back as the ancient Battle of Barnum Stones, though others hold that extending the Conflict before -200 EC is illegitimate, or at any rate of doubtful validity.

The name usually given to the Conflict, when it is referred to at all, clearly represents a transparent attempt to deny its continued existence. As Rancticirchiretic famously said, "It is far more comfortable for the chattering classes of Ghyll to suppose that [the Conflict] is a mere matter of legend, or at most of dead-and-gone history." The Tarkherk Corps, however, is an all-too-visible, indeed notorious, institution, which has clearly been a major participant in the Conflict, albeit perhaps on both sides. Indeed, the whole notion of "sides" is not particularly perspicuous, given the ever-shifting alliances and counter-alliances. So the notion that the Conflict does not exist, or no longer exists, can be abandoned without difficulty.

The currently most visible manifestation of the Conflict is probably the trade war (which occasionally involves weapons) between the Iganeftan producers of Altoxian Bulbs, and the northern Evesque Valley manufacturers of Andelphracian Lights. This is a matter of the last fifty years only; before that, the Extremely Bloodless Revolution, now brought to a not entirely successful conclusion, was the best-known aspect of the Conflict.

Citations: Rancticirchiretic

--Jcowan 15:27, 23 Sep 2004 (EDT)