Now, I have two things I wish to discuss, and due to my good fortune they both come under the same name, thus keeping my title brief.

The long-time-coming ANZAC Legends chapter three has finally been completed. Expect it to grace your screens in a day or two once I've finally finished editing it. This one's a doozey, now under the name 'To The Victor...' We meet our new villain in this one, and guess what? Its not Discord! Funny how so many (including my own, I now notice)  HiE fics feature our chaotic friend down in the character bar. More good news, I've sent the first three chapters to a kindly bloke who goes by Bronymaster, in the attempt to get them properly edited, so expect some rewritten goodness, and some proper quality, in chapters to come.

Now, onto the more important stuff.

Today, as some of you may know, was ANZAC day here in Australia and down in New-Zealand. I just wanted to take the time to write a few words on the significance for both myself and some other Australian's and Kiwi's who call this fine website home. The term 'ANZAC' is an acronym for the 'Australian-New Zealand Army Corp' who served under the commonwealth during the Gallipolli Campaign. I could go into detail about the harrowing losses, dire times, harsh conditions and romantic themes, but I shall leave those for the coming chapters of ANZAC. What the Gallipoli campaign meant for Australia, at the time a nation in its infancy, was its rise into adulthood. An Apeothesis if you will. See, It was the first time Australians had served...as Australians. Never before had we marched under an Australian banner, in An Australian uniform. Despite our woes, our losses, our cock-ups and our victories (however minor) the Gallipoli campaign was the beginning of something massive for the brand new country of Australia, only thirteen years out of federation. We were rearing to prove ourselves in the eyes of our once overlords, now allies, and despite the defeat on the Turkish sands, The AIF (Australian Imperial Force) would go on to fight with distinction on the western front, at god-awful hell holes such as Villers-Bretonneux and the Somme Valley. If the British wished for a cluster-fuck of warfare and death to happen, we would go. The Term ANZAC become, not only a title for our forces in Turkey, But also a symbol for aussie strength, mateship, patriotism and loss.

And so we celebrate, not only those never came home to a land of beauty, rich and rare, but the Apeothesis of a new nation whose unknown worth, both economically, militarily, and politically, was thrust onto the international scene. So wherever you are, here in a home girt by sea, or in a far off nation with its own memories to share, take a moment, just a moment, to thank those who fought in any war worth fighting, and be thankful, because they had something worth fighting for.

-StNo