Admiral:
[align=center]The Wheel and the Cut Stone, by Uhr-Kulmbizharr[/align]
Once upon a time, there was a wheel and a cut stone resting close to each other at a build site. One day, the cut stone spoke:
“How odd. We would both be similar, if if I was to be paved in a road trundled over by wheels, and if you were to be mounted on a wagon carrying stone. Also, both of us may crush mortal bodies, wheel,” pondered the cut stone.
“I would not like to be you in return for any treasure in the world, cut stone,” said the wheel.
“How come, wheel?” asked the cut stone.
“You are but carved and put into your place, never to move again and always facing the same direction. Whereas I will be attached to an axle and roll. Thus I will witness new lands and tribes and marvels on my travels, while you would have to hope for an invasion, or for hands to remould the landscape around you during centuries of toil, cut stone,” said the wheel.
“Yet have you heard of an inscribed wheel, or of a wheel relief? Set me into a wall, and upon my face may inscriptions and friezes be carved with great care, to commemorate the sights you see. And when you have long since rusted and rotted away, I will have stood the test of time, for to build in stone is to build for eternity, wheel,” replied the cut stone.
At this, the bickering died out. For only a fool or barbarian would choose a settled life without the capability to move at will, or a nomad life without a lasting base. Thus there is value in both mobility and permanence.
- The Wheel and the Cut Stone, by Daemonsmith Uhr-Kulmbizharr the Blind, the renowned Chaos Dwarf author of fable stories during the foundation of Zharr-Naggrund*
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* Though seemingly trivial, the lesson of this fable resounds with Dawi Zharr stratagems throughout the ages. Their dominant mode of operation have been long slaving expeditions of war into the wastes of the Dark Lands, with the scattered Chaos Dwarf fortresses as strongpoints to fall back to at need. Nowadays, these expeditions are centered around armoured trains, namely caravans of warmachines and supply wagons pulled by Iron Daemons and Skullcrackers.
