Northern Gateway: A Comparative Analysis of the Positions of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and earth scientist David Hughes of the Post Carbon Institute

The Northern Gateway pipeline, first announced by Enbridge in 2002,¹ is a proposed double pipeline running a 1,177 km route from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia carrying 525,000 barrels of oil per day west to the coast for export, and 193,000 barrels of condensate a day back east for use in thinning oil for transport from the tar sands.² The route, which crosses “more than 800 streams and rivers, including sensitive salmon spawning habitat in the upper Fraser, Skeena, and Kitimat watersheds,”³ has led to dedicated resistance from many within British Columbia, alongside a great many within Canada as a whole. Recommended for approval in December 2013 by a federal Joint Review Panel with 209 conditions attached,⁴ the project had already met a second level of conditional approval with the provincial government of Christy Clark when she laid out her five conditions for similar acceptance in British Columbia in June of the same year.⁵ However, until and unless all of these conditions are met, Northern Gateway will remain stalled in the planning phase.

In full support of the project is the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the influential advocacy group for—and legitimate representative of—Canada's oil and natural gas industries on a whole.⁶ The support stems from CAPP seeing great potential for profits from new markets, job creation and growth, and industry expansion. Following Northern Gateway's conditional approval, in June of 2014, CAPP's vice-president Greg Stringham spelled out company line in a short news release praising the decision, saying it is “another important step for Canada to access global markets and world prices, and earn full value for our oil resource. While more work needs to be done to achieve this goal, significant progress has been made, including work by the federal and B.C. governments and industry to ensure world-class land and marine safety systems.”⁷ One primary goal for CAPP and the companies it represents is an obvious one in the case of Northern Gateway: to further open Asian markets to Canadian oil,⁸ even if it means ramping up tar sands production to dangerously unsustainable levels.

On the other side of the debate is David J. Hughes, a prolific and credited earth scientist, president of the environmentally-minded consultancy group Global Sustainability Research, and a senior fellow with the Post Carbon Institute, an alternative energy think-tank based out of Santa Rosa, California.⁹ His opposition stems primarily from his focus on sustainability and issues of climate change, seeing in Northern Gateway the same concerns shared amongst many of the projects opponents: further potential for pollution and environmental degradation. His rationale for opposition also extends beyond the realm of environmentalism, however, as he argues that the relentless focus on maximizing economic growth is too short-sighted when the non-renewable nature of these petroleum resources is considered. Hughes argues that “[p]roposals such as Northern Gateway ... require uncontrolled growth to the detriment of the national interest” and that “the non-renewable nature of the majority of the energy inputs to Canadian society ... represents an extreme vulnerability to the long term energy security interests of Canadians.”¹⁰ In a 31 page report on Northern Gateway published in 2011 by Forest Ethics Canada, Hughes suggests that a National Energy Strategy geared towards sustainably safeguarding both environmental interests and long term energy security would be in the wisest interest of all Canadians, as without one, “there are no constraints on the uncontrolled liquidation of Canada’s intrinsic energy resources.”¹¹

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, with millions of dollars in industry money behind it, is able to afford the cost of advertising campaigns to present its positions and push its collective agenda nation-wide. In 2012, CAPP bought a half-page advertisement in the Globe and Mail with a picture of an arcadian forest bathed in the golden glow of sunrise;¹² superimposed across the picture was a headline that read: “Energy the world needs. The approach Canadians expect.”¹³ Shirking specific details, the only time the word 'oil' made an appearance was in the provided URL: “OilSandsToday.ca.”¹⁴ The ad's fine print notes the homely arcadian forest is “a ... reclaimed mining operation ... in Alberta’s vast boreal forest, executed by [Canada's largest single source producer of synthetic crude oil,¹⁵] Syncrude.”¹⁶ With this, the advertisement spells out its ultimate intention to create and peddle a friendlier image of Canadian oil, one which associates the industry with some level of environmental responsibility, utilizing vague feel-good mottos and pristine nature images to this effect. Similar CAPP advertisements continue to appear in Canadian newspapers, magazines, websites, and television, always attempting to craft and maintain a market presence that does not conjure up images of black crude bubbling up from within a fissured pipeline.

David Hughes, as an individual, doesn't have the same level of financial backing. He does, however, have the backing of the Post Carbon Institute and is thus able to disseminate his positions on energy via research papers he publishes through the think-tank.¹⁷ He has separately been able to publish through other organizations as well such as Forest Ethics Canada, as was already mentioned on the previous page, and, as was also previously mentioned, he is the president of the Global Sustainability Research energy consultancy group. He has written detailed reports which have called to task many diverse players involved in the energy market,¹⁸ including Enbridge and CAPP,¹⁹ picking apart each organization's forecast reports to create credible contrary reports of his own. In his report “The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians,” Hughes points out that “[t]he need for this pipeline is based on oil exports that would be generated by the Enbridge forecast of more than tripling oil sands production in Alberta by 2035 over 2010 production levels,”²⁰ and that “[e]ven in CAPP’s “growth” scenario, which would see oil sands production grow by two and a half times over 2010 levels by 2025, there is sufficient capacity in existing and near term planned export pipelines”²¹ meaning, primarily for the sake of practicality, that the Northern Gateway pipeline is not necessary, and that its supposed benefits are deliberately embellished and/or unrealistically optimistic.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, at least until the recent election in October 2015, spent money and effort not simply lobbying the federal or provincial governments, but, as has been shown, the general populace as well. In June 2014, as the debate on Northern Gateway was at a critical pitch in British Columbia, CAPP's Vice President yet again decided to push industry line, entering the debate with an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun. In it, he finishes with a forceful plea to end one-half of the debate, demanding: “[w]e need to turn the conversation to how we do this responsibly, not whether we can do it at all.”²² This is, at its core, the same plea Hughes is making, though he's directing it at the industry, pointing out that the perceived need for the Northern Gateway pipeline is based on industry-authored forecasts by Enbridge and CAPP which assume an “unreasonable ... oilsands production growth rate” of more than tripling output by 2035 over 2010 levels.²³ “There already is enough export pipeline capacity for a reasonable ramp up in oilsands. You could double them and still not run out of capacity,”²⁴ Hughes argues. The considerably more aggressive forecast put out by Enbridge amounts to a “no-holds-barred liquidation” of the natural resource,²⁵ meaning it is based on projections which imply the oilsands will be ruthlessly stripped of all petrol-based resource value over the course of the next couple of decades. Not only is this a very serious environmental concern, it is also, as Hughes elaborates in the title of his report, “[a]n affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians.”²⁶ Even within the most reductive form of industry logic—guaranteeing future access to petrol and opportunity for profit—this is not a sustainable business plan. Since the project has been conditionally approved, however, and has thus gone through the review process and is now subject to its 209 conditions, CAPP believes that “naysayers missed their chance.”²⁷ After “18 First Nations, environmental groups and a labour union”²⁸ launched an appeal directed towards overturning the regulatory approval of Northern Gateway, Lewis Manning, a lawyer representing CAPP, told a Federal Court of Appeal in Vancouver that “the joint review panel made ... every conceivable effort ... to accommodate participation and would have done its best to mitigate any concerns.”²⁹ Unfortunately for Manning and CAPP Vice President Greg Stringham, the debate has not (and likely will not) move away from whether or not it should be done in the first place, as many, including David Hughes, would stand firm in the conviction that to “turn the conversation to how we do this responsibly”³⁰ may mean not doing it at all.

It is unlikely, then, with all these factors considered, that there would be any meaningful way to reconcile CAPP's strong position in favour of Northern Gateway with Mr. Hughes's equally strong rebuttal. CAPP, as the lobby group representative of Canada's oil industry on a whole, has a salesman's mandate to embellish the facts and sell these projects to the public. Though they are wisely responsive to opposition and critique, they are also locked into whatever self-aggrandizing bias is needed to push their product. David Hughes, on the other hand, sees no good reason for the project to go ahead, arguing that it currently undermines both the public interest and the country's long term energy security. Though he is not necessarily against all pipeline infrastructure, as a senior fellow with the Post Carbon Institute he is part of an organization which is considering alternatives to fossil fuels. It follows that he would be wary of developing any new oil infrastructure that further locks us into an expanded dependence for the foreseeable future. As Premier Christy Clark has even begun to say, companies cannot simply rely on meeting the basic legal requisites for project development and construction, but must also secure meaningful social license in every community affected. Otherwise, it won't matter if the debate shifts from whether such projects can or cannot be built to how to build them responsibly. They will simply remain stalled in the planning phase unto perpetuity, just as the Northern Gateway project is at the time of writing.

________________________________________________________________________________

1 - Global News. “Northern Gateway: Timeline”. Global News, June 17th, 2014.

2 - Enbridge. “Gateway Facts: Project Overview”. Northern Gateway official website.

3 - Pipe Up Against Enbridge. “The Enbridge Plan”. PipeUpAgainstEnbridge, 2012.

4 - Global News. “Northern Gateway: Timeline”.

5 - Enbridge. “Gateway Facts: Five Conditions”. Northern Gateway official website, 2013.

6 - Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. CAPP official website.

7 - Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “Northern Gateway decision reflects measures to assure world-class safety, environmental performance and need for ongoing consultation”. CAPP official website. June 17th, 2014.

8 - Jones, Jeffrey & Brent Jang. “Northern Gateway pipeline approval boosts oil producers' Asia export hopes”. The Globe and Mail, December 19th, 2013.

9 - Post Carbon Institute. “Our People: David Hughes”. Post Carbon Institute official website.

10 - Hughes, J. David. The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians, 2.

11 - Hughes, J. David. The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians, 29.

12 - Turner, Chris. “The Oil Sands PR War”. Marketing Magazine, July 30^th, 2012.

13 - Ibid.

14 - Ibid.

15 - Syncrude. “Abous us”. Syncrude official website.

16 - Turner, Chris. “The Oil Sands PR War”. Marketing Magazine, July 30^th, 2012.

17 - Post Carbon Institute. “Our People: David Hughes”. Post Carbon Institute official website.

18 - Ibid.

19 - Hughes, J. David. The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians, 2.

20 - Hughes, J. David. The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians, 2.

21 - Ibid.

22 - Stringham, Greg. “Opinion: Canada can develop oil sands responsibly”. CAPP official website, June 26th, 2014.

23 - Krugel, Lauren. “Northern Gateway unnecessary: study”. The Globe and Mail, December 20th, 2011.

24 - Ibid.

25 - Ibid.

26 - Hughes, J. David. The Northern Gateway Pipeline: an affront to the public interest and long term energy security of Canadians, i.

27 - The Canadian Press. “Northern Gateway naysayers missed their chance: CAPP”. Maclean's, October 8th, 2015.

28 - Ibid.

29 - Ibid.

30 - Stringham, Greg. “Opinion: Canada can develop oil sands responsibly”. CAPP official website, June 26th, 2014.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AS A RESEARCH ESSAY FOR MY POLITICAL SCIENCE SPECIAL TOPIC COURSE ON PIPELINES AND POLITICS. IT IS NOT "A" GRADE MATERIAL (TO MY DISMAY), BUT IF ANYONE WISHES TO REQUEST A COPY OF THE CONNECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FACT-CHECKING OR SOURCE VETTING, YOU MAY DO SO BY LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW, OR EMAILING ME AT: katvolver@yahoo.com  

Vacith: A Preliminary Re-visitation, Draft Outline Part 1

Introduction to Vacith

This project has, as its origin, an expansive idea for a world—somewhat fantasy, but perhaps science fiction in terms of its worldly connection to our own history and planet—which I generated between the ages of 15 and 16, writing a rudimentary 50 page history of a Kingdom that develops on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America some seven or eight millenia after our own.

Essentially, the history traced the emergence and development of the so-called Royal Domain of Vacith (built atop and around an asymmetrical radius of the largely disintegrated remains of Vancouver) alongside the re-emergence of civilized humanity after a large scale extinction event. This extinction event took the form of a deadly epidemic disease, with an odd, tiny minority of people surviving as a result of fluke genetic immunity. These survivors, spread throughout the width and breadth of the globe and representative of most of the diverse elements of the human race, presided over the first steps in a collective regression of the human condition. Some facilitated the preservation of artifacts and stories from one generation to the next, while others either tried, only to fail due to the eventual extinction of their 'tribes' or groups to inter-tribal warfare, new diseases, a lack of sustainable survival strategies, or connection and immersion with other groups, etc., or a simple series of mistellings, mistranslations, general misinterpretations, or literal interpretations of storytelling elements originally used only as metaphorical or allegorical devices of description for a lack of better words.

The original inspiration for the world came from Walter M. Miller, Jr's famous post-apocalyptic neo-medieval novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Instead of a North American neo-medievalism arising as a result of nuclear war, however, the extinction (or, near-extinction) event was, as already stated, an outbreak of an epidemic disease sometime in the early to mid 21^st century. My original draft ideas for both the history and story were excellent starts, ones I am proud to have made as an interested teen, but were better left to simmer on a very low heat as I grew older and learned much, much more. Though I had been excited about the story and the history I had made, there was always a part of me that felt my ignorance was still too great at the time for any reliably believable expansion of the world, let alone a novel set within it. My attention span as well was too frantic and fragmented for any consistent focus on my part.

Over the course of the next 7 years, I never wholly revisited the world, but new limbs of nuance began to sprout from the vastness of the idea in itself. My relentless pursuit of intellectual, historical, and worldly context often evoked deeper contemplation of what such a world could actually be like. I decided there had to be a major dislocation between perceived historical medievalism and this fantastically fictional neo-medievalism; it had to have evolved on its own progressive thread, not one so closely mirroring the true historical “Dark Ages” as we know it, with its Kings and Queens, monasteries and monks, horses, swords, bows, and arrows, as realistically speaking, many of these things would not exist in such a painfully clear template. This is something even Walter M. Miller, Jr could not escape in A Canticle for Leibowitz, having created a world—an incredible world, no doubt—but one which essentially fused actual medievalism with 20^th century modernity. Written in 1959, it was a timely work which addressed the most pressing fear of its era—nuclear war—and acted as a sort of fantasy warning of what was possible now that humanity had the ability to annihilate itself.

“The Distance”

In the world I created (and am still creating), there was no nuclear extinction, and therefore there are still many surviving relics of our era, to which little to nothing is known by the inhabitants of this future planet. Anything which is known was passed from one generation to the next, and, like a very long game of telephone, the message distorted in most places over time to interpret stories of flying machines—planes, obviously—as sorts of strange, unemotional mechanical deities capable of transporting the good to where ever they wish to go, or laying waste to entire cities and regions if a form of karmic recompence isn't reconciled before a predicted day of judgement, during which it's said the 'sky would be covered to black by the cylindrical wing gods,' and those tribes found guilty of disgression would be bombed into extinction, and tribes found worthy of redemption would be carried away to a spiritual transit point (not unlike Purgatory) where they would be ritually purified before becoming One.

The survivors of the original disease, at least in the parlance of the region at the heart of the story, are seen as semi-deities who oversaw the transition of the world from the hands of the departing god-race to their world: a delicate world of omnipotent mortality. The survivors are termed “the Ancient Immunites,” and are acknowledged to have lived among the previous mythological civilizations of gods, but were not gods themselves, hence why they were not called to become One with the rest. They are seen as the most perfect incarnation of current humanity, with every human born of them since seen as regressing a step lower in divinity with each new generation. This regression is known to most as “the Distance.”

“The Distance” became a very ingrained metaphysical concept with the developing tribes of the old Pacific Northwest. Different religious and philosophical orientations sprouted from it as some saw “the Distance” as something that would grow eternally wider and wider until men were once again part of the earth, coming to be One in a literal, organic roundabout sense. This is in contrast to others who saw “the Distance” as growing wider and wider over time, only to reach a certain zenith and begin to close by progression in the opposite direction, at the end of which the 'cylindrical wing gods' would arrive to black out the sky and bring all worthy souls to ascension in the said spiritual purgatory until they became One, erasing all the rest into physical and spiritual non-existence. Still other, more unorthodox thinkers believed “the Distance” was something which ebbed close at times, and dipped far away at others, coming to this conclusion through the observation of moving tides.

Vacith Society

More important than the actual history of the world is the myriad of ways this history is interpreted by the differing general portions and religious / metaphysical sects of Vacith society, and how these interpretations are applied both practically and spiritually in contemporary individual, group, and societal settings and circumstances. For example: how does the concept of “the Distance” affect one spiritual sect to abstain from all forms of resource extraction, while to another, “the Distance” seems closer to being closed by a somewhat relentless project of urban infrastructural development and material¹ contribution to the cultural high arts?

Like any society as seen in the non-conflated 'flesh,' if we may call it that, philosophical and religious diversity of opinion is the rule, rather than the exception. In the original draft of the history written about 7 years ago, there were times of authoritarian kings and rebellion, periods of openness, tolerance, and progression, as well as long spaces of time in which little to nothing of decided historical importance occurred. With this critical re-visitation and reevaluation of the world, as I said, the very existence of a medieval political structure of Kings and Queens comes into question. It seems clear that, regardless of any tidbits of real historical information on the medieval period which may have survived the mass extinction, or impressions of the pop-cultural representation of medievalism thereof, this would still not constitute a historical template with any sort of rational precedent justifying the literal adoption of a structure on par with, or exactly the same as those of medieval Western Europe. For this reason, it seems clear that a greater sense of creative depth will need to be applied in the reconstitution of this world's political structure, one which must start with the legacy of our own institutions as they would've been known to the Ancient Immunites. This may, in itself, preclude almost any reference to Kings, Queens, and royalty altogether, as the passing of seven millennia, with our real contemporary world as the precedent, would demand an entirely different (perhaps even alien, in some ways) evolution of human political structures. Of course, it must be noted that they would not be more advanced, as is obvious, but victim to the collective regression of the race, giving their society parallel to medievalism in the width and breadth of their dogmas, superstitions, and general lack of education beyond a few elite-groups who specialize in the 'arts of recall.'²

Another essential point, often inferred in the last few paragraphs, is that this society does not possess an egalitarian system of written literacy. This isn't to say that literacy has dissolved, however; more accurately, it is a deliberately 'endangered species,' of sorts; one that has survived in the ruling upper echelons, protected and taught to certain elite-groups in secret by an ancient Holy Order. Due to the teaching of literacy being such a tightly-guarded secret, many who witness a literate individual read and repeat what they've read are lead to believe this is a skill granted at birth through inheritance. Literacy is seen as a dangerous gift, useful in the hands of those cultivating order and balance, and chaotically empowering in the hands of rogue individuals. Strangely enough, however, is the fact of freedom of speech, and yet no freedom of literacy. To speak, it is suggested, is one thing; to write and record for posterity, completely another. Many in the ruling classes believe “the Distance” can only be closed through the careful and deliberate cultivation of a historical narrative as told through the Chosen, not through the free interpretation of such a narrative in writing as to cause the truth to become an apparently relative concept.

_ _ _

Now that we have touched upon the religious, philosophical, and metaphysical constructs and concepts central to this neo-medieval society (emphasis on “neo” for “new” as opposed to “neo” implying “here's literally the Medieval Ages transposed on a hypothetical future”), I feel it would be of immense value to give the reader an idea of what this world might look like in operation and in fact; one important exploration is that of politics and political terminology. This is still something I believe needs some mulling over in my head, so I'll start with describing the obvious consequence of all politics: defense in general, but military in particular.

The primary threat to the Vacith are the nomadic tribes spread across the continent on all sides. Many are only violent in defense, opting to strive for peace unless all other measures fail or necessity seems to demand it. Amongst the great multitude of nomadic tribes, however, there is no real homogeneous standard. Some abide by twisted cults of extreme violence and sacrifice, while others remain nomads in order to facilitate trade between established continental societies, as well as other tribes with wares of value. Still others resolve to remain neutral, either fearing the great societies or operatively indifferent to civilizations in general. A small minority of the neutral tribes were once ultra-violent enemies of one of the great societies, being decimated through warfare and henceforth remaining peaceful, at least toward the civilizations. Some remain arbitrarily violent toward other nomadic tribes for a multitude of reasons, or, at the very least, retain cults of extremely perverse sacrificial worship.³ Only in a very, very small minority of cases has a defeated tribe reversed its cultural practices entirely to reflect peace, rather than war. Often, this has only occurred to tribes within a very close standard proximity to one of the great societies who experienced military defeat more than once and hence succumbed to a felt external necessity to change drastically with regards to internal cultural practices.

The Vacith fight sporadic campaigns against raiding nomads on their borders, in some cases causing a cultural defection of sorts through which both individual as well as families of nomads come to settle inside Vacith territory and recondition themselves to a stationary, agriculture-based lifestyle. A select few of these nomads are drafted into the army as tribal intelligence sources as well as interpreters and intermediaries. There can even occasionally be a defected nomad who returns to live with their tribe as a representative Vacith emissary of sorts, kept in loyal reserve for times of need.

All able-bodied men and women, when they come of age, are conscripted into 3 years of compulsory service with the Vacith army. The Vacith army consists of 6 main echelons: the first is the general foot-soldier, the Hard-Boot, usually comprised of basic conscripts who have finished basic training and continue their training throughout their 3 years of active service; they are armed with either retro-fit axes usually used in the harvesting of timber, with a newly-attached mesh grip for better dexterity control, or a basic broadsword-style weapon mass-produced for war and civil defense. The second is the Wheel-Shod, a bicycle cavalry unit of sorts,⁴ comprised of trained and skilled riders who attach an extremely sharp iron pike to a fitted device on the front-right of the bicycle, being sure it exits sharply from the mid-left cleft of a built-on protective shield visor also made of iron. During a charge, the Wheel-Shod's try to find a declining slope from which to pedal and then glide into a concentrated group of enemies; once the bicycles make contact, the soldier is trained to leap off (preferably landing on their feet) and fight hand-to-hand with sharpened daggers specifically curved to allow quick-slice finishes to the throat. To minimize any lack of agility, each Wheel-Shod soldier is fitted with a light chain armor that does well against broadside slashes, but can be vulnerable to sharp and specific jabs. Members of these brigades are chosen on the basis of observed combat ability and skill, particularly in balance-related exercises.

The political structure of Vacith society developed gradually, having as its remote origins a council of different tribes rallied together by the granddaughter of the Ancient Immunite of the region somewhere around 200 years after the extinction event.

1 - Material, as in sculpture and painting as opposed to the 'arts of recall,' such as music and storytelling. Something with a permanent physical manifestation, not something requiring performance.

2 - For example: music (including instrumentation), storytelling, oral histories, poetry, and a strange trickled-legacy of hip-hop in the form of syncopated acapella rap-like poetry (slam poetry to very base rhythms, essentially).

3 - Though, it must be noted, this is often only seen through the eyes of the beholder, one must recognize both that the operative subjectivity's of these tribes see no wrong in their practices, and that the practices in themselves can include the sacrificial rape and murder of a newborn daughter or son as an offering of 'clean blood' to their animist deities. Witnesses, whether born of a civilization or another tribe, illicit a very strong emotional response from such practices, creating a loose collective standard of what can be considered “evil” or “barbaric” by groups in contrast.

4 - Though the 'bicycle' is not known as such, and is an elaborate evolution originating from the design of models whose practical use survived the extinction event.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PERSONAL PROJECT, AND STILL VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS. TO SEE THE ORIGINAL DRAFT PLANS FOR THE WORLD, WRITTEN BETWEEN 2009 AND 2010, FOLLOW THE LINKS PROVIDED BELOW:

The Original "Cali Rajiin" story outline:

http://katvolver.blogspot.ca/2009/05/cali-rajiin-story-outline.html

Old Map of Post-Apocalyptic North America + Political Descriptors:

http://katvolver.blogspot.ca/2009/04/post-apocalyptic-north-america.html

Old Map of Post-Apocalyptic Europe + Political Descriptors:

http://katvolver.blogspot.ca/2009/04/post-apocalyptic-europe.html

The Original 50-page Timeline of the History of the Vacith Empire: 

http://katvolver.blogspot.ca/2009/05/history-of-vacith-empire.html

All of the above are no longer relevant, valid, or, to get lofty, official, and Biblical, no longer "canonical" to the new phase in the story's development and the evolution of the world. They do, however, provide the basic bedrock for the current iteration.