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96-428: Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue: Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true. Originally intended to be the final book in the series, this book continues the chronicles of the adventures of Sir Richard Burton , Cyrano de Bergerac , Alice Liddell , Tom Mix , and Samuel Clemens through a bizarre afterlife in which every human is simultaneously resurrected along

192-424: A steeplechase in a deliberate violation of college rules and subsequently told the college's authorities that students should be allowed to attend such events. Hoping to be merely rusticated , the punishment received by some less provocative students who had also visited the steeplechase, he was instead permanently expelled from the college. According to Ed Rice , speaking on Burton's university days, "He stirred

288-523: A Bektashi Sufi . Deliberately presented by Burton as a translation, the poem and his notes and commentary on it contain layers of Sufic meaning that seem to have been designed to project Sufi teaching in the West. "Do what thy manhood bids thee do/ from none but self expect applause;/ He noblest lives and noblest dies/ who makes and keeps his self-made laws" is The Kasidah' s most-quoted passage. As well as references to many themes from Classical Western myths,

384-430: A Muslim, he came close to being discovered one night when he lifted his robe to urinate rather than squatting as an Arab would. It was said that he was seen by an Arab and, to avoid exposure, killed him. Burton denied this, pointing out that killing the boy would almost certainly have led to his being discovered as an impostor. Burton became so tired of denying this accusation that he took to baiting his accusers, although he

480-479: A case for carrying the Quran, but which instead had three compartments for his watch, compass, money, penknife, pencils and numbered pieces of paper for taking notes. Burton travelled onwards with a group of nomads to Suez before sailing to Yambu and joining a caravan to Medina, where he arrived on 27 July. Departing Medina with a caravan on 31 August, Burton entered Mecca on 11 September, where he participated in

576-687: A day", Burton was commissioned into the Bombay Army at the behest of his former classmates in college who were already serving as officers there. He had hoped to fight in the First Anglo-Afghan War , but the conflict was over by the time Burton arrived in India. He was posted to the 18th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry , which was stationed in Gujarat and under the command of General Charles James Napier . While in India, he became

672-547: A doctor at the Radcliffe Infirmary . There, he met John Henry Newman , whose churchwarden was Greenhill. Despite his intelligence and ability, Burton was antagonised by his teachers and peers. During his first term, he allegedly challenged another student to a duel after the latter mocked Burton's moustache. Burton continued to gratify his love of languages by studying Arabic ; he also spent his time learning falconry and fencing . In April 1842, Burton attended

768-486: A familiarity with the minutiae of Eastern manners and etiquette. Burton's trek to Mecca was dangerous, and his caravan was attacked by bandits (a common experience at the time). As he put it, although "... neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary limits, nothing could save a European detected by the populace, or one who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever". The pilgrimage entitled him to

864-455: A fatal gunshot wound from his hunting shotgun. Burton learned of Speke's death the following day while waiting for their debate to begin. A jury ruled Speke's death an accident. An obituary surmised that Speke, while climbing over the wall, had carelessly pulled the gun after himself with the muzzle pointing at his chest and shot himself. Alexander Maitland, Speke's only biographer, concurs. On 22 January 1861, Burton and Isabel Arundel married in

960-475: A formal education at a preparatory school in Richmond Green , Surrey , run by Reverend Charles Delafosse. His family travelled between England, France and Italy. Burton showed a talent to learn languages and quickly learned French , Italian , Neapolitan and Latin , as well as several dialects. During his youth, he allegedly had a sexual relationship with a Roma girl and learned the rudiments of

1056-533: A game designer since the 1970s. Costikyan worked at SPI until it was closed by TSR in 1982; he came to West End Games in 1983. His 1983 game Bug-Eyed Monsters brought West End Games into the science-fiction and fantasy genres, and the following year he licensed his Paranoia role-playing game to West End Games for publishing after trying unsuccessfully to find a publisher. Costikyan designed Toon (1984) for Steve Jackson Games after developing it from an idea suggested by Jeff Dee ; Costikyan felt that

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1152-551: A lecture at the Royal Geographical Society , claiming Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile. According to Burton, Speke broke an agreement they had made to give their first public speech together. Apart from Burton's word, there is no proof that such an agreement existed, and most modern researchers doubt that it did. Tim Jeal, evaluating the written evidence, says the odds are "heavily against Speke having made

1248-469: A planned new translation of The Perfumed Garden to be called The Scented Garden , for which she had been offered six thousand guineas and which she regarded as his "magnum opus". She believed she was acting to protect her husband's reputation, and that she had been instructed to burn the manuscript of The Scented Garden by his spirit, but her actions were controversial. However, a substantial quantity of his written materials have survived, and are held by

1344-717: A pledge to his former leader". Speke undertook a second expedition, along with Captain James Grant and Sidi Mubarak Bombay , to prove that Lake Victoria was the true source of the Nile. Speke, in light of the issues he was having with Burton, had Grant sign a statement saying, among other things, "I renounce all my rights to publishing ... my own account [of the expedition] until approved of by Captain Speke or [the Royal Geographical Society]". On 16 September 1864, Burton and Speke were scheduled to debate

1440-612: A priest. There, King John and Clemens begin an aerial dog-fight, and later a naval combat in which both riverboats are sunk and most of the crews die. King John is killed by Clemens and Clemens dies of a heart attack after being pulled from the water by his mortal enemy Erik Bloodaxe , who has become an adherent of the Church of the Second Chance, and seeks no revenge against Clemens. Among the survivors are Burton, Frigate, Alice, Kaz, Joe Miller, Li Po, Ah Qaaq, and Nur ed-Din ("Light of

1536-440: A proficient speaker of Hindustani , Gujarati , Punjabi , Sindhi , Saraiki , Marathi , Persian and Arabic. His studies of Hindu culture had progressed to such an extent that "my Hindu teacher officially allowed me to wear the janeo ". Him Chand, his gotra teacher and a Nagar Brahmin , was possibly an apostate. Burton had a documented interest and actively participated in the cultures and religions of India . This

1632-704: A prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and academic articles on subjects such as human behaviour , travel , falconry , fencing , sexual practices and ethnography . Richard Burton was born in Torquay , Devon , on 19 March 1821; in his autobiography, he incorrectly claimed to have been born in the family home of Barham House in Elstree , Hertfordshire . Burton was baptised on 2 September 1821 at Elstree Church in Borehamwood , Hertfordshire. His father, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Netterville Burton,

1728-654: A quiet Catholic ceremony, although he did not adopt the Catholic faith at this time. Shortly after this, the couple were forced to spend some time apart when he formally entered the Diplomatic Service as consul on the island of Fernando Po, now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea. This was not a prestigious appointment; because the climate was considered extremely unhealthy for Europeans, Isabel could not accompany him. Burton spent much of this time exploring

1824-540: A single river valley covering an entire planet. Many questions about the creation and purpose of the Riverworld are answered, but several are left unanswered, prompting Farmer to write a fifth and final novel, Gods of Riverworld , in 1983. Edgar L. Chapman wrote a 1984 biography of Farmer entitled The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer . The book begins with the Mysterious Stranger, known as X,

1920-517: A tithe of the knowledge of Arabic you did." In May 1854, Burton travelled to Aden in preparation for an RGS-backed expedition, which included John Hanning Speke , to Somaliland . The expedition lasted from 29   October 1854 to 9   February 1855, with much of its time spent in Zeila , where Burton was a guest of the town's governor Sharmarke Ali Saleh . Burton, assuming the disguise of an Arab merchant "Hajji Mirza Abdullah", awaited word that

2016-489: A window at the rear of the tent, which can be accessed via a short fixed ladder. Next to the lady chapel in the church there is a memorial stained-glass window to Burton, also erected by Isabel; it depicts Burton as a medieval knight. Burton's personal effects and a collection of paintings, photographs and objects relating to him are in the Burton Collection at Orleans House Gallery , Twickenham . Among these

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2112-598: Is a small quartz stone from Mesopotamia , inscribed in supposed Kufic script, which has thus far resisted decipherment by experts. Burton had long had an interest in sexuality and some erotic literature. However, the Obscene Publications Act of 1857 had resulted in many jail sentences for publishers, with prosecutions being brought by the Society for the Suppression of Vice . Burton referred to

2208-417: Is a widely published author on the subject of game design and the role of games in culture. His essay "I Have No Words and I Must Design" is widely read as a conceptual approach to framing game design. Costikyan worked on game design for many years, including writing and consulting for Nokia . In September 2005, he left Nokia to join with Johnny Wilson, former editor of Computer Gaming World , in founding

2304-560: Is cut out." Richard Francis Burton Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton , KCMG , FRGS , (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, scholar and military officer. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and South America, as well as his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures, speaking up to 29 different languages. Born in Torquay , Devon , Burton joined

2400-450: Is often full of details about the sexual lives of the inhabitants of areas he travelled through. Burton's interest in sexuality led him to make measurements of the lengths of the penises of male inhabitants of various regions, which he includes in his travel books. He also describes sexual techniques common in the regions he visited, often hinting that he had participated, hence breaking both sexual and racial taboos of his day. Many people at

2496-516: Is the son of attorney and politician Edward N. and Frances (Holmgren) Costikyan. He and Warren Spector, a game designer, were friends since high school. He is a 1982 graduate ( B.S. ) of Brown University . He married Louise Disbrow (a securities analyst), September 4, 1986. They have three children. He is a frequent speaker at game industry events including the Game Developers Conference and E³ . Greg Costikyan has been

2592-598: The Bombay Army as an officer in 1842, beginning an eighteen-year military career which including a brief stint in the Crimean War . He was subsequently engaged by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to explore the East African coast, where Burton along with John Hanning Speke led an expedition to discover the source of the Nile and became the first European known to have seen Lake Tanganyika . He later served as

2688-564: The Huntington Library in San Marino, California , including 21 boxes of his manuscripts, 24 boxes of correspondence, and other material. Isabel wrote a biography in praise of her husband. The couple are buried in a tomb in the shape of a Bedouin tent , designed by Isabel, in the cemetery of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church Mortlake in southwest London. The coffins of Sir Richard and Lady Burton can be seen through

2784-468: The Romani language . The peregrinations of Burton's youth may have encouraged him to regard himself as an outsider for much of his life. As he later wrote, "Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause". On 19 November 1840, he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford . Before getting a room at the college, Burton lived for a short time in the house of William Alexander Greenhill ,

2880-706: The Tawaf . He travelled to Mount Arafat and participated in the stoning of the Devil , all the while taking notes on the Kaaba , its Black Stone and the Zamzam Well . Departing Mecca, he journeyed to Jeddah and then back to Cairo, returning to Army duty in Bombay . In India, Burton wrote his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah , writing that "at Mecca there is nothing theatrical, nothing that suggests

2976-626: The directors of the East India Company (EIC) to take leave from the Bombay Army. The seven years he spent in India gave Burton a familiarity with the customs and behaviour of Muslims and prepared him to attempt a Hajj to Mecca and Medina . He planned it whilst travelling disguised among Muslims in Sindh , and had laboriously prepared it by studying and practising Muslim culture, including undergoing circumcision to further lower

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3072-786: The British consul in Fernando Pó , Santos , Damascus and Trieste . Burton was also a Fellow of the RGS and was awarded a knighthood in 1886. His best-known achievements include undertaking the Hajj to Mecca in disguise, translating One Thousand and One Nights and The Perfumed Garden , publishing the Kama Sutra in English and attempting to discover the source of the Nile. Although he abandoned his university studies, Burton became

3168-583: The Copenhagen ITU, Helsinki University of Art & Design, RPI, and Stony Brook University . As of 2019, Costikyan and Goldberg both joined Playable Worlds , a gaming startup founded by Raph Koster focused on producing the MMORPG, Stars Reach . Costikyan's notable works include: Costikyan's other RPG credits include Acute Paranoia (1986) for Paranoia , and Your Own Private Idaho (1987) for The Price of Freedom . In addition, Costikyan

3264-647: The Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1863), while Burton's Zanzibar; City, Island, and Coast was eventually published in 1872. Burton then departed on a trip to the United States in April 1860, eventually making it to Salt Lake City on 25 August. There he studied Mormonism and met Brigham Young . Burton departed San Francisco on 15 November for the voyage back to England, where he published The City of

3360-653: The Dragons (1995, ISBN   0-8125-2269-9 ). By the Sword (1993, ISBN   0-312-85489-7 ) is another irreverent fantasy about a young barbarian who is forced by circumstances to make his way in the larger world; it was originally serialized on the Prodigy online service. His latest novel, First Contract (in French ;: Space O.P.A. - 2000, ISBN   0-312-87396-4 ), depicts (with much dry humor)

3456-485: The Faith"), now joined by Tom Turpin , Aphra Behn , a man claiming to be Gilgamesh , and Baron de Marbot . They take the only craft to survive the fight upriver, then scale the waterfall at the end of the river and enter the polar sea. At the tower, they expose Ah Qaaq as the renegade Ethical and take him prisoner. He identifies himself as Loga, a grandson of King Priam of Troy , resurrected centuries ago and raised by

3552-526: The First Race to have wathans . Alice then devises a way to evade this programming, and deactivate the security. Loga is then able to repair the computer. Greg Costikyan reviewed The Magic Labyrinth in Ares Magazine #5 and commented that "One cannot but suspect that this type of work – the pursuit by characters of an explanation for an unusual world – is not the type of work for which Farmer

3648-596: The Portuguese national epic by Luís de Camões , in 1880 and, the next year, wrote a sympathetic biography of the poet and adventurer. The book The Jew, the Gipsy and el Islam was published posthumously in 1898 and was controversial for its criticism of Jews and for its assertion of the existence of Jewish human sacrifices . Burton's investigations into this had provoked hostility from the Jews of Damascus . The manuscript of

3744-526: The Riverworld project, who recalled 'X' to the Dark Tower to be judged. Against this, 'X' used a remote command to kill all the inhabitants of the tower and stop the resurrections of Riverworld's inhabitants. His reverie when the left bank's 'grailstones' (supplying food and stimulants) fail to operate and are not mended by the Ethicals, who are either dead or confined (like 'X' himself) to the river. After

3840-554: The Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California . A prolonged public quarrel followed, damaging the reputations of both Burton and Speke. Some biographers have suggested that friends of Speke (particularly Laurence Oliphant ) had initially stirred up trouble between the two. Burton's sympathizers contend that Speke resented Burton's leadership role. Tim Jeal , who has accessed Speke's personal papers, suggests that it

3936-629: The Thousand Nights and a Night (commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after early translations of Antoine Galland 's French version) in ten volumes (1885), with seven further volumes being added later. The volumes were printed by the Kama Shastra Society in a subscribers-only edition of one thousand with a guarantee that there would never be a larger printing of the books in this form. The stories collected were often sexual in content and were considered pornography at

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4032-535: The alien Ethicals on the Gardenworld. He reveals the current date is 2307 AD and other stories were false stories to throw off investigators. He reveals also that the Riverworld is a moral test, to allow humanity enlightenment. When the project is brought to a close the souls of those who have not achieved enlightenment will wander the universe aimlessly. Loga, being obsessed with sparing his earthly family this fate, awakened Burton prematurely, recruited Clemens and

4128-422: The area as well as they wished. Burton was again taken ill on the return journey; Speke continued exploring without him, making a journey to the north and eventually locating the great Lake Victoria , or Victoria Nyanza, on 3 August. Lacking supplies and proper instruments, Speke was unable to survey the area properly, but was privately convinced that it was the long-sought source of the Nile. Burton's description of

4224-635: The area was in some turmoil at the time, with considerable tensions between the Christian, Jewish and Muslim populations. Burton did his best to keep the peace and resolve the situation, but this sometimes led him into trouble. On one occasion, he claims to have escaped an attack by hundreds of armed horsemen and camel riders sent by Mohammed Rashid Pasha, the Governor of Syria. He wrote, "I have never been so flattered in my life than to think it would take three hundred men to kill me." Burton eventually suffered

4320-534: The bile of the dons by speaking real—that is, Roman—Latin instead of the artificial type peculiar to England, and he spoke Greek Romaically, with the accent of Athens , as he had learned it from a Greek merchant at Marseilles , as well as the classical forms. Such a linguistic feat was a tribute to Burton's remarkable ear and memory, for he was only a teenager when he was in Italy and southern France." In his own words, "fit for nothing but to be shot at for six pence

4416-604: The book in 1883 and numerous editions of the Burton translation are in print to this day. His English translation from a French edition of the Arabic erotic guide The Perfumed Garden was printed as The Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh Nefzaoui: A Manual of Arabian Erotology (1886). After Burton's death, Isabel burnt many of his papers, including a manuscript of a subsequent translation, The Scented Garden , containing

4512-495: The book included an appendix discussing the topic in more detail, but by the decision of his widow, it was not included in the book when published. Burton died in Trieste early on the morning of 20 October 1890 of a heart attack. His wife Isabel persuaded a priest to perform the last rites, although Burton was not a Catholic, and this action later caused a rift between Isabel and some of Burton's friends. It has been suggested that

4608-638: The coast of West Africa, documenting his findings in Abeokuta and The Cameroons Mountains : An Exploration (1863), and A Mission to Gelele , King of Dahome (1864). He described some of his experiences, including a trip up the Congo River to the Yellala Falls and beyond, in his 1876 book Two trips to gorilla land and the cataracts of the Congo . The couple were reunited in 1865 when Burton

4704-516: The crew; and Burton, recognizing Frigate, attacks him as a spy for the Ethicals. Realizing his mistake, Burton allies himself with Frigate, Mix, and London. Meanwhile, the Ethical Monat Grrautut has boarded Sam Clemens' ship, where he is murdered by the renegade Ethical. Eventually, the two riverboats reach Virolando, a wide lake before the headwaters, home to the pacifist Church of the Second Chance, where Hermann Göring has become

4800-454: The death occurred very late on 19   October and that Burton was already dead by the time the last rites were administered. On his religious views, Burton called himself an atheist, stating he was raised in the Church of England , which he said was "officially (his) church". Isabel never recovered from the loss. After his death she burned many of her husband's papers, including journals and

4896-576: The enmity of the Greek Christian and Jewish communities. Then, his involvement with the Sházlis , a Sufi Muslim order among whom was a group that Burton called "Secret Christians longing for baptism", which Isabel called "his ruin." He was recalled in August 1871, prompting him to send a telegram to Isabel: "I am recalled. Pay, pack, and follow at convenience." Burton was reassigned in 1872 to

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4992-401: The entrance of the first [white] Christian, Harar will fall." With Burton's entry, the tradition was broken. The journey back was plagued by lack of supplies, and Burton wrote that he would have died of thirst had he not seen desert birds and realized they would be near water. He made it back to Berbera on 31 January 1855. Following this expedition, Burton prepared to set out in search of

5088-851: The final chapter of the work, on pederasty . Burton all along intended for this translation to be published after his death, to provide an income for his widow. By the end of his life, Burton had mastered at least 26 languages – or 40, if distinct dialects are counted. 1. English 2. French 3. Occitan 4. Italian 5. Romani 6. Latin 7. Classical Greek 8. Saraiki 9. Hindustani 10. Sindhi 11. Marathi 12. Arabic 13. Persian (Farsi) 14. Pushtu 15. Sanskrit 16. Portuguese 17. Spanish 18. German 19. Icelandic 20. Swahili 21. Amharic 22. Fan 23. Yoruba 24. Asante 25. Hebrew 26. Aramaic 27. Many other West African & Indian dialects Burton's writings are unusually open and frank about his interest in sex and sexuality . His travel writing

5184-587: The game in 2004. Costikyan was the CEO of Manifesto Games , a start-up devoted to providing a viable path to market for independently developed computer games. He subsequently worked as a consultant for several years before joining Guerillapps as lead game designer in March 2010 to develop its game " Trash Tycoon " for Facebook . In May 2011, he joined Disney Playdom as senior games designer and in January 2014 assumed

5280-491: The game system was mostly "arbitrary" and that the theme of the game was far more important. West End Games acquired licensing to make a game based on Star Wars , and Costikyan designed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game , published in 1987, assisted by Doug Kaufman and others. Costikyan and Eric Goldberg left West End Games in January 1987, forming the short-lived Goldberg Associates. When West End Games declared bankruptcy in 1998, Costikyan and Goldberg tried to recover

5376-492: The grailstones fail, the inhabitants of the left bank invade the right for resources, and half of humanity dies in the conflict. Concurrently, protagonist Richard Burton and his friends have joined the crew of King John 's ship, the Rex Grandissimus , where Burton, masquerading as a Dark Age British warrior, becomes King John's security chief. One day Tom Mix , Jack London , and Peter Jairus Frigate apply to join

5472-562: The historical and intellectual superiority of the white race, citing his involvement in the Anthropological Society of London , an organisation which supported scientific racism . Speke appears to have been kinder and less intrusive to the Africans they encountered, and reportedly fell in love with an African woman on a later expedition. The two men travelled home separately. Speke returned to London first and presented

5568-572: The instigator of a mutiny among the unit, damaging his reputation and disgracing Beatson. In 1856, the Royal Geographical Society funded another expedition for Burton and Speke, "and exploration of the then utterly unknown Lake regions of Central Africa ." They would travel from Zanzibar to Ujiji along a caravan route established in 1825 by an Arab ivory and slave merchant. The Great Journey commenced on 5 June 1857 with their departure from Zanzibar, where they had stayed at

5664-780: The journey is given in Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa (1860). Speke gave his own account in The Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1863). Burton and Speke made it back to Zanzibar on 4 March 1859, and left on 22 March for Aden. Speke immediately boarded the HMS ; Furious for London, where he gave lectures, and was awarded a second expedition by the Society. Burton arrived London on 21 May, discovering "My companion now stood forth in his new colours, an angry rival." Speke additionally published What Led to

5760-518: The opera, but all is simple and impressive... tending, I believe, after its fashion, to good." Although Burton was not the first non-Muslim European to undertake the Hajj, with Ludovico di Varthema doing it in 1503 and Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1815, his attempt is the most famous and the best documented of the period. He adopted various disguises, including that of a Pashtun , to account for any oddities in speech, but he still had to demonstrate an understanding of intricate Islamic traditions, and

5856-433: The others, and diverted a metal meteorite (disrupting social harmony) to Clemens. The protagonists discover a malfunction in the computer which runs the tower, threatening to release the stored wathans (souls), of the people who died on the Riverworld. Göring attempts to fix the computer, but is killed by security measures put in place by Monat, who was a member of the fifth-generation sentient race to receive wathans from

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5952-427: The poem contains many laments that are accented with fleeting imagery such as repeated comparisons to "the tinkling of the Camel bell" that becomes inaudible as the animal vanishes in the darkness of the desert. Other works of note include a collection of Hindu tales, Vikram and the Vampire (1870); and his uncompleted history of swordsmanship , The Book of the Sword (1884). He also translated The Lusiads ,

6048-413: The port city of Trieste in Austria-Hungary . A "broken man", Burton was never particularly content with this post, but it required little work, was far less dangerous than Damascus (as well as less exciting), and allowed him the freedom to write and travel. In 1863, Burton co-founded the Anthropological Society of London with Dr. James Hunt . In Burton's own words, the main aim of the society (through

6144-554: The publication of the periodical Anthropologia ) was "to supply travellers with an organ that would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript and print their curious information on social and sexual matters". On 13 February 1886, Burton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) by Queen Victoria . He wrote a number of travel books in this period that were not particularly well received. His best-known contributions to literature were those considered risqué or even pornographic at

6240-408: The renegade Ethical (one of the Riverworld's creators) who posed as the engineer Barry Thorn on the airship Parseval and there murdered Milton Firebrass and several others, all of whom were fellow Ethicals. He is now posing as a Mayan named Ah Qaaq, in the company of the Chinese poet Li Po . Through his internal reverie he reveals that his identity was discovered by Monat Grrautut, the director of

6336-565: The residence of Atkins Hamerton , the British consul, their caravan consisting of Baluchi mercenaries led by Ramji, 36 porters, eventually a total of 132 persons, all led by the caravan leader Said bin Salim. From the beginning, Burton and Speke were hindered by disease, malaria, fevers and other maladies, at times both having to be carried in a hammock. Pack animals died, and natives deserted, taking supplies with them. Yet, on 7 November 1857, they made it to Kazeh , and departed for Ujiji on 14 December. Speke wanted to head north, sure they would find

6432-476: The rights to Paranoia ; although West End's founder Scott Palter tried to fight this, a judge gave the rights back to the creators in 2000. Costikyan designed the role-playing game Violence (1999) under the pseudonym "Designer X" for Hogshead Publishing , and made sure that the game would widely available by releasing it under a Creative Commons license. Costikyan and Goldberg licensed Paranoia to Mongoose Publishing , which began producing new books for

6528-503: The risk of being discovered. Burton's undertaking of the Hajj in 1853 was his realisation of "the plans and hopes of many and many a year... to study thoroughly the inner life of the Moslem." He donned the guise of a Persian mirza , and then a Sunni sheikh , doctor, magician and dervish , accompanied by an enslaved Indian boy named Nūr. In April, he travelled through Alexandria before reaching Cairo by May, where Burton stayed during Ramadan in June. He further equipped himself with

6624-467: The road to Harar was safe. On 29 December, Burton met with Gerard Adan in the village of Sagharrah, and openly proclaimed himself as a British officer with a letter for the Emir of Harar. On 3 January 1855, Burton made it to Harar, and was graciously met by the Emir. He stayed in the city for ten days, officially a guest of the Emir but in reality his prisoner. Burton also investigated local landmarks in Harar; according to him, "A tradition exists that with

6720-454: The same role at Loop Drop. In June 2015, Costikyan joined Boss Fight Entertainment as senior games designer. He has written on games, game design, and game industry business issues for publications including: the New York Times , Wall Street Journal Interactive , Salon , The Escapist , Gamasutra , and Game Developers Magazine , and is the author of science fiction novels. He has lectured on game design at universities including:

6816-418: The seven years in India as time wasted." Yet he had "already passed the official examinations in six languages and was studying two more and was eminently qualified." His religious experiences were varied, including attending Catholic services , becoming a Naga Brahmin, converting to Sikhism and Islam , and undergoing chilla for Qadiriyya Sufism . Regarding Burton's Muslim beliefs, Rice stated that "he

6912-409: The society and those who shared its views as Mrs Grundy . A way around this was the private circulation of books amongst the members of a society. For this reason Burton, together with Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot , created the Kama Shastra Society to print and circulate books that would be illegal to publish in public. One of the most celebrated of all his books is his translation of The Book of

7008-520: The source of the Nile , accompanied by Speke and a number of Africans porters and expedition guides. The Indian Navy schooner HCS  Mahi transported them to Berbera on 7 April 1855. While the expedition was camped near Berbera , they were attacked by a group of Somali warriors from the Isaaq clan. The British estimated the number of attackers at 200. In the ensuing fight, Speke was wounded in eleven places before he managed to escape, while Burton

7104-547: The source of the Nile at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science . On the day before the debate, Burton and Speke sat near each other in the lecture hall. According to Burton's wife, Speke stood up, said "I can't stand this any longer," and abruptly left the hall. That afternoon Speke went hunting on the nearby estate of a relative. He was discovered lying near a stone wall, felled by

7200-432: The source of the Nile at what he later named Victoria Nyanza , but Burton persisted in heading west. The expedition arrived at Lake Tanganyika on 13 February 1858. Burton was awestruck by the sight of the magnificent lake, but Speke, who had been temporarily blinded, was unable to see the body of water. By this point much of their surveying equipment was lost, ruined or stolen, and they were unable to complete surveys of

7296-422: The startup indie game publisher Manifesto Games . He regularly contributed to the now defunct Manifesto Games' website, and was editor in chief of their now defunct offshoot game review blog Play This Thing . In the 1970s and '80s, Costikyan was a leading player of Slobbovia . His novel One Quest, Hold the Dragons includes several stories about crottled greeps , a Slobbovian meme . In 1997, he designed

7392-477: The tests; despite Burton's success in living like an Arab, Playfair recommended to the committee that Burton be failed. Badger later told Burton that "After looking [Burton's test] over, I sent them back to [Playfair] with a note eulogising your attainments and... remarking on the absurdity of the Bombay Committee being made to judge your proficiency inasmuch as I did not believe that any of them possessed

7488-444: The time considered the Kama Shastra Society and the books it published scandalous. Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced homosexual sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing). Rumours began in his army days when Charles James Napier requested that Burton go undercover to investigate a male brothel reputed to be frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's detailed report on

7584-515: The time of publication. In particular, the Terminal Essay in volume 10 of the Nights contained a 14,000-word essay entitled " Pederasty " (Volume 10, section IV, D), at the time a synonym for homosexuality (as it still is, in modern French). This was and remained for many years the longest and most explicit discussion of homosexuality in any language. Burton speculated that male homosexuality

7680-741: The time, which were published under the auspices of the Kama Shastra society. These books include The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana (1883) (popularly known as the Kama Sutra ), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885) (popularly known as The Arabian Nights ), The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefzawi (1886) and The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night (seventeen volumes 1886–98). Published in this period but composed on his return journey from Mecca, The Kasidah has been cited as evidence of Burton's status as

7776-502: The title of Hajji and to wear the green turban . While back in India, Burton sat for the examination as an Arab linguist for the EIC. The examiner was Robert Lambert Playfair , who mistrusted Burton. As academic George Percy Badger knew Arabic well, Playfair asked Badger to oversee the exam. Having been told that Burton could be vindictive, and wishing to avoid any animosity should he fail, Badger declined. Eventually, Playfair conducted

7872-518: The vast sociological and economic changes that happen after aliens arrive on Earth, and one entrepreneur's efforts to survive and make a new start. In 2013, Costikyan's non-fiction look at the role of uncertainty in game development Uncertainty in Games was published by MIT Press. A paperback edition was subsequently published in 2015. ISBN   9780262527538 . Costikyan is the winner of five Origins Awards . On March 7, 2007, Costikyan received

7968-417: The video game Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life . In February 2009, Costikyan updated the rules and re-released his 1979 space combat game , Vector 3 , under a Creative Commons license as a free PDF download. Costikyan has written four novels. The first two were parodies of genre fantasy : Another Day, Another Dungeon (1990, ISBN   0-8125-0140-3 ) and its sequel One Quest, Hold

8064-403: The workings of the brothel led some to believe he had been a customer. There is no documentary evidence that such a report was written or submitted, nor that Napier ordered such research by Burton, and it has been argued that this is one of Burton's embellishments. A story that haunted Burton up to his death (recounted in some of his obituaries) was that, during his journey to Mecca disguised as

8160-857: Was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army 's 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot . Joseph, through his mother's family, the Campbells of Tuam , was a first cousin of Henry Pearce Driscoll and Eliza Graves . Burton's mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of Richard Baker, a wealthy Hertfordshire squire whom Burton was named after. He had two siblings, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton (who married Lieutenant-General Sir Henry William Stisted ) and Edward Joseph Netterville Burton. Burton's family travelled extensively during his childhood and employed various tutors to educate him. In 1825, they moved to Tours in France. In 1829, Burton began

8256-888: Was appointed as the British consul in Damascus , an ideal post for someone with Burton's knowledge of the region and customs. According to Ed Rice , "England wanted to know what was going on in the Levant ," another chapter in The Great Game . Yet, the Turkish governor Mohammed Rashid 'Ali Pasha feared anti-Turkish activities, and was opposed to Burton's assignment. In Damascus, Burton made friends with Abdelkader al-Jazairi , while Isabel befriended Jane Digby , calling her "my most intimate friend." Burton also met Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake and Edward Henry Palmer , collaborating with Drake in writing Unexplored Syria (1872). However,

8352-522: Was circumcised, and made a Muslim, and lived like a Muslim and prayed and practiced like one." Furthermore, Burton, "was entitled to call himself a hāfiz , one who can recite the Qur'ān from memory." Motivated by his love for adventure, Burton gained the approval of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) for an exploration of the Middle East , and, now at the rank of captain, received permission from

8448-798: Was culpable for this disaster. While he was largely cleared of any blame, his career prospects were damaged. He described the attack in First Footsteps in East Africa (1856). After recovering from his wounds in London , Burton travelled to Constantinople during the Crimean War , seeking an officer's commission . He received one from Major-General William Ferguson Beatson as the chief of staff for Beatson's Horse , an irregular Ottoman cavalry unit stationed in Gallipoli . Burton returned to England after an incident which implicated him as

8544-724: Was disliked, feared and suspected ... not for what he had done, but for what he was believed capable of doing." Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City ), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames , role-playing games , boardgames , card games , computer games , online games , and mobile games . Several of his games have won Origins Awards . He co-founded Manifesto Games , now out of business, with Johnny Wilson in 2005. Greg Costikyan

8640-470: Was impaled with a javelin, the point entering one cheek and exiting the other, leaving a permanent scar; he was forced to escape with the weapon still transfixing his head. Burton subsequently wrote that the Somalis were a "fierce and turbulent race". However, the failure of this expedition was viewed harshly by the British authorities, and a two-year investigation was set up to determine to what extent Burton

8736-538: Was more likely the other way around, Burton being jealous and resentful of Speke's determination and success. "As the years went by, [Burton] would neglect no opportunity to deride and undermine Speke's geographical theories and achievements". Speke had earlier proven his mettle by trekking through the mountains of Tibet , but Burton regarded him as inferior as he did not speak any Arabic or African languages. Despite his fascination with non-European cultures, some have portrayed Burton as an unabashed imperialist convinced of

8832-449: Was not promoted further, either in army life or in the diplomatic service. As an obituary described: "...he was ill fitted to run in official harness, and he had a Byronic love of shocking people, of telling tales against himself that had no foundation in fact." Ouida reported: "Men at the FO [Foreign Office] ... used to hint dark horrors about Burton, and certainly justly or unjustly he

8928-460: Was one of the many peculiar habits that set him apart from other British officers in India. While in the Bombay Army, he kept a large menagerie of tame monkeys in the hopes of learning their language , accumulating sixty "words". He also earned the nickname "Ruffian Dick" for his "demonic ferocity as a fighter and because he had fought in single combat more enemies than perhaps any other man of his time". According to Rice, "Burton now regarded

9024-470: Was prevalent in an area of the southern latitudes named by him the " Sotadic zone ". Perhaps Burton's best-known book is his translation of The Kama Sutra . It is untrue that he was the translator, since the original manuscript was in ancient Sanskrit , which he could not read. However, he collaborated with Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot on the work and provided translations from other manuscripts of later translations. The Kama Shastra Society first printed

9120-677: Was said to enjoy the notoriety and even once laughingly claimed to have done it. A doctor once asked him: "How do you feel when you have killed a man?", Burton retorted: "Quite jolly, what about you?". When asked by a priest about the same incident Burton is said to have replied: "Sir, I'm proud to say I have committed every sin in the Decalogue ." Stanley Lane-Poole , a Burton detractor, reported that Burton "confessed rather shamefacedly that he had never killed anybody at any time." These allegations coupled with Burton's often irascible nature were said to have harmed his career and may explain why he

9216-740: Was transferred to Santos in Brazil. Once there, Burton travelled through Brazil's central highlands, canoeing down the São Francisco River from its source to the falls of Paulo Afonso . He documented his experiences in The Highlands of Brazil (1869). In 1868 and 1869, he made two visits to the war zone of the Paraguayan War , which he described in his Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay (1870). In 1868, he

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