The Path to Nirvana
A Tibetan AAR
A Tibetan AAR
"Where there is nothing; where naught is grasped, there is the Isle of No-Beyond. Nirvana do I call it -- the utter extinction of aging and dying."
Tibet, land of mountains, mystery and yetis. Sounds like a great place for an AAR, no? There is the issue of extreme isolation and bad tech penalties, but when has that ever bothered me?? In fact, I quite like playing countries that are hopelessly deficient. It gives me a sense of purpose.
But what, I hear you crying, is Nirvana? Well, quite simply it is bliss, attained through the extinguishing of all desires at the end of the life, death and rebirth cycle. I can't promise that this AAR will deliver something as great as Nirvana, but it might be quite nice. But probably not bliss. Sorry. If you were expecting bliss and perfection, you should probably leave now. It's the door on your right. Again, sorry about that.
Anyway, for those of you that have stuck around, the AAR will be in a similar format to my Uzbek AAR, except each update will cover 20 years instead of 10, meaning a total of 20 updates in total. My Danish AAR, for those that care, will continue as normal. This will be third priority (behind Danish Revival and my Siebenburgen AAR), but updates should come fairly steadily.
Prologue: In Which Eyes are Opened
Lhasa, 1st January 1439
The Dalai Lama opened his eyes unto the world, and blinked.
“Shaven head…check. Mind cleared of all thoughts…check. Wearing orange…check. All right, way to go me!”
As the Dalai Lama muttered to himself young Lobsang entered, holding a cup of green tea with yak’s milk.
“Tell me, young Lobsang, what have I missed during my meditation?” Lobsang grimaced as he handed the tea to his wizened leader.
“Well, uh…” young Lobsang stuttered.
“Out with it man!” snapped the Dalai Lama.
“Well, you’ve been mediating non-stop for twenty years!” A spurt of tea shot out of the Dalai Lama’s mouth like a geyser, his eyes wide.
“Twenty years?!” he whispered incredulously. “Blimey, I’m a meditating demon! Just call me Mr. Meditation, baby!” He paused, his face taking on a more sober expression. “Well then, young Lobsang, you had better tell me all that has occurred in the material world, for a great and brilliant spiritual leader needs to know these things, you know what I’m saying?”
Lobsang took a deep breath, and focussed his mind back.
“Right, 1419...”
