Woke up today on a battlewheel talking to Erien Lor’Vrel, a character in the Okal Rel Universe. For 30-odd years, he was the main avatar of my friend Alison. And Alison wasn’t the first friend I larp’d with in the creation of the Okal Rel Universe. Before the internet, and through its mighty spring into our lives. I founded a freenet in the early 90s because I already knew how important it could be. I communicated with Alison over it, when we were both grad students at universities. In the hurly-burly of being published authors, we lost the joy of mere creation and fell out of touch. Even in my dreams. So it was good to find Erien larping with me, again, in the theatre of the mind.