Post by Hec Scrivener on Aug 27, 2006 20:55:46 GMT -5
...one need only start a thread challenging our beloved battle cry. But though I risk a burning, I shall nevertheless throw the match.
With all due respect to a motto that does roll most trippingly off the tongue, I cannot reconcile the plaintive cry for help Libera nos a malo with what we of the Malton's Angels (and indeed, the New Malton Colossus in general) are: an band of badasses. Though we be righteous, we do not huddle in safehouses praying for divine intervention to save us from the zombie menace; nay, we seek out battle, brave death and undeath in order to make a statement.
And so, I argue, or motto should be that statement, not a plea. We might paraphrase the latter into the former: Liberamus ipsos a malo, 'We deliver ourselves from evil.' Or we might pick a more suitably martial verse, from the Bible or elsewhere. If it's to be Biblical, my expertise is limited; but outside that a similar verse from Kipling comes to mind:
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, aid!
- Hymn before Action
Still a plea, of sorts, but one of people who are about to lay on a righteous smackdown.
While we're on Kipling:
The Sack of the Gods
Recessional
If-
Not for any motto purposes; these are just good stuff.
With all due respect to a motto that does roll most trippingly off the tongue, I cannot reconcile the plaintive cry for help Libera nos a malo with what we of the Malton's Angels (and indeed, the New Malton Colossus in general) are: an band of badasses. Though we be righteous, we do not huddle in safehouses praying for divine intervention to save us from the zombie menace; nay, we seek out battle, brave death and undeath in order to make a statement.
And so, I argue, or motto should be that statement, not a plea. We might paraphrase the latter into the former: Liberamus ipsos a malo, 'We deliver ourselves from evil.' Or we might pick a more suitably martial verse, from the Bible or elsewhere. If it's to be Biblical, my expertise is limited; but outside that a similar verse from Kipling comes to mind:
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, aid!
- Hymn before Action
Still a plea, of sorts, but one of people who are about to lay on a righteous smackdown.
While we're on Kipling:
The Sack of the Gods
Recessional
If-
Not for any motto purposes; these are just good stuff.