Once upon a time... a young and noble knight, trusted with his proud steed, known for his loyalty and devotion. Sacratus was his name. Now Sacratus was a personal friend of the king, living in the kingdom of Veritas, where he had been given the management of all the men. A great responsibility. Sacratus could arrange his days as he pleased and was really free to go wherever he wanted. 'Anything goes, but not everything is useful' the king had confided in him.

Sacratus, however, had one problem: He had no idea. Literally. He could not invent anything new or come up with solutions to recurring problems. Sacratus was good at practical implementation, but he preferred to leave the thinking to others. That in itself would not have been such a problem, after all, there were plenty of smart thinkers in Veritas, but Sacratus was suffering from it himself. He wanted to appear smarter. Not that his authority was in doubt; after all, he had this granted directly through the king, but Sacratus wanted to show it could do it on its own.

Now in the neighboring kingdom there was a clever inventor who also turned out to be a shrewd businessman: a fortunate combination. This inventor, Mendacem he was called, had designed an idea machine that could design truly miraculously good and applicable ideas. His commercial spirit had put him on a profitable idea brought (although it was rumored to have originated from the machine as well). Anyway; Mendacem sold ideas by subscription. The regulations prescribed that anyone with a subscription could come and get as many ideas as he wanted; but only for his own use. So the credo on the banner in front of his little store was "ideas - as many as you can handle.

The idea machine had two ways to produce an idea. The first way was to give the machine a coincidentally idea to be developed. The second was to write a specific problem on a piece of parchment for Mendacem to enter. How Mendacem that did was shrouded in mystery and has remained secret to this day.

One of the first problems the machine managed to solve was Mendacem's problem of distribution: how to the question coming to Mendacem and the idea with the subscriber, without time and distance becoming an issue. Indeed, Mendacem wanted not only his immediate neighbors to be subscribers, but everyone in the wider area (so that more ducats could be earned). This was the idea Mendacem received:

Idea #IV
To be the fastest
Is traveling in a straight line
This can be done by air
Take a pigeon flight
- Age si quid agis -

Mendacem, who immediately saw the value of the system, called the pigeons he trained 'homing pigeons' and the distribution system 'the cloud'. First, because of the large number of pigeons he used; second, because it referred nicely to traveling by air. Mendacem was ready.

Now the day Sacratus heard of the idea machine was the day he took out a subscription. It would mean THE solution to his problem! And it was. In fact, it was such a success that people were coming to him for advice. And although the ideas were for his own use only, Sacratus could not resist the temptation to hand them out. First to some family and friends, but soon his men were also coming for fresh and ingenious ideas.

For example, one idea he shared with his family was an accidental idea, which he had jokingly requested at an idle moment. This was the idea that came in:

Idea #XXVIII
You could think of a child as a kind of human being, even if they have a weird little body with a disproportionately large head on top, snot coming out of the nose and drool running down the corners of the mouth. You might try talking to them.
- Alia tempora, alii mores -

Sacratus, who had never paid much attention to these little creatures, when he started paying attention to them and however subtly at times, actually saw human traits. To his surprise, these little "people" did not appear to bother and irritate him intentionally, but rather to be shy for some kindness and attention! A revolutionary idea which led to great changes within the kingdom.

Mendacem soon learned that his ideas were being spread in a manner contrary to regulations. The local newspaper the 'Verbum Pustula,' which had also gotten wind of it, posted an interview with him. 'Mendacum sees sharing as a positive thing' was the headline. The piece revealed that sharing was indeed against regulations. However, Mendacum - convinced of the success of his machine - indicated that he, as long as it doesn't get out of hand, welcomes the sharing because only more people will start craving his ideas and eventually want a subscription.

Sacratus, who had read the piece the next morning, heaved a sigh of relief. Now the sharing of ideas was - more or less - become legal. He had already thought it was fine with the kingdom to share everything you have, this was great confirmation! Sacratus proudly let the banner of the kingdom fly extra visibly that day during his daily round: 'Veritas'. He had succeeded. Unfortunately, the king was not present to witness the spectacle.

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Sacratus - Hallowed | Veritas - Truth | Mendacem - Liar | Verbum Pustula -. Word Pimple | Age si quid agis - If you do something, do it well |. Alia tempora, alii mores – Other times, other customs