Joppa Road

I have a respectable portfolio which is the result of two and a half centuries of living and learning and investing. My portfolio is divided amongst numerous accounts and aliases. They are held in various investment companies and financial institutions. But they are all plugged into the weredog network.

The weredog network is global and provides for the support and cohesion of al packs and dogs, which both contribute funds and time and passion. If something were to happen to me my funds would not languish and be eaten up by a gluttonous brokerage house. They would be accessed by the weredog network and transfered into the network. And if a dog finds him or herself in a bad situation and without funds, anywhere in the world, that dog is a call or a howl away form support. I had reason to tap into this support several times on my recent travels.

Weredog financial networks are based on very old models which derive from before man, when managing resources for large packs, such as food, also from Ancient Greece, a time greatly loved by werelore, and from the Crusades.

Joppa Road was the 40 mile stretch between the port city of Joppa and Jerusalem. During the Crusades it was considered the most dangerous 40 miles of road in the known world, known to Europeans, of course. Most Christian pilgrims landed at Joppa and traveled those 40 miles to Jerusalem. And many of them perished on that road.

The Templar Knights first formed to provide protection to pilgrims along Joppa Road. They were just 10 in the beginning, 10 men wanting to make a difference (and maybe a little bored). There were always at least 3 of them on that road, running security patrols.

5 of those 10 original knights were weredogs.

The ranks grew, then swelled. Crusaders joined the Templars, and the Hopitalers and Teutonic orders also, by the thousands. Weredogs were part of that throng.

Many weredogs started cycling through their dog-man phases without ever leaving the Templars. They fought on as man, then dog, then man, etc, without leaving the order. The Templars and Teutonic Knights have a very strong tradition and legacy within werelore. It is said that there were even a number of werewolves who joined clandestinely.

When the Crusades ended the Templars and the other orders returned to Europe to find new religious wars. The Templars were spread out all over Europe. The Templar financial system covered Europe and was the first international banking system. Templars were advisers and financiers to the kings and queens of Europe.

When Philip IV of France conducted his Templar pogrom in 1307, and seized all Templar assets in France, most of the Templar system survived, as other kings gave sanctuary to their Templars. Templar weredogs took note of that experience, of Philip's treachery and of how Templar assets, even some within France, survived.

We still run our network on that basic model, and it works well. I have not had to call on that support very often in my life, but I did, 5 times, over the past year, in my travels, and I can tell you the network extends everywhere, not just in Europe, but also in the Middle East and Asia.

Some people would say this sounds like socialism. But we weredogs are just following the laws of the pack, our survival instincts and the modern logics for networking and support. It is the same in all armies or any tightly-knit group that has a mission.