Dear AD 2312,

I hope you can forgive me for leaving a cold call message. They’ll be entire generations beyond this that won’t need to read it; although they are welcome too. I estimate this will be a message 288 years in the making. It should be anywhere from eight to ten generations from now. I hope it’s received as warmly as the forge fires that this year keeps close by. For you are like me and there will not be another year like either of us until you come around friend.

With that, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Balans Arkwright. Now my human name will be kept safe from this public message. But as you can guess the premise of a 10’ 3“ (3.12m) tall, just as wide, ever bubbly and excitable kangaroo and dragon hybrid (what I call a Dergaroo) is quite hard to hide. I doubt I could hide the clamor of my hammer on the anvil, or the size of the forge that I work in here in AD 2024. With luck there’ll be offerings with this time capsule as well - creations of mine, trinkets, the like - which you’re all welcome to use. Each one will be chronicled and defined you have my word. I hope I leave a positive impact on you as you will on future people and as I will in my life.

I’m not sure if this will continue almost three hundred years into the future, but I’d like to think it does. During my time there’s a thing called Macro March - which is just a themed holiday a month long around all things giants. Imagine characters, but giant sized. Imagine weapons, but giant sized. Imagine dragons (if you recognize that song three hundred years into the future that is impressive, but anyway), but giant sized. The definition of giant can vary by the person who celebrates it. For some giant could just mean as big as a house, or maybe they’re able to grow out of a room. For others, giant could mean mountain sized, or even playing with a moon like they’re a cat with a ball of yarn. I personally celebrate it because I love every size. Giant to me has meant sizes larger than houses, cities, mountains, continental landmasses, and onwards and upwards. Sometimes we’re talking sizes beyond Earth, Jupiter, perhaps even the Sun. In rare instances we’re talking sizes even larger than the solar system, or a cluster of them, occasionally even whole galaxies. Larger and larger the sizes go, sizes that I’m pleased to say I have explored and seen before.

There was a time, years ago, when I wasn’t aware of any of this either. It was twelve years ago, 2012, that I first found it. On that year of the dragon, the last year of the dragon, I found a different dragon named DNAPalmhead (Pronounced De-Napalm-Head, not DNA-Palm-Head). There’s actually a website that describes him as, quoting the website: “His online persona (or fursona) was a scalie- a 444-foot tall, size-changing hybrid dragon, mixing the features of rabbits, wolves, lizards, and kangaroos into one.” As you can guess from his description, his art and his content is what got me interested in this world right from the start. As I write this letter, I still haven’t spoken to him. Never meet your heroes you know? But maybe one day I can get the courage to say hi, write him something, let him know how much he’s meant to me and the community at large.

I can afford to indulge into the sizes I’ve hit before. I’m 10’ 3“ as I write this. There was a time a few years ago where I was triple that height as standard; around 30 feet tall. Before that I was 50 feet tall, and that was the height I thought I would have enjoyed back then but I know better - I’ll explain at the end. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been to so many sizes that it’s hard to visualize, but I will try to visualize it for you in brief. Try to imagine how many atoms it takes to form the home you live in. How many particles does it take? Imagine each of those particles as a universe onto itself. Then imagine how huge a giant would look to you if it stood as big as Earth, yet each atom that makes up all on Earth was made up of universe clusters. That’s one of the sizes I have been to before, let alone not thee biggest but very close to it.

As you can guess, Macro March holds a special place in my heart even if I can’t always create for it. It’s the month that involves all the things I love, with the people I love, and showcases the creativity people have with just one topic. Imagine my surprise then when I did number crunching. It was the year of the dragon when I joined, and now it’s the year of the dragon again. It’s a leap year this year - that’s to say February has a 29th day. To complete that, Easter falls on the final day of Macro March; March 31st. So today, March 31st, 2024, is Easter, the final day of Macro March, the year of the dragon, and a leap year. A holiday about the resurrection of Christ, coinciding on the final day about growth and ever larger heights, framed by the power of dragons on the Chinese zodiac, and finally with a leap year’s extra day as a cherry on top. A combination of dates so meaningful to me that I had to do the math on when such a year will come again. That year won’t come again until you, AD 2312, occur. It’ll be 288 years before such events align again. Even there, with a total solar eclipse occurring on April 8th this year over the USA, there’ll be an annular solar eclipse on April 7th on your year, 2312. There’s even a total solar eclipse later in your year, on October 8th, 2312.

So why do I babble about all of this? Well, I wanted to speak to you in the future. I have no idea what will happen to my future, so I’ll just share the wisest knowledge I know. My community is always been obsessed with size, growth, and gains. I myself had jumped into this with my largest of sizes, but there’s a truth to all of this. It doesn’t matter. The size we pretend to be doesn’t really mean as much as the size of our impacts. This is why I keep a forge theme with my stories. It’s also why I love to write other people growing too, making them as huge of a deal as I see them as. Finally, there’s a much deeper growth that isn’t just bulging muscles or ever higher heights; it’s a growth of character, of personality, and just trying your best.

To the future then I transport my entire impact to you. I’ll work hard to forge the items that make giants out of good hearted people. The tools I forge, be they blade or wheelbarrow, anchor or arrow, and more, I’ll ensure they do their best to help you too. Each one will have the Iromtawa Stamp proudly shine on their make, with runes to channel magics, and well wishes to those who use them to channel greatness into the world. For the truth is the size we are doesn’t matter save for our own personal desires. Size is subjective after all. What does matter is the size of the impact we make in the lives of others. To be huge in the minds of others is infinitely larger than any one mind can conceive. The footprints left by helping others at any size shall always dig deeper than any made by a giant any size larger but just in one person’s mind. I make the tools to turn anyone into a giant of their field, a titan of their industry if you will, or a colossus of the battlefield. But at the end of the day, of every day between here and beyond, it’s up to you.

So with these well wishes and these capsuled gifts, go make 2312 as incredible as 2024 has been for me. I hope their power ups, buffs, and abilities help you make the best of the future for your future generations. Take what is here and study it, learn from it, and envision a brighter future too. For at the end of the day, it’s not the biggest size that matters. What matters - that real biggest size - is this: Become the biggest impact you can be; Be that impact in other people’s lives, in your communities, and from vast cities to villages compact. Take those first steps and forge your future as I hope to forge mine.

Strike while the iron is hot. Strike while this message fires you up instead of being a cold call. I’m rooting for you AD 2312. Make this gigantic, dergaroo forge titan proud; I know you got what it takes to be even larger than I ever could be.

Signed,

AD 2024 - Balans Arkwright, Blacksmith Master and Owner of the Iromtawa Foundry & Forge

P.S. - I also love to write and can share one final piece of advice. You don’t need to be as strong as me or giants to make universes as you wish. You just need a writing utensil, a thing to write into or onto, and just to begin. Daydream, wander, amuse yourself, and always record it. Begin stringing together things you have found in the past; allow your brain to mash them like atoms together into new compounds. Before long you’ll be making your own universes, stories, and entertainment for centuries to come. That’s how I began. That’s how I encourage you all to begin. Wander and learn, cherish and love, make sure to laugh at either yourself in a healthy manner or something amusing but not mean, and always ensure you live every day to the fullest. I’ll be adding keepsakes and artifacts to this time capsule until my last breath, but from there the story goes to you. Become the biggest impact that you can be. You got this. You only need to grow into it one step at a time.