Or how do you enter the fairy tale dimension?
Today we meet another one of the key figures of the fairy tale dimension (FTD). We already know the ring bearer and the grim reaper. The ring bearer is a person who alternately comes from our dimension and the FTD. He is a great magician in the FTD and a powerful healer in our dimension. The ring bearer can work with the blueprint of the fairy tale dimension and is therefore vital for its development. The grim reaper´s job is to accompany people out of the dimension.
Our new key figure is the GrImporter. His job is also built into the blueprint of the dimension. He represents the door into the fairy tale dimension. What do we have to do when we want to live in the FTD and make playful experiences there? We connect with the GrImporter.
The waiting room
The GrImporter meets us in the big waiting room of the FTD. The waiting room is furnished with comfortable chairs and sofas. There are water dispensers and a coffee machine. When we arrive a lot of other beings, who also want to become part of the FTD, are already present.
Basically the GrImporter is the sales representative for the FTD. When there are vacancies in the different fairy tales he fills them by doing sales-pitches. He is aided in this by an interactive video-wall that shows the respective fairy tale lands to the prospective takers. We listen to him:
“Ladies and gentlemen, there happens to be an opening in the very well known fairy tale of Snow White. One of the seven dwarfs has just left the dimension and needs to be replaced. His name is Dopey.” He opens a video window to this fairy tale that shows the remaining six dwarfs happily cooking dinner in their beautiful old-fashioned house in the woods.
“I assure you that you are not stuck with being Dopey all the time because the dwarfs regularly change roles and shapeshift. As you might know almost everybody here can change his appearance. You will have a lot of freedom when you join this gang. The dwarfs are accomplished craftsmen und magicians. They love adventures. ” He shows a picture of a dwarf on a magic motorcycle.
He adds: “By the way, Snow White´s stepmother is thinking of retiring soon. If you care to wait a bit you can have her place. It comes with a lot of magic powers and a beautiful body, of course.” He shows us pictures and videos of the impressive castle, the many rooms and a lot of staff. Pretty soon he has some applicants for the vacancies and he accompanies them to a separate cubicle to discuss details.
The present GrImporter looks human and young although he has had this job for more than 100 earth years. He has dark blond hair that is sticking out on all sides because he habitually runs his fingers through it. He has friendly blue eyes that are twinkling with laughter. He wears a light blue overall with a nametag identifying him: “GrImporter, Incoming Services of the Fairy Tale Dimension”. Yeah, right.
We come up to his desk for our interview. He shuffles some papers around and looks briefly on his computer screen. The equipment looks modern, a bit like in an earth style travel agency. He is fiddling with a ballpoint pen: “What can I do for you?” he asks us. We have a difficult request for him. Let us see how he manages it.
“We want to play in a fairy tale where we can fly in a humanoid form. This means we need a country that incorporates great heights. We picture the inhabitants of this country living in houses perched on levitating rocks. We would like to form a society based on harvesting and processing soft fluffy cloudwool”, we answer.
Creating a new fairy tale story
The GrImporter raises his eyebrows: “You have a very detailed imagination.” Absentmindedly he chews on his pen. Then his eyes light up.
“I have an idea. We don´t have a fairy tale with these specifications yet. You are lucky that our current ring bearer has just mastered the third rune for the first time. I am going to chat with her and we will see whether we can add a new fairy tale country in the near future. It will take some time because we have to clarify the specifications and check them with the blueprint. We also need to find other people who are willing to join you in this new story. I hope you understand that it is not very efficient to add a new fairy tale land just for a handful of people.”
He is willing to help us to create a new fairy tale story? This is pretty cool!
Multiple GrImporters
All the incoming fairy tale fans are personally served by the GrImporter and offered an entrance into the fairy tales that fit their needs best. Considering that there are billions of inhabitants, the GrImporter, just like the grim reaper, can make copies of himself. He has created avatars that he employs as needed. One of the perks of being a key figure in this dimension is that you have a lot of freedom in how you fill your role.
Automation of country changes
To ease his workload the GrImporter is working on the continuing automation of the low level changes. By low level changes he means people who want to stay in the dimension and move from one country to another only. I have explained in a previous blog article that you can change your stories as often as you want to. Sometimes people just walk out of one fairy tale country and end up in the next. Or they die in one country and magically reappear in the next.
It is the job of the GrImporter to facilitate these changes. He has to make sure that there is sufficient room for the new inhabitants in their chosen fairy tale story and provide the logistics. For this task the GrImporter has created a vast databank that works like an Artificial Intelligence. Its job is to match places and people fast and efficiently. Its personality incorporates many traits of the blueprint of the FTD. This means that there can be some funny – in the FTD sense – surprises when an inhabitant changes his centre of living. The GrImporter shows us how the AI system works and we are impressed. He did a very good creative job with this automation!
Where the GrImporter lives
The GrImporter lives in a very secret part of the FTD where the other key figures reside, too. This area is secured and fortified by a multitude of spells and because of this it is practically invisible. Like the other key figures he has the power to customize his home and his grounds according to his needs. Let us pay him a visit.
His house is large and looks very modern. It is a white bungalow built in a U-form. In the space in the middle of the three sides of the U there is a tropical garden and a swimming pool. Nice!
We arrive on a wide porch and knock on a white door. He welcomes us warmly and invites us in. Our first glance at the interior decoration of his house reveals that this is the home of a high tech nerd. In our line of sight there are many gadgets, machines and appliances that look quite unfamiliar. We cannot even guess what they are used for.
His spacious office, for example, is filled with a multitude of computer screens and electronic equipment. But wait, this is not the earth electronics we a familiar with. This must be some combination of medieval magic and digital age gimmicks. We ask and the GrImporter grins and nodds. He explains that he likes to create hybrid machines that combine electronics and magic. He shows us some of his experimental devices, which, he assures us, are not dangerous.
The GrImporter has two assistants who live with him. The apprentices are a girl and a boy who look very much alike. They seem to be in their early twenties. Both are skinny and long limbed with long dark hair, jeans, T-Shirts and sneakers. They are very fond of games and automation and therefore can support their boss in his various endeavours adequately.
In the huge living room we see a large sprawling sofa and a lot of big screens. There are also seats and tables that are covered with all kinds of equipment. The GrImporter explains that a lot of these machines – they work with and without magic – are used for a variety of video games. 3D video games seem to be the hobby of the apprentices.
The kitchen is a high-end affair with shiny appliances and more switches and controls than you would expect in a spacecraft. The GrImporter switches on an elaborate coffee machine and produces delicious coffee for us.
Unlike the grim reaper the GrImporter has a very companionable personality. He is very fond of experiments and some of his best friends are the most powerful magicians in the FTD. We have a mutual friend in the old tree magician, the headmaster of the magic school. (The Magic School) Often he and his magician friends sit together and devise new ingenious ways of supporting their various jobs and tasks and of course to play. Their experiments are often loud and smelly, of course.
The GrImporter hosts parties regularly and it is an honour for the inhabitants of the fairy tale dimension to get invited.
I have the feeling that we will be seeing much more of this key figure of the fairy tale dimension in the near future.
© Inge Schumacher
The Fairy Tale Dimension 