When you have created your RLSH persona, and have decided what theme it might have, you need to consider just how you are going to actualize this persona, through what you physically do. Are you going to be festooned with gadgetry, whether home-crafted and/or store-bought, that serve you in your RLSH activities, or perhaps just a few few simple items that serve you well, and are practical?
In the RLSH world, we have unique skills and attributes, but we do not have the luxury of super-powers, like those fictional creations that have inspired RLSH’s to emulate them, so we have to be creative in order to actualize our personas in the real world. There are those in the RLSH world that have chosen to carry an array of weaponry, much of which is concealed, and therefore illegal (even if a given weapon may not be, if visibly worn), and I do not suggest this as a path to follow, as it can lead to more trouble that you’d ever want. I have known well-meaning RLSH’s that have had such items confiscated from them, and have even been prosecuted simply for having weapons with them. Hardly a way to start a RLSH career…with a record marking you as one of the bad guys, and not the way you intended it to be.
Not good.
I humbly suggest a more practical approach to assembling your gear, and if you do not have the equipment and skills to create whatever custom tool(s) you may need to aid you as a RLSH, seek out those in the community that can help you with this sort of thing.
To illustrate the concept of “practical in the real world” RLSH gadgetry, let me talk a bit about the origin of my own signature piece, a flashlight ring I call “The Dragon’s Eye”. The ring evolved a bit over time, and when I finally decided to let being “The Eye” become a more public aspect of my life, I realized that I needed something both practical and thematic that would serve me well, and for many years to come. I hit upon the idea that since my theme was “all things visual”, that light itself, or having it there upon command when needed, would be ideal. To that end, I created the ring by taking an already existing silver ring that I no longer wore, and soldering to it a small, oval silver pillbox, with a blue lapis lazuli stone, that once combined, allowed me to open it like a poison ring. I then worked the silver of the container portion of the ring to fit into it a tiny yet powerful whilte LED flashlight I had acquired a few months before in San Francisco’s Japantown. These lights were the smallest and most powerful-for-their-size flashlights I had ever seen (at $18 US each!), and I bought three (I always buy for future spare parts needs). Fitting the tiniest toggle switch I could find into the ring casing behind the flashlight (which now had a port on the front of the ring for the LED to shine out of), with the toggle switch’s switch arm poking out the bottom of the ring, resting against my finger, I now had what I had sought to create. A device of practical use, and yet with a powerful effect when it is pressed into service, and all within my theme of being “The Eye”. In a previous chapter,
I touched upon the idea that non-lethal deterrents would be far more practical for a RLSH that carrying concealed weapons that might land you in jail. With an item such as “The Dragon’s Eye”, I may:
a) Use the ring to illuminate dark paths, for both myself and others. I used the ring once in this very fashion, when with a companion in a pitch-black, rainy camping area at night, to re-find our vehicle. Even simply illuminating an auto or house keyhole for a friend becomes a chivalrous act, as you bring into use a light that you may reach before anyone else may deploy a keychain flashlight or similar…because the light is already in (or at least worn on) your hand.
b) Create a moment of harmless flash-blindness, if approached by an assailant. Even in daytime, the light from this ring shining directly into the eyes unexpectedly causes the recipient to be startled (an interlude one may use for attack, defense or escape, as needed), and at night is, as you can imagine, even more effective, as you vanish behind a miniature super-nova of white light, when all they will see afterwards will be spots!
c) Use as a conversation piece. Many is the time I am asked, while wearing the ring in public: What do you keep in there (as it appears to be a bulky poison ring)? Over time, I have developed this reply, as I smilingly give them a tiny taste of the light, while saying “Only the batteries for this!” Using the ring in this fashion, I can talk about it, my RLSH persona, or almost anything at this point, as the conduit for conversation has been opened with a flourish.
So, in conclusion for this topic, let me leave you with this thought: Whatever you decide to carry with you to serve you in your chosen purpose as a RLSH, make certain it is something that supports, and does not detract from your mission. If you feel you must carry a weapon, make it something not frowned upon by local law enforement, such as pepper spray, or a sturdy cane or similar. Moreover, I suggest you spend some time in considered thought about what other creations would work for you to give you the thematic success and practical usefulness that my ring “The Dragon’s Eye” has awarded me.
And remember, there are those of us out there, in the RLSH family, who are more than willing to lend their skills and knowledge to aid you in helping those creations become a reality.
In Seeing Justice Done
~The Eye~
STORY HERE