Noto of Java

A Tale of Love, Struggle, and Ascension in a Land of Ambiguity

Java is never what it seems to be. It is lush and beautiful, yet the volcanoes that dotted the island from west to east clearly hid the explosive power in its belly, often exploding as if to remind those living nearby that there are powers bigger than any human can muster. The Javanese, the largest tribe residing on the island also reflect this hidden dichotomy. Calm and pleasant and yet on occasion had been known to savagely killed thousands of its own for the same of ideology or religion. Most Javanese avowed to be Muslims, yet older Hindu-Buddhist rituals are often performed without question. This inability to break with the past makes the Javanese often derided by people from other tribes as non Muslims as Noto encountered later. Noto was facing an uncertain future after losing both his parents during the troubled year of 1965, yet Noto was able to move through life with relative ease; succeeding in everything he did through his sheer determination, cunning, and, very likely, the intelligence with which he was born. Following his instinct, he chose to enter the Army Transport Unit after graduating first in his class at the Indonesian National Military Academy to the dismay of the Superintendent of the Academy. His instinct was proofed right when he defeated and captured a rebel leader and all his troops with a rag tag group of Indonesian army mechanics soon after his arrival in the trouble spot; a feat which earned him swift battle-field promotion from Second Lieutenant to Major and attention from the new Army Chief of Staff. While on leave from the army for a scheduled R&R, he accidentally unravel the mystery of whom his parents were. It eventually led Noto to the palace, where the Sultan had been forewarned of his arrival through the Court Recorders unusual dream. The Court Recorder had told him more than ten months earlier that in his dream someone kept on saying saying: The golden river that flows from the north will bring order to the kingdom The spiritual aspect of the premonition which foretold his arrival and the revelation of Notos ealier encounter with the Goddess of the Southern Ocean (Nyai Roro Kidul) marked Noto as a special person; someone to be reckoned with.