Gra Gryning

[Cherico]

David Levi
1815 AD

1745 years, if you're counting masada, that is when we lost Israel, we would never regain it. The last known Jewish kingdom, the Kazar's, was destroyed in 850 AD. For over 900 years the jewish people have not had a homeland of our own. They have not had a nation of our own.

This year on March 7th that long painful period of time would finally come to an end.

"It's too cold here boy."

My aged father complained again.

"We will adapt, this is our home now."

We had been offered a deal, a few of the jewish people would teach at the american's academy of magic. Bringing our knowledge and wisdom to the american people, and in exchange for this sacred trust we would receive a homeland of our own, a country of our own.

There was of course an agreement of a commercial and military alliance, I smiled as we got to land. The docks were seemingly carved out of the nearby stone, it was dark and cold. Our ship landed and we joined the crowd of fellow jews.

We got off the ship, men and women in purple uniforms looked around carefully keeping order. A man looked at us, his fingers moved and then he spoke oddly in our native language.

"Welcome to the city of Nuuk, papers please?"

My father handed over the paper work.

"Rabbi Levi, you will join the others in the great hall."

"Others?"

"The deal has already been hammered out, and the agreement made, the united states recognizes your existance and we have an official alliance."

My father smiled, using the same diplomatic tone he used with polite goyum.

"It is good to have friends."

The soldier nodded and we walked past him.

"Hate this place already."

"He's just trying to help."

We heard gunfire and my father went to the ground, I looked around and saw some men in purple uniforms training men how to shoot. From their outfits I saw that they were hasidic jews.

"Again."

They loaded their weapons and I helped my father to his feet.

"Scared?"

He shrugged.

"Terrified."

He sighed as he looked at the jewish soldiers who were bundled up.

"Countries have to have their own armies father."

"I know that boy, it's just a lot to get used to."

We entered the big building and a bored jew in a yamuka looked up at us.

"Rabi Levi."

He shrugged and pulled out some papers.

"Useful skills?"

"I am one of the foremost experts of the torah in my village."

The man sighed.

"I said useful skills."

"The word of god is always useful."

"I'm going to put down no."

My father clenched his hands.

"I can also read, write, do arithmetic, large sums and."

"We already have people who can do that, do you know how to blacksmith? Raise cattle? Raise crops."

"I used to have a garden, I grew berries."

"Farmer then, we can use farmers."

The man motioned for us to sit and we did so.

"This is a map of Israel."

"This is hardly a map of Israel, Israel is."

"Located in the middle east and is controlled by the turks, before that it was controlled by the arabs, before that by the crusaders, then the arabs, then the greeks, then the romans and then us. To the north there are turks, to the south arabs, to the east arabs. We are not getting old Israel back old man, and calling this place New Isreal is going to sound silly if we still have this land a hundred years from now."

"So you call it Israel."

"Precisely, Now New Israel has 836,330 square miles of land, Old Israel had maybe 20,000 square miles so were already 840,000 square miles ahead."

"How much of that is useless tundra."

The man smiled.

"Practically all of it."

"And we accepted this why?"

The man continued to smile.

"With all due respect Rabbi when someone offers you free land, you do not question it you take the free land. Now it's true that Isreal is a fixer up."

My father looked around at the office cynically.

"Its a frozen wasteland, not a fixer upper."

"Yes but its our frozen wasteland sir, we even have our own flag."

He brought out a small flag and my dad studied it.

"White and blue with a blue star of David?"

"Yes, the star of david represents the jewish people, the white represents snow, and the blue represents us because its too damned cold."

My father frowned.

"You're not filling me with confidence."

The man shrugged.

"I know but a country is a country right? So here's the map."

"What are the lines?"

The man nodded.

"Leylines, now normally the vast majority of this land is useless but we can use magic."

"Devilry."

"Magic, to make the area habitable, this big line right here that cuts through the entire country? Thats 162 miles long 4 miles wide, that right there is where we plan to try to grow most of our food."

"So your going to use devilry and witchcraft to turn this frozen line of frozen wasteland into something useable."

The man shrugged.

"Yes."

I sighed.

"Come on father stop pestering the man, and sign the papers."

My father grumbled and I smiled at the new country, our country.

 

[Cherico]

Where did it all go wrong?

Hanz Weber 1970


With the end of the second world war, with the expulsion of europe's jews, the genocide of the gypsies and the eastern european holocaust. With the weight of our collective crimes against western civilization, the german people were left with the question of where it all went so horribly wrong.

Most german historians talk about the interwar period, of mass inflation, of a destabilized economy and the chaos that led to the rise of the nazis but I would argue that it goes back further, to the liberal revolution of 1848. German nationalists wanted a king to unify germany.

At first they went to the prussians and the king there refused, saying that he would not accept a crown from the gutter. The new king of Bavaria, Maximilian the 2nd, however had no such qualms and took the crown. This angered Prussia who declared war on the new kingdom of Germany. They lost and a liberal germany with a liberal constitution took the world stage, without prussia or austria.

The capital of Munich became the cultural and educational center of germany, and Germany thrived under Maximilian's leadership. When he died his son, Ludwig, took the throne. Ludwig lacked the quiet natural genius of his father, but was easily restrained by germany's strong parliament. Still, he became a patron of the arts and created germany's greatest school of magic through his own efforts and generous funding from the americas.

It was thought that this period of liberal monarchy and prosperity would go on forever and itis still remembered as a golden age of german history. Sadly Ludwig died on 1886 without an heir. This prompted a succession crisis, one the prussians offered to solve.

They did and Wilhelm the 1st took power, the capital was moved from its former location to Berlin and, slowly, liberties that the german people had taken for granted were eliminated, to aid the transition of course. When he died it was hoped his more liberal son would restore the rights the german people had lost. Instead multiple Kaisers would die until Wilhelm the 2nd reached the throne.

Under Wilhelm II Germany saw a rise of militarism, nationalism and a further reduction of the rights of the german people. Before Wilhelm II there had been a generation of relative peace in europe. Conflicts happened in the colonies, or in the balkans or on the fringes of Europe. There was peace. But in his quest for glory Wilhelm II alienated people and upset the balance of power in europe.

His actions would lead to the destruction of world war One which lead to the charnel house of the second world war. If you're looking for where it all went wrong, the direct cause of germany's fall, one must look at the disaster caused by Prussia's entrance into germany.

Before that happened Germany had been a stronghold of liberalism, of thought, of art. After that mistake, and it was a mistake, prussian militarism infected a peaceful germany like a plague. We had invited a cancerous tumor into a healthy body and it would metastasize under the nazis.

As painful as the second world war was, as the division was, I can't help but notice that germany, freed from the spector of prussian influence, has once again become a liberal democracy, has once again become a nation of art and commerce. There is talk of unification in some far off date, but is it a good idea?

Will it make us stronger or will the spectre of prussia once again lead us into destruction and chaos?

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Work, it came down to work.

As the first members of our family to come to Israel we needed to find work.

"Do you know what we do?"

The man was dressed in a purple long coat his face covered with a mask.

"I don't know, I just saw some thing that said now hiring."

The man sighed.

"Name's Victor Silverman, graduate of compass academy of magic."

He pulled out a map and I stared at it.

"A map of the ley lines in greenland?"

"Yes, do you know what Ley lines are?"

I shrugged.

"Great."

"Ley lines are rivers of magic, places where the barriers between us and the higher realms are weaker. There are three kinds of Ley lines, Grand lines, Medium lines and short lines. Grand lines are big enough to circumnavigate the entire globe, there are 36 grand lines and, lucky us,one runs right through our country."

He sighed.

"The grand line is 4 miles wide by the way. Medium lines can be anywhere from 50 to 400 miles long and tend to be 2 to 1 miles wide, finally short lines tend to be 5 to 40 miles long and can be a mile to half a mile wide."

He paused.

"How big is our country?"

"Over 800 square miles?"

"Good you listened, less then four miles of that is arable land or land where you can grow food."

"That's a bad thing?"

"A very bad thing, but you see these lines? If we use magic we can make the land on the lines grow food. Now the good news for us. Israel is actually pretty magically rich those lines cover almost 5% of our country so that brings us up to roughly 40,000 square miles of arable land."

He paused.

"That's a little bit smaller then Cuba, a little bigger then iceland, that's a whole lot better then 4 square miles isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Yes sir."

He got up and yawned and motioned for me to follow him, I did so and walked into a basement. I saw glowing pillars.

"Your job, is to dig holes, where we tell you to dig them, then you are to put these pillars into the holes. These pillars allow us to control the heat and fertility of the land."

"So how long until we're finished?"

The man laughed bitterly.

"Not during our lifetime, you see this might take well over a hundred years, and that's being generous."

"If it's going to take so long then why do it?"

"Because it beats starving to death, oh and if you have a problem with magic? Get over it because right now it's pretty much that or."

"Starving to death."

The man smiled.

"Got it in one."

"Well hopefully we will be able to grow enough food this spring to feed every one."

The man sighed.

"Define spring."

Those words gave me a vague sinking feeling.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Father carefully watered a plant.

"I go from a rabbi, and a respected man of letters, to this?"

I looked at my father.

"Because our house was destroyed in a riot?"

My father frowned, there was a knock on the door and I opened it.

"You ready?"

I nodded.

"Yes Mr. Yankel."

My father frowned at my boss.

"Off to do some more witchcraft boy?"

My boss narrowed his eyes and then his face became controlled.

"You know, your son has worked for us for about three months now."

Yankel started to smile, it wasn't a happy smile or a nice one.

"Yes despite my concerns."

"He's a good boy, never once complained, never once gave me any trouble. I genuinely like him."

Mr. Yankel put his palm upward and I saw fire sprout from his finger tips, my father blinked.

"So because I like your son, I'm going to tell you how Israel is actually run. You see the war that gave us this land ended last year. Jews from around europe were invited to come to negotiate."

My dad nodded.

"About what government they would create here, about what our deal would be with the americans, and all they did was argue and bicker. People like me, magi, we were there and were doing things while they talked, productive things."

He paused.

"These so called wise men got other people into their meaningless bickering which meant that jobs, important jobs, were not being done. This went on for three months. That's when we ran out of food."

My boss loomed over my father.

"And these wise men continued to bicker as our people starved to death. The greatest oportunity the jewish people have had in over a hundred years was going to be squandered by these idiots, but then we realized something, all of us magi realized some thing, we had all the guns."

My father's face fell.

"I think you know what happened but I will tell you anyways. We went to the great hall with our guns and weapons and declared that we were in charge. 20 people died that day, then we did what those so called wise men were too proud to do. We called for help, the starvation stopped the next week."

"What you did wasn't right."

"You mean preventing our people from dying of starvation? You see those bickering old men? After all their arguing, all their complaining, they still did not have a plan. But we did, so we took control. We made the negotiations that were needed to ensure that we would have someone to trade with. We sent people out to fish. We created a bureaucracy that would do it's job. We created order."

"Out of violence."

"Do you have a plan old man? A plan to keep our people fed? A plan to create a workable system of justice? To create and manage an economy? To turn this Icy hell hole into some thing worthy of our people? Because we do."

My father looked away.

"Whatever problem you have with magic, get over it now. We have exactly one tool, exactly one, to tame this land and make it liveable. The only reason we have it at all is because we made a deal for it one that was more then fair, and if you can't get over it? Then either leave or shut up, the rest of us have work to do."

He looked at me.

"We are leaving David, your shift starts now."

I shrugged and left my father behind.

"He's a um good man when you get to know him."

"This isn't a democracy."

I blinked.

"This country, maybe it will be a republic in the future but right now we need a plan right now we need order. Your father is known in the community David and he has spent 3 months complaining, constantly complaining. He's disrupting other people's work with his nonsense."

"So."

"So this was his first warning, if he keeps it up he will be fired and given a much worse job."

"Really?"

"Our policy is if you have to complain then complain, but do your damned work. If you don't we will give you something to complain about."

"It's a transition sir, in the old country."

"This isn't the old country, this is our country. Whoever he was before doesn't matter, what matters is the here and now, remember that."

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


"No."

The government official's response was short. My dad frowned.

"You won't build a new temple."

The official nodded.

"Correction, we will not use our very limited government funds and resources to build a new temple. Those resources will be spent on greenhouses, on roads, on public housing and onmaking sure that the ever growing number of refugees is fed, housed, educated and put to work creating a new nation."

He paused.

"If you wish to build a synagogue on your own time with your own money, we will not stop you."

"So a jewish nation will not help us build a jewish temple."

The official frowned.

"You do realize that this is the capital, right?"

"Which is why it needs a temple."

"No it means that, as bad as things are here, in the rest of Israel things are much much worse. Summer is going to end, and end soon, and that means that things are only going to get worse. Because that is almost 6 months of darkness and cold, and we will get more refugees to feed and take care of."

"Then a place to pray for God's aid will only help."

"Go ahead. We are not stopping you, but if you want our help it's not happening, food and shelter takes priority."

"So you're not going to help at all?"

"No."

The official wrote down more information.

"How do you sleep at night?"

"On a stone block, with a blanket over it, underground with a bunch of other government employees."

My father frowned.

"This is not a joking matter."

"You asked a question, you got an answer."

"Our request is important."

"Is it more important than making sure that our people are fed? Is it more important then making sure that the people who came here without proper winter clothing don't freeze to death? Is it more important than making sure they have shelter?"

My father frowned.

"This isn't over."

"I gathered as much. See you tomorrow same time?"

My father stormed off and the clerk looked at me.

"Long day David?"

I shrugged.

"Dug a lot of holes today, feel like resting."

"Feel free to rest around here."

"He means well."

The worker shrugged.

"You keep saying that but he's just getting in the way of important work. Speaking of which,congratulations, heard your crew just finished installing the pillars around nukk."

"It's not a big deal."

"It is, those pillars will let us control the temperature around the city, speaking of which that also means they need work crews to go further down the line."

"Sounds like hard work."

"It is, but you're a good kid, and government policy is that people who work to clear land get land."

I though about it, I got along with my coworkers and my manager was a good man.

"I'm in."

"Good, see you monday.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I went into the office late at night, I had lost a scarf and needed to retrieve it. I saw the faint blue light of the magic lights that were used here and crept closer.

"We went over your grandfather's work."

I heard a young voice, a little younger then mine.

"He was a genius."

"That he was, quite possibly the greatest magi of his generation. What happened to him?"

"Murdered by the british and their pet savages, along with my parents."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

My superior, Victor, was talking to some one.

"It was the world's loss."

His accent was off, the younger boy, as if yiddish was a second language.

"Normally I would call you out for your arrogance, but you are completely correct. This changes everything for us. It has to be done at night?"

"Sunlight messes with complex magical rituals."

"This isn't complex. If what you're saying is true you build a totem, put it in a hole and it's good to go."

"The process itself is not complex, the magic that powers it is. Each totem will require multiple magi to work on it."

"We gathered, we have tested it out. The results speak for themselves but the danger."

There was a pause.

"I have given you the keys to the kingdom, I have acted in good faith and handed over my grandfather's life's work. I was told that you would not waste it or destroy it over petty concerns. Was Merlin wrong?"

"Some of this is controversial, you have to admit."

"Will you keep your side of the bargain?"

"We will, we can't afford to let this vanish into the night. The darkness will come soon and with it over 6 months of darkness."

"You see the potential."

"Over a mile of arable land a day, mind if I do some calculations?"

"Go ahead."

"God."

I could hear audible smugness.

"This...this changes everything."

"I gathered as much."

"6 years, we could complete the terraformation process in less then 6 years."

"And all that land at a comfortable 68 degrees."

"We use Celsius here, so its 20 degrees, but this is still massive. but we both know the dangers."

"Melting permafrost, mudslides, avalanche's, teams will have to be quick and losses might happen but what was your former time table?"

"80 to a 100 years."

"I think a little risk is worth it? So the deal?"

"You would have to convert to Judaism."

"My grandfather's work is worth a mass."

"Very well, you will be given a land grant in a nexus point, space with to work in, asilum and full citizenship but we need you to be present on one of the teams."

"Very well, I can lend some of my talents to this task."

"It's good working with you Mr. Frankenstine, what should we call you?"

"Victor, after my grandfather."

"Two Victors. Feh I will just go by Vick, welcome to the team."

I stepped back and a boy walked out, he had snow white hair, pale skin and purple eyes. His hair was long and white, he looked handsome. He looked at me with haughty eyes and huffed and walked away. My palms became sweaty and my heart beat a little faster.

I got my scarf and left, this wasn't the first time this had happened, that these unnatural feelings had infected me. I would splash some cold water on my face, read some more of the torah and pray to god and hopefully they would go away or I could find the strength to put them aside again.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


We were given some time off to be with our families, I had been told by others about the first year, about the dark winter that had claimed the island, about the hunger, the starvation and the coup in Nuuk.

My father thought it was an excuse, a power grab by people with ill intentions, but I worked with people who had been here before the coup. I had heard their stories and I did notice that though the government of our new country was cold, and at times rude, it ran relatively well.

The food was more limited than back home in austria, Potatoes, fish, the occasional bit of bread, and some thing called Miso soup, but no one went hungry. Conditions could get crowded at times but I didn't see anyone who was homeless. The glowing blue Lamp posts might have been eerie but they made sure that the city had light and was relatively warm.

That, however, might be my own personal pride speaking. I had helped dig the holes and helped put them into the ground.

"HOW CAN YOU BAN COWS?!"

A government official was surrounded by rather angry people.

"Cows are an inefficient use of our very limited resources."

I decided to stay away from the crowd.

"Can't you people just magic up food?"

The official frowned.

"No. that is not how food works, magic can help make the land more fertile, it can help you grow more food and grow the food faster but it can't actually create food out of nothing. It doesn't work like that."

"But our meat."

"It takes 11 killo's of feed grain to get 1 kilo of meat from a cow, winter is here do you really want to waste our very limited grain stores on beef?"

There were frowns but the crowd went away the government worker looked at me.

"You work on the dig crews?"

I nodded.

"Get over to the main office, there's a project."

I walked over to the office and entered the large stone building that served as our headquarters, it was made out of stone, as were all the major buildings in Israel. I was told this was done for cost reasons. Having an earth magi raise up stone walls was faster and cheaper than trying to import wood from elsewhere.

"Attention."

A man with a short cropped beard got on stage, he wore a purple suit, with glowing letters of some writing system I didn't know on it.

"Gentlemen."

His voice was rough and scratchy.

"I am Izaak Blass, current leader of our fine country. Some call me a tyrant and this is true. I think we all would have preferred a different outcome but when reason fails all that is left is force."

He looked at me with tired eyes.

"I know you are all tired, some of you are scared and the food is plain.!The start of any new nation is never easy. Some of you have questioned why we would build our homeland here of all places. The long of the short of it is this. This was all that was offered to us."

He looked around.

"The other plots of land around the world have been claimed by greater and stronger powers. We lack the numbers, the resources and the weapons to claim our own land by force. So we jumped on this opportunity and it is a once in a millenium opportunity."

The man cracked his neck.

"Some say this land, this new Israel is a curse. I say that's wrong, when esther asked the king for mercy for our people we were given the right to fight back and we won. For most of our history we have never been given that chance, here In new Israel, in this tundra, we have an enemy."

He rose his hands.

"It is the ice, it is the cold, the land itself hates us. It is our enemy but we have been given the tools to fight back, the chance to win. We have a plan, a new one, that will allow us to use the lines of power that crisscross the earth and harness their power to claim what is rightfully ours. Not in a hundred years, not in a life time. In 6 years."

His hands moved over the crowd.

"This work is dangerous, some of you may die but you do this not for selfish reasons, not for coin but for the jewish people. If you wish you can leave, there are other, safer, jobs out there but if you want to defeat the enemy and win our people land from that icy hell then step forward and claim your place in history."

All of us stepped forward, there were no exceptions.

"Good, tomorrow the long night starts, tomorrow the hardest work of your lives begins. Tomorrow we create a legend."

 

[Cherico]

The Qliphoth Arts

By John Kreese 1875


The Qliphothic arts or Vanician magic is the predecessor style of magic created by the phenix people before they created the modern elemental system of magic that is taught at compass and at other schools of magic throughout the world. The Qliphothic arts, while not taught at compass, could be found hidden in various textbooks hidden in compass's massive library.

These books were discovered and the Qliphothic arts spread across the world, in some cases faster then seasonal magic. Qliphotic arts had the advantage of being quicker and easier to learn then seasonal magic, it didn't come with the mental disavantages that seasonal magic had and its benefits were more obvious.

A practitioner of seasonal magic is fundamentally limited in a sense, restrained by their magic. They feel a compulsion to keep their word, they feel a compulsion to follow society's social contract. Their moral compass becomes fixed and those who stray too far can become sick, weaken and, in extreme cases, die.

A practitioner of the Qliphotic arts retains their moral flexibility and thus their humanity. This, however, comes with a price. The Qliphotic arts require the use of foci, they lack the flexibility and power of their successor arts. So why study them?

Studying the standard seasonal path takes time. Because of it's complexity, because of it's flexibility, it is more difficult to learn and master. It can take years to become a decent magi. Qliphothic arts though can be learned in a couple months. Spells, though more limited, do not have to worry about the downfall and pain of paradox. And each path offers chances at self improvement.

In making the decision to study the Qlipothic arts, you have decided to master an ancient art older than what is taught at even the oldest magic schools, an art that predates humanity itself.

The first step requires a small amount of mana, unlike the seasonal arts you do not have to wait for a full moon, a equinox, a solstic or some other heavenly convergence. You do not need another magi to open the way for you. You don't even need a direct teacher.

All you need is a source of active mana, knowlege of the runic language, and the courage of your own purpose. This source of mana can not come from leylines unfortunately, you need processed mana. Potions, charged mana crystals and enchanted items are all potential sources of power. Further on in my book, I will teach you how to use them to unlock your power.

This first step will require you to make a bracelet, a ring or tattoo yourself. You will internalize two spells of choice from the first circle of magic and one of the second circle. The first circle spells will always be with you, the second circle one can only be used once a day, and you will not be able to cast them without a foci.

Many people decide to stop here, deciding that having a couple paltry tricks of power is enough for them. I hope you, reader, are stronger then that. Once armed with this first step you must meditate or use rituals to achieve the next level.

The next step in your path is to adopt an archtype as the ancient phenix of old did. The three archtypes use different foci and come with different advantages and disavantages, but first I will talk about the advantages that all practitioners of the old ways enjoy.

The first one is this, when you adopt the power of any archtype you are immediately improved in body and mind. You become smarter, wiser, stronger, faster and tougher. It is true this improvement is, by a massive margin, just a standard deviation. but this improvement is instant and life long. As your power grows so to will your potential, though it will be in one aspect of your potential instead of every thing all at once.

You will also heal faster and more completely when you sleep. A master of the old way gains a slight healing factor and though limbs and eyes can not be regenerated he can recover from injuries much faster. He also gains an aura of protection which, while weak, does get stronger with time. Finally all three archtypes are able to use alchemy, though on a weaker and more limited level then an elemental artist. Still, even if you can not make as many or have the variety of potions an elementalist has, you can still make them.

Now we get into the archtypes.

The first one is the scholar, this gives you the most amount of spells and the most variety of all the Qlipothic arts. It lacks some of the advantages of the other archtypes but if you're looking to maximize your mystic potential in the old way, this is it.

This archtype requires a book of shadows, a book of any size on your person that is inscribed with your spells. It recharges as you sleep. If you lose it, you will only be able to use your first circle spells until you create a new book of shadows. For all its limitations, it is the most popular of the three major archtypes.

The second one is the trickster.

This archtype can not cast as many spells, or cast them as often. But the trickster archtype improves you in other ways. You become better at linguistics, you gain a natural ability for stealth, you gain the natural ability to pick locks, to disguise yourself and to wield knives and other melee weapons.

It's foci are items that are used in gambling. Dice, cards, things like that. If your foci is lost any other form of gambling foci will work just as well. As with the scholar 1st circle spells can be cast without a foci.

The last archtype is the warrior.

The warrior has by far the least amount of spells out of all the archtypes, the least amount of varity, and it's foci is obvious.

The phenix warriors considered archery the skill of choice for their warriors and it is for this reason that those that follow this path are known as mystic archers. So why follow this path?

Because, for those who want to strengthen their mind and body, it offers the most and quickest advancement. Because, even if the vast majority of their magic are not proper spells, the ability to have your arrows shoot through armor, follow your enemy and even explode is still a worthy skill. A warrior also gains an innate ability to use their bow, to use melee weapons and skill in combat. Their aura also gains the most strength, a mystic archer is not to be underestimated.

There exists a final archtype.

One that has been purposely lost in time.This knowlege has been forbidden, all knowledge of how to obtain this archtype has been purposely destroyed by merlin. This destruction, not only his people's heritage but humanity's inheritance, is one of the factors that caused me to leave Compass. My pleas to give this knowlege were all rejected and I was even told that if I somehow found a path to this archtype that he would personally kill me and destroy my work.

What scraps of information I got about this path were all obviously biased, all talking about mortal corruption of the mind and damnation in the most primal sense. With lack of any way to find out more I have sadly given up on this last path to power instead I will teach you about the first three.


--------

1884


Dear Mr. Kreese

Your book on alternate magical study has caught my attention. It is always sad when people discard old ways in favor of new ones based on nothing more then superstition or personal biases.

I have heard that your attempts to create a school of magic based on the old ways in your native america have failed. I, like you, also respect tradition. I also fought for it and, like you, I was also ousted from power by unreasonable people.

But I think we can help each other. Japan is in need of a magical tradition of our own and if the american people decide to callously abandon this offered gift then we, the japanese people, will gladly partake of it's teachings and it's advantages.

Please write to me if you wish to take me up on the offer.

Fukuchi Gen'ichiro

---

Dear Fukuchi Gen'ichiro

I will gladly bring my knowlege, my research to the people of japan. I am honored that someone finally sees the value of my life's work and I will work tirelessly to teach the japanese people every thing I know. That said I do know that some previous instructors from the western world have acted shamefully. They have acted with great amounts of bigotry towards their students. I assure you that I will not act like that and will show proper respect to all of my students, the people of japan and it's culture

I will gather my things shortly and will meet you as soon as possible

John Kreese

----------------

The golden age of magic.


While seasonal magic remained the domain of the nobility and those wealthy enough to go to america and come back in Europe, other forms of magic did exist. Forms that required less dedicated study and resources.

The Qlipothic arts, vanicant magic, low magic coming in three basic forms and based on archtypes rather then seasons. This magic was less powerful, less varied but was more accessible.

The first order of the low arts, the path of the scholar, gained other names. Shadow mage, bookers, pseudo mage, faker. Reliant on a book of shadows this form of magic was used by the working class magi on the margins of society. These magi would create potions, minor magical artifacts and use their magic for their fellow working class citizens.

These magi existed on the margins of polite society, tolerated but looked down upon as pretenders, which often gave these magi a bit of an inferiority complex. This form of magic was really only embraced by the japanese empire, who liked the idea of a quick and dirty style of magic that was more controlable then elemental magic.

The second order, the trickster archtype also known as the gypsy magi, huckster, charlatan and other less then flattering names, was rare outside of europe and wasembraced by the romani people. Due to the lack of resources it required, and ease of use, it came to define romani culture.

The russian empire, normally against magic, decided that it was ok for already damned souls to practice magic, and invited the Romani people into the empire to act as their resident magic caste.

A few Romani did abuse their new abilities, a few did go into thieving or held communities hostage but for the most part most of them tinkered, used magic for entertainment, delivered mail or created potions. With this new source of wealth the amount of crime committed by romani fell but the reporting of it went up. Many were asked to leave their former routes and homes and accepted russia's offer.

Their actions as mercenary war bands would help russia keep the ottoman empire's assaults back and they would eventally become a useful part of the empire. As this happened their numbers went up through natural growth and the move of other romani bands into the russian empire. This way of life would come to a tragic end years later.

Outside of europe in north america hucksters would ply their trade on river boats, the japanese yakuza would embrace the new art but it would remain relatively obscure.

Finally the last archtype, the warrior, had the least amount of magical power. Mystic archery found its use amongst gameskeepers, hunters and archery clubs, with a few finding use in the military.

In the americas a new path was found to replace the bow with the revolver creating the gunslinger style. In Europe they would figure out how to evolve the path using bolt action rifles, creating the mystic sniper. The two styles would gain far more fame and prominence in litterature than existed in real life.

The warrior archtype was in truth the most obscure. The low arts enjoyed some amount of if not acceptance then tolerance from european society. This, however, would come to a firm end after World War Two, with the arts becoming shunned as evil and despicable

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I took a nap after the speech, my work place was a little warmer then my stone house, and dad was holding some kind of meeting, a political one that I just didn't want any part of.

I had a good job, I was doing important work and I just wasn't interested in messing it up. Young guys like me who could dig? We were everywhere. Dad didn't understand how important this job was to me and I didn't understand why he was so interested in politics, Why he wanted to push things. Life was hard here, I understood that, but things were also better in some ways.

"Why are you here it's late?"

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes, I was in one of the higher rooms that rarely got used.

"New developments, time tables been pushed up."

"How?"

"Made a deal with the Yankees."

"We have been making a lot of those."

I heard a sigh.

"I know Vick, but Denmark was able to get Russia to sanction our economy and that spread. Officially the United states is, as of now, our only trading partner."

"Damn."

"I know. The americans want basing rights for their Navy, Army and Airforce. One hundred year leases on several ports."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious. We don't have any money, we barely have any resources to trade and despite all of our efforts we're limping along when it comes to food. And there is exactly one country willing to play ball with us."

"The british won't like this. Can't we at least try to be neutral?"

"That isn't in the cards Vick, when we took this deal from the american's it meant cozying up with them. That means that America's enemies are our enemies for the foreseeable future."

"I hope you got some thing out of this at least zack."

"You better believe it, the old bird has a prototype he wants to test out. It changes everything."

I heard a pause.

"Wow....and this is possible?"

"It is, the americans are also lending us some of their old pelicans."

"The airships?"

"The same, we need to claim all the leylines in our country for this to work."

"How long?"

"Don't know. Our original plans were all based around the idea that we would be forced to lug everything by land. If we hurry, we can enact this upgraded plan much sooner then we thought."

"Then what?"

"Then we build, and bring up our number's. Right now the Danes are afraid of the americans, right now their navy is sunk and destroyed, but that fear will fade with time, and their navy will be rebuilt. When that happens we have to be ready and prepared."

"Please tell me you're not considering?"

"I am, it's the quickest and fastest way to increase our numbers and you know it, but I want to see if this works first, if the boy's boasts about his grandfathers work has merit."

"We did tests."

"And if this all works out, he will be given free reign to continue his grandfather's work, somewhere out of sight. That said we need someone reliable to keep him alive."

"Know just the person. David I Levi, 15 years old."

"A year older then Frankenstine, so a peer and....Levi I reconize that name, is his father Aberham Levi?"

I heard a sighing sound.

"Yes."

"You do realize that his father is a direct pain in my tuckas?"

"He's a man of god Zack, show some respect."

There was a pause.

"Respect is earned, and I would like to remind you how those men of god almost got us all killed."

"His son's a good kid, one of my hardest workers. I trust him."

"Ugh, he can be trusted?"

"Yeah, David's a good kid."

"All right, we will give him an official promotion, make him an assistant, give him a bigger land grant and some more money."

"Isn't our money worthless?"

"We sent out some spring magi and found a silver deposit it's not a rich vein but it allows our currency to have some worth."

"How rich?"

"The mine's mostly zinc, iron and some lead but there is just enough silver to improve things a little bit."

"That takes magi we don't have."

"Heh good news on that front, the americans are allowing us to use their accelerated training programs, fully capable compass magi within three months."

"How many?"

"300 students each month, about a fourth of the program's capability. I've also convinced some parents to send their kids there, so some progress on that front."

"Good oh and...there are rumors going on that there's going to be a protest."

"So?"

"So that looks bad."

"If they want to protest, they can protest, as long as they're not harming any one, destroying anything or getting in the way of our biggest project, it's not a problem."

"You're sure about that, Zack?"

"Let me tell you the complaints, it's too cold, it's too dark, the rations are boring, the hours are too long, there isn't enough stuff to buy, pay for this, pay for that.It's going to be a long list of demands, using money we don't have."

"It could still be trouble."

"Vick, I'm not killing innocent people because they want to complain."

"That's a surprise, didn't we."

"We did that out of desperation, because we didn't have a choice. You think I liked massacring those people? I didn't."

"You regret it?"

"Of course, maybe there was a better way, maybe I was too stupid to think of it, but now I'm responsible and if I'm responsible then I want to make sure that I give our children something worth having."

"I'm sorry. I."

"It's ok Vick, we all have our feelings about what happened. well, goodbye, I have a country to run."

"Get some sleep for me Zack."

"Wish I could, Vick, wish I could."

The conversation ended and I stared at the ceiling. That boy, I would be around him. How could I deal with that? With those feelings, those horrible sinful feelings?

I didn't know.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I walked through the dark city streets with my manager.

"You're getting a promotion."

I faked surprise.

"Oh. um, thanks."

My boss sighed.

"It's not going to be an easy job. Officially you're going to be an assistant."

"And?"

"Unofficially the person you're assisting is smart, capable. But his personality leaves much to be desired. Your job is to make sure that your fellow workers do not strangle him, that he doesn't cause any unnecessary drama that gets him killed."

"That bad?"

My manager sighed again.

"Worse, he's a smuck. A smart smuck, but a smuck all the same. We need him alive for the sake of our country but we don't trust him around people. You understand, yes?"

"I do, sir."

"Good, you will be paid 1 sheckle a day. Not promissory notes, actual silver."

I grimaced.

"That bad?"

He looked at me.

"Worse."

We stood in front of a simple stone house and my manager knocked on the door. The beautiful boy from earlier opened it. I worked hard to avoid staring at him.

"Ugh, so this is him?"

"David's a good jewish boy."

"I suppose I have to work with what I'm given. Come inside."

My manager frowned.

"I, um, have some things to do."

The boy rolled his eyes and I walked inside.

"Take off your shoes."

I froze.

"What?"

"I will not have you dragging dirt into this hovel."

"Hovel."

"I refuse to call this place a home. Castle Frankenstine, that was a home before the damned savages ruined everything."

I took off my boots and noticed that the place was much nicer than the apartment I lived in. Nicer than the apartment my manager lived in.

"I had to build this derelic building on short notice. Hopefully, as soon as we finish our work, I can get land on a proper nexus so I can build some thing worthy of my family name."

"I wish you luck with that, sir."

He tossed his long flowing white hair with frustration.

"David."

I stopped.

"Do you have any idea how many Davids there are in this blasted country? To the right of me is a David, to the left of me there is a David. No I will not call you David. I demand that you change your name."

"What?"

"Your name, change it."

I frowned.

"You do realise you're the second Victor in our organization right?"

The boy frowned.

"Very well, you may call me Frank. It's a plebeian name but it will have to do. now you change your name."

I felt a little off balance, the beauty before me contrasted with his demanding nature.

"I guess I can go by my middle name?"

"And that would be?"

"Igor?"

Another sigh of exasperation.

"It will have to do, I am doctor Victor Frankenstine, of the Frankenstine lignage."

"You're a doctor? What school did you graduate?"

"None. Well Compass, of course, but my grandfather had a PHD. He was killed ,therefore the title of doctor was passed down to my father who was also killed, therefore I am now Doctor Victor Frankenstine by right of blood."

I stared at him.

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Piss posh, I say it is so therefore it is."

He stepped on the wall and then walked towards the ceiling I followed him on the ground.

"There is nothing good here, I asked for some coffee and the government insists that it go to common folk first."

"Really?"

"Leaders eat last. Madness, just madness. Magi here willingly go without bread so that the ungrateful masses can have some more. What's the point of being in charge if there are no perks?"

"I don't know sir."

"Precisely, and why are you staring at me?"

I froze, I tried to think of something to say. The obvious was that he was walking on the ceiling. I opened my mouth.

"You're beautiful."

My eyes widened in horror as my mouth betrayed me. I felt a sense of fear and terror. Did I betray my dirty disgusting hidden nature? My young boss rolled his eyes.

"Of course I'm beautiful. I was designed to be beautiful."

He preened.

"That you think so proves that you are not the complete lunkhead I took you for."

"Thank you, sir."

He jumped off the ceiling and onto the floor in front of me.

"Ugh even if you are not a fool I wish you were not so short. And you make it worse with your slouching, it makes you look like a hunchback."

"I'm a foot taller then you."

"What did you say?"

"I can't hear you from there sir, please speak up."

"Wish granted, plebeian. If there is one thing I enjoy in this blasted place, it is the sound of my glorious voice."

"I gathered that sir."

I felt a sense of dread for the future and tried to think about the money I would be making instead.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Cold, and dark. Our team moved slowly to the airship, carrying a large totem behind us on a sled. We moved the totem into it and then took positions around it. The chairs were uncomfortable and made out of wood. Our team was made out of 5 people.

Myself, Frank, Zev, Schlomo, and Mendal. Frank and I were the youngest members of the team at 15 and 14 respectively, Zev and Schlomo were older in their 20s, Mendal was the oldest of the five of us. He was big, strong and had slightly greying hair.

Frank got up.

"Well, as an actual magi, I am of course in charge of this expedition. I trust that all of you will follow my advice and."

Mendal opened a letter.

"Excuse me, your leader is talking."

Mendal put on some glasses.

"Dear Mendal, due to the danger of this venture you are in charge of your team. Victor Frankenstine will no doubt try to claim that he is in charge of the team. Due to his lack of relevant experience, and temperament, this is not the case.

Failing this, he will no doubt try to claim position as second in command. This is also not the case. In fact the only person on his team that he is allowed to give commands to, is David Levi, and any commands given by any one else will countermand those commands.

It is likely that young Victor will try to claim at some point that he has been promoted and is now in charge of your team. If I haven't told your entire team about this in person then he is lying. If he does try this stunt, please dock his pay.

From your Superior, Big Vick."

Mendal passed the letter around the team. They looked at the letter and nodded, Frank, I had to think of him as Frank, made a slight choking sound, his face turned red and he sputtered. A sick part of my mind noted that he was actually cute when he was angry.

"Kid, this job is bigger then you, it is bigger then me. All of us need to put aside our personal bullshit and concentrate on the task at hand, understood?"

Frank took in a breath and sighed.

"Understood Mr. Mendal."

"Its just Mendal, all we need to do is dig a hole, put the big stone things into the hole activate the big stone things and then run like hell. Then dig another hole and repeat. Understood people?"

We all nodded, a bell rang and the doors opened. We put on our heavy winter clothing and went out into the biting cold. Mendal looked at a map. He was still wearing his glasses, it was then I noticed the sickly glowing green dots on them.

"This is the first spot."

We brought out our shovels and started to dig. I expected Frank to start whining about how difficult the work was or how he was above it. To my surprise he dug without complaint. Then we dragged one of the stone pillars off of the ship.

"I can make this easier, use the snow to get it into the hole."

All of us stared at Frank. None of us expected him to actually be useful, we stepped aside and he moved his hands. The snow carried the totem to the hole, it rose up and we heard a ploping sound as it went into the hole. With that done, Frank started to do something with the totem. It started to glow.

"Boy?"

"This is the first one in the line, it won't cause any problems, the other ones will."

We turned around and watched as the pelican rose into the air, having unloaded our other pillars near where we needed to put them. There were yet other men, other teams, in the airship.

"Come on boys let's start walking."

We moved in silence.

"Light."

Frank grumbled and pulled out a small rod. Blue light glowed and we huddled close to Frank, close to the light, as we marched in the darkness. A part of me was worried that I was too close to him. I made a point of looking away from him, trying to ignore his face.

Soon we found another pillar, we brought out our shovels and dug another hole. Frank helped put it into the hole and then looked at us.

"We need to get moving now."

We walked forward briskly and then the sky was lit up in bright blue light. I couldn't help myself, I looked behind at the endless expanse of blue.

"Leyline storm."

We turned to stare at Frank.

"Normally it doesn't happen but, when a line has been purified, when you use this kind of power, it can happen. I only saw it in compass."

"If we had been in there?"

Zev was the one who spoke.

"We would all be dead, you don't want to be in there, not until the land has had a chance to settle down."

"Stop lollygagging, we have work to do."

We nodded and walked in silence, with a new respect for the invisible lines of power that dominated our lives.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


We continued to move through the darkness in silence until Mendel raised his hand.

"We camp for the night. Magi, raise shelter out of the ice."

"Ok I can get something fancy and."

"Basic shelter, make an igloo."

"And you know about those how?"

"I was given a primer boy, I can read."

He grumbled and two igloos were raised, I had never seen a building made out of ice.

"Smaller one is mine."

Mendel shrugged and I walked towards the bigger igloo.

"What are you doing Igor?"

I froze.

"What?"

"You're going to sleep with me."

I felt a sense of confusion, dread, and arousal.

"I, um, is that a good idea, sir?"

He put his hands on his waist.

"You belong to me, therefor you will sleep with me like a good pet."

The tone of his voice was arrogant, and a part of me felt insulted. the arousal, though, refused to go away.

"Um, if that's what you want I guess it's all right."

I went into the smaller igloo with Frank and crept up to the far side of it.

"What are you doing?"

"It's cold."

"I know it's cold, thats why we are going to cuddle together."

I grimaced.

"Is that a good idea?"

"It's cold, we need body heat."

"Um...yeah. Makes complete sense to me."

"Of course it does. I'm a genius, every thing I say makes sense."

I crept closer to him and he put his arms around me, I smiled as the top of his head went just below my chin. I could smell his hair, it smelled earthy like fresh grass. Then he started snoring, I put my arms around him and held him close.

It wasn't right, I knew that. These feelings I mean, but I felt at peace. I went to sleep instantly. When I woke up I felt refreshed, a quick meal was made out of some potatoes and the chunks made to create miso soup. Someone had brought a pot that cooked by itself with magic. We all had a small bowl and went back to work.

This process repeated itself, get up, dig, put object in hole, walk away dig, sleep and do it again. It was cold, we were tired and irritable, but we kept walking, kept digging.

"End of the line."

We froze as we watched the leyline storm behind us.

"What?"

Mendal's word cut through the eternal night.

"End of the line."

He sat down and brought out a mirror.

"It's done."

He continued talking and then nodded.

"Pick up will be in a day. Igloos."

Frank frowned but 2 igloos were created. Armed with free time I went into the igloo with him.

"Boring."

"This is important, isn't it?"

Frank shrugged.

"Of course it's important, it's probally the most important thing either of us will ever work on in our entire lives. But that doesn't mean its not boring."

"We get the sabath off though?"

"Do you remember having a break?"

I stopped.

"No?"

"Officially the rabbis give this whole mission sanction, because its god's work. Well the ones who play nice with the government at least. Others say it's bad and your people argue a lot."

I shrugged.

"We're good at it."

"Why?"

"Because people are always trying to take our stuff, cheat us and make our lives difficult. And for most of our history, if we tried fighting back they would kill us and potentially our families too. So our words were our only weapons. If you couldn't argue, and argue well, it could mean your death."

Frank sighed.

"Well that explains why you would move to a frozen wasteland doesn't it?"

I shrugged, there was no use denying it.

"Heard more people were moving here."

I nodded.

"Yes."

"Good, more people working on this means we can get this nonsense finished as quickly as possible."

"I thought you said this was important."

"Just because something is important and vital doesn't mean its not nonsense Igor."

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


"I have some bad news."

Big Vick, as we had taken to calling him, sat me down.

"How bad?"

"There was a riot."

I frowned and sighed.

"Was my father a part of it?"

"The riot itself no, the protest that led to the riot yes."

"How bad?"

"Anti magical protest, they destroyed some of the heat lamps around the city. The results were not good."

"How bad?"

"200 people dead from the cold. They also destroyed some of our food stores and, since the number of refugees went up."

"Was it quick.?"

Big Vick blinked.

"My father's death."

Vick sighed.

"We hung the rioters, but the people who led the protest but didn't participate were not killed. Your father was exiled to Compass with a three year teaching contract."

I blinked.

"He's alive?"

"You're a good kid David, I used what pull I had to keep him from sewer duty or some thing that would kill him. I'm hoping 3 years there will forcibly adjust his attitude. Of course there's the chance he will stay."

I nodded.

"Thank you."

"It's not all bad. We get food for each teaching contract we fullfill."

I looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, when he was negotating the first teaching contracts Zack, um our leader, asked if the teachers would be fed. The old bird said he would give them a ton of food, So Zack demands that ton up front."

I smiled weakly.

"Really?"

"The old bird tells him that he didn't mean it litterally but Zack accuses him of breaking his promises so the old bird says he has a back log of miso paste."

"The soup?"

"Yeah apparently its a japanese dish made out of some plant called soy or some thing. So Zack says he wants it in Metric tons because it's more."

I laughed.

"Pissed off the old bird but he did it and said that as soon as we had a decent amount of arable land that the deal was off. Right now we're arguing what constitutes a decent amount of arable land."

"So my dad's alive?"

"Yeah, not happy but alive. Compass is a good place, he will be fine there."

"Thanks. So, where can I get some bread?"

"No bread, we have berry's jam, potatoes and miso soup."

I sighed.

"The wheat stores got destroyed during the riot, right?"

My manager shrugged.

"Sorry, the good news is that we're starting to grow stuff on the line outside the city. People are starting to spread out a bit and it's helping, but things are still tense and the space won't last for long."

"Why?"

"Rumors of another riot somewhere in Austria, the refugees are already starting to pour in."

"Things just keep getting worse."

"Price of being one of gods chosen people."

I stared at my boss.

"Do you ever wish he would choose someone else for a change?"

"Every day kid, every day."

 

[Cherico]

David Levi

Six months of darkness, walking and digging. I missed my father but I was honestly happy he was gone. I don't think the constant darkness would be good for him and maybe teaching at a school of magic would help mellow him out. At the very least he would return home with money as it was a paid position.

That meant he could get another house or work out a deal to get some land.At the very least though it meant he wouldn't keep getting himself into trouble. I was one of my father's younger children and he wasn't a young man any more. I worried about him.

"Well first part of the job is officially over people."

Our Superior smiled at us.

"We have other jobs but right now we're going to help people settle the green line just outside the city. Those of you who have worked on this, if you want you can cash out and get 20 acres of land."

He paused.

"I wouldn't judge you for that, we lost men good men out there in the wastes. The government will give you your reward, take you to your grant and that will be that."

A few of the men stepped forward but I remained behind as did others.

"The rest of you know the drill. Do another shift in the darkness, get another 20 acres of land. If we're right, and this only lasts three years, that's 60 acres, that's enough for a sizeable farm."

I looked up.

"I'm here till the end of the job sir."

"Good boy, David. Well, you have all earned it, collect your pay and take a day off. David, we need to talk."

The other workers left and I went up to him.

"Sir?"

"The boy....watch him."

"So my job isn't over?"

"Your job is to keep him from getting himself killed when he runs his mouth so no. Not only is it not over but it's going to get a lot more difficult, especially since our population basically doubled over the winter."

"How?"

"We negotiated and got a few prize ships and then went asking around for any of our people who wanted an out. Quite a few did."

"Good men?"

"Some of them, a lot of them were peddlers, or homeless. Men already outnumbered women here quite a bit, this makes the ratio even worse."

"You think they will leave?"

"Some but we had plans for this."

"How many plans do you guys have?"

My boss shrugged.

"A lot, just keep Frank from doing anything stupid."

With that done I left. I searched Nukk for Frank and found him rubbing his head.

"What happened?"

He pointed at a building.

"Tried to go into a bar and get myself a drink but apparently I'm not wanted there because I'm too young."

I sighed and looked at the burly man at the door.

"No way for us to get in?"

He looked at us.

"Men only, maybe in a few years and even then we only accept hard men here, men's men."

"Our job is to dig holes in complete darkness and we just finished six months of that, my superior here wants a drink? Can we please get one so he will stop whining?"

Frank made a huffing sound and turned his head, I was silently grateful for my thick winter pants that hid pretty much every thing. The door man looked me in the eye, and smirked.

"You, you I like. Maybe in a few years you will belong here, but not yet and as for the mageling he ain't our kind."

Frank glared at him.

"There are other bars Frank."

"Fine, whatever, you will all rue the day you crossed Doctor Frankenstine."

He waved his fist and we walked away, we passed the bar's sign and I stared at it. A rainbow was over the name of the bar.

"The gay bar."

I shrugged, every one needed some gayty in their lives I suppose.

"IGOR, WE ARE LEAVING!"

"Yes Master."

I may have let a little bit of starcasm out when I said those words. I walked behind Frank as he ranted.

"And stop slouching."

I sighed and tried to tune him out, concentrating on his rear end as we walked through the city streets. I may have hated his personality but the view made the whole mess tolerable.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


"I'm bored."

He was whining.

"Really bored."

That's what Frank did. He whined. A lot.

"Then do some work."

"Already finished all my assigned duties."

"Grow some plants."

"Waiting for them to grow."

"Make a potion or something."

Frank sighed.

"Waiting for the reagents to finish growing."

He sighed on his wooden chair.

"Wrote a letter today."

I continued to sweep the floor.

"Yes?"

"My property in america, castle frankenstine, has been recovered."

"Thinking about going home?"

He sighed.

"The savages pretty much ruined every thing. The castle's still there but pretty much all of our stuff was destroyed."

"So? Thinking about going back to america?"

"Cant...um, for reasons."

I decided not to dig into it and let Frank continue to stew in his own emotional issues.

"You should learn magic."

I stopped.

"What?"

"Obviously not enough to give you delusions of grandeur but enough to actually be useful to me."

A chance to learn magic. Father wouldn't approve but father wasn't here and wouldn't be back for years. By the time he was back I would have my own land, my own place.

"I'm not saying no."

"I read up on something while I was at compass a defunct older magic some thing called magic archery, I have a couple books about it."

"Magic archery?"

"Yes, before the phenix created seasonal magic? They had magic before that, it's a more primitive style so that's why they all switched to modern magic."

I stared at him.

"Every single one switched to seasonal magic?"

"Yes the entire specie."

"Why would they do that?"

Frank scoffed.

"Obviously because seasonal magic is better Igor."

I closed my eyes deep in thought.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Why?"

"Because, even if some thing is obviously better, some people would still prefer the old way of doing things, out of tradition or prefering what they have always known or just to be different. People don't just throw things away just because."

"Why not?"

"Guns are better then bows in pretty much every way and yet you still see archery contests. Same thought process."

"The phenix are not human beings they were probably more logical than us."

I could barely read english, I needed a yiddish to english dictionary to read anything, but I was puzzling out one of Frank's books in my spare time and I somehow doubted that a people who fought a hundred plus year war over math were more logical then humans.

"If you say so."

"So you want to learn or not."

The land I lived in was a lot harsher than back home, a little magic could mean the difference between life and death.

"I'm in."

"Good."

Frank left the room and came back with a glowing crystal and some chalk.

"Sit down."

I sat down in front of him.

"So this magic is more limited than what I use obviously."

"I gathered."

"So you can only use so many spells, I have managed to translate some of my genius. One book holds a group of first circle spells, cantrips really. The second holds a list of second circle spells."

He paused.

"You can only use two first circles and one second circle to start."

I looked through the book and through the list of spells.

"Cleanse."

"Really, you choose a cleaning cantrip?"

"What do you normally have me do around here?"

Frank sighed.

"Fine, a cleaning spell."

"Repair, and heal wounds."

"No."

Frank looked upset.

"This is magic, I demand that you get at least one spell that's impressive."

"Repair allows you to fix damaged objects, and we have dangerous job."

Frank was whining again.

"Fine, cleanse, and shocking grasp."

There was probably some use for being able to cover your hand with lightning.

"Good. And you're keeping cure wounds, I mean it only heals minor wounds and you can only use it once a day."

"I can live with that, and I'd rather have the healing, just in case."

"Ugh too practical but fine."

I was invited to step into the circle, frank brought out some wood and carved some symbols into them.

"Wish I had something more advanced."

He drilled holes into the side of the small chunks of wood and put string through the two holes making a bracelet.

"I'm going to put this on."

He got closer to me and my heart skipped a beat as I looked into his purple eyes, as the smell of dirt and life waffed into my nose.

"There, it's on."

I looked away from those eyes, he put a glowing crystal into my hands.

"Focus on the crystal, try to draw power from it."

"Fine, whatever."

I closed my eyes and tried to think about drawing power, I felt a jolt, like lighting was in my veins, my eyes opened in shock but I just saw white, white and glowing symbols. I sensed meaning, power and.

"And now you have magic."

I flexed my hand and watched as lighting zapped between my fingers.

"Nice."

I got up and pointed at some dirt.

"Cleanse."

The dirt vanished.

"So now what?"

I looked at Frank.

"I still have a house to clean."

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I focused on the bow.

"Why is this harder?"

"Because it is?"

I looked at frank.

"That isn't answering my question, the first part only took me an hour."

Frank shrugged.

"That's because your foci is handling all the hard work, now you're trying to organize your essence, to connect your soul to the concept of a warrior, that's a little bit harder."

I closed my eyes.

"Feel the essence of the bow, what does the bow mean? Feel it as a concept, as a state of being."

I took a deep breath, I tried to think about what it meant to be a warrior, tried to connect to the concept of a warrior. I had been at this for weeks and I felt frustrated. A part of me just wanted to smash things in frustration, but I restrained that feeling because.

I felt something click, being a warrior was it about violence for violence's sake or was it controlled violence. The ability to keep your weapons sheathed until the moment when you have to strike?

I felt a connection as I figured it out, felt power, I felt skills flow into me, I understood things on some level that was soul deep.

"I know."

"Got it?"

"I'm ready."

We went into another room and I strung up the bow, understanding how to use it. I had never actually used one before but now I knew how. I took one of the arrows and knoked the bow I drew it back and watched the arrow hit dead center.

"Do it again."

I hit a different target in the center.

"Again."

Another target was hit, Frank stared at me.

"I didn't think it would actually work."

He muttered it under his breath.

"What was that?"

"My glorious Genius is once again proven to be correct Igor, so how do you feel?"

Feel? Stronger, faster, I could move around more easily, I even felt a little stronger. Each change was in and of itself minor but this was all at once.

"Great! so I can learn more spells now?"

Frank made a slight hissing sound.

"Frank?"

"Um yeah...you only have three of those."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"The only art that gives more spells at the start is the scholar archtype."

I paused and tried to think about it.

"How many spells can I learn?"

"Well if you truly master it? Three first circle spells, one second level spell, and after that you're able to enchant arrows."

"Enchant?"

"Yes, a master can learn up to six enchantments, but from what I can tell three to five enchantments are normal, the good thing is that it's less limited than the spells the others learn."

I thought about it.

"Ten spells in total."

"And some alchemy. You can make healing potions."

"And?"

"That's pretty much it, you don't really have any spells that can be used for anything. oh, try using shocking grasp and combine it with your arrows."

I closed my eyes and tried to invest my power into the arrow. I charged it up and released the bow, the arrow struck and I saw lighting cover the target.

"Excellent."

The target started to burn.

"Um quick question Frank, do you have any water to put out the fire?"

We looked at each other in horror and then stomped out the fire as quickly as we could. We looked at the scorch marks on the stone floor. Frank shrugged.

"Maybe we should do this outside?"

I nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea to me."
​

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I watched as Frank worked on some thing, he wore dark glasses, thick gloves and had a mask over the lower half of his face.

"I got you the sand."

"Good."

That had been my job, find sand, the frigid sea shore had some, my job was to go get buckets of it and bring it here.

"Not ideal quality."

I frowned, it was sand.

"Isn't sand just sand?"

"Hmm, not for this purpose."

He put a comb over the sand studying it, then he poured the sand into a box, he carefully used a shovel and I watched as it seemingly scooped up the sand into it. He put the sand into another box. Then he stopped.

"The rest of this is useless, throw it away."

"Where?"

"I don't care as long as it's not inside the house."

I didn't bother complaining, I just did as I was told and tossed the sand into the back yard. I used my magic to clean up any dirt that fell on the ground. Then I went back to the lab. There I found Frank pouring the sand into a metal box.

"What are you doing?"

"Making glass. This would be easier if we had wood, charcoal, or even coal. The line here is being tapped by pretty much everyone and everything."

"And that's?"

"Bad, the more people, the more things using a line the harder it is to do anything big."

"Really?"

"In order to really live up to the potential of your magic you need to stand alone. That's why so many of us leave compass, leave zone. If you want to build something grand. If you want to live up to some ambition you have to stand alone, ideally on a leyline nexus."

I sat down.

"Is that why you left?"

He looked away.

"I left for other reasons."

He watched the box and I watched Frank's hands move.

"I didn't know you could make glass."

"Everyone who graduates compass learns how to make glass, learns how to work a forge, learns how to make pottery. Magic is creation, it's building, it's making, it's, you don't understand."

He said it with some amount of sadness.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought if I taught you something you would understand, that you would get it. The drive, the ambition but you still don't understand, you still don't get it."

He brought out the box and shaped the glass with metal tongs. It reminded me of theconductor telling the orchestra what to do, before they kicked me out of there for being a jew of course.

"Then explain it?"

"How long does it take to become a magi, a proper compass trained one?"

I shrugged.

"18 years, compass teaches you how to do it in 3."

"That's amazing."

"Not really. Time, your perception of it, changes, you don't age 18 years but you experience it. Officially I'm 15 years old now but there is another 18 years of information of time stuck in my head."

I shrugged.

"So?"

"That changes you. Let's say you're 6 years old when you come in, so you're 9 when your education is finished. But are you really 9 years old, with those 18 years of information burned into your soul?"

I stared at him.

"So why are you not more mature?"

Frank glared at me and sighed.

"My parents couldn't use magic, it's...it's like every bit of the spark they had was used up making them what they were. I could and Grandpa was happy. I learned under him."

"You loved him?"

"More than anything. He came to america with nothing, his life was this destroyed mess. He went to compass and it made him strong and he could have stayed there, with people who understood."

"But he couldn't?"

"Compass...those 18 years, people come out of it two ways. You either have your rough spots worn off and worn down or you come out of it with a burning ambition and you can't full fill it. You can't do those great things, make those beautiful mad dreams come true, unless you stand alone."

He paused.

"America's full of them, castles and wonders in the middle of nowhere, spiring towers, attempts to recreate past glories, attempts to create something new. The frontier is the only place where you can do that."

His face became thoughtful.

"But it has a price. It's dangerous, there are savages out to destroy you, you have people who are jealous and just want to tear you down, and no one understands. No one gets how hard you worked to get your knowlege, no one understands your passon. No one understands why you have to create these monuments, why you have to do this. It's lonely on the frontier, you stand alone."

I shrugged.

"I think I'm missing something."

"Leave and be alone in your greatness? Or stay among people who understand you and live smaller dreams. That's the price of staying in the zone, mediocrity, a life of silent desperation."

"Should I play a violin for you sir?"

"Maybe later."

My comment went over his head as he continued to shape the glass.

"What is magic?"

The glass became more intricate controled.

"Inheritance."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Once upon a time there was a people the phenix, they had a chance to be great instead they chose mediocrity. They were destroyed and only a small sliver of their culture of who they were came here to earth."

He paused.

"Magic is humanity's inheritance, like a gift from a relative you didn't know you had. Every thing the phenix had, every thing they were, is now ours. We are, for better or worse, their successors now."

I frowned.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Why would it be a bad thing?"

"It means that humanity isn't forging its own path, we're not our own people anymore. Our accomplishments are no longer purely our own."

"Self made men do not exist."

I blinked, those words didn't make sense, not coming out of Frank's arrogant mouth.

"Aren't you all about how great you are?"

"I am, but I come from a lineage of great men, a line of greatness going back to my grandfather, to the ancient magi of the phenix, to a dead world in the inky blackness of the stars."

He looked at me and smiled sadly.

"I have a duty to be great, to be grand, to create something to pass down to my children. So they can in turn create grand and great things."

He smiled at the finished globe and flicked his finger, a glowing blue star of david was at the center.

"Well another street light finished."

He put it in a box.

"So that's your goal?"

"The world should be filled with wonder Igor, anything less is unworthy of us."

 

[Cherico]

Order of Saint patrick


Not to be confused with the british created order of saint patrick, the order of Saint patrick was created in 1790 after a ten year investigation of Compass academy. The investigation showed that yes magic was real, no it wasn't from the devil and was instead based on natural law of a sort.

The catholic church decided that magic, Compass, and Merlin were here to stay and that the best thing to do was to find some way to find an accommodation with Merlin and Compass.

This proved to be easy. Merlin wanted his catholic students to be able to worship in peace and opened up talks to create a relgious college where priests could be trained. It is true he made this offer to other religious organisations but the catholic church and some members of New York's jewish community were the first ones to take him up on the offer.

The catholic church asked for some special considerations, such as being able to pick the season of their magi priests and observors. Merlin agreed to this in exchange for sending him teachers proficient in matters where he was lacking and for spreading the word of Germ theory.

Of which he had copious notes and was willing to give the church microscopes and the schematics to make such to the church so that they could more effectively fight disease.

An accord was made but where to test out these soccer priest? Since the man in charge of theCompass operation was an Irish man named Father Kelly, it was decided that Ireland would be the test ground. He was also able to name the new religious order the Order of saint Patrick.

It is unknown if he knew about the pre existing british created order but the catholic one would push it aside in the public imagination. The new Magi priests were trained in the winter season to better fight disease and their efforts and microscopes bore fruit.

The number of Irish catholics who died of preventable diseases went down drastically, by the 1810s Irish catholics had a much lower infant mortality rate, child mortality rate, and adult mortality rate then their protestants neighbors in both Ireland and Great britain.

The fact that the british empire would continue to insist on Miasma theory being true into the 1860s meant that many Irish believed in germ theory just to spite their colonial oppressors.

The order of saint patrick proved to be a success in Ireland, using magic to bless crops, using magic to fight diseases, heal wounds, and other practical uses of magic endeared the church to the population and helped solidify it's hold over the island.

By 1845 Ireland had 10.5 million people, this number would be greatly reduced by the future tragic events.

 

[Cherico]

William Thomas Graves, 3rd Baron Graves (1804–1870)


The great famine or the potato famine as it is known in the outside world can trace itself to the actions of one man. William Thomas Graves the third baron of his line.

When potato blight was noticed in america in 1842 the american government, with great trepidation, ordered a complete export ban on all american potatoes until the crisis had been offically dealt with.

The young country, worried about its reputation, put out official warnings in every paper in europe, their officials searched ships to make sure that the blighted potatoes would not spread.

The world community honored this warning, through quick action potato blights in france,belgium, the netherlands and southern england were avoided. this happened at great cost.Unfortunately, where most people saw potential tragedy, William Graves saw oportunity.

He thought that his lands in Ireland would be more profitable if he removed his tenants and replaced them with sheep. So through some friends in canada he smuggled blighted potato's into his land.

The blight did force his tenants off his land but it also spread through out Ireland like wildfire causing one of the largest famines in Irish history and killing 1.5 million people. As the Famine ravaged through Ireland one of his servants found Grave's personal notes about his actions and leaked his diary to the press.

Graves was brought before the court in 1850 for his actions, his actions were at this point well known and Graves decided not to contest that he brought the blight to Ireland and instead insisted that as a property owner he had the right to plant whatever he wished on his lands.

He also noted that parliament had not techically passed any laws against planting blighted crops on your own land. The judge agreed with Graves and pronounced him innocent of wrong doing.

Rumors that the judge had accepted bribes for that decision would continue to circulate even to modern day, though it hasn't been confirmed. Graves walked out of the courthouse a free man.

His actions though, as well as the failure of the british government to deal with the famine and continuing food exports during the famine, would forever poison relations between Ireland and the united Kingdom.

The republic of ireland still insists that the Famine was a deliberate act of genocide, the government of the United Kingdom insists it was just a tragic event orchestrated by a single madman.

As for the Graves family they moved to australia and have not set foot in Ireland for over a hundred years.

 

[Cherico]

The Irish Potato Famine

1845-1850

The english reponse to the Potato Famine was lackluster at it's best, negligent in a middling view and is considered by Irish nationalists to be an attempted genocide.

Prime Minister Peel responded to the Famine by secretly buying a Hundred Thousand pounds of Maize from the americas, in order to stave off the famine. He also ordered an export ban until the plight could be properly dealt with.

In a move, that many saw as an act of reconcilation, he worked with the goodwitch administration who volunteered the use of their airships and brought food from the americas in order to help feed the Irish. If the Peel government had been allowed to continue their efforts, and their policies continued, then the Famine most likely would have been a brief crisis.

Unfortunately the wigs found out about the secret corn deal and created a mania that brought down the Peel administration. With this, John Russell would take power.

John Russell had grown up in wealth and prosperity but was a sickly child. His parents imported potions from the new republic to help his health. This worked and a younger sibling was later sent to Compass to learn magic, to make sure their older brother would remain in good health.

When the Napoleonic wars came John joined the Army. But, as a first born son and heir with health issues, he was kept away from the conflict and his father arranged for him to be sent to the americas for his own safety.

With the war of 1812 John would be given the position of captain and was tasked with overseeing the logistics of the war. In his writing's home we see the frustration with his position and he appealed over and over again for a chance to join the fighting.

He succeeded and was given the task of invading the young republic's capital. There he watched the americans burn the allied fleet alive, there he watched helplessly as the allied army was burned alive.

The experience of the war scarred him, and he ended any and all cooperation with the americans. His party, the Wig party, were firm believers in Laissez-faire economics, which is why they ended the aid programs.

Local Charities could handle it better in his opinion. this turned out to be false and, as Ireland burned, the wigs did nothing. The goodwitch adminstration, feeling responsible for the failure to stop the blight sent food, aid and supplies. Other countries around the world also decided to follow suit.

Many people noted that other countries sent more aid to the Irish then their nominal british overlords. This embarrassed the wigs and ever paranoid of outside machinations, especially from the Goodwitch adminstration, John Russell banned outside aid.

This was something that horrified the british populace, and even many wigs thought this was a bridge too far. The number of people who were dying increased exponentially. The catholic church decided at this moment that their moral duty was to break the law.

They called favors, from other countries, from Merlin, and in secret from the Goodwitch administration. In exchange for aid to the Irish the catholic church agreed to give up the mission lands of california. Airships would smuggle aid into Ireland, which was then distributed by the local catholic priests and this aid helped many survive.

This conspiracy was discovered and Russell, who had grown ever more paranoid, manic and some say mad, was apoplectic. He ordered the deaths of the ring leaders. 13 catholic priests turned themselves in for smuggling. They were declared guilty by an all english all protestant jury.

Queen Victoria, horrified by this decision, Pardoned all 13 priests. But on a sunday in March, a day that would forever be known as Bloody Sunday, the priests were executed in public.

Queen Victoria had, before this incident, been rather removed from politics. The Bloody sunday executions though proved to be the very last straw. She used her royal prerogative toorder a complete investigation. In this investigation police officers found letters where Russell ordered the news of the pardon to be supressed so that the executioners would not find out until it was too late.

This news was publicized and Russell was brought to court on murder charges. His execution came too late though. The bloody Sunday executions had been, to many Irish people, the last and final straw. Revolution gripped the entire island.

In 1855 a war weary England offered peace and the Irish republic was born.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I got a letter from my father, I looked at it and opened it.

"Mail?"

"Yeah."

I read through it and collapsed on my chair.

"Igor?"

He made the decision to stay, was using his paycheck to bring the rest of his family to the states.

"Damn it."

He had made such a big speech about creating a jewish homeland, of making it our place, and now he had just decided to give up.

"So what happened?"

"Dad decided to stay in america, he's using his pay to bring everyone over there, asked me to come there."

Frank looked worried.

"Are you going to do it?"

"No...I worked hard to create a place for myself here, I worked hard to get a job here, to make a life for myself here."

I got up and left.

"Igor?"

"I need a drink."

Frank put out a hand to stop me and then stopped.

"Do what you have to do Igor."

I walked through the cold city, angry, tired and lonely to a bar, some bar where I wouldn't be bothered. I walked up to the bouncer.

"Men only."

"I work for a complete smuck and I hunt for extra money, I'm 16 years old and I need a damned drink now."

I looked into the bouncer's eyes and he looked into mine.

"Only men are allowed into the Gay bar."

He stepped aside and opened the door.

"Go get yourself a drink."

I walked inside and saw soldiers from both the american and Israeli army, saw sailors, saw dirty men with calloused fingers, I saw a woman serving drinks, she wasn't a pretty young serving wench. Her hair was grey, her face old and wrinkled but also friendly.

"Need a drink."

I put silver on the table, she looked at my drink.

"What kind?"

"Beer."

She shook her head.

"We don't have any beer."

"Wine."

"Dont have any wine."

"Then what do you have?"

She brought out bottles.

"Due to the grain laws, all alcohol has to be made out of either potatoes or fruit."

"What do you recommend?"

"Slivovitz, it's made out of plums."

"How much?"

"A silver buys an entire bottle but it's strong stuff I recommend."

"I want the bottle."

She frowned but nodded and opened the bottle. I drank it down, it tasted decent and it burned down my throat.

"What's your name?"

"Dorethy Gale."

"Nice name."

I took another drink.

"You're 30 years too young for me boy."

I shrugged.

"Not interested."

I was starting to slur my words. I drank more and more. I think I was talking, muttering.

"You have to go to sleep now."

"Wha?"

The world went black. I woke up on a cot in the darkness.

"My head."

"Be happy you still have it boy."

My eyes adjusted to the light and saw a candle, the man ahead of me had long black hair, and was wearing a parka.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"Actually I was born here, as have well pretty much all of my family. You jews, you are the new comers."

My head pounded and I looked into his dark eyes.

"Kuupik ,that's my name if you want to know it, and you did some thing that was very dangerous and stupid. Thank god Dorethy is a friend of the community."

"Community?"

He sat down.

"There are others like us, people who have abnormal tastes."

My eyes widened.

"That isn't possible."

I wasn't alone. that was...I thought I was the only one.

"It is...I was, well, kicked out of my family for my interests, there are others like ourselves."

He looked at me.

"You're limited, drink wise, here. No more then three cups, people here will not understand. You could lose your job, lose your home, lose your life. So you need to keep quiet."

"But, um, how."

"How will you find the others? Big cities are easier but also more dangerous, there's maybe 20 of us total in Nukk, a 100 total scattered throughout the island if we're lucky."

I took a breath.

"So what does this mean?"

"The current government isn't hostile to us. The leader, he's a good man, doesn't think our lifestyle is anybody's business."

"How do you know?"

"A couple of us got caught, they were going to hang them and he intervened, said he would handle it personally. Then got them jobs outside of the city, someplace safe."

He looked at me.

"Your life isn't over, you're not alone, but you're going to have to be a lot more cafeful."

I felt conflicted about the news, it was nice to know I wasn't alone but it was also horrifying to have other people know my dark secret.

"So now what?"

"Now you live."
​

 

[Cherico]

Glenda Goodwitch

President 1844-1852


"So how did you win?"

In my old age, now that I am about to pass on from this world, I get asked that question quite a bit.

The answer is it came down to a lot of different factors but I think the biggest one was arrogance. The democratic party had controlled the white house since Jefferson. That meant 40 years roughly speaking of democratic control of the presidency.

The war of 1812 was a massive victory under a democratic president and the party rode that wave of popularity to power. The wig party, my party, held seats in congress and in the senate but we had never been able to reach the presidency. The party was at that time not doing very well. The front runner, who had our hopes of actually breaking our losing streak, got caught with a 14 year old girl who was not his wife.

Like I said these were dismal times for the wigs but I once read in a book that disaster is also opportunity. With the Wig party in disarray and demoralized, I threw my name into the hat.

The other options being, well terrible, left the party with no other real choice but to pick me. It helped that I had a well deserved reputation as a war hero whereas none of the other candidates had military experience.

That is when I experienced another round of good fortune. John Tyler decided to run for an unprecedented third term and, in doing so, doublecrossed James K. Polk, who had been picked to run for the presidency by the democratic party.

The democrats decided to go with the experienced Tyler over the relatively unproven Polk. This was a massive mistake as Polk took this act personally. I didn't have to write any attack ads during my campaign, Polk did that for me. I still ran attack ads in the papers, of course, but it made my job easier.

Tyler, for his part, was a man who was trapped in the past. He remembered the days when the slave owning south was the invincible lynch pin for the democrats and promised an extension of slavery.

What he forgot was that Virginia at this point was now a free state, that Maryland was at this point a free state. The free states now had a numerical advantage and a population advantage. Even with slaves counted in, free votes outnumbered slave votes and Free labor at this point more or less demanded that the south keep its promise of ending slavery in 1850.

Another factor in my favor was that after 40 years people were tired of democratic rule. They wanted change and many people saw Tylers attempt at a third term as an unethical grab for ever more power.

But the final nail in the coffin of his campaign was this. He dismissed me. Tyler was so convinced that his victory was inevitable that he didn't bother campaigning in person in a single state.

I didn't make that mistake. I slept on my personal airship, I went from town to town speaking, I kissed every baby I could. I got to know local politicians and I went to town hall after town hall.

I had spent my entire life fighting, my entire life being dismissed. Tyler grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. I didn't, I was the little girl nobody wanted, I had to fight for every little bit of recognition I got in this life. If I didn't have my father, if I didn't have merlin teaching me, preparing me, it might have broken me.

But I came out stronger. Tyler may have been a good laywer but I had fought america's enemies on the frontier. I knew how to scrap and I didn't give up just because things got a little difficult. So I fought, I campaigned, I worked and when I became president the country was shocked.

The first mage to become president, the first woman to become president and it was someone who successfully ran on a free labor platform. Oh, that made quite a few people angry. There was talk of rebellion in those early days so I brought them in these proud men, and I talked about the michigan campaign.

You see, there were five women who had betrayed their country. They had told the british and the indians where their husband's guns were kept, where the food was kept. Their husbands and their sons were killed because of that. One of them had taken a british trooper as a lover.

Right after he killed her husband.

I told them that we held a trial for them, about how the court was sympathetic because they were just weak minded little women. I had been in that courthouse for three hours. Just talking. Convincing that court to do the right thing.

They were condemned to the executions that they rightfully deserved but none of the men wanted to kill a woman. So I did it myself, I personally hung each and every single one of them. That's what I do to traitors.

There was no talk of rebellion after that.
​

 

[Cherico]

Project Rubbish

Robert Crowley


Project Rubbish started soon after 1780. Initially the idea was to flood the new academy of magic with the poor and disabled and destroy it as an institution. By the 1790s it should have been obvious that this tactic wasn't working but at that point it was more about getting rid of the poor and disabled than destroying the school itself.

The war of 1812 proved, in a very definitive and final measure, that project Rubbish's goals could and would backfire. America had, at that point in time, the vast majority of the world's magi and those magi, many of whom came from the united kingdom, proved to be devastating enemies.

The British empire had been taught a painful lesson about the power of magic and decided that the empire needed magi of their own. Project Rubbish continued but the magi would now be channeled into the empire to make it stronger.

This worked. Throughout the empire magi helped build infrastructure, they put down uprisings and they helped conquer and maintain the empire. But despite doing so much for the empire, the british never really treated their magi all that well and treated the products of project rubbish the worst.

These policies continued onwards. The british empire got stronger, richer and wealthier and then the Irish potato famine happened. Over 10% of the population died, around a third of the population was forced to flee.

The situation in Ireland was never good, and the wig administration made the whole thing ten times worse. In their arrogance they forgot one small thing. Irish catholics made up the largest proportion of those who were sent to compass to learn magic.

When they served the empire many were discriminated against for being Irish, for being catholic, for being poor, for being magi. When their required service was over, many were denied pensions due to anti catholic laws. Parliament rested easy, secure in the knowledge that magi were compelled to uphold the social contract.

They never once considered what would happen if that contract was broken. When the Bloody Sunday executions happened Ireland had around 50,000 magi, a small proportion of the total population. They also happened to be one third of the magi in the empire.

These were men who had military experience, who had been carefully trained in the mystic arts and they formed the hard core of the Irish Republican Army. An army that took on the full might of the british empire and won.

This loss changed the empire forever. The wig party would never again be a relevant force in british politics and would soon be disbanded and the british empire was faced with a hard question of how to handle the magic problem.

Magi once angered could and would be capable of upending the system and taking power but project rubbish also made the empire stronger. Magic had become one of the tools that the empire relied on.

New policies were created, a three tier system. Magi from noble families would be allowed to stay in great britain with the idea that, as members of society with the most to lose in a revolution, they would fight for their government.

Magi from middle class families would, after their service, be given plots of land in canada, africa and other colonies. Hopefully forming a core of loyalists who would help tie these regions to the empire.

Magi from project Rubbish would be given plots of land in Australia. Far far away from any place where they could theoretically do any serious damage to the empire. The hope was that the magi would form a tiny aristocracy over the former inmate population. The empire could then use divide and rule to keep the colony in check.

This hope was dashed by geography, Australia's rich leyline system was in the interior of the country, in the hostile outback, and this is where australia's magi wanted to live. The former criminals and convicts chose to live on the coast or the grasslands, in places that, while not hospitable, were considered inhabitable. The two communities simply didn't interact enough for there to be any serious divide.

When the world war came Australia, a nation created by the empire's cast offs would prove to be one of the empires greatest strengths. It's doubtful that the empire would have survived, much less won, without Anzac's aid and support.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


16 years old.

My bow crackles with electricity as I aim it.

"Fire."

The arrow leaves the bow and I watch as it flies through the air. I feel the world shift a little as I hit something... I went down to the sea shore and waited then I took out a basket and gathered up the fish. I put the basket on my back and walked back to town.

"Got another load?"

I nodded at the man and handed over some fish, I received a single silver coin and some copper coins in return.

"Thanks. what happened to the paper money?"

"Government gave up on it, no one would accept it and the silver mine's doing all right now."

"Really? how did they get workers for it?"

"Remember the riot?"

I nodded.

"The ones that didn't get hanged were officially volunteered for the duty. A couple magi are there to make sure things go decently."

"How does that work by the way?"

The fish monger started cutting up the fish, deboning them.

"The silver and copper get turned into money, the government sells the other stuff on the open market."

I took the money and walked away. I still had some fish and, when I got to Frank's place, I went to the kitchen. I heard the faint sound of snoring as I started cutting up the fish that I couldn't sell and carefully removed the bones.

Then I put them into a pot, I cleaned some potatoes and put in some miso paste that seemed to have become an ever present part of the Isreali diet and watched it cook. I then heard gumblings.

"Miso again?"

"Yes."

"Smells like fish, and those are potatoes arent they?"

He sighed dramatically.

"Again."

"It's food."

I used my ladle and poured the small meal into two soup bowls.

"Please tell me we at least have some bread to go with it."

I sighed.

"Have you seen the price of bread lately?"

"Then just buy a sack of wheat and some yeast and I can figure out how to make some bread."

"Already sold out."

He took a bite of the soup.

"I used to have bread with practically every meal, and butter to go with it, some times mom would cook up the cheese and slather it on my bread. It was good that way."

I ate another bite of my meal, the chunks of fish were edible and, as meals went, it was better then what most people ate.

"I miss pepper."

"We can't afford pepper."

"And Nutmeg."

"We can't afford that either."

"Then what do we have?"

"Miso, fish and potatoes, until you figure out how to grow more food, that is what we are stuck with."

Frank took another bite of soup.

"If I had some actual lab space I could probally do that."

"Then buy a bigger house you got money from your old estate."

He sighed dramatically again.

"I did but I spent it all on bonds."

I frowned.

"You blew your entire inheritance on bonds?"

"They can be redeemed at a future date for labor. I want the new castle to be something special, something extravagant."

"You blew all of your money on bonds...."

I took deep breaths trying to calm myself.

"It's going to pay off in the long run, that's why I invested your savings into bonds too."

I froze.

"What did you do?"

"Your savings, that big sack under your bed, sold it all for government bonds."

"You mean all the money I have in the world, the money I earned for spending six months in total darkness, for working for you, for fishing, for every thing, you blew all of it on government bonds."

"Look when the project is finished it's going to pay for itself."

"We have to figure out how to get food NOW! How are we going to afford clothing?"

I took another bite, I wanted to kill him.

"It's a good investment."

"It wasn't your decision to make Frank."

"Why are you so angry?"

"Because I actually have a family Frank. I have siblings, sisters, relatives, people who have to worry about some bad man having a bad day and deciding to take it out on the local jews. I was saving up money to get them out of there."

"Here?"

"FUCK NO."

Frank blinked I didn't cuss a lot.

"To america, some place warmer and better, not here. There's nothing here."

"I'm here."

Franks words were sympathetic.

"Right now I really don't want to be around you Frank."

It was like something I heard a sailor say. No matter how beautiful someone is, somewhere out there is some one who is throughly tired of their shit.
​

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


The Long night came back.

Nukk, which was never a large city, had even fewer people mostly because they were settling the Green Line, that portion of the leyline that had been terraformed. I understood why as conditions in the city were cramped at times. Rationing and food rules were more lax in the new countryside and if, you were willing to farm for a certain amount of time, the government would give you the land for free.

It made sense to spread out, so people did.

"The food will continue to grow."

I was snapped out of my thoughts by frank's words.

"What?"

"During the long night food will continue to grow as long as the pillars are in place and are maintained the food will continue to grow."

I stared down as we looked at the walls of ice that the green line stood between.

"It's finished."

I blinked.

"What?"

"The pillars, the ton of food deal? In exchange for ending it Merlin helped build the extra pillars, they're all finished. We're also enacting an experiment on his behalf."

"An experiment?"

Frank nodded.

"Whatever we're doing here, it's to test out something big. We're a prototype for something. I don't know what though, that information is apparently secret."

I nodded.

"Is he planning something bad?"

Frank shook his head.

"No, Merlin sees us, humanity, as the phenix people's successors, you don't kill your successor."

"There are rumors."

"There are rumors that jews have tails, any truth to that Igor."

"Of course not, that's stupid."

Frank smirked.

"Are you hiding something?"

"I do not have a tail Frank."

"And Merlin's intentions are obvious. It's to teach."

I frowned.

"Then why not create an island somewhere? why pick a side?"

Frank smirked.

"Everyone has a side. if you do not pick one, you still have your own side. America was picked because it is a young country that was still creating their identity. As a founder he could insure that magic was a part of that identity."

"Makes sense I guess, so why give us this land?"

"To get teachers for his school, he was pretty insistent on that."

"It seems extravagant, an entire country for some professors."

Frank nodded.

"He once told me that I'm going to have to accept that, sometimes, he does things purely because he thinks it fits a flight of fancy. That said this territory went from enemy territory to territory controlled by an ally. An ally who desperately relies on its benefactor."

"So the americans are using us?"

"And you're not using them? America stood alone against three empires, it has no desire to do that again."

We flew in the darkness.

"We have more people, we have borrowed airships, the american airforce is helping us. If we work hard, we can finish this in one year."

"Truly?"

"The government has borrowed money to bring in more people from eastern europe. There are lots of poorer jews with few prospects.
We're going to have to find another language though."

"What's wrong with yiddish?"

"It's not spoken by a majority of jews, there's talk of making hebrew the official language of the country."

"That's madness it would take..."

"Years, Decades, Generations Igor? New Israel, once made green, is very defensible and hard to attack. Every year its numbers grow just a little larger. It is allied to another stronger power. Once established it will be very hard to dislodge."

Frank smirked.

"If we work hard and fast, by the time the danes rebuild their navy it will be far far too late."

I nodded as our ship landed.

"Well there's digging to do."

The long darkness was back. The five members of our team brought out shovels and got to work.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I'd like to say that the six months of darkness was a time of excitement, a time of danger, but truthfully it was drudgery, pure unmidigated drudgery. Our crew of five got up, dug holes and then walked through the freezing cold to the next pillar, which had been set up for us ahead of time.

We ate the same meal every day, Miso soup with potato. We slept in makeshift igloos and we dug holes and put the pillars into them. Frank complained and whined the first couple days but eventally he stopped.

A kind of rythm developed then. I think, in the end, we were all in favor of the idea of just finishing the job, the idea of not having to travel through the cold ice anymore acted as motivation.

When we finished out jobs Mendal would call in an airship and we would fly to the next line. This was our life, water, soup, digging, and the frigid cold. I handled it better, that brief burst of power that I felt when I embraced the bow made me stronger, tougher.

That brief burst of power after hunting also made me stronger, tougher. About a month into the darkness I felt something, felt another spike of power.

"Igor?"

I wheezed, my eyes opening bleary as I staggered.

"Frank?"

I sensed something. Power, my head burned and I stagerred in place.

"I don't feel so good."

We had just finished a hole, I stumbled forward to avoid the explosion of magical energy. As I moved forward I started to feel knowledge fill my head about nature.

I understood the types of Ice around me, understood how to hunt and track my prey. My new senses were overwhelming but as I stepped forward I slowly understood what they were.

"The weather."

I could sense weather, I felt possibilities, things I could do with my arrows. I continued to move forward, working through the pain. Understanding the magic I now had access to.

"Explosion, seeking."

The abilty to fire an arrow and have it seek out a target and explode. I would have to charge the arrows of course. Two new enchantments, this was big, it was game changing. I could use it to become a much better hunter.

I could hunt, sell the meat and use the money to get my family somewhere safe or safer or.

"You just figured it out?"

I nodded at Frank's words.

"Yeah something clicked."

"It happens, so what did you get?"

"I can sense weather now, enchant arrows."

"What kind of enchantments?"

I thought about it.

"An enchantment to make my arrows seek targets out, and one to make arrows explode."

"Nice."

I nodded.

"Yes Nice...well, better get back to digging."

Magic, new powers and all these things? They didn't change the fact that we had a job to do but I felt a little better about it, felt a little more equipped to handle it.

"Yeah let's do that."
​

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


"Storm coming."

The words left my mouth in an instant.

Mendal looked at me.

"How bad?"

"Hail, thunder, it's only going to last a couple hours but it's going to be bad."

Mendal nodded.

"Frank, I want a second opinion."

"That's really more a forces magic thing, and it's not really my specialty, or fate magic. Both can scan weather."

"I don't want color commentary, I want a second opinion."

Franks hands moved and he frowned.

"Storm incoming, it's a bad one."

Mendal nodded.

"Igloos now."

"We can."

"No."

He stared at frank in the eyes.

"We're not risking our lives over a couple hours of time, we are going to hunker down."

Frank sighed and did what he was told, we entered our Igloos and Frank leaned against the wall. The two of us stood there in the darkness until Frank created some light.

"So, a storm."

I nodded as the wind started howling.

"It's happened before."

Frank shrugged and I laid back.

"Why did you leave america?"

Frank huffed.

"They couldn't understand my brilliance, my unparalled genius, my greatness."

I had lived around Frank long enough to know when he was bullshitting me.

"The real reason."

Frank frowned and sighed.

"It was a girl, a couple years older than me."

I grit my teeth.

"Really?"

Frank closed his eyes and smiled at the memory, and I felt a deep sense of irritation.

"Yeah, she was beautiful, one of the most beautiful girls I've ever known but she had a man."

For some reason I felt a sense of relief.

"Oh."

"I was in Compass and I liked her more then he did. So I tried to do something about it, and he well just brushed me off like I was nothing. I also tried to win her love. Music, poetry, art and she just thought I was cute. Like a pet."

Some times I imagined Frank as a small yapping dog. The comparison fit.

"So, after I graduated, I challanged the lumox to a duel over her love. He kept trying to dismiss me, to ignore my challenge. At one point he even turned me in to a judge and tried to have them talk me out of it."

"Really?"

"Yes really. No doubt the ruffian had deep connections to the state that he used to try to throw me in prison."

"Really?"

"Really. So I pestered that coward, challenging him again and again, then graduation came and he finally agreed to duel me and, like a coward, he chose swords."

I didn't think swords were a coward's weapon.

"So the day of the duel comes and the coward pleads with me, asks me to stop this before I get hurt."

"Right."

"So I charge him with my sword and the lumox steps out of the way and trips me. I fall to the ground and he puts the sword against my neck and tells me it's over. Says that there are other woman out there, and I just stood there helpless and angry."

"And?"

"And it was raining, Sprinkling, and he started to walk away from me. I formed some icicles and tried to strike the lumox in the back.."

"And?"

"My magic, my power turned against me, I got hurt and got hurt bad."

He looked away.

"And?"

"Someone took me to compass to get medical attention."

No doubt the lumox that Frank tried to stab in the back.

"And the woman I loved, she was there when I woke up, she wasn't happy with me."

"Really?"

"She told me that she loved the lumox and not me and asked me to move on. I told her how much I loved her but she said she didn't love me back and then."

He sighed in pain.

"Victor, life doesn't owe you a human being. Maybe some day you will find a girl who loves you but it's not going to happen until you get your head out of your ass."

I nodded.

"So you left?"

"I...I can't go back there, too many bad memories and watching her be happy with someone else, it hurts too much. So I left zone, left america and came here."

The story was undoubtedly bullshit but for some reason the idea of Frank being in love with some girl filled me with a kind of Irritation, I went to sleep angry as the storm hovered over us

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


We watched as the last pillar went off, watched as the world was consumed by violent blue light. Mendel, our leader, stared at the light.

"So we're going to the next line?"

I don't know who spoke that line but Mendel shook his head.

"There aren't any other lines, this is it."

Mendel's words cut through the darkness like a knife.

"We're finished?"

He nodded.

"All of you get 80 acres of land when the last part of the project is finished."

Another person said something.

"And that will be?"

"After the spring Equinox. David, Victor?"

We looked at him.

"Both of you have put money into bonds. Victor, you put in a lot of money, that thing you asked for is yours."

He nodded at Frank and then turned to me.

"You can quit now or continue to assist Victor."

I tried to think of any other work I could get, any other work, and came to the horrific realization that I couldn't possibly get a job that payed better then the one I currently had.

"I will continue my duties sir."

I managed to sucessfully suppress my urge to scream.

"Knew you would make the right decision Igor."

I tried to remember that this was for my family. We waited for the airship to come pick us up. When it came it was already stuffed with people. There was a sense of jollyness as we flew back home. This project, which had cosummed so much of our time, was over.

Men talked about their families, what they would do with their new land, others made bawdy jokes and there were some tearful goodbyes. When we landed in Nukk we were separated. The regular crews were given strips of paper and their pay. The strips of paper were land grands and vouchers for drinks at various bars. Men shook hands and left. The rest of us stood there.

The supreme leader came out.

"You have worked hard."

He paced back and forth.

"You have braved the wild wastelands, you have risked your lives, some of you have died. Those that passed will have their families looked after and their names inscribed on a wall memorializing them. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten."

He stood ramrod straight.

"But the task is not over."

A drawing board was brought out with a map.

"As you can see the two biggest leylines are the line from nuuk to the other side of the island and the grand line that goes south through our country. They intersect here, near the center of our country."

He pointed at the line.

"The other lines are small and scattered, mostly in the interior. We are going to conduct a ritual, the biggest ritual in human history, and bring those lines closer to the center."

He pulled out a new map.

"We will use a very powerful reagent and the force of those lines to create this."

I stared at the map, I saw a star of david inside Israel.

"From the south we will create a river over a mile wide, they will follow the new leyline pattern and create islands, these islands will have rich and fertile lands, that will be capable of growing food even in total darkness. 108,000 miles of arable land."

He took a breath.

"There has been some talk that I have been harsh and hard but this land is harsh and hard and we needed strength in order to conquer it. This is the the final battle. We need to have the ritual prepared and ready for the spring equinox. It will require hard work and a lot of effort but finally, at long last, the future stands before us. Are you ready to create it?"

We cheered. Yes it would be hard work, difficult work but in that map many of us saw hope.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


More digging.

That was my task, to dig as deep as they wanted and as long as they wanted. Why? They were making a giant massive runic array. I didn't complain. It was work, it was important and I think everyone understood that. This was for the future of our people.

It was true that I wanted my family to live somewhere else, somewhere better. But this wasn't for my family, this was for my people. So I worked in the cold with the others, you lose track of time in this kind of work.

Or maybe I'm just absentminded. But eventually the ritual circle was at long last complete, airships came in and brought good food, hot food. Meat, not fish, actual meat.

I may have teared up a little when I ate that meat. When the meal was over we shuffled off into a clearing. The surpreme leader of our country was there, surrounded by armed guards.

"Our duty is done."

His face was palid and strained.

"Thanks to your hard work, we managed to finish on time and today is the spring equinox."

I watched as a giant ball was lowered by an airship into the center of the circle, watched as torches were lit.

"Someone must remain here and set off the ritual. Who ever does that will be consumed in fire, their death will be horrible and painful but it will give birth to a new country, to a new land."

He closed his eyes and took a breath.

"I made a promise when I took over this country, to never ask any one to do anything I was not willing to do myself. I will be the one who will set off the reagent, the rest of you will get on airships and to safety."

He nodded at us.

"It has been an honor to lead you, to be in charge of this country. I once said I was willing to give my life for a free Israel, those words will be fullfilled."

He motioned his hands towards the airships.

"I thank you all for your hard work, for your dedication. It has truly been an honor to lead you. Please get on those ships and to safety."

He paused.

"Thank you all."

With those words I watched him walk to the center of the circle, his coat billowing out behind him. We were led to airships one by one, and I reluctantly got into the airship with my fellows. It was cold, it was cramped but I managed to somehow get a window seat.

I watched as blue flames completely consumed the ritual circle, we were too far up to hear any noise except the sound of flames but I like to think he remained stoic as he was burned alive.

Then I saw blue fire consume more and more land as we all flew back home to nukk. I didn't say anything and to my surprise a lot of people felt the same way. This moment was a solemn one. Whatever we felt about our nominal tyrant, hate, love or indifference, we were forced to acknowlege his bravery.

When we finally landed most of us shuffled back to our homes. Maybe we should have celebrated, maybe we should have had a party, but we didn't. For some reason it didn't feel right.

Frank walked next to me as we headed home.

"Don't think I could do that."

His words were low, and said softly.

"I don't know if I could do that either."

We continued to walk side by side. When we got to his house we slept. We were both tired, both exhausted and what ever we needed to do could wait until morning.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Big Vic looked depressed.

I had decided to come back to the old work place, a lot of people were preparing to move to the new territories, to the new lands and I felt a sense of Nostalgia for the place that gave me a chance when no one else would.

For my first job.

"Hey David."

He looked up at me.

"Hello Vic, how are you doing?"

He took a drink out of a bottle.

"Well my best friend is dead, and now apparently I'm the supreme leader of the country."

I paused.

"Congratulations."

He sighed.

"Can I be honest with you David?"

I sat down on a box.

"Sure."

"I'm not up for this."

I blinked.

"What?"

"This, this country, it's all a bit much. I mean, it's only been a couple years and now we have more then a hundred thousand people."

"That's impressive isn't it?"

"I know, but a lot of them are angry or scared or frustrated and they're all turning toward me to fix it all. I'm, I'm a working class man David."

"Didn't you study in compass?"

"Yes I did, but that was so I could learn how to make things, beautiful things. I wanted to make roads. Perfect ones, like the ones in Rome, roads that would still be there hundreds of years later and have these people talking about how old they were."

He smiled.

"I worked with a road crew and when I had a chance to create a new country, I came here. That was my plan David. I just wanted to make roads, not lead an entire country for the rest of my life."

He took another drink and I sat there with him.

"We have a job for you."

I looked up.

"Job?"

He pulled out the map of the new territories.

"108,000 square miles."

"Looks like a star of david."

"Yeah, turns out it's a valid magical symbol. There are seven larger islands. The one in the center, the octogon, has 50,000 square miles of arable land. We're building the capital there. The six smaller islands have 9,000 square miles of land each."

"Where did the rest of it go?"

He smiled sadly.

"We created a river, four miles wide that leads to the islands and surrounds them with water, from south of the grand line, around the star, and in between them in the new leyline system there are smaller islands one square mile in size each. There are 4,0000 of them, I need you and Frank to live in the very northern most point right here on a nexus."

"Why?"

He looked away.

"This is top secret, state secret as In we will kill you if you talk."

I nodded.

"We don't have enough women."

"When things are more settled we can."

"No."

Vic stared at me.

"A lot of them just do not want to come period, or want to live in more settled areas. It is really really difficult to convince someone used to living in a city or a town to live in the middle of nowhere. This is a really incredibly harsh land and if we wait for them, it might be too late."

"Because of the danes?"

He nodded.

"We can't afford to just depend on the alliance with america, they might get distracted or the Danes could build up a network of allies. That's the reason why we purposely put all the good land in the interior instead of the coasts; to make invasion more difficult."

I leaned in.

"So?"

"So we need to build up a population, and women are the bottleneck, but what if we could just create woman wholesale?"

I thought about Frank and his bragging and.

"The Frankenstines figured out how to do it."

I felt my stomach sink in my chest.

"Got it in one. It's why the british spent so much effort in destroying that castle, it's why he can't return home. That kind of knoweledge, its, well. inherently troublesome, with a whole bunch of built in ethical problems."

"Damn."

"I know David, but we have to think about the future, we need bodies, we need people and Frank can give us that. But we also know that he's difficult, temperamental and hard to work with."

"And you need some one to handle him."

Victor nodded.

"Yes, you would be rewarded of course, 200 hundred acres of the island would be yours, you would be in charge of hiring and firing, you would be given a decent wage, no a good wage, and we would use our navy, as small as it is, to help transport your family either here or in america or anywhere really."

I thought about it, about my father.

"I want elections."

"What?"

"You're asking me to do something that's pretty messed up. My price is that the country will have elections."

"We tried demoracy, it almost got us all killed."

I looked him in the eye.

"No, what you tried was anarchy. There were no rules and every one spoke at once. You have rules now, you have a court system, you could have elections and make it work."

"We can't take the risk, what if they choose some idiot? What then?"

I looked at him.

"Do you love this country?"

"It means everything to me."

"What about the next supreme leader? The one after that, the one after that? You and I know how our history has gone. How many great leaders are we going to have in a row? And we won't have any way to get rid of the bad ones, no way to constrain their power."

Vic took another drink.

"I can't throw away Zack's gift to me."

"From what you say Zack never wanted to be a tyrant, it was some thing he did because he didn't have a choice. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want you to be one either."

Vic took a breath and closed his eyes.

"There are going to be rules in the election. We're going to have to figure out a separation of powers. It can't be a federal system like the americans, we need centeralized power."

He took a breath.

"I expect you to work hard in your new Job david. If I do this, your work is for life."

I nodded.

"We all do what we have to do for our people sir."

I got up then and patted him on the shoulder. I left my boss alone in the darkness as he sipped his drink in thought.