Gra Gryning

[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.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


It took days to get all of Frank's assorted things together, and it took a very long time to get everything on an airship, but when we did we flew in silence to the island.

"It's going to be great Igor."

Frank was absolutely extatic.

"Um yeah great."

The island was to be our new home, a place where we would perform secret experiments for the government for the rest of our lives, we would be hidden away from the civilized world. It was a prison.

"I can finally continue my grandfather's work in peace, maybe even perfect it without small minded simpletons getting in the way."

The ethical issues just kind of write themselves don't they? And I couldn't pretend they didn't exist. Creating artificial life, taking away it's agency, it's free will, to make new settlers for the country. It was inherently, by its nature, ethically wrong.

But I also saw the grim calculation. Israel at the moment had less then a hundred thousand people in total. Most of them were men and that disparity seemed to only get larger with time.

We didn't get many men with wealth, or men with prospects, and convincing someone to come over and live a difficult life as a farmer's wife? That was a hard sell. We were a nation with a grand total of one trade partner and out there there was Denmark, a nation of millions, a rich nation that had a base of operations in Iceland that wasn't too far away from us.

We were dropped off with supplies and Frank smiled in joy.

"I have been planning this since forever."

"Forever...right."

The airship dropped off food and supplies and lifted off. We were alone now.

"Doesn't this feel wrong?"

Frank blinked at me.

"What do you mean Igor?"

"Well we're basically making up slaves."

Frank shook his head and laughed.

"Nothing done out of love is ever evil Igor."

I stared at him.

"Ok. Explain how this is a good thing."

"Everyone deserves a chance to be loved, we're not creating slaves Igor, not really. We're creating wives and mothers. People whose purpose is to love and be loved."

"What about free will?"

Frank chuckled and then his laugh became manic, and dark. Like a laugh of a damned madman about to die.

"I once asked Merlin what the purpose of life was you know."

I stared at him.

"You have this creature who has been around for thousands of years, millions of years and he looks at me, straight in the eye, and tells me. 'I don't know, maybe we have to create our own purpose in life."

He frowned.

"I hate that idea Frank, that people are made to drift aimlessly without direction?"

"Merlin sounds like someone that wants his creations to be free."

Frank shook his head.

"Life should be lived with purpose, my creations wont have to worry about those doubts, they will know their purpose, and it is the greatest purpose in the world. Love."

He smiled.

"What about freedom?"

"What freedom? The freedom to be lonely, the freedom to live without being surrounded by loved ones? The freedom to die alone? That kind of freedom is not worth having Igor. I give my creations some thing our uncaring ever absent god forgot to give us. Purpose."

His eyes were full of a kind of mania.

"We will create a world without rejection, a world where no man is lonely, where every one loves and is loved in turned."

"What about women?"

"If you honestly think I wouldn't create a man to keep a woman company you don't know me very well Igor. I make no exceptions in this new kingdom of love, now lets end this talk about pointless morals. Glory awaits."

I followed Frank in the darkness, as my doubts consumed me.

 

[Cherico]

Project Odysseus

1815

Dear King Alexiadis

I wish to congratulate you on successfully managing to hold onto your crown. Part of this is no doubt due to your decision to marry a member of the russian family, a part of this was due to your eagerness to learn greek, to convert to the true orthodox faith and of course your worthwhile decision to change your name to something more fitting of a Greek king.

I know Napoleon was a dear friend of ours, and his loss pains us all, but your decision to choose expediency over past loyalty was wise. A king of Greece must be loyal to Greece first and foremost, and you have done so.

This brings us to our next point of order.

I understand your desire to go to war with the turk, I really really do. When I went to compass, I went there with the intention of freeing the greek people from their despotic rule. That has been accomplished, but we must face facts.

The turks are strong, they rule a large and rich empire with millions of people, we know nothing of their defenses. Our treasury barely has any money, our navy is small and weak and our army small. Our land, though rich in history and culture, is poor in mineral wealth and it's ability to grow food is anemic at best.

Greece as it presently stands, due to reasons of its current geography, is weak, poor and is surrounded by great powers that are hostile to it. Especially since our nation was created by Napoleon. If we go to war, we will be crushed and every thing we have worked so hard for will be destroyed.

If we build an army now, the great powers will notice and crush us. If we build a navy right now, the same will happen. I know it looks hopeless but I have read a book that has opened my eyes. A book by some man from China named Sun Zoo. It is called the art of war, and in it I have discovered what we should focus on. We should create a spy network. Now, I know you are an honorable man but the turk is not an honorable enemy and should not be treated as such.

To beat him we must use guile, we must bide our time, sharpen our blades and find ways to weaken him.

1816

Your Highness, I thank you for having the wisdom to listen to me. First of all, after a long search we have managed to identify the turk's spies in Greece. I know your first reaction is to kill them, and I understand this desire to kill traitors and saboteurs, but that would be unwise. The better decision is to turn them into double agents and use them to feed the turks false information.

The tempting thing to do is, of course, imply that we are strong and can defeat any army they send. This would be, in my humble opinion, a bad idea. Right now the Turk has two enemies who threaten its borders, Russia and Persia. We need them to concentrate their attention on these borders and neglect their defenses against us. Especially as we rebuild our fragile nation, this is not the time for conflict not when we are still so weak.

1817

We have managed to get some of our spies into the enemy capital, the enemy has officially closed themselves off to trade but its not difficult to fake the right papers that official merchants have. Information about enemy troop movements, the lay of the land, fortresses, trade, all of it is slowly coming in. The magic mirrors and carpets help, though we have to use them carefully.

The good news is that, despite the turk's screams of piety, corruption is actually pretty common. We are slowly getting agents in place, taking over brothels, and working our way slowly into the Calif's inner circle.

1819

We have managed to find a low level worker for the sultan himself. Thanks to some rather damning blackmail he is willing to work for us. I know it's tempting to squeeze him for everything he has but another thought occurs to me. We have agents in Russia and Persia now, we could use our information to help our mole rise faster. At the very least we can spread rumors.

1821

War, war between Persia and the Turk, we have used our spies to feed information to our young mole, and he is starting to rise up the chain of command. That said this war presents oportunity, there is a split between the Turk and the faith of the Persian. This is something we have ignored for far too long. The turk is a Sunni and the Persian is Shia, this split is much like the one between catholics and our true faith, but it is a split just the same.

The turk's lands in mesopotamia have large number of Shia. If we could provoke a rebellion, this could prove promising. In other news the russians are looking southward to expand. It would be counter productive if they actually captured Anatolia, which remains our main goal, if only because Russia's thirst for conquest can not be satiated.

But this is not too much of a worry. Russia is over extended, in swallowing Poland it found itself with a meal that is hard to digest. If we could start an incident and enrage Russia, we could let them do the job of bleeding the enemy dry.

1822

We have managed to harness the rage of the turkish court. They have clothed themselves more and more in religion, in their faith and nothing quite upsets a fanatic as much as someone who practises the same ideals differently. We have spread rumors and managed to intercept mail, making it appear like the Shia in mesototamia are not loyal.

This has finally born fruit, all Shia have been ordered to convert to Sunni islam upon pain of death. I'd love to take all the credit for the rebellion that is sure to happen, but this is something that has been building for awhile, we have merely lit the fuse.

1823

The south is in full rebellion, the Persians are gleefully backing it and we have finally managed to cause an incident. Through careful manipulation, and some enchantments on a few cannons, a Russian ship was fired upon.

With our mole we found out who could be bribed in the inner circle, guises were taken and the flames of war were fanned. The straits have been closed and the Turk is now at war with both the Persian and the Russian. I know it's tempting to join in but the turk is still currently strong, we must continue to appear weak and build up our forces and our strength.

1825

A peace treaty now exists between Persia and the Turk, despite our best efforts. We have managed however to help keep the Shia rebellion alive through misinformation and other underhanded means. We managed to successfully scuttle the peace deal between russia and the Turk. The war continues.

1827

Our mole in the inner circle has managed to convince the sultan that the single best way to control the rebellious Shia south is to send reliable Turkish settlers, to take their land and watch the Persian.

The turk holds Anatolia too tightly, too strongly, but if we can convince them to move into the empire and draw off their strength we can weaken their hold. To this end we have managed to continue to fan the flames of religious zeal and hopefully make peace a distant dream.

1830

Your father was a good man, I considered him one of the greatest leaders Greece has ever had. I know he looked weak to you but that was a part of the plan, a plan you must continue.

The turk and the Persian are at war again over the slaughter of their fellows in the ottoman empire, the Russian and Turkish armies remain at a stalemate and rebellion covers their lands.

The turkish resettlement plan is starting to slowly drain away the second and third sons of the turks further south, but there are worries that there are not enough farmers. To this end our agents have suggested that christians around the empire have their wealth stripped from them and be enserfed in Turkey.

I know it is hard to see good christians suffer, but we are laying the seeds of a great plan. If they are closer to us it will be easier for us to liberate them when the time is right.

1853

The shia rebellions have been put down, they have either fled to Persia, were converted by force or have been killed. Their property has been seized and a great exodus of turks is now taking place, meanwhile christian serfs replace the former Turkish farmers.

In other news the turkish financial system has been dealt a crippling blow. Jews handled much of the empires finances and banking. Our agents in the empire have managed to work with the current sultan's paranoia and now they are officially expelled from the empire upon pain of death.

The young nation of Israel has agreed to take in these refugees, and I have arranged for Greek ships to help ferry them, making us a profit of course. Without the means to raise funds properly the Turk will be forced to enact harsher laws and put down more rebellions.

Also the war between the Russian and the Turk continues at its slow pace.

Just as planned.

1856

That was close, our agents barely managed to scuttle the peace deal between the Turk and the Russian. The war continues on, our Magi forces have grown, as has our population and economy. Peace has been good to us, allowed us to grow stronger but it is not yet time.

1860

Another war between Persia and Turkey, it is doubtful that this conflict will last long, but it has prompted the sultan to accelerate the colonisation of Mesopotamia. Christians now outnumber the turks in Anatolia. They might be serfs but their numbers are growing as the turkish numbers slowly shrink.

1863

The war with Persia is over, the war with Russia continues. The Ottoman empire's wealth once seemed inexhaustible but it is now measurably smaller then before. There is hunger even in the capital and the Sultan grows ever more paranoid.

Our forces grow stronger in secret, our new air force and Navy are growing stronger. The great powers have dismissed us and I know that hurts one's ego but victory, in this case, comes only with deception.

1871

Despite the british empire's efforts to prop up the Ottomans as part of the great game, the empire is on the brink of self destruction. Their treasury is empty, their money is gone and generations of turks have died in meaningless battle. Despite the all encompassing zeal, despite the propaganda, after 50 years of nonstop war the turk is tired.

Likewise, Russia even though they did not put nearly as much personal, forces or effort into the conflict is also tired of it.

We must scuttle the next peace deal at all costs. They are on the ropes, the turk who once was the majority of Anatolia is now less then a tenth of the population. Without gold the sultan has been forced to use land, forced to scrap more christians to serve as serfs and now he is outnumbered.

Our forces must modernize and prepare.

1873

The long war between the Turk and the Russians is over, a peace deal has been signed, and the sultan has defaulted on his debts to the british and french empires respectively.

This has angered them greatly, the empire has called for mass demobilization, they are out of money, they are tired, exhausted and have been bled white. Now is the time to strike.

1875

50,000 magi, a middling sized navy, a small army and our airforce struck the capital of constantinople, liberating it. The Turk did not prepare proper defenses, not with a weak country on its borders, not with our long peace. We captured the city instantly, the sultan is dead, his family was dead and without leadership the exhausted turk could not fight as a coherent force. Within two years we captured the entirety of Anatolia.

Our campain was quick and rapid, we destroyed their armies, wrecked their navy and we have captured their defences and built new ones. The remaining turks have fled south and with no clear leadership the empire has gone into civil war.

We are victorious.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Frank and I put a large box on a cart, I blinked at the wheels.

"I don't think I've seen this before?"

I tapped the wheels with my hand.

"Rubber tires. The phenix empire had something similar to rubber on their world."

"Really?"

"Much lower quality unfortunately but someone saw the designs in the archive around 03, or 05 or some thing. You don't really see them outside of the US sadly."

we dragged the cart forward.

"Why not?"

"Exactly two places in the world can grow Rubber. Brazil and compass academy. They only grow in tropical climates and are finicky and oh yeah, if you try to smuggle them out of brazil? thats a capital offense and they will kill you."

"And Merlin got away with it?"

"Merlin single handedly defeated an entire country and lives on a different continent. They're welcome to try but it isn't going to end well for them and they know it. Still, these tires help wheels last longer and it's a lot easier on the suspension."

I nodded.

"Good to know. so they found the design for this in the archives just laying around?"

Frank shrugged.

"Yes."

"Just in the open where anyone can get to it."

"Humanity is the rightful inheritors of the phenix people's knowlege and power, so yes pretty much every thing they figured out is there waiting for people to grab it. Of course most of their technology requires a society where pretty much every one uses magic so not every thing is usable. Different tech base."

"Tech base?"

"The phenix created and developed magic so pretty much all their technology was based on it, humanity really didn't have any magic at all so our technology is based on the hard material science of the lower realms of power."

"So our technology is weaker?"

"Yes and No, given time we probably could have equaled them. We would just end up doing similar things in a different way. A poet said some thing about it once. The road not taken or something."

We stopped and Frank looked around.

"Good, this is the place."

We carefully brought out a large heavy box.

"The place?"

"Oh by the way, what's the largest known castle in the world?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Malbork Castle, it's located in poland and it covers around 45 square acres. I want to one up them. The old castle Frakenstine covered maybe half an acre at most."

"That was probally done for practical reasons you need people to help maintain a castle. You need servants and engineers and."

"I will not let my family's legacy be chained by practicalities. I won't let my lifes' work be chained by practicalities. When my family died, when I went to Compass, I dreamed of building bigger building better."

We placed the large wooden crate down on the ground.

"The Frankenstine family would build something so great, so strong, that the outside world would never dare attack us again. That the simpletons that held us in disdain would be forced to lie back in fear and Awe."

His eyes were manic.

"I had to trade favors, had to pay people, but for 3 years I studied architecture and then I had Merlin and others go over the numbers and now it's ready."

I looked at the big metallic ball.

"Frank?"

He walked closer to it and chanted in some unnatural language and stepped back.

"Iron, quartz, rubies, gold. Every inch of wealth I secreted away is here in this rock."

He pressed something.

"We better leave now."

"Frank?"

"Do you want to die?"

I had wondered why we carried just this one item on the cart.

"The cart."

He got on the cart.

"Notice how it's on a hill?"

I nodded my head.

"We're riding down that hill."

He took out a stick and I got on top of it with him. we sped downhill and I heard rumbling and the world turned black.

"Frank what's happening?"

"That would be the device sucking all available mana out of the nexus, when you get to this level of magic use you ended up taking out all the surrounding light."

Then I saw a red glow.

"Frank....what's that?"

"The lava probably."

"Lava...what's lava."

We continued rolling downhill as frank steered.

"It's the stuff under the earth's crust. Castles need building materials after all and I wanted the strongest stuff."

"So it's harmless."

"Oh hell no. It can murder us very quickly."

I turned around and saw red liquid flowing down hill.

"Frank...."

"I know Igor."

The heat got closer and I grabbed the stick trying desperately to make our cart go faster and faster.

"All of our stuff is going to be destroyed."

"That's nonsense, I purposely had every thing put outside of the lava flow."

I looked forward.

"Cliff."

Frank yawned as we went over the cliff. His hands moved and the water came up to greet us. We gently landed in the Icy cold river and floated away from the island. Frank brought out an apple and started eating it as I watched the lava consume our future home.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I stared at the destruction in horror.

"Going to take a week or so before it's all finished."

He leaned back and tossed an apple at me.

"Let's eat some thing to celebrate. To victory and glory."

I ate the apple, hands shaking.

"Yeah, to that."

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


We walked on the blackened land, every thing was burnt and destroyed. In the distance I saw a large castle.

"I do good work, don't I?"

We walked forward and the ground crinkled and broke under us.

"Looks strange."

"Based on traditional phenix architecture.Human beings can't pronounce it's actual name."

It sounded like bullshit.

"Really? please explain why?"

"The phenix language did not just use normal sound waves, they also used microwave pulses. Think of it like small blasts of heat."

The door opened. The building's edges were rounded, everything looked streamlined.

"Some french guy named it Art Deco."

"Looks different."

"Oh yes, its mostly a northen thing though. The southern states prefer neo classical, which is fine."

"Don't you find it odd that america follows the building traditions of dead empires?"

"People build upon the past, upon a legacy. The new is built upon the old, when you try to go around that you end up with disasters like the french revolution and we all know how that ended."

"With the french conquering most of europe?"

Frank frowned.

"Smart ass."

He snapped his fingers and the room lit up in a glow, he opened a door and smiled.

"The roses."

I stared at the vivid blue roses.

"Roses are not blue."

"These ones are."

I remembered a story.

"There are stories about impossible tasks, getting a blue rose is something that happens in fairy tales."

Frank smirked.

"So there's a story behind this."

Frank picked up a rose and put it into his hair.

"So any ways there was this man, who had fought in the american revolution, and he loved a girl deeply but her father didn't care for him at all. So he told him that he would only allow his son to marry his daughter if he brought a blue rose."

"And I assume he met Merlin?"

"They served together during the revolution while he was building his school. He asked him for help and Merlin, being the man he was, gave him the blue roses. We call them Yankee roses by the way. So he brought the roses to his father in law married the girl and they had seven children."

"Sounds nice. What happened to them?"

"They're dead, old age. Their children manage the family's florist shop where they still grow and sell yankee roses to this day."

Frank opened up another door and I saw a room filled with large glass tubes.

"What is this?"

He lovingly placed his hand on a tube.

"The future Igor, what you're looking at is the future."

He nuzzled the glass tubes and smiled.

"We're going to have to take a bit of a trip back to Nukk, hire on some people, some personnel."

I nodded.

"Do you know any one who can be trusted?"

My social circle was small but I did know one person who knew lots of people who would appreciate an out of the way place where you didn't have to worry about judgemental neighbors.

"Yes, I'm a friend of dorothy, she knows people."

Frank clapped his hands together.

"Excellent! lets go back right away."
​

 

[Cherico]

Raplh Essen


I looked up from my book as music played. Lee put a plate of food on the table.

"You skip through the books."

"The information isn't relevant."

Lee took a bite.

"You say you want to find out why the world ended, so why do you skip around?"

"Because those moments are not relevant to the answer."

Lee lifted an eyebrow.

"And it's boring."

"Those boring parts are what makes up life, but I do see your point. So a book on the history of Israel?"

"Yes."

Lee sat down.

"I don't see how Israel's creation would lead to the world ending."

"Every thing builds upon every thing else. Russia before the revolution used jews as a scape goat for all of russia's problems. This caused the number of jews in Russia to get lower as they left for other countries, and with Israel and the right of return and their policy of helping jews escape places where they are mistreated."

"The number of scape goats get lower and lower and suddenly the government doesn't have anyone to blame."

I nodded at Lee's words.

"And then the revolution happens, which leads to communism which leads to world war two and eventually to the end of the world."

Lee took another bite of his food and chewed carefully.

"That doesn't exactly paint a nice image of the russian people, does it? But it also feels off. Israel and Imperial russia didn't trade with each other and didn't really interact much at all. And Israel during the time period in question wasn't a great power. They were a minor country that existed in america's orbit and did some trade."

He chewed his pasta carefully.

"It might be a piece of what happened but I don't think it explains why the Russians decided to end the world."

"It's a factor though."

"Every thing is a factor Ralph. It doesn't explain why. That had to have come much much later."

We stared at jupiter glowing in the night sky.

"It isn't all bad is it?"

Lee's words shook me to my core.

"The world ended, over a billion people died, earth is a nuclear hellscape. Please explain how that isn't all bad."

Lee took a drink of a soda.

"That's going to be difficult."

"Why?"

"It's like explaining Moxie to someone who has never had it before."

I closed my eyes.

"Moxie....kind of tastes like a mixture of coke and doctor pepper."

When I opened them Lee was frowning, he took a swig from his bottle of Moxie.

"Very well. First of all the human race survived, over a billion people died and this was terrible and horrible but humanity survived, human civilization survived. For the people who died it was horrible but for the people who lived these countries now have planets worth of resources."

He paused.

"We went from dipping our toes into space to planetary governments, that's a big deal is it not?"

"We could have done that without the war."

Lee leaned back.

"And how long would it have taken? A hundred years? A thousand years? And all of this with earth's resources dwindling and dwindling. Would we have used that window of time wisely or would we, like the phenix, just have wasted time in a cold unfeeling universe?"

Lee took another drink of his soda.

"Maybe the crazy old kook we met in Japan was right? Maybe this is simply a phase humanity has to go through in order for it to grow up."

"I don't believe that Lee, I don't believe that it takes a nuclear war to get humanity to advance."

"Struggle breeds success."

"It also breeds failure."

"True but people remember the one person who succcedded, not the 20 who failed. Winners write the history books and humanity ,whatever it's faults, has won."

"And what was our prize?"

"Survival."

 

[Cherico]

Neighbors

Fred Maxwell


Canada and Mexico's developement was in many ways a response to their environment and their proximity to the united states.

Canada could take pride in successfully holding off the americans during the war of 1812, and holding the whole of Michigan during the war, but with the war over both canada and the british empire came to the realization that any future conflict with the united states would mean the loss of canada.

The americans had a greater population, they had the largest population of magi in the world and could produce magi of quality faster then anyone else. Their navy while not as skilled as the british navy, or as advanced, could fight it on roughly equal footing.

The american airforce though was something the british empire could never match in size or quantity, especially in those early days. To the south canada had a long indefensible border. To the east allied Israel, to the west, with the purchase of alaska, the americans again.

Plans were kept in place in case of disaster but the british empire and canada in turn decided that it was best to use diplomacy and trade and make sure to maintain if not good relations then neutral ones.

The americans for their part needed time to digest their conquest and settled into a long period of isolationism, content to limit their power to the western hemisphere for the most part. The border would remain mostly stable and the two countries would for the most part be at peace.

Mexico however was a different story. With the destruction of most of their fleet and loss of so many men and wide spread rebellion, spain realized that it had to prioritize what they would fight for.

South america was written off quickly, with independence being granted in exchange for safe passage of loyalists into mexico. Mexico with it's rich silver mines and resources would be the priority of the spanish empire.

These tactics however only delayed the invitable. In 1825 mexico finally, at long last, gained their independence. However the country was a complete economic ruin. Spain thoroughly looted the country of anything of value before they left.

There were also questions of who would be in charge, weak institutions and the problem of how to pay the troops who had fought so hard for the countrie's independence. The new country felt a deep sense of resentment and betrayal towards it's northern neighbor.

Many in mexico city felt that America had no right to buy it's western territories from Spain and that the land rightfully belonged to mexico. However the country was in no position to attack a country with a bigger population, a larger economy and had naval and air assets that mexico didn't have.

The new government discovered that they couldn't pay their troops and said soldiers responded to this news by overthrowing the government and creating a military junta. The Junta declared itself to be the sparta of the west and claimed that mexico was a country created on militant values and discipline.

The regime justified its existence on these values and deflected criticisms by focusing animosity and loathing upon its northern neighbor. During this time period mexico was an army with a country, instead of a country with an army.

The problem with this was that mexico simply could not afford that kind of military spending. The junta was notoriously corrupt, and positions were based on wealth and connections instead of merit, but the Junta could and did manage to convince outsiders that they were powerful.

The US Airforce, Navy, Army and marine core, by contrast, were always at risk of being defunded or dismantled. They desperately needed an outside enemy to focus the public's imagination.

And mexico became that enemy. Stories were sent to the newspapers talking about the mexican threat. The Junta used these american scare pieces as propaganda to their own people. In the minds of the two republics they were evenly matched equals.

There was just one small problem. It wasn't true. Mexico, at the point of the american civil war, had a population of 8.5 million people. America, due to emigration, a superior medical system and high population growth, had at this point of time a population of 47 million people, one of the largest economies in the world and was an industrial and magical power.

The slave states had been petitioning for an extension of slavery. Unfortunately the last concession the free north states made to them was texas. They would allow one last slave state to come into existance so the south made sure to make it as large as possible.

But they also desperately wanted to extend the time limit that had been built into the constitution. These efforts failed, over and over again. After years of being dominated by the south the north just wanted them to accept the slow natural death of slavery, Which they were unwilling to do. In 1860 the issue finally came to a head the south demanded a constitutional amendment legalizing slavery in perpetuity.

The north in response elected the abolitionist republican Lincoln to the office of presidency. The south rebelled, calls were made in every slave state to rebel against the federal government. Only texas voted against joining the new confederacy.

With the vote being very close, the confederacy looked for allies and asked Mexico's junta for help. They agreed at this point confident that they could easily defeat the soft gringos. In exchange for this help mexico would gain all of the western territory west of the missippi river.

The confederacy had around 9.1 million people, mexico had 8.5 million people, the remaining union had 37.9 million people roughly speaking the union outnumbered their enemies 2 to 1.

They had a much larger economy, they had more industrial power and they could use immigrants to bolster their numbers. There was also the factor that the union's military was going through a modernization phase and were replacing their percussion cap rifles with the modern bullet technology.

Mexico intervened and launched an all out offensive but logistics were poor, food and money were often hoarded and stolen by officers and their enemy had complete control over the sea and sky.

A decision was made to focus america's efforts on destroying mexico's feared army first and elite groups, like the silent legion and the Zone brigade, were sent to mexico.

Mexico and the confederacy did well at first. But both countries lacked industry and while both of them had magi the union had far far more. The junta which had declared itself to be an invicible fighting force proved to have severe weaknesses and collapsed.

America demanded a boarder adjustment, and demanded Baha from mexico as the price of peace. It is very likely that america would have asked for and gotten far more if the confederate states wasn't still fighting against the union.

Mexico agreed to the humiliating peace terms and then fell into civil war and revolution. America then focused it's efforts on finally beating the confederacy once and for all.

When the war was over the question of who would be dominant in north america was settled. The united states was the great power of the continent, mexico's dreams of glory vanished like dewfall in the desert.

The country wouldn't have a stable government that could peacefully transfer power until 1920.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


Nukk was different now. The streets were emptying out as people moved into the interior of the country, into the star. A new capital was going to be built, new cities too. This was partially because of relaxed rules and partially because of land grants, but it was mostly because of the danes.

A few years had passed and they were out there, rebuilding their navy, rebuilding their power, and like hungry wolves they howled at the moon, eager for our blood. Nukk wasn't a defensible position, but the star....

In order to get into the star Danish ships would have to go up the river we created, through choke points we controlled. Every one in the country knew what it was like to be helpless, to not have any way to defend yourself, to not be allowed to.

We were using second hand everything from the americans, if things went bad then Nukk wasn't selfsufficient. But the star was. That was a place you could fight from, survive from, build upon.

I walked into the Gay bar and looked at the bartender.

"I'm a friend of dorothy."

The bartender shrugged.

"Lots of people are."

"I need to talk to her, theres work to be had, government work for her other friends."

The man nodded, he got up and left and I waited for him to come back to me.

"Well then, I think she will want to talk to you."

He led me to a separate room and closed the door, the old lady from before looked at me.

"So the government wants a deal?"

I shrugged.

"I got a position in the middle of nowhere, it's safe and they put me in charge of hiring."

The woman nodded.

"How many positions?"

"I'm authorized to hire around 3,000."

The woman frowns.

"There aren't enough people in the community to do that."

"If we limit ourselves to Israel. Would safety be worth converting for?"

The woman closed her eyes.

"I used to live in New York and I have connections in boston. Even then there are not enough but they can put out word. This work is secret?"

"Top secret."

"It would take time but my connections might be able to pull it off. I know about 50 people who are looking to bolt."

"Really?"

"A couple of them got found out and burned, we had to move them out of their town but we keep running into the same problem as before, we have no safe end point."

"I can provide that."

She stared at me.

"You remind me of him."

"Who?"

"My brother, before they killed him. He was a good man, you would have liked him. it's the whole reason I do this, despite the risks."

I took a breath.

"Thank you."

I gave her the address and walked out of the bar. It felt odd to be back in nukk, knowing that I wasn't going to stay.

"DAVID!"

I cringed and smiled at my father.

"What brings you back home, I thought you had a three year contract."

"Worked out some advanced training classes to speed up the slower children. the instant I found out about that horrid man dying I had to come back."

I remembered Zack stoically standing on the ground, remembered looking from my window as he was burned alive.

"I think things are more complicated then that."

Dad rolled his eyes.

"They really aren't. Now that he's dead and there are elections we can finally create a free and proper Israel, have things the way they should be."

He sniffed the air with digust.

"For example there was this horrible incident that happened while I was gone."

"I was working. What happened?"

"It's...I didn't tell you about this because it's disgusting and horrible but you are a man now. Some men....they prefer other men."

I kept my face still.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, it's horrible and vile. Apparently a group of upstanding citizens were going to deal with it but that horrid man stopped justice from being dealt out."

I shrugged.

"You don't say?"

"It won't be that way when we get into power David. This is going to be a holy country governed by gods laws."

"How was compass?"

I had to change the subject. My father's face metamorphosed.

"It was a place of wonder. I think I misjudged magic."

"Really?"

"It sounds a little bit like Kabala, just a bit more complicated, no devils are involved. Some of the children were horrible, of course, but with a little discipline they became proper students of mine. It's a tool, but we must make sure that we realize that it's just a tool and not a spiritual path."

"And Merlin agreed with this?"

"Insists on it, he's a strange creature but a good host, who treats men of the cloth and letters with respect, unlike some people."

I nodded.

"I wish you luck dad, I have a job up north however."

"Oh."

Dad looked sad.

"Really?"

"Yes, I honestly do wish you the best of luck dad."

"Thank you...look I haven't seen you in awhile David, want to go fishing or something?"

I smiled.

"That sounds wonderful."

And I meant it. Despite it all, I did honestly miss my father.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I watched the ocean with my father, our lines out.

"Heard about the star, you did good work David."

"Thought you hated the government."

He shrugged.

"I do, they came to power through illegitimate means David, they killed people. whatever they accomplished does not remove that stain on their history, you can not grow an apple tree from lemon seeds."

I watched the ocean crest and rise up.

"They're calling themselves the survival party."

I looked over at my father, his face was serious.

"The regime they're calling themselves the survival party. Their platform is simple, survival over anything else. That's the thought process of an animal David, can't wait until we give them the boot."

"And what will you do then?"

Dad smiled.

"We will install religious law, men of the book will be made into judges, the letter of the torah will rule the land. Leaders will be picked amongst this collection of men dedicated to holy life."

"And layman?"

Dad shrugged.

"This will be the only election where they get to vote or run for office, you can not have someone who does not know god's laws vote on the law or create it. I know that sounds harsh David but we have to do things that way for our principles. A land of Jews should be a land of Jewish principles, all of them, you can't just pick and choose."

My dad got up and stretched.

"Come on, we have fish to cook yes."

I walked with him back into Nukk and froze as I stared at two corpses swaying in the wind, I recognized them from the bar. My father and I walked closer and he studied the slip of paper strapped to one chest.

"Sodomite."

Father shook his head.

"This is too far."

I couldn't hold the fear out of my voice.

"You think?"

"Oh yes, at most they should have gotten a caning or the lash, and then a sermon about righteous behavior not...not killed! that's barbaric."

I stared into the dead man's eyes.

"Really, you would just cane them."

"Well yes David, I know you feel disgusted by their sin but you need to be able to forgive. They made a mistake, an error in judgement. You don't kill people for making bad choices, you present consequences and then try to lead them back to the path of righteousness."

I felt my eyes water up.

"I don't think people choose to feel a certain way father, I don't think it's a choice."

My father frowned.

"Stop that talk this instant David, what ever disgust you feel about these wretches they're still human beings. Now help me bring down the bodies."

"Why?"

"Because everyone deserves a burial David, everyone deserves to be prayed for. We respect the dead David, please tell me you haven't forgotten that."

I nodded and helped my father take down the bodies, we took them outside of town, I had in my wisdom brought my shovel with me. I was good at digging, an expert in the field, and while my father prayed for the dead I dug for them. We went our separate ways after that.

I headed to the house I shared with Frank and knocked. Inside I saw dozens of scared frightened men, looking at me with hope in their eyes and a kind of desperation.

"Oh Thank god you're here Igor."

Frank hugged me.

"One day and you get me over 30 employees! This is wonderful, first thing in the morning we are flying out of here."

The men sighed in relief.

"I know I give you a lot of grief Igor but I really am proud of what you did today, I thought it would take weeks at best to find a proper crew."

"Yeah, I do good work..."

"Can't wait to get started, the world's going to be a different place very soon."

I nodded.

"I know what you mean, I think we all want to get out of Nukk and get started as quickly as possible."

The men nodded in aggreement, fear in their eyes. When morning came we all left in silence without a word. None of us looked back.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


"IT'S ALIVE!"

The first artificial girl produced at castle frankenstine.

"AH HA HA HA HA."

I didn't understand the attraction. Frank said he wanted to make the most beautiful woman he could but I felt nothing. Then again I might be a bad judge of that. The woman in question had light blond hair and pale skin.

Frank smiled.

"Eden?"

The tube opened and he gave her a coat, the woman looked confused.

"Who are you?"

"Your creator."

She staggered.

"Why was I created?"

She spoke oddly, in a jumble.

"To love."

"Love...this one's purpose is to love."

Her voice was hollow and unnatural.

"Yes...good, well Eden, I have a room for you. Get some food into you and all that."

She move slowly and awkwardly, like someone who didn't know how to walk properly.

"Did you see that?"

I stared at Frank.

"I did it. I actually created life itself, even improved on Grandpa's work."

"How?"

"You saw her skin right?"

She was pale, sickly pale.

"Pigment, melatonin, it's almost impossible to get right. Most of them end up being albinos, and by most I mean all of them until now."

"Good for you then."

"I know, so um . The men, why are they all men?"

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I didn't want our workers being distracted by petty romances."

Frank lifted up a finger.

"That's brilliant! Why didn't I think about that Igor? Of course the men need to focus on our work, it's incredibly important but I need to talk about things."

"What things?"

"The family coat of arms, I want every one to wear them. The problem is that the Frankenstine coat of arms is just this ugly yellow and red mess Igor. So naturally I changed it."

"Why?"

"Because our family was changed by going into compass and our coat of arms must reflect this change."

He pulled some cloth off of a painting.

"It's a rainbow."

"Well this place used to be owned by vikings, the manliest men out there, and the rainbow bridge was a big part of their beliefs so thus rainbows."

I studied the symbol.

"Well we are a collection of men's men."

"Precisely. Uniforms, we're going to have to have uniforms made up."

"And the girl."

Frank froze.

"Well, there's a government program to find wives for lonely men. I have some criterias, can't drink to much, can't be an abusive jerk, that sort of things. Really there are a bunch of really good men out there who can't find a woman because they're too shy or disabled or kind of ugly."

"And that's who we're giving living breathing people to."

"I know! These are men who will appreciate having a good woman in their lives. I've put forward a program for women but there just isn't any demand. Too many lads not enough lasses as my grandpa would say."

"And you think that will change?"

Frank shrugged.

"Probably not, this is is a frontier. People prefer areas that are no longer wild, settled places, but that's not the kind of people who are going to be moving here for quite some time."

He shrugged.

"But that's not important. The important thing is the uniforms. Now, one of the men you brought here? An excellent tailor you did good work finding him."

"Good to know."

"Unfortunately, due to budgetary reasons, they have to be purple."

"Really?"

"Yes really. For some reason it's the only affordable dye you can get these days.

 

[Cherico]

David Levi


I looked down at the streets of Nukk in the darkness. There was an air of celebration in the air. The international observers were there to count and recount the votes in front of party officials. A woman looked at the world with blank eyes. Her hair was a light red, almost pink. I was worried about that, would people figure out what she really was.

Would the operation be found out, would we be outed, would we survive that process? Over 3 months I had worked hard to carefully build a safe place, a refuge for others like myself. It was fitting, a place dedicated to unnatural creations being a safe place for people like me who had unnatural desires.

"Rose, we will be there soon."

The targets...no. clients, have to think of them as clients, fit a profile. No alcoholics, no men who liked to brag and boast. We looked for quiet men, lonely men who were shy and wanted companionship. Who were lonely enough to not ask too many questions.

We landed on the ground and Rose followed me. Frank apparently used roses and flowers in the process for their hair and eye color. He was always so desperate to push the envelope, to create women with vivid blues, greens, and deep purple hair.

It was a struggle to keep him under control, keep him reasonable. I looked at the small shop ahead of me.

"Dudel's books. This is where my husband works?"

Rose's voice was flat and unnatural, I took a breath trying to control my beating heart.

"Yes."

Dudel Weiser, a man in his late 20s, didn't drink, was rather bookish and shy around women. Volunteered for the program. When I walked in, I saw him, he had an unfocused look on his face and managed to have a permanently disheveled look about him.

I couldn't help but notice that he was a survival party member, not something that was necessarily a wise idea in Nukk. It was where the Opposition was more or less headquartered. It had been a rough election.

"Dudel, I'm from the ministry of love."

He blinked and looked up from some notes. I didn't care for the name, it sounded authoritarian in some way.

"Oh good and, oh."

His jaw dropped.

"I'm um...um."

"You're my future husband?"

Roses words cut through the silence.

"Yes...yes I'm sorry I um didn't expect you to be so stunning."

He smiled and walked over to her, and tripped over himself. Rose smiled and helped him up.

"I think you're cute as well."

Dudel blushed.

"I um...well thank you."

I clicked my heels together.

"Rose is from the."

Need to think about some eastern european region no one knows about.

"The Ukraine, there was some nastiness there and...well she's recovering from what she saw there, what happened to her family."

Dudel frowned.

"Russians?"

"Cossaks, they wanted money and her family didn't have any...it's a common story unfortunately. We're dealing with a lot of refugees, good women but slightly damaged from what they survived."

Dudel went closer to Rose, his stance protective which seemed odd because he was a head shorter then her and gangly and thin.

"You're safe now rose."

"Thank you sir."

"Call me Dude, everyone else does."

I nodded and left the bookstore. My purple uniform fit well enough and on my upper arms were shields with a rainbow heart. The new symbol for the ministry of love. I passed soldiers, happy drunks, and nervous pacers.

"DAVID!"

I turned around and saw my father.

"How goes the election Dad?"

"Oh, we had a bit of difficulty, the party split again."

"Did you change your name?"

"No we're still the Jewish league, it's just that a bunch of people left for the popular judean front."

"Don't you mean the Jedean Popular Front?"

"No they split from the JPF. But it doesn't matter, there are over 500 political parties all striving to bring down the survival party. We can't possibly lose."

"I don't think that's how it works father, the new senate gives out seats based on percentage. You need at least 1% of the vote to get a senator, and the president requires a majority vote."

"Stop worrying David. With that many parties there is no way they can win and anyway we will surely put aside all of our squabling once we have won and the election is over."

That didn't sound realistic at all to me.

"I Wish you luck father."

"VOTE RESULTS ARE IN! VOTE RESULTS ARE IN!"

My father and I went to the town crier.

"Survival party wins the presidency, wins 80% of the senate."

I hid my sense of relief as father fell to his knees.

"No."

I put a hand on my father's shoulders.

"There will be another election in five years."

I gave him a quick hug.

"David, this is horrible."

"I know father, I don't normally do this but I need a drink."

I helped him up.

"I completely understand son. This is a time to drown one's sorrows. Maybe you could find a girl?"

I sighed.

"I'm sorry but my boss just demands more and more of my time."

"Oh yes, I forgot you work for that horrid man. But he is right about one thing David, you need to stop slouching it makes you look like a hunchback."

I hugged him again.

"Thanks for understanding father."

I walked over to the bar and smiled as I was let in. A few of these men got their wives from the ministry, I shook their hands, wished them luck and headed to the back room. I found a man with warm dark eyes and brown coco skin waiting for me.

"Kuupik, it's good to see you again."

"Here to talk about business."

I sat down across from him, my heart beating. Did I have the courage to do this?

"No...our party won, I was thinking we could maybe go out on a hunt and celebrate."

"And what will you be hunting David?"

I intertwined my fingers with his.

"You."

He smiled at me warmly.

"I never thought you would ask."

There in that locked room we shared a kiss. Maybe Frank was wrong about his dreams, maybe the world was flawed. But if all a kingdom of love needs is two people?

Then I've found mine.

 

[Cherico]

Your guide to Israel

Jeremony Clarkson -1980


Israel is a harsh and rugged country, but it's worth visiting and has much to see for any tourist who wants to go. The first thing one has to decide is why they are going to visit. Is it the culture? The natural beauty? or is it business?

The first thing you need to know is the environment.

Most Israelis live on the star, a series of islands deep in the interior of the country, or they live in the blue line, a series of cities built on the Zion river that leads up to the star.

These cities are built into and under mountains using magic and many of them have guns and artillery pieces pointed at the river entrance, left over from the 1800s, the world wars and our current cold war with the russians. They are there for security reasons.

You also find Isralis on the green line, an east to west ley line that bysects the country. The biggest city on the green line is Nukk which houses the best school of magic in the country. Nukk used to be the nation's capital before it was moved to new Jerusalem where it remains to this day.

Culture changes based on where you are, Nukk is the home to many left wing opposition parties and is quite possibly the most liberal city in the country. It is a fun place to visit and is a lot like a colder, darker, San Francisco. But the rest of the country is not like that and it is not wise to expect it to be so.

The underground cities of the blue line are mostly friendly places for tourists to visit but some parts will be closed off to tourists. This is for safety reasons, these are still active mines and not every thing is safe to visit, so keep this in mind.

The Star itself is very conservative and I recommend dressing the part. Keep your head covered and your body clothed.


Local politics.

Israeli politics is dominated by the theocratic Tikva party and the more pragmatic Sored. There are left wing parties, most of them located in Nukk, but they're for the most part a non- factor in Israeli politics.

Speaking of such; do not get into an argument with an Israeli if possible, they can and will argue for hours on end and have a tendency to raise their voice if they know their argument is weak.


International Politics

America- Israel and America have one of the longest lasting alliances in international politics with an alliance that has lasted over a hundred years now. Relations between the two countries are rock solid but to the Israeli in the street they see america and americans like an overbearing older brother.

They like us, and will gladly fight by our side, but they really do not like americans prodding into what they see as their business. Do not try to tell them how to live their lives and you will do just fine.

Denmark- Denmark and Israel have a long sordid history. Israel used to be known as Greenland and was a Danish colony before they lost it in the war of 1812. The Danes wanted for the longuest time to get this land back, the Isralis for their part obviously did not want to see this happen.

Denmark spent the 1800s boycotting Israeli goods, trying to sabotage their economy and running anti Israeli propaganda. This only ended with world war one but Israelis to this day have a negative view of Denmark.

Germany- Relations between Israel and germany were fine before the 1st world war. Then soured as German Uboats often sank Israeli shipping by mistake or on purpose. This got worse when Israel joined the war against Germany.

Nazi germany made this relationship even worse by holding hostage the lives of European jews and extorting oil, materials and other goods in trade for jewish lives. When Israel joined the war, Germany decided to put jews in to the same death camps that Slavs, Gypsys, homosexuals, disabled and other minority groups died in.

Israel, for it's part, has not forgiven germany for its actions in world war two and works together with the reformed west german country grudgingly.

Russia- Before the communist revolution Russia banned the purchase of all Israli goods, sent out antisemitic messages and encouraged the complete destruction of the jewish state. After the revolution they became communists...

Israel contains many people who were forced to flee russian oppression and their descendants. They loathe the Ruskies even more then we do.

Poland- During the long night where Poland was besieged by russia only two countries traded with it and recognized poland as a independent country, the united states and Israel.

To this day relations between the two countries are friendly

Other countries- Israel is a member of Nato and is a firm nato ally and is thus an enemy to communist counties around the globe.

 

[Cherico]

Ministry of Love

Richard Jensen 1981

1818-present day


Headquartered on Frankenstine island in frankenstine castle the ministry of love manages to be one of the most controversial aspects of the Israeli government. Yet despite being loathed by both religious jews, feminists and various other groups the ministry of love continues to exist to this present day.

The ministry of love was founded by Victor Frankenstine, grandson of the Victor Frankenstine who created the first homonculus. The young heir of the family was forced to flee the country after the war of 1812. When he arrived in Israel the country was in majority male and there was a need for brides. There were also worries about a demographic collapse and an invasion from Denmark.

The young Frankenstine offered his expertise to the young nation, in exchange for land and a place to conduct his experiments. The government agreed and, after the great reclamation, the project started in earnest. Hidden away in the far north the ministry created women for unmarried men in Israel.

This project stayed a near secret until it was leaked to the international press in 1838 causing international condemnation. Countries around the world immediatly put economic sanctions on Israel. Which probably would have been more effective if the countries in question hadn't already been in the process of enacting economic sanctions against Israel.

Rather then causing the project to die, the Israelis dug in their heels against foreign moral lessons. The country became angry at the world for once again trying to interfere with their own internal politics, seeing it as yet another attempt to destroy their nation. The united states for its part continued their military, economic and political alliance with the country. A few senators questioned the project but they were side lined.

The memories of the war of 1812, and the growing trade links that brought in increasingamounts of Israeli silver and gold, ensured that the alliance would stay firm. The country weathered the storm and the ministry of loves output of Homuculi women continued to grow.

These days the program has slowed down and there are more controls. In order to receive a homonculi bride one must prove that they are not an alcoholic and pass a strict drug test. They also must prove that they can sustain a family and agree to have a minimum of three children.

It's worth noting that recipients of the program tend to be government supporters and there are rumors of corruption, accusations that the government uses the ministry of love to buy support and legitimacy. That said the program's goal of expanding the birthrate did succeed and between the ministry's impact, natural childbirth, pronatalist programs and emigration Israel managed to raise their population to 10 million people by 1915, just a mere hundred years after the nation's birth.

By the time world war two came, through that same mixture, they had 30 million people. These days population growth has dropped off but the nation has around 70 million people. The worry of demographic destruction has long since passed and yet the ministry of love continues to exist. Maybe in time diplomatic and political pressure will finally end it but, for now, it continues to thrive and castle Frankenstine will continue its grim unnatural work.