Gra Gryning

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


We sailed slowly to port. I decided to give myself a promotion.

"This is Captain Essen, we are here on solar business."

I waited for the radio to get back to me.

"We're going through the messages, we will have people meet you. Anything to declare?"

"Magic users and some weapons for self defense, we're not moving cargo so feel free to keep it on lockdown."

"Understood, how long do you need to stay in port?"

"Just long enough to pick up an agent and then we're gone."

"Um...we have some trouble."

"What kind of problem?"

"A inquistor of the department of religious values wants to talk to you. It's strictly a run down on the rules but since you want to be gone soon it won't be much of a problem for you. Also I'm sorry but our port can't handle large ships and."

He paused.

"Never mind, we have visual. You're free to come in."

"Is the port new?"

"We used to be a landlocked country before the rapture."

I nodded.

"Good point."

I sailed forward and docked my ship. I waited and then a man with brown coco skin walked towards me. He wore a white outfit and had a golden cross on him. I looked at the purple flags with golden crosses on them lapelled to his jacket and then I noticed his too wide smile and warm chocolate skin.

His eyes were blank and unblinking, and he grabbed my hand.

"Welcome to Rhodesia, may Jesus Christ bless your journey."

He squeezed my hand just a little too hard, the hand shake lasted just a little too long and his eyes stared into mine just a little too long.

"Um, god bless you too."

"Ah good. son the rules. We're a christian country so please watch your language.We are also all children of Jesus Christ, so racial slurs are banned here."

"That's progressive."

"I know."

His head tilted, his eyes a little wide.

"We take that policy very seriously. If you do use a racist slur or use a racial joke we will use corporal punishment to correct your behavior, there are no exceptions to this rule."

He gritted his teeth, still smiling just a little too wide.

"I hope you understand."

"Got it, If I run my mouth expect to be socked in it."

The man waved his hands.

"Oh no, we wouldn't do that, the head is much too vulnerable. We would cane your rear end, back and legs."

I looked to the side at Liam.

"Good to know."

His head tilted the other way.

"But like I said, we value the racial harmony that god wanted all of us to share and know that straying from his holy message leads to bloodshed and death. So please note that if you try to stir up racial conflict we will kill you."

"Good to know."

"If you spread the word of the Antichrist, we will kill you."

"And that is?"

"Communism of course, silly."

I felt a distinct sense of dread.

"Also the only spirit allowed in here is the holy ghost and those approved by the lord Jesus Christ, aka wine. Other spirits will result in fines."

"And other drugs?"

"Cigarettes and Potare legal but any drug that causes people to be more agressive or lose sight of Jesus's message of peace will result in."

"Corporal punishment?"

He nodded his head.

"You're a very smart man sir. But like I said we are a christian country that follows Jesus's message of racial peace and harmony. We are a forgiving people because Jesus teaches us to forgive but if you try to disturb that harmony."

He loomed over me, his smile vanishing.

"There will be consequences."

I nodded.

"Um...I'm just here to pick someone up and then leave."

The man nodded.

"Oh yes, brother Thomas has already been contacted and is right on his way."

"Great, um we will just wait right here on the ship, and um pray to the lord?"

The man gave me a thumbs up.

"Great...oh and if any of your shipmates do not know the message of the lord Jesus Christ."

He pulled out a bible.

"Be sure to give them this, thank you for coming to our country and may Jesus bless you."

I nodded my head, my gaze drawn to the large side arm attached to his hip.

"God bless you too."

I took the bible and inched back slowly to my ship. When we were certain the inquistior was far enough away I looked at Liam.

"Well, that was terrifying."

He nodded in agreement and walked away. We waited in silence on our deck and then a black man with short cropped hair walked down the dock. he was dressed in a business suit and like the inquisitor also wore a cross.

"You are brother Thomas?"

The african man nodded.

"I am here to help you yes? I am sure the soviets destroyed the world because they were the gleeful minions of satan and the antichrist but it is useful to know what excuses and lies they told themselves so we will not allow those mistakes to happen in the future."

"Welcome aboard brother Thomas."

He nodded smiling.

"Glad to be aboard, may Jesus Christ bless our holy mission."

He walked onto our ship and we sailed away. Brother Thomas had a rictus grin as the small town vanished in the distance. Then he turned to us and visibly deflated.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Um brother Tomas."

He took off his coat and shuddered.

"It is tom Yes? Get me the fuck out of here, those people are crazy and I want out you understand?"

"Can do."

He took off the dress shirt and sighed in relief.

"And please tell me you have whiskey? The only thing I've been able to drink for years was that horrible watered down wine."

"It's in the hull, in the fridge."

"Thank god and um, thank you for getting me out of that shit hole."

He walked down and Liam and I shrugged.
​

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


"So...what made you volunteer for this?"

Tom savored a glass of Jack as he closed his eyes in thought.

"To get away from the government of course."

Liam nodded.

"I'm so sorry. If Mugabe had won maybe this whole mess could have been prevented."

Tom stared at Liam like he was an idiot.

"Did you grow up in Rhodesia?"

"No."

"Have you studied Rhodesia?"

"I read a few newspapers and."

"And they taught you nothing. These newspapers, those reporters, they are self righteous shills yes? They get out of the school and think they know better than everyone, that they can judge anyone. That they must fight the man."

Tom massaged his temples.

"You go out, you wear T-shirt with Mugabe's face like he is some rock star, you act like he was some kind of saint. He was not, he was a greedy man that fucked us all."

Tom paused.

"Tell me, what ethnic group was Mugabe from? And do not say african. Come on, if you studied my country so well you should know this yes?"

Liam looked away.

"Shona. Mugabe was a shona, they made up maybe 14% of the population. As for me I am from Nebelli, we are around 4% of the population or were before Mugabe started his war. You know why he started it?"

"To free the oppressed africans who were suffering under white oppression."

Tomas laughed and laughed hard and then stopped.

"This is what he said to reporters who would eat it up yes? What he said to rich liberals who want to look the cool yes? What he said to naive college students who have nothing. It is lies, the only thing Mugabe cared about what himself."

Tomas took another sip.

"He had good intentions?"

Tom shook his head.

"No he did not, he was a greedy, smallminded man who did not think. He looks at Ghana? the whites, the colors, the arabs they are kicked out and africans get the property, get the money. He sees this in Nigeria, he sees this in Kenya, in Tanzania, in Zambia and thinks to himself I too can become a very rich man."

Tom poured more whisky into his glass.

"What he does not see is that the government, they saw this too. And the white, the arab, the indian he invites them in, makes their numbers larger. Most go live in the city, they out number us, but Mugabe thinks they are weak he goes to soviets and gets guns, gets many weapons."

Tom took another sip.

"He thinks to himself, if I kill enough of them they will surrender they will run, then I will take everything and make myself and my friends very rich. The problem is this, the people he's fighting? They are people with nowhere else to run. They control more money, they have more people and they control all the industry and have all the magic and all he does is make them angry and scared."

Tom looks down at his glass.

"Rhodesia was not a nice country before the war, this is true, but the african was allowed to vote, allowed to go to school, allowed to have business. If you did not cause trouble the government would let you be, hell many africans were a part of the government. It wasn't like south africa they wanted to make a deal."

I leaned in.

"What happened?"

"Mugabe wanted war, he used assassinations, torture, guerilla tactics and he was very good at it. He killed all of the moderates, all of those people who wanted to make a deal, now there were only evil men and...and maybe that is why my people supported the regime."

We stared at him. Liam spoke up.

"Why?"

"There were two parties yes? the regime's christian identity party, or CI party and the nationalist front or NF. And the NF's platform? Kill all of the africans, chop chop with their heads. CI talked about jesus yes? much less scary, so we vote for them.The very last vote, very last election we ever had and they won."

"And now you live under a theocractic dictatorship, so why help them?

Tom nodded.

"The regime has a rule yes? Everyone marries outside their race until we are all roadies yes? Well you have until you are 21 and if you do not choose, government chooses for you. So I was just out of magic school and they collect us all in a room."

He paused and took a drink.

"One man, a shona, gets up and says he will not pollute his people's genes with white babies. A white boy gets up and says the same. They argue very loudly and the inquistors come to talk yes? They take them to the back and we hear two gunshots."

He swirled his drink.

"The inquisitors come back, they are covered in blood yes? Ask us if anyone else has a problem with this. Me, I am terrified so I give them thumbs up and say."

He took another sip.

"I have always had a thing for red heads, yes?"

He laughed and then sighed.

"That is how I met my wife, Katrina. We have three children and the government brainwashes them, but If I succeed in this mission we get our own island yes? So I volunteer. Well that and I get away from the crazy."

"They can do that?"

"The government has entire planet, they are very generous with land for those who toe the line yes?"

He took another drink, and Liam looked at him in sympathy.

"I'm sorry you got saddled with some horrid woman."

"Oh no, that is not the case, I actually really like my wife."

Liam blinked.

"But."

"Yes, it is true we were forced to get married against our wills.Bbut we were two lonely and scared people and we made it work. She is a good cook, a good mother and makes me laugh. I like my wife, I like my family. The government I like not so much but at the very least If we are very far away from them I can keep my family safe yes?"

"So they."

"They control you through your children, through fear, through violence and bribery. You go to church on sunday, you pay your taxes, you avoid talking to people and maybe they leave you alone. But the inquisitors are always out there, always waiting...It is horrible but at least I was not murdered yes?"

He took a final sip.

"You are now out of whisky, we must fetch more, yes?"

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


I stared out at the waters.

"So what now?"

Lee sat next to me.

"We collect the last person for the year and then we head to the earth that was, after resupply."

"Where are we going?"

"Mokpo, Korea. I have a friend there, she was a Jayu during the Sino indian war."

The clouds parted, reveling the light of jupiter in the night sky.

"Welcome to Harpalyke. it's been named New Korea. it's... just easier to say it that way."

I saw lights in the distance.

"You could ask for someone more skilled, someone better."

I shrugged.

"I know but Sue....Sue's motivated and I know that she will have my back."

"How do you know that?"

I closed my eyes.

"During the Chinese invasion the communists killed her father, she and her sister were forced to sing to get by. They performed for american, commonwealth and korean troops."

I paused.

"Some guy felt bad for her, he was a marine."

"And?"

"And their family was pretty close to the front, it was close to the autumn equinox and he offered to intiate the whole lot as autumn magi to give them a better chance?"

"And?"

"Only Sue took the offer, guy was a serious student brought all of his school books with him in a bag of holding. He gave it to sue, all his knowledge, all of his notes."

"And?"

Lee leaned in.

"He died. Sue learned english and became the family bread winner, they were the Kim sisters, way she told it she was some kind of star. I never heard of her but she kept learning magic, kept practicing, used her money to study the arts both magical and martial."

I paused.

"She managed to get approval to fight in the sino indian war, my ship helped transport her unit around India for a couple years."

"And?"

"And then she killed a Chinese General, the koreans gave her something called a Taegeuk medal and she went back to music."

I looked at the glowing lights of the city.

"I lost contact with her after the war, but she's one of the most dangerous women alive and if we're marching into hell I want her by my side."

We floated in and were greeted by a patrol boat, my hands flashed and I understood them.

"Why are you here?"

I pulled out a scroll and showed them, the two coast guard stared at each other.

"You're here on the old bird's business?"

I nodded.

"He wants to find out why the world ended. I'm collecting a year to figure it out and I fought by someone's side during the war."

I hoped I spelled the name correctly as my hangul was terrible, but the men nodded.

"She's doing a show in town."

"Good."

We sailed into port and waited, a car arrived to pick us up and drove us quickly through the streets of Mopok. Every where I saw Snow flakes, autumn leaves, glowing suns, and bunnies the symbols of the season in korea. As we drove on the city became seedier and seedier.

The clean cut men were replaced by teenagers with mohawks and I saw more grafitti. My eyes translated the scrawled messages. Some of them were names, some of them were declarations of love, dirty limerics, cuss words and declarations of gang territory.

We finally stopped at an old bar, left the car and walked up to the bar. I paused and stared at a detailed piece of street art, freshly spray painted on the walls.

The wall showed a Jayu walking through an atomic blast holding a infant in his arms, the blast throwing his coat forward. Underneath it was a message.

"We will endure this too."

I shook myself out of my revery and pulled out some Won, I paid the cover charge for the four of us and walked into the dingy club. I saw passed out office workers, men chugging beer as if it contained some great mystery of life and on stage I saw her.

"Sook Lee."

I nodded my head and went to the bar tender, I pulled out my official letters of introduction and gave him some phone numbers to call. At first he rolled his eyes and then he called the number. His eyes widened in horror and he looked at me.

"I am sorry sir, she will sing her last song soon. Please have a seat. Food, drinks, whatever you need is on the house."

I nodded and sat down.

"It's been great singing to you tonight, back during the 70s this was a hit song, I call it. It snows."

The music played her voice was haunting even through the translation spell.

"It snows, Lonely window, Continue it snows."

Her face shone with emotion.

"Was It a dream? Then our promise, Affectionate words, It was a dream."

She span around slowly, floating off the floor, giving her words extra power.

"Burning love, We enjoy together, Season of love, Even if you leave."

She landed and belted out pure emotion.

"AA AA AA"

She regained control of her emotions.

"Burning love, We enjoy together, Season of love, Even if you leave."

She took a breath her voice raspy experienced.

"AA AA AA."

I closed my eyes, taking in the words.

"White tears Flowing on cheek, Night is deep, it snows, it snows."

Too soon the song ended. There was polite clapping as she bowed, the bartender went on stage he whispered into her ear and she nodded.

"I would like to thank all of you, fans are valuable things. That there are fewer of you today doesn't make that any less true, thank you for coming to my show."

"And that was the great songbird of war, Sook Lee!"

She walked off the stage and sat at my desk.

"Essen, didn't expect to see you again."

I shrugged.

"Somehow this rock managed to avoid sinking."

She chuckled.

"It's good to see you, you were a good comrade, but I take it that this isn't a social call?"

I nodded.

"I'm taking a year of Magi into russia, we need to find out why they ended the world."

She blinked.

"Because they're evil."

"I at least want their excuse Sue...but if your career comes first I understand."

"I'm in."

I flinched.

"What?"

"My career is dead, when the 80s came so did new wave, punk, Micheal Jackson. There just isn't any room for an old songbird like me."

"It will be dangerous."

She smiled.

"I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory then fade into the night."

I nodded my head and put out my hand.

"Welcome to the team...any thing you need?"

She looked up.

"I need to fetch some things and for you to take me to America. There is someone I have to meet in oregon."

"That's fine, say what ever goodbyes you need to."

I looked at the others.

"If you have unfinished business I will be glad to help you deal with it, we might not come back from this one, so make those requests."

With those words she grasped my hand and shook it. Her hands were small and delicate and looked far younger then they should but I felt the power in that handshake and felt comforted by it.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim



I walked with Swan though the charred and damaged portion of the city.

"You really know how to treat a girl Kim."

I sighed.

"I mean really the ambiance is fantastic, 10 out of 10."

"Swan, I want to check some thing out."

"And that requires me to walk through the burnt and damaged part of the city again?"

"Again?"

"Keeping the fire from spreading took every agent in the city."

We walked forward.

"HALT."

I pulled out my badge and a soldier stared at me.

"Police duty, I was asked to help find the bodies of the deceased."

"That explains you but."

Swan put her hand to her forehead.

"I am madam Vermont, I sense bad vibes from the wrongfully killed. Their spirits speak to me."

I sighed and took the man aside.

"I'm sorry but the family pressured me to bring her with me on the case...I should have said no but when a grieving mother is asking you to do some thing."

Swan's eyes rolled back into her head as she waved around some crystals and made odd sounds.

"It's just easier to deal with it."

"Korean's are forbidden by imperial law from using magic."

"OH SPIRITS SPEAK TO MADAM VERMONT. FILL ME WITH YOUR WISDOM!"

I stared at the soldier who grimaced.

"I have been dealing with that all night."

He looked up and sighed.

"I...yeah, really?"

"Really?"

I shrugged.

"But at least she's pretty and."

The soldier fumbled through his pockets then gave me something.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Look officer? Speaking from personal experience, never stick it in the crazy. My wife is obsessed with fortune telling, numerology, spirits and all of that garbage. And, let me tell you something, that kind of crazy does not have an off switch so."

I stared at it.

"This is a condom."

"It's too late for me, I got her pregnant I have responsibilites now, and a job as far away from japan as possible. But you're still young."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"If you have to do it, use protection and be careful. This place is spooky as hell."

"I um...will."

The soldier walked off and Swan walked next to me, smirking.

"Really Madam Vermont?"

"If it sounds anything like the mystical mythic west people eat it up."

I looked around the area.

"What are we looking for?"

"If the communists have the golem they're not going to be able to keep it in one place. they're going to need to keep moving it around and the best place to hide it is somewhere safe, some place where no one would be able to look for it."

I looked around the ruins and tried to think like a communist.

"So what do you need me for?"

I thought about what I learned about magic what I learned about scrying.

"They're going to have limited funds, limited resources, but they're going to have safe houses."

"We have checked their known safe houses, as far as we know every communist in the city has gone to ground."

I nodded.

"Precisely, think of it this way. I've read their speech, seasonal magic is a tool of the bourgeoisie, that kind of nonsense, that leaves an opening for the quilpothic arts."

Swan stared at me.

"The quilpothic arts have a whole lot of problems, it's slow, it's limited, you need foci. There's a reason why the phenix stopped using it."

I nodded.

"Which means that any base they use for magic is going to be either their big one or ad hoc. I need you to scry for me."

Swan sighed.

"You know, there are a litteral ton of anti scrying methods. it's not that difficult to throw off a search and."

"Scry for water."

She blinked.

"What?"

"You once told me that water could throw off a scry for a person, for a thing and do so pretty easily."

"Yes because water represents change and fluidity and scrying, because of its very nature, looks for fixed things. It's why scrying was useless for hunting submarines during the great war."

I nodded.

"So we don't search for people, we don't search for buildings, we search for water."

Swan nodded and closed her eyes, she brought out a gem and chanted in static under her breath.

"Got something. it's faint."

"Let's go."

I followed her through the dark soot covered streets, until we got to an industrial building. I stopped and brought out a hankerchief.

"What are you doing?"

I noticed a small out of place piece of brass, I wiped it down, and studied it.

"hmm."

I brought out a coin and unscrewed it and lifted it up slightly reveling a hammer and sickle. I looked up at the ruins.

"A safe house...we didn't know about this one, how did they keep it secret?"

I shrugged and went inside, from the looks of it the place used to be some kind of bar deep in the industrial part of town, the part of town that got hit hard by the riot.

"Water?"

Swan closed her eyes.

"It's everywhere....how?"

I looked at the damaged floor boards and grabbed a chunk of loose metal, I scrapped it up and Swan stared.

"Pipes."

I nodded.

"Cover a floor with closed pipes full of water, no one would notice. It could be done easily, cheaply."

I looked around the building.

"Good."

I saw a bookshelf, there were other ones but this one...this one was still intact, I walked up to it and knocked.

"And that's?"

"Its painted to look like wood but it's not wood. It's metal, probably iron."

I moved the bookshelf over and we saw the walkway. The two of us walked down the spiral staircase and into a large open room, there we stopped.

The first thing that hit us was the smell, the horrible horrible smell. The second thing that we noticed were the decaying bodies of the dead, and the complete lack of fire damage, and the dizzying smell.

Swan's hands moved, the smell faded and she sighed.

"This rooms protected against fire and heat."

I got on a knee and checked one of the corpses.

"It wasn't the fire that killed them."

"The rooms filled with carbon diaoxide, they forgot to ward it against smoke."

She walked around.

"This is...this is every communist in the city, some of their friends, their families....they brought every one here when the fire started."

I nodded my head.

"So this is it the communist party of busan, lets search the place."

We separated from each other until I found a half finished letter.

"Havent found the golem yet, it's probably in Jayu hands, we will search for it after the fire has been dealt with."

I noticed a man on the floor.

"Found some thing."

I noticed him cluching is throat the pained look of fear on his face, swan froze.

"That's the leader of the communist party in the city."

I gave her the letter.

"They didn't have it either."

She nodded her head.

"Then...then it has to be someone else doesn't it?"

I nodded.

"We're right back were we started, what now?"

Swan closed her eyes.

"The commies were never our friends, they sabotaged quite a few of our missions, they were a pain in the ass to work with and wanted to throw us all into mass gaves if they got their way, and were self rightous assholes on top of it."

She paused.

"But they still fought against the japanese, so we will make sure they get a proper burial."

I nodded.

"Good...I will go talk to Subaru about this in the morning, have your people get rid of anything incriminating."

Swan nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful out there, my gut tells me things are going to get pretty damned crazy."

I stared at the corpses.

"I'm pretty sure you're right about that."
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim



I sat alone in my apartment as the night was killed by a red sun. The wind had kicked up the ash during the night and the morning sun bathed the world in a blood red light. The sky reminded me of yellow cigarette stained teeth and I waited as the sun rose in the blinds.

"It's hard to belive they're all dead."

I looked up as seagull entered through the window.

"Were you able to remove everything that was incriminating?"

He nodded.

"Yes, there were lists, names of other sympathizers in other cities, of other resistance groups in the cities. Thanks for the heads up, it's all been cleared out."

He sat down and I sipped a cup of tea.

"I'm going to make some coffee, want any?"

"No I have tea."

Seagull shrugged and I made the phone call, I was still in somewhat of a daze as I gave the location of the dead, of the mass grave. The dispatcher sounded horrified but he relayed the information.

I sat in my chair and took another sip from my now cold cup of tea.

"You're not shaken up by this."

Seagull sat down on one of my chairs.

"No, I'm not."

"They're all dead."

The words cut through the gloom like a knife.

"I know."

"And you're not upset."

"You never had to deal with them on a personal level did you?"

"No."

Seagull took a sip of his coffee.

"There were a few good ones, people who actually wanted to help out, I will admit that but they were always the minority. No, my problem with them, with the communists goes much deeper than that. In fact, to be honest, I hate them more than I hate the japanese and I hate them very deeply."

I remained silent and let those words sink in.

"And I hate them for a reason. The anarchists are, let's be honest, fuck ups. But they're well meaning fuck ups. The marchers annoy me because they think you can reason the japanese off our land, which won't happen because japan is not led by reasonable people, but they really honestly do want to help."

He took another sip.

"The Japanese, I dislike for obvious reasons. The open hypocrisis, the corruption, the craziness, the brutality and their attempts to squash everything korean but their tyranny sleeps. There are lines they do not cross because they simply do not care."

"And the communists do?"

Seagull nodded.

"Oh yes, they very much do. They say they're about helping the working class, that they care about the proletariat, but in actuality? They don't and pretty much every communist I have met has actually been pretty rude to workers, to the people who make their food, to the people who make the world possible. At best they treat them like stupid children to be led around by their superior communist comrades."

He leaned back in his chair.

"They don't care about Korea, they don't care about the poor. What they do care about is the rich, about satisfying their sick feelings of envy. About tearing down every one and every thing greater then themselves. Communists do not care about people Kim. They care about power, they care about control and they care about inflicting pain to satisfy their own cruelty."

"You think that?"

"I know that. Our agents have visited and traded with the people in the gulags, communists have no loyalty to their own people, to those who fought suffered and died for them. They gladly turn on anyone who becomes remotely successful and destroy anyone who rises up in turn. It's an inherently parasitic belief structure, one dedicated to destroying their hosts."

He sipped his coffee.

"So, no. I do not weep over their loss, Korea is better off without Illsung and his band of crazies."

 

[Cherico]

Anarchist Ukraine 1918-1939

Anton Ostrovsky


When Russia surrendered to the central powers Poland officially called for, and managed to get, a separate peace, something that infuriated germany especially when the united states entered the war. The war weary allied powers accepted Poland's request for a separate peace, as they were eager to not have to face polish magi on the battlefield.

Now outside of the war, Poland was newly free, had a ton of german equipment and their enemy was in the midsts of a civil war. Eager to never be invaded again poland cut deals with countries that had been newly freed from russian rule. They created the eastern pact.

It was a military and economic deal where all powers agreed to fight as one if any party was attacked by Russia. Polish policy being as it was they didn't care what kind of government you had, as long as it hated the russians.

The eastern pact included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, the Ukraine and Poland. At first many people did not want to include the Ukrainians. The anarchists had been armed, by the germans reluctantly and the poles willingly, because of the war against russia but after the war neighboring countries had to deal with the fact that an extremist ideology had taken over the country.

But for the poles the most important thing was that the Ukraine was yet another buffer state against russian agression and that they hated the soviet union. So they were included in the alliance and thus had trade partners and a connection to the rest of the world.

At first the anarchists tried to have everyone live in a moneyless anarchist commune. This did not work very well and the anarchists were forced to bow to reality. In the end they decided to limit the power of the central government as much as possible, create an extensive bill of rights and maximize freedom any way they could.

The government that came out of this was disorganized and weak, and some times this caused economic problems, but the Ukraines total lack of laws relating to drugs, gambling, prostitution and other vices made it a vacation spot for wealthy individuals and bohemians.

With its friendly open atmosphere and slowly growing economy many writers, artists, and intellectuals fell in love with the country. When the soviet union invaded Finland and other eastern pact countries in 1925 the world watched as the eastern pact dealt the soviet union a crushing blow, sending them back into Russia without any territorial gains.

It's likely that without the second world war the Ukrainian anarchist state would have either been forced to organize itself into a normal country or collapsed. But it did not die a natural death.

In 1939 Germany and Russia, under facism and communism respectively, invaded the eastern pact countries. The nations involved fought valiantly but were crushed between the two war machines. Soon after Germany would turn on the soviet union and world war two continued on.

When the war ended Russia killed Ukraine's former leadership and instituted communist rule. Ukrainian refugees, and the images created by writers and authors, created an image of an idyllic paradise destroyed by the soviet union. The united states and other western powers, who had held the anarchist state in contempt before the conquest, helped this myth continue as a way to undermine international support for the soviet union.

As a result of these factors anarchists around the world grew to loathe the soviets and anarchist political parties, which would have been an oximoron before the freestate existed, joined anti communist coalitions.

After reading through the primary documents, I have come to the conclusion that our view of ukraine during this period is severely over romanticized. Ukraine was a flawed state and had a lot of problems. It's only in its death that it became the martyred paradise it is viewed as today.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"So, um, the car's doing better now."

One of the advantages of being an adopted Japanese was that I now had access to the motorpool, the bad news was that I was stuck with the renault.

I sighed and stopped the car to let it cool down.

"It's over heating again."

I sighed again and let the car rest again.

"So...why were you out there, aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"

I thought about it.

"Technically this whole golem business is a military issue but we captured it in the first place, I want to know where it is out of professional pride."

Yuki nodded and looked outside.

"All of those people dead."

I shrugged.

"It's ironic. If they had been outside instead of huddling together for safety they probably would have lived."

I stopped the car.

"You did good on the shooting range today, but remember."

"My greatest tools are my words."

I nodded.

"Most problems you have as an officer can be dealt with using only your words, professionalism and politeness solve a lot more cases than guns do."

I turned the key and let him off at his appartment.

"Thanks for the advice sir."

"Stay safe, and try to get in some more training."

"I will."

With that I drove off. It was towards the end of the day, summer was ending, the world was getting chiller and the oppressive heat that covered the country like a wet blanket was fading away. I went towards the local catholic church.

It was run by a korean, Father Park. There were a million Parks in Korea but he was the one who ran the holy see's operations in Busan and I wanted to talk to him. I stopped the car and walked in.

A man looked up from his bible.

"Officer Kim?"

"Father Park."

"I want to talk to you in private."

The priest's eyes narrow.

"Whatever is said in the confessional is sacred."

I sighed.

"I'm not looking into any of your living members, there was that incident during the fire."

"Is this about the communists?"

The father's voice was remarkably controlled but the corner of his eyes tightened in anger, it was slight but I had been around enough cool customers to see it.

"Yes, I wanted you to tell me what you think caused that incident."

"The good book says that those who wish to save their lives will lose it, and those who risk their lives for the Lord will be saved. It is tragic that innocent children died, it is tragic that innocent family members died but if they had helped during the fire they might still be alive."

He paused.

"I will of course be willing to hold services for the dead."

He was hiding something.

"There are rumors that Jayu were fighting the fires."

The father pulled back his sleeve revealing a freshly burned arm, it looked fresh.

"I was a little busy with other matters officer, my flocks needs come first, I hope you understand."

He was stonewalling me, my gut screamed it.

"I thank you for your time, father."

"I wish you the best officer."

I went to the car and moved it out of view, and then I waited for night to fall when it did so I used the cover of darkness to get onto the roof of the church, I looked for a way in and found an open window.

Then I waited carefully, my eyes peering through the darkness.

"Father Park, the officer?"

"Was hunting Jayu. He's gone now, which means we have to deal with the problem that has arrived on our doorstep."

The other priest nodded.

"The only way to destroy that problem is with magic, you and I both know that."

"Which is why I asked if your contacts in the order of saint patrick have come through for us."

"The church understands that threats to the community, like the one we're dealing with, have to be dealt with as quickly as possible, to both protect our communities' children and prevent someone from falling into mortal sin."

They had the golem, they were going to destroy it.

"So?"

"Our contact from the order will arrive past midnight. Any calls you need to make, make them now."

I waited in the darkness as the two priests split up. It was boring, it was dull but a man knocked on the door like a madman and I almost jumped.

"Father."

He looked...skeevy. He was a thin man, with a pencil mustash and a look about him that reminded me somehow of a rat. He looked panicked.

"The cure....you have it, right?"

"We were able to contact someone who could fix your problem. You know this will be difficult, right?"

"These feelings....these desires are wrong, tainted and evil. Please, Father, you're my last hope. Every day I'm afraid I will give in to this weakness."

The man put a hand on his shoulder.

"You have been twisted by the devil, my son, but we have tools to fix things but it will hurt."

The man nodded, shaking.

"Whatever suffering I go through it will be worth it sir."

"Good."

He sat down.

"We will pray together then."

The two of them knelt and prayed. Another knock happened and the door opened. I saw an older man with thinning hair, in a green robe.

"Father Abe."

He walked up to the men and brought out a cross.

"Is this man the afflicted."

"Yes sir."

The priest looked at the ratlike man with wary eyes.

"Touch the cross."

He did so.

"Did you harm any child."

"No."

"Did you act out your sick impulses."

"No."

The man nodded.

"You speak truely. It is good that I got here before you fell to temptation."

He opened up a suit case and started drawing on the ground. The other priest came in and the rat man was led into the circle. They prayed in latin and the circle glowed and the rat man screamed in agony for what seemed to be ages. And then the light of the mystic circle died.

"Son?"

The rat man was helped up, there were tears in his eyes.

"I'm free."

He hugged the man in green.

"I...Finally I don't desire children, I'm free."

He was crying openly the priest in green hugged akwardly.

"Thank me by dedicating your life to Christ's words."

"I will, just... thank you. Thank you."

I suddenly remembered the reason why I betrayed the force, the former director of our department.

"There was a cure."

I didn't know that, I thought he was just a mad dog that needed to be put down, for everyone's sake, for the children's sake.

"He had a choice."

I felt sick to my stomach as I left the church. They didn't have the golem, I knew that now, but the knowlege I had been given only made me angrier than when I started.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


Yuki held out his baton.

"Sometimes you need to use violence in the street, sometimes a gun is too much, your baton is the step in between, let's practice."

Yuki was good, skilled.

"Kendo?"

"My father sent me to a dojo."

"They did a decent job."

Decent but not perfect, I tripped him with my legs.

"In the real world though, people fight dirty."

I helped him up and we spared again. The kid had potential, he was actually more skilled then I was, but I was faster then him and tougher then him. Even using that magically enhanced speed briefly allowed me to get in hits that I probally didn't deserve to land.

I looked at the clock.

"Well it's over."

We sat down and drank some cold water.

"You're doing better."

"Thanks."

He looked over.

"So you think the economy will get better?"

I shrugged.

"People said that 31 would be the year when things would finally turn around, but it hasn't happened so far."

I sighed.

"Any idea when it will end?"

"None, but I don't like it. When times get hard, people get hard yuki."

I got up.

"Come on, I have a hunch."

"About what?"

"The golem, we're going to a place in the western district."

"Where."

"Fritz."

He got up and we went inside the Renault and we drove in silence. Fritz was owned by a german, one who had an idea of how the new government thought.

"Huh."

"Yeah?"

Yuki flipped through a paper.

"There was an incident in Manchukuo."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there was an incident of sabotage on the South Manchurian railway, chinese dissidents according to the paper."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're ordering a full invasion, some guy Lt. Suemori Kawamoto saw the entire thing."

The name sounded familar.

"Well, this is probally a good thing. Gets the worst of the army out of here so they're not making things worse."

Yuki nodded as we drove onwards to Fritz. When we got to the western district we stopped. There were swastika flags proudly displayed outside of the shop and a small line of people.

Then I spotted a man with some of his face covered in metal. His limbs were metal and he looked far younger then he should have. We walked up to him.

"Mr. Jagger, we are here to talk to you."

We pulled out our badges and he nodded.

"In the back room?"

"That would be fine."

We followed him to the back room and sat down.

"What do you want to know about?"

I took a breath.

"There was a recent theft, we have reason to belive the nazis were behind it."

He frowned.

"Me and my people have already complied with police demands."

"Different group of nazis, sir. They came with the ambassador."

The man's eyes narrowed.

"Did he wear a black outfit?"

"There were two and yes, one of them did."

"With an SS sign on it?"

I nodded.

"Then apparently officer, we have an alignment of interests, me and my men are at your disposal."

I blinked.

"Excuse me."

"If the SS are involved, we will help you to our utmost ability."

I took a breath.

"Why you're all nazis right?"

The man chuckled but I heard an undertone of anger and betrayal in that laugh.

"Once upon a time there were two groups of Nazis. The SA, the group me and my men were with, and the SS the group that betrayed us, killed us. Me and my men barely got out of the country alive."

"Is that why you moved here?"

He nodded.

"So what is the difference between the two?"

He smiled.

"Principles. The SA was more tolerant of various lifestyle choices, wanted to give more to the community. The SS just cared about power, they were of course backed by the damned Thule society."

"Thule?"

Fritz shuddered.

"They're...and old group in Germany, they're a prussian organisation and they have an history, a bad one. The Bavarians still have a kill on sight order for any Thule operative who visits there."

"So they're bad people?"

"The worst. human experimentation, killing children... During the great war, they unleashed a lot of bad things..."

He shuddered.

"So what made you move here?"

Fritz closed his eyes.

"We needed to go some place far away, beyond the grasp of the SS. A place where there was honor."

Yuki nodded.

"And, of course, the first rule was no jews. The place had to follow that rule, of course."

I leaned in.

"You think the SS would do such a thing?"

He got out of his chair.

"I don't think, I know. If you need our help, we are there for you."

"We will keep that in mind."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"There's been a serie of murders lately."

I looked at the photos, they were gruesome.

"Who do you think did it?"

Suburu sighed.

"No one knows but whoever did it, they're targeting poor people, homeless people, mostly women and children."

He winced as another photograph was laid on the table.

"I want you and Yuki to take care of this."

I nodded.

"What if it's military."

Suburu sighed and brought out two envelopes.

"The riots cost the navy and the army some political points back home. With the war coming up they do not have the resources to handle a riot right now, so we have official dispensation to 'handle it'."

"By 'handle it' you mean?"

"Kill them. This is an official letter of execution. We, of course, need to prove that a service man did it but there won't be a trial, just an execution on the spot if possible. Preferably resisting arrest."

I blinked.

"It's that bad?"

"No, it's just that the brass have bigger priorities right now and the junior officers want glory in battle more then they want to defend someone's else honor. Bushido can be a remarkably pragmatic belief system when it benefits you."

Yuki frowned.

"Bushido doesn't allow people to murder innocent people on a whim, it's."

Suburu raised his hand.

"Any ethical or moral system is going to be garbage if it's practiced by complete assholes."

Yuki frowned, closed his eyes as if deep in thought and then opened them.

"I'm sorry for speaking out of turn Sir. I understand what you mean."

Subaru laughed and then coughed.

"We will turn you into a proper officer yet. Well, get on it."

I looked at him.

"Any clues?"

He pulled out another photo.

"All of the victims had a swastika cut into their flesh."

I frowned.

"Nazi's?"

"No we went to Fritz, none of the germans did it."

"How can you know that?"

"Because they were all in naval containment, being questioned about the golem, at the time of the murders. All of them were being watched and were locked up. It's not physically possible for it to be them."

That made sense but...

"What about the other germans?"

"The ones with the diplomat?"

"Yes."

"I assumed they went with him...but at the party I heard they were splitting off somewhere, I thought it was in china...this is worth dealing with if it's them...handle it."

"Sir, that could cause an international incident."

Suburu looked at me with haunted eyes.

"I just found the bodies of three dead children, international politics and face is worth nothing without justice. Handle this, make sure you have the guilty party of course, do a proper investigation but handle this."

I took the case files and got up.

"Oh."

He pulled some Keys out and tossed them to me.

"Sir?"

"The Renault died, we're scrapping it. These are the keys to a Lincoln k convertible roadster."

I blinked.

"A city up north had a massive Yak bust, I traded some healing potions we got on another bust for it. Damned thing took forever to get to Busan but that's your official ride."

I smiled.

"Thank you sir."

The two of us walked out and saw the new car.

"It's yellow."

I smiled.

"Yes but it beats the hell out of a Renault."

We both nodded at my statement and got into our car.

"Come on Yuki, we have a murderer to catch."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim





I looked at the map of the murders.

"What do you see in common Yuki?"

He looked at the map.

"The murders are in a circle."

"Good but look at the location of the murders."

Yuki stared at the map.

"I'm not seeing it."

I took out another map, one made out of plastic, and placed it over the first one.

"This is the map, the murders are all taking place in the Yeongdo-district."

"So?"

I overlaid another map.

"Most of Busan doesn't have any leylines, but as you can see Yeongdo island has three small ley lines that converge right here, on the border of cheonhak and yeongseong."

I took the third map off.

"Now look at the city's water and sewage systems."

"They all lead to the mainland."

"Yes I know, that's because the Beljeonso power plant and waste water treatment center is located on that island."

"So."

I smiled.

"Back during 1880 to 1890s there was an attempt by Korea to catch up to the rest of the world. The Belgeonso was created with this in mind, it takes seawater from the ocean and turns it into fresh water, it also takes sewage from the rest of the city and cleans and purifies it before sending it to the ocean and on top of that it provides Busan with all of its electrical power."


Yuki stared at the map.

"How does it do all of that?"


"Magic, they brought in a team of over 500 magi from the western part of the country to build it. The thing produces 2000 megawatts of power every minute, that's why we have so many factories here."

Yuki nodded.

"If magic can do that why isn't it not used more often?"

"Because you need to be able to trust people with magic and most governments are not comfortable with the idea of having their people be able to throw fireballs. Plus it took 20 years to complete the Belgeonso, it was a very expensive project and it took time to create and get just right."


I smiled.

"But it worked and because of all that care it basically requires zero maintenance. But that's where the problem is."

I pointed at the incomplete circle.

"I think we're dealing with a ritual circle of some kind."

I flipped and showed images of the dead.

"And I think we're dealing with Nazis."

"We already investigated the Nazis."

"I'm talking about other Nazis, they work for some organization called the Thule society, magic types."


Yuki stared.

"I also think there's a chance they're the ones who stole the golem, if these murders are ritualistic ones then maybe they're doing this to find a way to teleport the golem back to Germany."

Yuki frowned.

"So all of this is happening because of that blasted Golem?"

I nodded.

"That might be the case, and from the map we see that they're moving by the sewers and water systems, so they're hiding there."


I paused.

"It's going to be dangerous. Cramped, easily trapped, tunnels with an obvious magic user involved."

"Are we getting help?"


"Yes but not the police. We are spread too thinly as it is so I don't want to risk the lives of my fellow officers and the army would just make everything worse."


Yuki nodded.

"So what do we do?"

"We fight fire with fire and Nazis with Nazis, I'm going to contact Fritz and get a group together and then, when we are ready, we will storm the city's tunnels and get our killer."


Yuki smiled.

"And justice will be done."

"Exactly."
​

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"This all of your men?"

I counted them. 10 people in all, with me and Yuki that made 12.

"Most of us died during the night of long knives, I saved as many people as I could."

I took in Fritz's words. Most of them were younger men, Fritz and another man were the oldest.

"I hope you said goodbye to your girlfriends."

Fritz chuckled.

"What?"

I felt a slight sense of confusion and then I noticed Fritz holding the other older man's hand.

"This is Hans."

I looked at the two of them.

"Oh...um I thought the nazis were um."

"Not the SA. The SS and the other branches were corrupted by the zionist conspiracy. Such things were accepted by the Greeks and by the Romans, before the jews got their tendrils into aryan european culture. It's one of the reasons I joined the SA. To purify our country and go back to our roots, where relationships between warriors were accepted and celebrated."

I held back the comments about hypocrisy, and that you need to give tolerance to receive it. I needed bodies, not value judgements.

"Then I wish you two the best."

I walked with yuki and opened up a manhole.

"So they're."

"Yes."

"That's really gross."

He looked disgusted.

"Yuki, that isn't constructive."

"But."

"But nothing. We need their help and if it's between consenting adults then I do not care and have much bigger problems to deal with."

"Isn't there a law against that?"

I stared at Yuki.

"I kind of think selling drugs to children, sexual slavery, assault, theft and numerous other crimes take priority. Learn to pick your battles and always remember : start with the worst crimes and worst offenders first."

I removed the manhole and we went into the depths of the sewer. The first thing that hit me was the smell, the god awful smell. We had all barely gotten into the sewer when I held up my hand.

"Trap."

The moonlight was faint and it was dark in the sewer but my eyes were sharp enough to see it. I grabbed the grenade on the ground and used my knife to cut it away, disarming the primitive trap.

Fritz looked at the gernade.

"German, used one of those during the war, recognize the trap too. We used them in the tunnels and counter-tunnels in the western front."

He chuckled.

"Looks like we're going to have a reunion of veterans of the great war."

I looked ahead into the darkness.

"Well, I hope your friend's hospitality gets better.Because so far the atmosphere is terrible, the food is shit, and his manners are terrible."

Fritz shrugged.

"Then we are clearly dealing with a prussian, no manners at all with those barbarians."

I shrugged and we moved forward into the tunnels of the city.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


We walked through the pitch black darkness, huddling together for safety, before I saw a shaft of light and a man in a black uniform using a ladder to get down. I smelled fresh blood as he turned and looked at us and I saw his pure black eyes.

"STOP, IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"

I brought out my gun and then barely dodged a ball of fire as it headed towards us. I heard screams and the smell of burnt flesh, the nazi ran and those of us who were not injured ran after him.

I grabbed yuki's hand.

"Sir."

I looked him in the eye.

"Let them go first."

Yuki frowned but he complied. My suspicions were rewarded with the sound of traps going off, the sound of men getting injured, wounded and killed. We continued to run forward and then we saw a door open, Fritz put a mechanical arm through the opening of the rapidly closing door.

The door stopped and he pushed it open, allowing the three of us to look into a secret hallway. He stared forward at the opening.

"Need to get something."

He opened up a backpack and brought out a machine gun which he then attached to his crotch. I stared at him.

"That doesn't look like a good idea."

"It will be fine, I will show these swines the power of german engineering."

Yuki stared at the man's crotch gun.

"Well I bet they will nazi that coming."

I stared at Fritz and he at me. Then we both stared at Yuki like he was an idiot. Fritz interrupted the silence.

"Did you get that out of your system? Do you feel clever yes?"

I shook my head and walked forward, Yuki walked next to us.

"Oh come on, that was hilarious."

"Puns are ze lowest form of humor."

"Oh come on don't be a sour kraut."

I sighed and walked next to Fritz.

"Oh come on, like you can do better."

Fritz turned around.

"Very well, I tell you traditional German joke."

We stared at him and he said nothing. He continued to say nothing.

"That was it."

"You didn't say anything."

"That's because there are no german jokes. We are serious people yes, now go."

I ignored yuki's grumbling as we continued onwards to find our enemy.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


We walked through the inside of the building and I frowned.

"Swastikas, lots of swastikas."

They were here, everywhere around me I saw glowing blue swastikas. Fritz touched one.

"No, this wasn't them."

He studied the glowing markings.

"Then who was it?"

"The Korean magi. Those who made the central. You see while the swastika represents lots of good things for humanity like luck, hope and other good things. In the runic language it.."

"Yes?"

"It's used to process waste."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"It means shit in runic. These symbols are about processing the waste and turning it into electrical power."

I stared at him.

"Why does it mean that?"

He sighed.

"The phenix cloaca kind of looks like one if you squint a little."

I stared at him.

"So the symbol of your country is a dead race's asshole."

"COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONTEXT!"

We continued forward, trying to track our killer. Then we walked into an open area and the bald man from the party sighed.

"This is a really bad time."

"You are under arrest for the murder of."

The man sighed.

"Hanz, I told you no murders."

"But I was bored."

The man shook his head, and I studied his circle.

"And we also want the golem you stole back."

The man blinked.

"I don't have the golem boy."

"nonsense."

"No, Really. I'm using this circle to find the blasted thing and I haven't had a bit of success."

"You don't have the golem?"

The man nodded.

"That doesn't excuse the murders that you ordered your minion to commit as part of your dark ritual."

The older man sighed.

"That wasn't my doing boy. That was all hanz."

The big Nazi shrugged.

"I wasn't conducting a ritual."

"THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING?"

The man smiled.

"I wanted to make a smiling face, one made out of murder."

I stared at the black eyed Nazi, the older man shook his head with exasperation.

"Still, you two are under arrest."

The old man cracked his neck.

"Hanz? Handle this."

The old man started putting on belts and clothing. Fritz smiled, ran out and thrust out his hips. Gunfire roared out of his crotch and then he winced in pain and fell to the floor.

"Bad idea, bad idea."

Yuki rushed out with his gun and fired at hanz. His bullets seemed to almost bounce off of him.

"Aura. Fall back."

I grabbed hanz by the collar and pulled him backwards. There was an explosion of black fire, a nimbus of black fire around Hanz.

"You...you do not get it, I was better than you, superior to you, even before my blood was purified."

He threw black fire, I dodged it and pulled fritz away.

"Yuki, GET BACK."

"I can take him."

Yuki dodged and reloaded his side arm. I tried to think.

"Bullets are not working."

"Probably has a charm against them, you need another way to attack him."

I blinked.

"You can make yourself bullet proof?"

"Not forever. Enough bullets cut through that enchantment."

Fritz unscrewed the machine gun from his groin.

"I'm sorry your men are dead."

"heh, they're alive. All of us came with healing potions. I guarantee they're hurt but all of them should be alive."

He loaded the gun.

"How did you get."

"Sign the right forms and you can get anything. Any idea of how to stop him?"

I remembered the crucifix.

"The charm against bullets, does it work on knives too?"

Fritz laughed.

"Nope.."

I brought out my knife and took out some wire, there were sticks nearby.

"YUKI, MAKE A CROSS. RELIGIOUS STUFF HURTS HIM!"

I threw the make shift cross at Yuki and he grabbed it with his off hand before rushing out.

"In the name of god, I."

Hans laughed.

"There is no faith in you boy."

Then his fire rushed forward. I felt a sense of rage as my partner was burned alive in front of me, I screamed and brought out my badge.

"FAITH? YOU WANT FAITH? I BELIEVE IN THE LAW! I BELIEVE IN JUSTICE AND YOU ARE GUILTY OF SEVERAL COUNTS OF MURDER!"

The fire rushed at me and sputtered out in front of my badge. I inched closer to him as lightning flew from his finger tips. Stone, ice, acid, all of it sputtered and died in front of me and Then I was on him. I stabbed him in the throat, he tried to punch me and screamed in pain as I continued to hold my badge.

"IN THE NAME OF THE LAW YOU WILL DIE!"

I stabbed him over and over again and he just regenerated. Periodically my badge touched him and he would scream in pain again. Then, finally, the Nazi fell down, wheezing. I crouched down.

"Out of magic? Surrender."

He brought out his lugger and pressed it against my forehead.

"This still."

The roar of machine gunfire rang out and Hanz hit the wall, I watched as he was turned into swiss cheese. Fritz looked at me.

"It works a lot better when it's not attached to your groin."

I looked at the old man.

"You know you're under arrest right?"

The old man shrugged.

"It seems to be that way. Can I tell you a secret?"

I glared at him.

"Admitting something?"

"Hmm not really. it's just... when I hold this briefcase? My weight equals to a prime number...bye."

The man vanished and I glared hatefully at the wall. I looked at Yuki's dead body.

"Yuki was my partner, I'm grabbing his body. I need."

"The SS man's body. Even if we were enemies, we were still Germans. I will grab his."

We walked through the sewers with corpses on our backs. As Fritz guessed I was wrong, his men were limping and in pain but they were still alive. We walked back to Bussan's mainland with a murder solved and the guilty punished.

But, somehow, it didn't feel like a victory.

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


The reward for doing a good job in police work is another job.

It didn't matter that I had just watched my partner get burned alive, that his screams were still fresh in my mind. It didn't matter that his body wasn't even cold yet, or cremated. No, a series of awful murders had been solved, the murderer was a socially acceptable foreigner which meant that it wasn't Japan's fault and thus, one week ago, I was given the task of solving the golem heist mystery.

"Give me a list of LT's....on the base."

The depressing thing about the case was how easy it was to solve.

The Golem had been held in a large barn, guarded by a collection of servicemen. There were no signs of struggle, no blood, the lock was intact and didn't show any signs of either being picked or use of a bump key. Three Lt's had been charged with making sure the golem was not stolen and all of them vanished during the night of the theft.

I stared at the phone as it rang, I left the warmth of Swan's embrace and picked it up.

"Officer Kim."

The general had yelled at me when I told him the LT's had stolen the golem, shouting that no one would be that stupid.

"Yes?"

"We need to talk...in person, your superior will be there."

I sighed, and looked at Swan. She looked at me smugly.

"Let me guess they were that stupid?"

I sighed.

"Probably."

She kissed me on the neck and I got dressed, I drove towards the base in my vehicle. I flashed my badge and joined my superior in the general's office.

"Hello sir."

The general looked at me with a look of disgust and rage that wasn't directed at me.

"I'm going to kill them, all three of them. Slowly. First I'm going to promote them, then I'm going to kill them real slow."

"I was right?"

The general brought out a bottle of sake. He opened it, brought out a cup, stared at the cup and threw it behind him. He proceeded to chug the bottle.

"I should have known. Of course they were that stupid, all three of them were first leutenants, the stupidest pieces of shit on the earth. Budda save me from these idiots."

He took a deep breath.

"I just got the news that the golem arrived in japan.."

"You're angry?"

The General took another swig of sake.

"I'm beyond angry, I'm so angry that I have attained an enlightment of rage, but for the sake of my men we are all going to pretend this was all a part of the plan."

Subaru frowned.

"You do realize this will look bad."

The general took another drink.

"I have two choices officer. Look like a brutal thug or look like a fool and I will choose thug any day. The problem is both of you know the truth and, though the thought did cross my mind to kill you,"

I reached for my knife.

"I decided I wanted to save all of my hate and violence for those three idiots, so here's the deal. I know the governor general, Subaru. I'm going to get your protege promoted to chief of police for the entire city."

Subaru studied him.

"I thought you hated Koreans."

"Officer Kim was adopted by a Japanese man, he is now Japanese. And anyways soon I will be in China, far away from the Jayu and all of that nonsense. So the deal?"

We accepted it, the threat of assassination that lied underneath the offer wasn't something either of us could ignore. The two of us walked out of the base and to our cars.

"What now, Kim?"

I thought about it.

"Met a girl during the case, I'm going to propose to her."

My Superior smiled and gave me a hug.

"I will pay for it."

"Sir?"

"No arguing, I will pay for all of it. Budda knows I needed some good news."

I smiled.

"I need a best man sir."

The old man smiled.

"I'm there."

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


"So you asked Swan to marry you?"

I nodded and watched the sunset.

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

I took a breath.

"Yes."

Seagull sat next to me drinking his coffee.

"You understand that marriage is a big deal to our people right? It's not just a set of words to us. The magic that runs through our veins, that gives us power? It binds us to our contracts, to our agreements, to our societies. Marriage holds so much power, religious, social and other, that breaking one can hurt us...in some cases it can kill us."

"I know."

I stared out into the distance.

"You know she's a witch right?"

I laughed.

"Yeah, but there isn't anyone else I'd rather be with."

I felt smaller then, somehow, but happier too, satisfied, complete.

"What made you fall in love with her?"

I closed my eyes and smiled.

"She took me to the mountains once, to talk about things, and she was making a sword, a."

"Bonguk Geom sword I've seen her use it."

"Yeah, I just watched her make that sword and that's when it happened that's when I fell in love."

Seagull shrugged.

"I've heard worse reasons to fall in love."

He got up and cracked his back.

"So when's the wedding?"

"Next month, going to keep it small, make it an outdoors event."

Seagull nodded.

"Good, that's great timing. I'm going to invite some people in your wedding, important people."

"How important?"

"Very, and they're willing to turn coat but they want some security in exchange. A chief of police in our pocket? That's very comforting."

I frowned.

"You're all heart."

"I know. but I will provide the venue in exchange, a hotel that works with us, they will offer your Japanese mentor a deal."

"Thanks."

I looked at the setting sun.

"Syngman Rhee."

I blinked.

"What?"

"That's my real name, Syngman Rhee. we have known each other long enough for me to give you that much information."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"You have my blessing."

And with that he jumped into the air and flew away. Swan opened the door and smiled.

"So?"

"He gave his blessing."

She smiled.

"Well that's good news, now can you come to bed?"

I got up, my life was changing, the world was changing but not all of the changes were bad. You had to take what life threw at you some time

 

[Cherico]

Officer Kim


The Haeunda grand hotel served as the location for my wedding.

On that day Swan officially became Cho Subaru. She was lovely that day, resplendant and glorious. But I couldn't help but sigh when I noticed the small throwing knives hidden in her sleeves.

I decided to let it go, I wasn't that much better after all, and as far as I was concerned pretty much everyone had at least some issues. My superior stood next to me as she went down the aisle.

We said our vows, kissed and enjoyed each other's company then we danced at the reception and carefully drank only enough to be polite. As it got dark Swan looked at me.

"I'm sorry, I have some family to talk to."

Subaru nodded and slapped me on the back, the two of us walked away from the continuing party and into a separate back room. She looked at me.

"Sorry about mixing business with pleasure."

I couldn't help but smirk.

"If you didn't, would we be together?"

She chuckled.

"Good point."

We waited and then a collection of five men walked in.

"We're looking for a drink, something traditional."

"Coffee ok?"

The man in the middle nodded nervously.

"It's a newer tradition but it's still Korean."

They sat down. The door was locked and the man in the middle, the spokesman of the five nodded.

"All right we're ready to come to terms with the Jayu."

"We?"

The man brought out a manilla folder.

"We're not just bringing us in on this defection. We know people, powerful people. That little golem stunt was the last straw, all of us had worked with the regime as best we could. We paid our taxes on time, we did everything they asked and they invaded our homes anyway. They ransacked our properties, they set our businesses on fire."

The man took deep breaths.

"The same businesses that make the warmachines they so desperately love. If we are going to be treated like trash no matter what we do, then maybe it's time to be Korean trash."

Swan nodded.

"So what are you offering the Jayu?"

The men looked at each other.

"Information, a small amount of money, whatever arms we can comfortably let disappear, and safe houses."

She nodded.

"And what do you want in return for that? After all nothing in this world is free."

The man smiled weakly.

"In the event of a regime change we want immunity from prosecution for acts undertaken under Japanese tyranny. We want to keep our businesses and our property and have a say in the future government."

She nodded.

"Done. The Jayu has always prided itself on being an organization that keeps its word and contracts."

The men nodded.

"So assurances."

Swan looked at me.

"My husband here is the future chief of police of Busan."

They looked at me and nodded.

"We assume there will be contracts, magical ones to ensure good behavior?"

Swan nodded.

"Can you really blame us?"

"No...but we agree to that anyway."

She held out her hand and shook his.

"Welcome to the resistance."

Contracts were signed and we went back to our wedding. I danced with my wife, was congratulated by my superior and when the night was over the two of us walked to our hotel room.

There we took the time to watch stars.

"Come on."

Swan grabbed my hand.

"What?"

"There is someone I want you to meet."

She took my hand and took me toward the rooftop.

"Who am I meeting?"

She smiled warmly.

"Someone who taught me a lot."

I followed her with a sense of urgency, when we got to the rooftop we stopped. She looked at her watch and then, in the moonlight, we saw a swirl of leaves. As they dissipated I saw a glowing man dressed in an old outdated outfit.

"I see you got married Cho, good for you."

My eyes widened.

"Kim...this is Ankor Park, Ankor this is my husband kim."

I stood there in shock.

"But, but you're dead."

The man shrugged.

"Compass has a rule. The top student, the valedictorian of a class, is allowed to ask for a single wish. If it is within reason and Merlin can grant it, He will. I asked for immortality."

He smiled and sighed.

"You're immortal?"

"It's immortality of a kind, I bound myself to my school in mind, body and soul. As long as it exists so do I, even if it is in this form."

"So immortality is possible."

The man looked at me with sad eyes.

"It has a price. I am bound to my school for 9 months of the year, unable to leave it. Only during the season of autum can I see the world, and even then I can only exist on the leylines."

He closed his eyes.

"Do you lead the Jayu?"

"I helped form it, but no. I am not the leader, a new generation has taken over that organization. Korea doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the future. These days I just teach new students. Students like swan."

She nodded.

"Thank you teacher."

He smiled.

"I'm glad you're doing well student, and Kim...I wish both of you the best."

He shook our hands and turned his back.

"I'm sorry but I must go. There are so many others to talk to."

With that he vanished, leaving the two of us alone.

"I want children soon."

I nodded.

"Sounds good to me, Cho."

"Any ideas for names?"

I looked at the starry night.

"Yuki....our first will be named Yuki."

 

[Cherico]

Aftermath


Officer Kim Boo-Kyum would go on to clean up Busan's police department. After the second world war he was given the job of creating a new cleaned up police force for the whole of Korea.

Officer Subaru made the decision to protest japan's involvement in china after the rape of nanking. The government punished him by making him spend the rest of his life in prison, he would die in a Tokyo cell of lung cancer.

Fritz Beck and his comrads left for China. After the SS case was made public the diplomat John Rabe decided to offer them a position within the german delegation. Fritz was killed by the Japanese for attempting to smuggle children into Nanking's international zone. His name, along with others, is on the Nanking Memorial for the Justs.

Cho Kim, as the wife of the chief of police, was above suspicion. Cho would lead the city's intelligence network. She would go on to have three children. Unfortunately she would be killed during the communist invasion of Korea, while fighting in the siege of seoul.

Synbman Rhee remains a controversial figure in Korean history to this day. His decision to exile all communists in korea after the country was freed is considered as having given Kim ill-sung the motive to turn to his Chinese allies to invade the country. But most people forgave his actions with the reveal of the Busan Notes.

He would go on to win the presidential elections 4 times and is remembered for helping korea industrialize and for his, at times brutal, suppression of left wing political parties that he judged too close to communists.

Kim Ill-sung, after being exiled, turned to the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China. The Soviet Union provided arms, and the PRC men. Those forces would invade Korea in 1950, and the war would last until 1953. The war would devastate the already damaged country and turn most of the population against communism after the communist forces were defeated in 1953.

Kim Ill-sung was captured, tried and executed for treason. Many outside observers called this victor's justice and say that the trial was unfair. These feelings however are mostly held by communist countries. In korea the man is still reviled as a traitor and is loathed by much of the country.
​

 

[Cherico]

Religion and magic

Tomas Soul


Humanity once asked: Are we alone in the universe? Is magic and the paranormal real?

The answer turned out to be yes and now humanity and its religious community had to deal with this reality and fact.

The catholic church dealt with the revelation with caution. Compass academy invited them to inspect the school and learn more about the history of the phenix people. Faced with inconvertible proof that aliens and the supernatural existed the catholic church was faced with a choice of either condemning or condoning magic.

Their study of the phenix showed that they were a fellow monotheistic religion, this made it easier for the church to handle. The decision was made to coopt magic into catholic dogma. The phenix were to become a failed experiment, a proof about the limitations of reason when trying to understand god's message.

It helped, of course, that the phenix religion was widely considered to be incredibly boring by the vast majority of humanity.

The protestant churches took various positions, with some considering it a tool, others considering it an act of divine favor and a few decrying it as a tool of the devil. As magic became more established the later voices proved to be a rarer view point.

Amongst the Jews the feeling about compass was decidedly mixed until the creation of the state of Israel. With a new country and homeland most jews decided to make peace with magic and the existence of aliens, for practical reasons if nothing else.

In the middle east the existence of magic and aliens and the sheer vastness of the universe tore islam apart. The Ottoman empire was hit hardest and the country entered a period of religious fundamentalism, literal witch hunting and brutal warfare that ended with its self destruction. The Persian empire turned to a more gentle isolationism that ended with the soviet invasion and the installation of a puppet state.

Shia and Sunni islam both declared magic to be a tool of the devil and banned its use upon pain of death. Sufi islam however claimed that it was a useful tool for humanity and that all things came from god. Sufi adherents were forced to flee from the middle east to dutch held Indonesia. There they would start a period of mass conversion of Indonesian muslims that ended with them being the most dominant sect of islam by the time of the rapture.

Eastern religions dealt with the issue with the least amount of stress, the hindu faith simply declared the phenix people to be a step below the gods, shrugged and began using magic. Buddists claimed that magic was a useful tool but was not a path to true enlightment. Some thing that compass academy agreed with them on. That said the buddist community was fine with its usage.

The Sikh religion bestowed the title of nonreligious guru onto Merlin after the gifting of an entire planet to their faith. Even before this, the Sikh religion was fine with magic as a practice and took the existence of aliens in stride. As per the compact, the teaching and defence of compass is considered payment for gifting the Sikhs a planet. Many consider being chosen to teach at the academy to be an honor.

In newer religions, the Mormon faith considers the phenix's religious texts to be the lost first book of the bible. Considering that the portions of these texts that are not pure mathematics take up half a page this wasn't that big of an alteration. This left the Mormon faith with a deep respect for mathematics and magic as an art.

Over all, after 200 years and the end of the world the world's religious communities have adapted to magic and its existence. Some consider it an evil practice, some love it. But most religions have become indifferent, considering it just another tool.

Something the founder of compass considers an ideal outcome.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain 1941

Darwin Australia


I glared daggers at the man in front of me.

"This is bloddy highway Robbery, you."

The man raised his hand.

"Think very carefully before you finish that sentence Mr. Mc Clain, because I charge a 10% bigot tax on all my goods."

I paused, staring at the Aborigine's truck.

"You're still a cunt."

The man yawned.

"Your point being?"

"I could go to the mandies and get goods for half the price."

The man shrugs.

"You could. But then you would have to spend money on gas, then you would have to find the mandy who is actually making what you need to sell on the open market and, after all that, you have to talk to the mandies. And, Mr. Mc clain, you white folk hate the mandies and the mandies hate you right back. So what would actually happen is you would either not get anything or the mandy would purposely sell you bodgy goods out of spite."

He paused.

"and you know it. Now, as much as that idea makes me crack a fat, we're all better off if my people do all the talking. You get your magical goods, they get their mundane goods and we get a cut for making sure everything's ace."

"You don't know that, I could argue myself a mate's rate."

"You have a buckly's chance of making that happen and we both know it. We also both know that you're going to take what I brought you and sell it to someone for twice as much. Maybe it will be the british, maybe the Indians, maybe the Africans, maybe the Asians but you're making that money back. So what you are going to do is hand over the quid and everything's going to be fair dinkum."

I glared at him.

"It's still a right rip off, how do you sleep at night?"

"In a worn down truck, with your money."

I blinked and stared at him, and then laughed.

"All right..."

I handed over the money and waved for my boys to take the magical goods.

"Still don't know how your folk got a monopoly on the trade."

The aborigine man sighed.

"What else were we supposed to do? We lost all of our land when you lot came here, and our old way of life just wasn't going to work out. Then we noticed that the mandies made goods you lot wanted and you had goods the mandies wanted and neither of you wanted to talk to each other. And some times I'm damned thankful for that. I would hate to live in some god forsaken reservation and drink my life away like in Canada."

I shook my head.

"Don't compare us to the bloody canadeans. We may not have always gotten on but we never passed anything like the bloody Half Caste Act, we're not fucking savages."

The man blinked.

"That's still on the books?"

I sighed.

"Yes, they still take children away from their parents and raise them to be domestic servants."

The man nodded.

"I heard about their welfare laws, ain't any thing bloody fair about it."

I squashed down my rage.

"What kind of country makes illegal for a grown man to go into a pub."

"Gets worse then that, they made it illegal for half castes to get married or visit their relatives."

My jaw dropped.

"Fucking savages, swear it's the bloody cold. Freezes your damned heart."

My boys nodded at me, the goods were all in the shop.

"You want to come in for a brew? Sure it's fosters and it tastes like piss but it's on me."

"Nah, got to keep my head clear for the road, see you next week Brian."

"See you next week Daku."

We shook hands and I waved him off, it was a point of tradition to be a bit rough when you were in a barter but Daku was an old friend and we both knew the game and the score.

"Well I don't know about you lot, but there's quid to be made, so lets get on it!"

My boy's cheered and I smiled, there were phone calls to be made, letters to write and money to be made and knock on wood but I don't think anything is going to ruin my year.

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


I turned on the TV and put in one of the tapes I saw a fuzzy image Night line


"Tonight we have a discussion between two feminists about the freedom of conscience clause of the constitution. Gloria Steinem and Camille Paglia.

GS- The conscience clause is a direct attack on women.

CP- Can you please explain why? Because it sounds pretty fair, it gives individuals the ability to escape the draft.

GS- Yes, at the cost of being unable to ever vote again, at the cost of never being able to hold public office, at the cost of never being allowed to benefit from government programs, at the cost of never being allowed to have a government job.

CP- Excuse me while I say this with all due respect but cry me a river. The draft board warns you of the consequences, of what will happen, if you decide to sign up for a FC clause. You even have a year and a day to take back your decision. It's a very involved process.

GS- An involved process that saw at least half the women of our generation lose the right to vote.

CP- and 10% of the men. You forgot 10% of the men who also signed a FC clause.

GS- The social pressures on women are much stronger and we were fighting an unjust war.

CP- Excuse me?

GS- We never should have gone into india and.

CP- No....you are not doing this. The Chinese invaded India, they commited numerous atrocities.

GS- Name one

CP- the destruction of the sikh's golden temple, the verka massacres, just for a start. Our defense of india during the Sino-indian war was a just conflict.

GS- It was not a conflict American girls should have been sent to die in.

CP- but it's perfectly fine to send American boys to die in our wars? The price of womens suffrage was that they could and would be drafted in times of conflict. The right to vote isn't free. When the nation needs you, you have to step up to the plate. If you decide not to do that then you do not get a say in how the country is run.

GS- The war wouldn't have happened if we had stayed out of korea and out of Chinese affairs.

CP - Are you honestly defending the people who ended the world? The people who are directly responsible for the murder of over a billion people?

GS- The communists were responding to American aggression.

CP- So we're just supposed to let the communists invade any country they wanted? You saw what they did in Cambodia. We have the records of the gulags, we're talking about a monstrous ideology.

GS- I'm not defending them but maybe if we talked?"

CP-Reagan did talk. We had a nuclear disarmament deal in the works and then they BLEW UP THE WORLD!

Reporter- Can we please return to the subject at hand.

GS- yes. Well it's obvious that the FC clause is sexist and discriminates against women and.

CP- I served.

GS- what?

CP- I spent three years going up and down the Ganges with my brothers in arms. I have a purple heart that I received when a Chinese sniper got me in the shoulder. While you were hiding back home writing about how unfair the world is, I was fighting for my country.

GS-People shouldn't be penalized for life for a decision.

CP- Stop your whining. You don't want equality, you want special privileges. You want to have your cake and eat it too. Our mothers fought alongside our fathers during world war 2, our grandmothers fought right by our grandfathers' side. When a woman signs an FC clause she is breaking a chain of duty that goes back to Glenda Goodwitch."

(channel flip.)

"What you watching?"

"The ship came with a bunch of tapes this one is."

I sighed as a song came on.

"Now who's the boss."

Suzy sat next to me.

"I always liked that show."

I turned towards her.

"Why?"

"Because Angela Bower spoke to me."

"The advertising executive speaks to you?"

"Judith Light was in the marine core during the reconquest of Bihar, she fought hard to get that into her character's story."

We watched the credits turn on and.

"This is the episod about Angela's PTSD."

We watched.

"Mom...Is it some thing I did? I keep trying to make things better but it never seems to help."

"John...stop blaming yourself, this is just some thing your mommy has to deal with on her own."

"But I want to help."

"John, this isn't some hing where you can help."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Is it about the war mom? You never talk about the war."

"John, let this go."

"Mom."

The actress closed her eyes.

"War...war isn't fun and games, it's a very bad thing to go through."

"But the commies were the bad guys."

"I know that, but killing someone... It changes things John. I left pieces of myself in India, a lot of veterans did."

"Maybe you need help."

She looked at her son.

"Your mommy is fine, I do not need help."

It cut to commercial break.

"Knew a bunch of people with the same issue."

Suzy nodded at my statement.

"I know. When world war 1 happened they said it would never happen again, then after world war 2 they said we would never go to war because of nukes. I somehow doubt that there will not be another war."

I didn't have a comment for Suzy. When your homeworld is covered by nuclear winter, it's hard to feel hope in humanity.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clane

If you're reading this then you're reading my musings, or what's left of 'em as my daft wife ended up throwing away half me memories which of course makes me bloody angry. So this is pretty much what's left of my gift to the bloody future.

If you have a problem with cursing then grow a bloody pair and deal with it. If you can stand it then maybe I have a chance of either making a proper aussy out of you or help you understand where we are coming from.

So what happens when an empire finds a mostly uninhabited continent?

Some people would say settle it, some people would say exploit it, the brits looked at this virgin landmass full of natural wonder and said:

"Well blimy look at all this land, let's put all of the people I don't like here."

So of course they decided to put their criminals here. At first it was the worst of the worst then it got expanded and expanded and then It got to the point where stealing a loaf of bread would get you sent here. Why? Because the limies are pricks.

So during this process the yanks make a deal with a giant fucking magical bird and the brits lose 13 colonies who then become a world power. The giant bird creates a fucking school of magic because, why not?

I mean once you have magic using aliens with magic space trees why not open up a school of magic? So the brits look at this school and decide, I'm going to fuck with this lot, never mind the giant bird pushed my shit in, I'm going to fuck with him and put a bunch of our poor people in his school, you know, really fuck it up.

It doesn't work, it continues to not work and then one day, after decades of fucking with the yanks, they snap. There's a war and the fucking English ask all of the children they tossed away like garbage to help out the old motherland.

So naturally they slaughtered them like fucking animals. So after this the limeys think: "Hey what if, instead of leaving them be, we have these urchins fight our wars for us? You know, use them as enforcers for our empire and then toss them away like rubbish after we're finished with them.

So then they fuck up bad and they lose Ireland. By this point most countries would have figured out "you know bloody wot, maybe I shouldn't treat the person who can throw litteral fireballs at me like dogshit.". Not the limeys, they update their policy, now they're going to take those urchins, force em to serve 20 years in the military then after that they get a land grant in the middle of fucking nowhere with a bunch of convicts. Pension? That's too fucking expensive, you get a land grant and up a pinky promise that you won't have to pay property taxes.

So now you have an entire continent filled with ex cons who are angry at you and the same entire continent also filled with military veterans with 20 years experience with magic powers who are angry at you and the whole thing is a tinder box waiting to go off.

So naturally the Limeys think: "Lets put all of our incompetent and corrupt fuckups there". This is the point where queen Vicky got off of her throne and slapped the prime minister outside the bloody head. After losing America, after losing Ireland, Vicky looked at this plan and instantly realized that this whole thing was going to go tits up.

And Vicky? She was fresh out of patience and mercy, and so the continent was cut up into 7 provinces. And, knowing that the parliament would cock things up, she created the 007 project. A seven is given a literal licence to kill any government official in Australia who they deem enough of a fuck up.

Each province gets three agents. They are elected for a period of 5 years by the people and their job is to punish any government official who threatens to light this tinder box through corruption, incompetence, just being a right asshole or any combination of the three.

This project...worked. Me grandad voted for Ned Kelly for the North territory office three times, best 007 agent we ever had. Pity he died before I could vote for him.

So, my thoughts on Daku's comment.

Man was, like it or not, bloody smart. You see, pretty much all of the mandies live in the outback which is the desolate nightmare world I personally do not want to live in. But it's also apparently one of the most magic rich places on earth. The mandies call it "the Tangle", a giant mess of small leylines of magical power that are just scattered all over the place.

So most any mandy lives in the outback, we normal folk or normies live outside the outback and the two of us can't stand each other. We normies like to cut down any tall poppies, keep people humble. The mandies are a prideful lot who are just filled with resentment because they think they got a bad shake. And honestly they did.

You got a lot of people who are in desperate straits and go bushman and decide to rob the mandy's or pull a con. You got the mandy who thinks we're all criminals and wil tell us to shove off and won't lift a bloody finger to help us. Oh they will help their own kind but the normies can go die in a fire.

It's like we can't help but get each other's goat. So Daku's folk, the aborigines, see this mess. They don't have a bloody coin to their name but they realize we normies need magic to survive and the Mandies need our stuff to survive and some one has to do the bloody talking. So they do it, and then someone like me sells the curios onwards. Before the war my biggest customers were the Indians. These days I sell most of me goods to the motherland.

Now do I resent the motherland? Why yes I do, but jolly old England is like a drunken alcoholic mother who beats her children. Sure you dislike her, sure there are days when you want to pretend you're not related but at the end of the day she's still your mum and you support her through the dark times.

Even if she is a bit of a bloody bitch.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I stared at the sheila that was eyeing my goods, the girl was a fat Bogon from the bush but not a mandy. I grimaced as I tried to ignore the sweat that collected between her second and third chin because one chin wasn't bloody enough for her. Greedy little Sheila.

"I need some burner, me old bathers don't fit."

The first step to solving a bloody problem? Admitting you had one. Of course the idea of this Sheila in bathers made me want to vomit but I was a bloody professional and managed to hold back me disgust.

"Good, we have nine kinds of burner to help a person deal with the fat. 1-3 can be sold all over the counter like and."

"Burner x."

I stared at her.

"No."

The Sheila put her hands on her hips.

"Excuse me?"

"Burner X is bloody illegal for a reason."

"But My bathers."

"Burner 1 doubles your metabolism, 2 triples it, 3 quadruples it you can buy all of that over the counter."

I paused.

"It keeps going up like that. Burner 4 to 7 you need a prescription from a doctor. Burner 8 to 9 you have to wear a cooling gem at all times and you need a prescription and the whole bloody thing needs to be overseen by a doc or you can literally kill yourself. Burner X.... That stuff will kill you mate, I don't sell that shit at my store."

"Come on, you're the bloody magic man you have to sell it."

"I don't have to sell a bloody thing."

"Well then just get me in touch with someone who will sell burner X to me."

"You think I'm a bloody Gahal? Some Sheila dies from burner X and people will be looking my way. So not I'm not selling you fucking poison."

"But me Bathers?"

"Do you have a prescription?"

The woman frowned.

"I can get you some Burner 3, you drink plenty of water, exercise and you can burn away the fat 4 times faster, It will take more time but you're not going to die. If you absolutely have to get into that bather soon then I can talk to abby who will get you in touch with a mandy."

She shivered.

"I don't want to deal with the Mandies, them folk aren't natural."

"Well neither is burner bloody X!"

The woman stormed off in a huff, probally because it was the first excersize the bint had had in her fucking life, and I took out me phone and dialed it.

"Police."

"Yeah this is Brian's Magic shop, da one on Peel."

"In the magic district?"

"Same bloody one, had a Sheila come in trying to buy burner X."

The man coughed.

"That shit will kill you! So, a description? color of her hair, skin and."

"She was white, not an abby alive's stupid enough to mess with burner X, had mousy brown hair, brown eyes and dear god was this woman a tub of fooking lard."

"How bad."

"Two chins wasn't enough for the bint, had to go for the bloody trifecta."

The man sighed.

"Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about. We will send in an officer to talk some sense into her. Don't know why some people have to play stupid games when bloody burner 2 is enough for most people."

I shrugged.

"No one wants to do the hard Yakka needed to lose weight these days."

"Deadset right on that one, so how's the boy doing?"

I sighed, me boy was a disappointment in so many bloody ways.

"Still has his head in the books instead of going out and playing rugby or getting in fights like his old man."

"You know as a copper I don't have a problem with the later."

I shrugged.

"The occasional fight's good for ya, teaches your limits."

"I'm just saying maybe it ain't bad if your boy is a Dag, book learning's a useful thing."

"I know, it's just bloody frustrating. Well, keep eyes out for the Sheila so that she doesn't bloody kill herself."

"we will."

I hung up.

"Too many bloody Dragos in this world."

 

[Cherico]

Japan, a prelude to destruction

Nemu Frost


Japan's actions during world war two often seem brutal, psychotic, mad and at times just plain stupid. It is only when one looks at Japan's conditions before the second world war that those actions taken during the second world war make sense.

Japan, unlike most Asian countries, managed to successfully industrialize. They managed to capture and control korea, a goal that had been denied to past Japanese regimes, more or less without a fight. During World War One they managed to capture several islands and concessions that had previously been owned by Germany. During the post war negotiations they were able to successfully convince the western powers of America and Great Britain to declare them a racial equal.

In the interwar period they went from success to success, even the battle of Kacongol ended with japan being given generous terms and tribute from the soviet union. They had successfully punched above their weight for so long that victory disease was perhaps inevitable. During the great depression the military took over the country, with junior officers often dictating the course of the country on the ground.

Japan's opinion of itself grew and an entire generation was raised on a bushido cult. The leaders of the country grew to believe their own propaganda but there were consequences for their actions. The rape of Nanking proved to be a tipping point for the public opinion in both America and the british empire.

The decision was made to stop selling oil and material to Japan until the nation withdrew from china. The Monroe pact likewise followed American example and the Japanese warmachine simply could not prosecute the war without those materials. The Japanese navy, which had been denied glory, pulled out a plan.

An all out surprise attack on the western powers, a campaign of shock and awe that would bring a decisive battle. However they also needed to break the west's will to fight and Prince Yasukiko Asaka, fresh from his victory in Nanking, offered a plan.

The prince believed that westerners were weak mentally and could not take the horrors of war. If the Japanese were fast and brutal enough then the western powers would concede anything out of fear. This convinced many and he and his men were pulled out of China. As a reward for his victory in china Prince yasuhiko would be given the task of conquering Australia and making the land a Japanese continent.

The Japanese victories in China and Russia had convinced them they could win big again. What they didn't take into account was that the Soviet Union's magical resources were limited and that the Chinese tactics of the time were to use magi purely as a support force for conventional fighting.

The Japanese tactics of using machinery and magic as one had pulled one upset after another and, because they used the qulipothic arts, new magi could be trained quickly. They dismissed the power of seasonal magic as they had fought against such in korea and the Jayu, despite all of their efforts, were mostly limited to holding the mountains. Hiding in them according to Japanese propaganda.

The Prince's plan was simple. Take the port city of Darwin, break Australian moral by creating an Australian Nanking and then, when he was finished, take some light infantry and light armored vehicles to take the city of Canberra. Once the capital fell the continent would forever belong to the Japanese.

There was just one slight problem with this. The Australian outback was one of the most magically rich locations on earth. It contained the Tangle a massive collection of ley lines and nexus that seemed to fill the outback. The Jayu were seasonal magi, yes. But they had never numbered more then a hundred thousand during the entire Korean occupation. Meanwhile Australia had been the dumping ground for the british empire's magi for close to a hundred years at this point.

The magi often had large families and they passed the mystic arts down to future generations religiously. At the time of the invasion, Australia had a population of ten million people. Of these ten million people, a quarter were magi. These magi were both skilled and called the Outback home.

For the Japanese to conquer Australia they would have to go through the Outback and two and a half million mandy's were waiting for them.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


The copper arrived at me shop mid afternoon I looked up.

"You here about the sheila?"

"We had a talk with her, the bint's from London and doesn't know any better. A talk with the doc made every thing apples."

I nodded.

"So why are you here?"

He passed me a note and I read it.

"warrant?"

"I need some truth juice."

I narrowed my eyes.

"This better not involve the union dispute."

The Copper sighed.

"It does unfortunately."

"And the judge allowed it?"

"And the Seven."

I stared at him.

"The seven? We got a bloody seven here? Crikey who the bloody hell caused that to happen?"

The cop put up his hand.

"Nah it's apples mate. The man's just here to make sure that no one does anything stupid during the negotiations. The juice is just going to make sure both sides are on the up and up."

"Dead right?"

"My bloody oath. And anyways the whole thing has been a piece of piss, they should have the negotiations finished this afternoon."

"Good 'nuff then. Hate to have a strike get in the way of business. Still the last time you got a warrant for juice was."

"Ito, I was there for that mess. You and I both know that if we didn't use the juice an innocent man would have gone to jail."

I nodded.

"And, in the end, the man they said he killed ended up showing up a week later. Poor Sod just got lost in the bush."

"I met the bint the poor sod was married to. If I was in his shoes I'd get lost in the bush too."

We laughed and I nodded.

"So anything else?"

"Yeah the mandy's are coming in to protest the anzak's day march."

I sighed.

"The mayor still isn't letting them march with the other veterans."

The copper sighed.

"Yes, bad business that. Goes against my sensibilities, just like the sunset law.

I frowned, my eyes narrowed.

"You mean how Mandy's aren't allowed in town after dark."

The copper shook his head.

"The Mayor can insist on that all he wants, far as I'm concerned he can rack off."

I went to the counter and unlocked the truth potion, one of the more minor ones.

"Anything else?"

"Some ciggys. it's going to be a long day."

"Normie or alchemicals?"

"Alchemicals."

I placed the vial of truth juice on table and looked around.

"Got some alchemicals from the yanks, genuine Eagle's flight."

The copper smiled.

"Fair Dikum?"

"Fair Dikum mate."

I put a pack of cigarettes on the table and the copper paid me my quid. He looked at the box and smiled.

"It's from Kentucky, every one knows the best alchemicals are from there."

He smiled as he read the package.

"3 hours? Each ciggy lets you fly for 3 hours? Local stuff lets you fly for half an hour tops."

I shrugged.

"I don't know how they do it mate. So you going to keep that in reserve, or?"

"Hell no! I got to share this with me mates, pleasure doing business with ya."

I waved good bye at the copper and looked at my son Billy. he was carefully organizing the potions we got from the Abby's.

"Go on."

he blinked.

"Da?"

"Git, you need a walkabout. You spend too much time inside and in those books. Now git."

My son cleaned his glasses.

"Are you sure Da? I'm not finished and."

"Bah, you're only young once. Go out and git. And maybe find yourself a nice Sheila while you're out there."

I closed my eyes.

"Stop."

My son stopped and I signed at his tweed jacket.

"Some quid to spend...just don't waste it all on books, this time."

"Thanks da."

As he left I shook me head.

"God help me."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


The rest of the day proved to be quiet. I had some customers come in and buy things and most of the curios were shipped off to the motherland, to fight the Jerries again. I sat down to our table and smiled.

"What you making Mitzy?"

"Fish n Chips, and coffee with some Milo in it and for dessert some fairy bread."

"You spoil me."

She kissed me on the head.

"What can I say, I'm feeling a bit Clucky these days."

"Suits you."

Billy walked into the kitchen.

"I got a meeting with Nick tonight, mind if I skip Tea?"

Mitzy frowned.

"Sure, get some bloody exercise on your walkabout."

"Thank da."

He walked out and Mitzy's left eye twitched.

"Do you have to let our boy run wild?"

I shook my head.

"I just want him to get some bloody exercise and get his head out of those books."

"Its saturday night you know? He's not coming back, he will be gone all sunday again."

I shrugged.

"Good. We're closed sunday anyway, some time in the bush will be good for billy, make him a man."

Mitzy laid down the food.

"You know, we have never met Nick."

I shrugged.

"What is there to know? Nick's family farms in the bush, plenty of people do that."

"What if Nick is the wrong sort Brian?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Far as I'm concerned? maybe Billy needs the wrong sort in his life."

Mitzy poked me.

"Stop that! We don't know anything about Nick, I haven't seen hide or hair of this boy."

I sipped me coffee and put in a spoonful of Milo.

"What's there to know? He's billy's mate, the one he met when I sent him on that walkabout."

Mitzy glared at me.

"I'm still furious about that, you sent our only son out into the bush alone when he was bloody 10 years old."

I shrugged.

"I needed to toughen him up, Billy didn't have any mates, he wouldn't play rugby or cricket or anything. All he wanted to do was read books in the bloody library. That ain't a life Mitzy, and it was good for him. After he came back he got better grades, he stopped failing Physical education and he stopped getting sick from every little thing and was able to lift things."

"Way he tells it, he almost died out there."

I waved her off.

"Billy exaggerates, and anyways it's a rite of manhood to go into the bush."

It was an old argument we had off and on for about six years now.

"Billy changed during that trip Brian."

"Yes, he grew up."

"No, there are other changes. He goes off on his own at night to the sea, he gets twitchy around Maggie O'connel."

"Bint's been married 4 times and divorced three that's just bloody common sense."

"Something's not on the up and up Brian.."

I sighed.

"Fine...tell you wot, we will invite Nick over and have him have tea with us, you happy?"

"Heaps."

I nodded and ate my dinner. I didn't know what Mitzy was so upset about. Every boy out there needs at least one mate.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I sighed as my son came in after school, he was wearing that stupid turtle neck and the tweed jacket that almost existed just to bloody irritate me.

"So your mate, Nick."

Brian turned his head.

"Yes?"

"We would like to meet him."

Billy blinked.

"Really? You and mum never wanted to meet Nick before."

I sighed.

"I was afraid I would scare 'em off. You know me billy, I try me best but I can be a bit of a mongrel."

He nodded in understanding.

"Um ok, I will bring Nick over for lunch then."

"Not tea?"

"Tea's too late for Nick, but I will bring Nick over."

I nodded my head and sighed.

"So...the other day I gave you some quid, please tell me you at least talked to a Sheila while you were out."

Billy blinked.

"Yeah I talked to a girl."

I smiled.

"And?"

"We got plans to go see a movie or something."

I wanted to give advice but it was always bloody baby steps with Billy. I gave word to Mitzy and we waited for billy to return home. I felt a sense of discontent as he cleaned his glasses and read another of his economics books.

It would be easier if he read adventure books, I could understand that. But it was always these things that bored a man to tears, and I should know I tried talking to my boy about them. Then I heard the reving of a motorbike and Mitzy grimaced.

"Um."

"That's Nick's bike."

My wife grimaced twice as much.

"I told you he was with the wrong crowd, this nick is a real Hoon."

I rolled my eyes.

"Stop that nonsense Mitzy, lots of blokes use bikes, I used to ride a bike."

"And you were a complete Hoon back then."

I smiled.

"Guilty as charged, Starlight."

I heard a knock on the door and opened it.

"Welcome to."

I blinked, a Sheila stood there chewing some bubble gum.

"I'm here for Billy."

She was dressed in a leather jacket with leather pants. She also wore a white T.

"Hey Nick, ready for the movie?"

"Yeah Billy."

I heard a crash as Mitzy dropped a tea cup.

"Mum, Da, this is Nick."

"Criky."

I looked at me wife and then at Nick.

"They want to have lunch with us after the movie."

Nick shrugged and blew a bubble.

"See ya in the Arvo."

Billy walked next to her and she smacked him on the bum.

"Missed ya heaps billy."

"Missed ya too Nick."

She reved her bike as Billy got behind her and sat down, then the Shela smiled at me and gave me a look that was full of pure bloody defiance. She drove off on her bike as me and my wife were left speechless.

I thought about what just happened.

"Huh....so this is what it feels like to be on the other side of it then."
​

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I calmly cooked some fish on the Barbie while me wife paced back and forth.

"Nick's a Shelia."

I flipped the fish.

"You reckon?"

Mitzi put her hands on her hips.

"Yes, I bloody reckon! Our boy is with some biker Sheila. God in heaven, I won't be able to show me face in church."

I shrugged.

"Doesn't that bloody affect you?"

"Sure it does. If I can't go to church I will have to find another place to take a nap on sunday."

That earned me a punch in the arm but I laughed it off.

"Be serious our boy's with a bloody hoon."

I rolled me eyes .

"Just because a girl rides a bike it doesn't make her bad people Mitzy."

I heard the sound of a doorbell and put the fish on a plate. Nick walked in with Billy, she sat next to him and looked at us with eyes full of defiance. I put the food on everyone's plate.

"So welcome to our home, you want a few coldies?"

Nick frowned.

"Can't drink, I got to ride home."

I looked at Billy.

"Never really cared for the taste."

I sighed. Of course Billy would be like that.

"Fine, tea for both of ya's."

I sat down and took a bite.

"So Nick, that short for some thing?"

"Niko, me ma's from Greece."

I blinked.

"Crikey you deadest?"

She nodded.

"Yes this is true, Dad was stationed in Antolia during the Ottoman advance...for all the good it did them."

I grimaced.

"Yeah, heard it was ugly down there. I was stationed on da western front. I got lucky though, war ended a couple months after I got there."

Nick nodded.

"So what did you da, do there."

"Maintained defensive wards mostly."

"So."

"Yeah, I'm a mandy like me da before me and his da before him. Is that a problem?"

I thought bout it.

"Don't bother me none. Be a bit of a hypocrite if I did, I make my lively hood selling curio's to the motherland. You can't make your bread off a thing and hate it. It's just not done."

She nodded and we ate, mostly in silence, the air thick with bloody tension then, with meal over, she got up.

"Got to go to the Sevo and get some petrol."

"So fast?"

"It's the bloody sunset laws, got to get out of town before they throw me out."

Billy got up with her.

"You want me to come with?"

She kissed him on the cheek.

"I can take care of myself, but thanks."

With that she left. Billy smiled warmly at her as she drove off. Mitzy's eyes were full of terror and she whispered under her breath.

"A mandy, a bloody fucking mandy."

"Don't be like that."

"I will not have a bloody Mandy in my fucking family Brian."

"Excuse me? Look around Mitzy. this house, the food on our plates, it's all here because of the mandy's and youse know it true."

"It doesn't mean I want them in the bloody family tree, ugh I'm leaving."

Mitzy bolted and I sighed. Billy looked at me in concern.

"Is mum?"

"Your mum will come around, give it time."

Billy nodded.

"Good, it's just... Nick's really great and I don't want to lose me only mate."

I smiled.

"I understand, I will also understand if she's more then a mate."

I laughed as me boy's face turned red.

"None of that, alls going to be well. You mum's just worried that people will talk."

"And?"

"And of course people are going to talk. Less then six thousand people here and, let's face it, nothin' ever happens in Darwin."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I rode over to the Servo to refill me truck. Ito looked up from his desk as I approached him.

"Hey, how you holding up?"

Ito shrugged.

"Doing all right, people here understand that I left Japan for a reason."

I looked at the newspaper next to him and cringed.

"So the whole thing in china."

"Brian, those assholes killed my parents. Japan stopped being my country after that happened."

I looked at the other newspaper, the one that proclaimed his innocence.

"So."

"The bloke who got lost in the bush got me a frothy, these days we're mates."

"Good."

"It was a slow newsday."

I chuckled.

"Every day's a slow news day."

Nothing ever happened in Darwin.

"So I'm told your boy's dating a Mandy."

I blinked.

"How did you know that?"

"Your wife told one person. So, naturally, everyone knows now. Don't worry da city isn't up in arms against you."

"Criky, it was just yesterday when."

"It's Darwin. Nothing happens here, mate. Like I said it's not a scandal, for a scandal to happen the event must be both unexpected and interesting. A boy who works at a magic shop who dates a witch? That doesn't betray peoples expectations. Now if it was a preacher's son it would be a different story."

"I get it."

I put some quid on the table.

"Criky, I get it. so, I need some petrol."

"Oh yes, I will go take care of it."

We went outside and he started refilling my truck.

"So the government killed your parents?"

He nodded.

"Yes, they were part of a fraction that wanted the civilian government to have more control of the military, so the military blew em up. After that I sold everything I owned and got out of there. Now I sell gas."

He shrugged.

"Far as I'm concerned, it balances out. Sure the weather's terrible, I have to deal with the occasional bigot, there are bugs everywhere and the humidity is lethal but at least I don't have to deal with the government back home."

"That bad?"

"Two officers had a contest about how many Chinese they could behead, they lost count and decided to restart the whole thing. It was in the papers from back home."

I frowned.

"So they're in the clink then?"

"Nope, they got medals."

Ito sighed and shook his head.

"Tell you what, you ever see a Japanese navy ship arrive here? Take your family and run. Get out of town, go into the bush."

"You're being dramatic."

Ito looked at my truck with exhausted eyes.

"Really wish I was."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain



When I woke up something felt wrong. There weren't any birds in the sky nor any clouds but it was too bloody quiet. Everything seemed to be slightly off and me gut told me something was wrong, so I put a closed sign on my shop and started packing up the truck.

"You're being Paranoid Brian."

I shrugged at Mitzy.

"My gut tells me something's off, and I always follow me gut."

Mitzy frowned at me.

"Maybe your gut could shrink a little?"

I smirked at her.

"Hey not me bloody fault you're such a good cook. But seriously there is a feeling in me bones that something's going to go wrong. Maybe it's a storm or maybe it's something else but I think it's best to be packed up."

"And that's where me clothing went?"

"Yes."

"I was worried you had decided to wear me dresses."

I chuckled.

"Cheeky little Sheila."

I finished up.

"Billy still has that mirror?"

"The one he won in a cardgame? it's in his room."

I nodded.

"Good, we're loading it up and putting it on the truck."

I went up into billy's room and saw the enchanted mirror, you didn't see a whole lot of 'em about. The navy would buy 'em all up or the money-people would buy em up. But me boy managed to win one in a card game. Didn't know how he did it until I met his Sheila but it made sense now.

"Come on then."

I touched it and the mirror opened up onto a small room. Inside I saw what looked to be a collection of used books me boy bought over the years.

"Runes 101, compass school of magic?"

I rolled my eyes, my boy was always fascinated with the hows and whys of things. I stocked up the room with water, food and canisters of gas and put it on the truck.

"You know, you have done this before and there wasn't nothing to it Brian."

"Let me have my peace of mind woman."

I continued packing and when I was finished Mitzy shook her head as we had tea.

"You know this has happened before, right?"

I shrugged as I had a frothy.

"I know."

"Every time your gut talks, you lose a day of work and nothing happens."

"There was that storm."

"We live inland, the bloody storm barely hit us. And anyways the weather service works with the yanks to cut up any hurricane or monsoon that gets half way dangerous and."

That's when I heard the explosions. Mitzy looked at me in horror and then grimaced.

"Ma, Da, someone's shelling the city, we need to get out of here."

Mitzy slumped.

"Never going to bloody hear the end of this."

She got up.

"We're all packed Billy, for all the good that will do us. Only thing out there is the bush."

Billy nodded.

"I know. But I know where Nick's place is, it's pretty safe and Nick's family are good folk."

He went outside to the truck and Mitzy sighed.

"Mandy's. We're going to shack up with bloody Mandy's."

I got out of my chair.

"Any port in a storm love."

With that said we got into the truck and drove away. Whatever was attacking Darwin, that wasn't something I wanted to deal with any time soon.
​

 

[Cherico]

Yippi do Kangaroo

Rolf Harris


The Kangaroo is a symbol of Australia as much as the Koala bear and the Emu but many people ask when and why the Australian people domesticated them. Truthfully the taming and domestication of the Kangaroo was not a natural one and it was not done due to a desire to conquer nature but by pure necessity.

When the british empire discharged a magi and gave them their land grant, they just gave them 20 acres of land in the tangle, one for each year of service. But then these magi were not provided with horses or pack mules, they got neither equipment nor seeds. After they were sent to Australia and discharged they were essentially on their own.

This didn't mean that there were no support networks or preparations, Most magi served knowing exactly what was in store for them when the empire didn't need them anymore. They prepared accordingly. You also had groups of magi who banded together and formed fraternities in the military in order to look after each other. Compass also had a known habit of sending supplies and care packages to former students in dire straits. These care packages often meant the difference between life and death for a magi in the bush during the 1800s, but they were limited due to the remoteness of Australia and various other problems.

The biggest thing compass did for their former students came from a willingness to send books. They sent entire libraries to their wayward students. These books contained secrets of magic, engineering, nature, farming and entertainment. For Magi in the bush these books proved to be a much bigger boon then any care package. In these books were the more obscure practical magic that many magi had ignored in their yougth.

But now, in the outback, they rediscovered these spells that would bind a familiar to you, allow you to tame and strengthen a mount, magically bred desired traits into animals. These desperate magi who often didn't have horses, or much in the way of food, looked around and found the ever present red Kangaroo.

At first they were hunted for food and meat but one magi, forgotten by history, got the idea to capture a kangaroo and use their magic to tame it. Runes were then tattooed into the beasts, making them stronger, faster and more loyal. An unenchanted Kangaroo could reach a top speed of 70 Kilometers per hour and an enchanted one could get over 200 Kilometers per hour. Though the normal cruising speed for a unenchanted Roo was around 40 kph, for an enchanted one around 90 Kilometers an hour.

The early magi picked solitary males as their targets but, in time, they realized that they needed to capture females to breed with their steeds. The red ended up being picked to be the work horse and stead of the Magi who lived in the bush.

Due to their attachment to their new animals other Kangaroos were domesticated for meat and leather and, in one or two generations, the idea of eating their red became a bush taboo. Meanwhile eating a grey or Antilopine roo was considered to be perfectly acceptable.

The Magi who settled in Australia often made the best of their pitifully small land grants. Making citadels, castles, pyramids, zigurats and other grand buildings that maximized what land they had.

Green houses were built, primitive hydroponics built by hand and magic allowed them to conserve water and maximize their output. Out in the bush the Magi became the selfstyled lords and knights of the outback.

As their children grew up they would set out and create their own estates using magic. Some Magi decided during the 1870s to bring back the art of jousting. As there was often very little in the way of entertainment in the tangle this sport became a popular one.

Clad in homemade armor and using handmade lances boys would travel on their roos and challenge other boys to a joust. Riders would try to strike each other and unseat each other as their roos jumped around the confined homemade stadiums.

In time other Australians found out about the sport and decided to watch the spectacle. By the time of the first world war rules had been created and it had become a major sport in the outback. These days it's the 6th most popular sport in the country, with the Sydney thunder dome holding the grand melee, the biggest contest in the country every year.