Defiant Revival
Page 34
Although the DuBois had already constructed their new home, the relocation was not yet agreed upon. The vote of three still needed to be held on this sudden move of their nation’s seat of power. The hand vote was given easily, as most parliamentary actions were already taking place solely in Drummond, as well as the majority of the senate residing there. The heart vote was no; Queen Lylia Helvendeere was completely against the idea. She hated not only the promise of her son but also the idea of abandoning the land first constructed for the Logos. She felt if the royal family were moved, Casper’s decline would be hastened, if not ensured. The head vote took over a year to be given but eventually was a yes. The Logos also hated leaving behind the city their predecessors built with their bare hands, yet that sentimentality was not worth the success of Casperland. If the nation were to truly thrive, adaptation was necessary.
Drummond officially became the capital of Casperland in the spring of 601. By the end of that same year, twelve-year-old Quincey Helvendeere wed the twenty-nine-year-old Gertrude DuBois. For the first time in their shared history, the patron family and the royal family were connected both legally and by blood.
Casperland’s economy and foreign relations really did improve with the relocation. Peace was enjoyed throughout the continent of Centra, and a strong bond was formed with the northern neighbors in Alafor. Casperland also became highly involved with Enox and gave much needed aide to the struggling Khur, assuring themselves another ally. Everything appeared to be going well, but there was internal struggle.
Lylia Helvendeere died suddenly in the year 603, resulting in the immediate coronation of Quincey I and his bride. Quincey was only fourteen and easily manipulated by his mature wife. She had already produced him an heir, Jacob, and was pregnant with their daughter, Joan, by the time of their coronation. They would have later another son, Eckhold, who would actually become king.
Queen Gertrude was independently wealthy as a DuBois and wielded all the more power because of it. She resented the three-vote system and the way it removed power from the royal couple, despite the fact that it was the only reason she even became Queen. She secretly began pushing at the parliament, even threatening the removal of DuBois funds. Her goal was to get them to introduce legislature for a fourth vote, one for the King and one for the Queen. She argued that both Lyllu and Darus were the founders of the country. It was not fair the king held all the power. (Her exact words were, “Darus did’nae ’ave more sovereignty tucked away in his sack.”) This did not seem to resonate with them, for Lyllu’s role as a non-Logos leader was truly given to parliament, but the financial threats did.
In the year 606, Parliament officially introduced a bill to create a fourth vote, titled the home vote but known as the Queen’s. It was immediately voted down by the Logos, as it ensured that there would be constant stalemates, and its only real function was to give the crown a second say. Despite all reason, King Quincey I sided with his wife and voted yes, passing the catastrophic law. The Logos were able at least to strategize the solution to tied votes. They decided to arrange impromptu elections by randomly chosen citizens for an impartial fifth voice. Gertrude was certain the DuBois would remain entangled within the royal family and would be able to buy off those voters as well, so she posed no contest.
Queen Gertrude used her new power to begin the spread of MortiAegism throughout Casperland. She had converted along with her father as a child and was ravenously devout. She got nowhere with her more orthodox proposals, such as the genocide of faelocks and homosexuals and the outlawing of prophylactics (the fifth vote always siding with reason despite her bribes), but she did succeed in getting the first churches built. Northern and Southern Quarter temples were constructed and members of the Mortanion Brotherhood became residents of the nation for the first time. Queen Gertrude was quite unpopular for this with most, but she also drew many followers who sought the comfort of religion.
The Queen’s ultimate goal was to officially convert the country to MortiAegism. By the time it was introduced as a bill in 616, her husband had perished. He was only twenty-six and died in a hunting accident, though it is widely believed the wound was self-inflicted. Due to his passing, there was no crowned king and also no heart vote. The conversion was thrown out, and many protections were put in place for their spiritual neutrality in this time of three votes.
The Queen, the heir Jacob, and her daughter were all victim to a plague of smallpox that spread through Drummond during the year 620. This resulted in the crown being passed to the five-year-old Eckhold Helvendeere, who was advised by the acting captain of Logos until his eighteenth birthday. With the guidance of the captain and minus the influence of his mother, Eckhold grew up focused on preserving the ideals on which his country was founded. He righted many wrongs brought about by his parents but also kept the relationship they forged with Enox strong. He felt all faiths had a place in Casperland, even MortiAegis, and did much to cement their place within Drummond.
Contrary to what Gertrude had dreamed, another DuBois never married into the royal family. Eckhold was loyal to the Order and married a knight from within it. Queen Stila chose to set aside the home vote, never using it for herself, viewing it as an unfair power. Eckhold still conferred with her on his own votes, but her sacrifice encouraged politics to go much smoother during their reign.
Most Queens to follow put aside the home vote as well, but not Queen Lyllu II, crowned in 810. She was the only Helvendeere heir of her generation and thus felt herself the rightful monarch. She forced her husband to set aside the heart vote in her stead, continuing the peace brought by majority votes. Despite the progressiveness of the first leaders of Casperland, the foundation of their society was still traditionally patriarchal. This led to the monarch always being the first-born male, except in cases such as Lyllu II when there was none. Female citizens would take the family names of their husband; however, with the royal family Helvendeere stayed the last name; all crowned Queens would change their husband’s names instead. Equality between the sexes was better in Casperland than it was in most nations but still obviously stilted. Perhaps Gertrude’s comment was accurate, at least toward the feelings of the forefathers.
Drummond continued its growth into a grand metropolis, yet Casper was not far behind. It remained the continent’s capital for industry and was home to a great many scientific researchers, who founded the Misril Institute. It was also a very popular residence for faelocks, as MortiAegism never took any hold there. Faelocks felt completely free of persecution within the walls of Casper and held many positions of power.
COMMUNITIES:
Only three townships outside of Drummond have remained populated since the bombing of Casper. The first is Codswell, a tiny fisherman’s hamlet on the western shore, about parallel to Drummond. The village of Arronvil sits northwest of Drummond and is the chief agricultural site of the nation. All the residents are farmers and have been treated more and more like servants of the state since the bombing of Casper. The last of the villages that are still inhabited is on the northeast side, near the shoreline at the base of Mt. Kimper. Grummlet is a mining town that was also marginalized by Aldrious and Quincey, but the rowdiness of its inhabitants allowed it to retain more of its independence than the other two.
CLIMATE:
Given Corseca’s tilted axis, the southern side is always facing the sun, turning somewhat up during winter months. This causes the northern pole to be cold almost all the time and the south always sweltering. Casperland is fairly central, though stretches far enough to have many different climates. The Casper Peninsula is humid and tropical with a three-month rainy season, in sync with the tilted orbit. The middle section where Drummond is located had been historically temperate with a mildly wet spring and cold, rainy winter. The weather changed dramatically as the city grew, though the reason is yet to be understood. Drummond and its outlying areas grew hotter and hotter, becoming near miserable in the last century. Despite the lack of rain, it grew more humid, a
dding to the unpleasantness.
The western shore is stormy with a very warm first half of the year and a very cold, rainy second half. There were four villages along its side, but only Codswell has survived the last decade’s unbearable sanctions on travel and trade. The eastern shore south of Drummond is plagued by storms and is so constantly blasted by wind and waves it cannot be inhabited. The northern part of Casperland is heavily forested and rather cold most of the year: the eastern side of it is drier, getting frost at the border; the western half is more lush and rainy, getting snow the second half of the year.
DEMOGRAPHIC:
As is true for many nations on the globe, the appearance of the Casperland population takes most after its family heir. The first Chammerline had pale ivory skin dotted with freckles, fiery red hair, and bright blue eyes. All the family members and nomadic tribes looked as such, though some were blonde or brunette, before the influx of Logos from Knox. Knox being as large as it is and having the largest population in ancient times, the appearance of the pilgrims varied greatly. There were some that carried with them the looks of the southern heir (raven hair, mahogany skin, gray eyes), but there were plenty of varying shades of tan skin and darkness of brown hair and eyes that traveled over. The new residents and old mated, making Casperland even more of a mixed bag in terms of appearance. More than any other nation, it has variety in appearance, and there is no “typical” Casper. The Helvendeere family itself has changed in appearance vastly throughout the centuries, only taking its turn toward pale since the marrying of Gertrude DuBois.
The society started as scholars, magicians, and carpenters but has weeded out the middle group and now plays host to hundreds of professions. South Drummond is famous for clothing designers and haberdashers. The northern quarter has a thriving literary community and a large mercantile industry. The western quarter still has an abundance of factory workers and drunks. Casper was renowned for its chemists and geneticists, but with it gone much of the research was lost as well. Within the two large cities, well-funded educational systems were in place for all children in public schools and also in the Logos Academy for gifted children. Education was affected little by the nation’s conversion; however, many families opted to have their children tutored at home or in church schools by the brotherhood instead. This still made for an intellectually thriving society but led one side to be more fervent and biased. In the poorer sides of Drummond, namely Westend and the Northwest, parents forced their children to apprentice or work instead. This led to low attendance and the schools being not as well maintained as the rest of the city. The outlying areas suffered more from the conversion, their tutors being completely replaced by monks. MortiAegism seemed to be the only subject comprehensively covered, along with installing a sense of duty to continue the specific trades that benefit the nation (farming, fishing, etc.). After the bombing of Casper, Drummond grew extremely overcrowded with survivors. This dropped student enrollment, increased unemployment, and desperately increased poverty.
L. ROCKWOOD is survived by his artist wife, Rae, and their three adorable but stupid cats. He is also quite alive however terribly morbid. It is thanks to this macabre fascination (and likely his Scorpio moon) that death and rebirth is the central focus of all his works. L. definitely has a lighter side, usually manifesting in hot pink or glitter, as he is just as obsessed with all things kawaii.
L. is an out and proud pansexual transgender man. He draws from his own experiences, striving to celebrate the various and beautiful ways love and sexuality can manifest through his characters. His time is split between the Central and Lost Coasts of California. He has yet to spot his favorite animal, the unicorn, in his travels, but he will never give up hope.
By L. Rockwood
Defiant Revival
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Defiant Revival
© 2016 L. Rockwood.
Cover Art
© 2016 AngstyG.
www.angstyg.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-849-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-850-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016913756
Published October 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America