There is an old adage, ask and you shall receive.
I've had a shocking number of people contact me in the last month or so asking me to continue, and so I present to you all a slightly different sort of writing this time: a chronicling of the world after Sectumsempra.
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Foreword:
After several years of debate, at the 12th annual Vana’diel historian summit it had been decided that the world had, in fact, entered a new era and that the way dates were referenced ought to represent that. The specifics were argued for three weeks thereafter until a series of compromises had been settled. The deaths of the heroes Sectumsempra and Maje would mark the start of the transitional era from the Crystal Era (CE) and the Unified-Nation Era (UE). In order to avoid too much catastrophe, the transitional era lasted until the normal New Year Festivals, effectively setting it up such that six months and two weeks after their deaths that events and dates would be chronicled according to the UE calendar.
As with all things, the change seemed rather trivial. Many argued that there was no point to it, and at a fundamental level it was known to be quite the hassle. Why then, was a change even needed?
Historians argued that there is a clear transition from the CE and UE political, social, economic, military, agrarian, technological, et cetera, et cetera, methods and styles. It is easier to look back now and see such trends, though it is understandable why there was little organized opposition: even then, twenty five years into what would become the UE era, the nations and peoples of the world had still been recovering. There was a lingering fear that is only now beginning to fade, nearly sixty years after the last Turned had even been observed.
Though there was some argument as to if a new date was necessary, the fact is undeniable that in the years following Sectumsempra’s death that Vana’diel had turned into a very, very different world. The forming years of the Unified-Nation Era had been a chaotic time, despite the lack of external threats.
In order to fully understand the context of these formative eras, it may be beneficial to remember the stories of your grandparents, to read the diaries of Sectumsempra and Cid Highwind, to listen to the recordings of the speeches the great leader Wolfgang gave, to travel to Windurst and hear the last Sibyll’s song, to visit the Tomb of the Prophet, and to familiarize yourself with the old Soul-Plate recordings that show the nations as they were before this time. For those younger than thirty years old, it may be difficult to understand how radically the world had changed.
To be sure, the formative years of the Unified-Nation Era offer an interesting insight into how power and intentions can drive people to interesting levels and give a further appreciation for the world that our children, ourselves, our parents, and our grandparents have created.
Alai Sectum Majaab
Chief Historian of the Vana’diel Chronicling Association
Emperor of Aht Urhgan
From The Ashes: The Rebirth Of Jeuno
From The Ashes: The Rebirth of Jeuno
On 'The Turned'
Those that once stood with us had been turned against us by the foulest of dark magic and crimes against humanity. They were known at the time as The Turned, as they ‘turned’ against the five races and sought only to feast upon their body and souls. At first believed to be some sort of sickness due to the fact that it seemed spread by bites, scratches, and spit, it was later revealed to Sectumsempra that it was a very advanced form of black magic that spread through tainted blood. Perhaps a sickness is not such a wrong description.
For a time, it had been thought that the Turned were required as part of a ritual needed in order to resurrect the Shadow Lord. This was later found to be false, and was simply a plan by the prophetic demon known as Kana’Vulu in order to lure Sectumsempra to the demon stronghold. The Turned were a plague against humanity, a nearly undefeatable swarm of enemies at first, but really had only existed to lead to the events that would resurrect the Shadow Lord.
Unfortunately, even after Sectumsempra had eliminated all the demons involved in the creation of the plague, the Turned still continued to ravish the land—though severely weakened from the equivalent of malnutrition—for some time. There were several scares and several more people fell and turned. On Lightsday, 1/4/01UE there was a minor breakout of the plague once more, as a Turned that had fallen into a ditch for some months had bitten a young Hume boy by the name of Bryange, who then ran back home, scared. Four members of his family were infected in the following hours.
Word spread quickly of these newly infected and they had been promptly executed through the use of extremely excessive force. A friend of Bryange had said that Bryange claimed to have been attacked by a terrifying monster in North Gustaberg. Under the organization of Wolfgang, a heavily armed team of Bastok’s First Infantry Division had been dispatched and found the final Turned, destroying it.
This was only the first of several outbreaks by straggling Turned that would be dealt with. In the fifth month of 01UE there was an effort made by the Third Allied Infantry Division and Fourth Allied Cavalry Division in order to scour the entirety of the known affected areas of Vana’diel and comb through one last time in order to commit a final purge. Several areas that had not been thoroughly investigated during the times of the plague had been found to be housing shockingly large amounts of Turned: the casualty reports from the Third Allied Infantry Division state that in Gusgen alone they had eliminated eighty-seven Turned and lost sixteen of their own men in that fight.
It seemed that Turned took an unnaturally long time to starve to death and even one victim would keep them well enough fed to live for months. It was first estimated to take six to eight months for a Turned to starve to a permanent death. In 29UE documents were discovered in a hidden research facility under Chateau d'Oraguille that detailed experiments that were run under the behest of High Prophet Trion, where they had smuggled several dozen Turned to San d’Oria. Apparently, the average period for someone to become turned was seventeen hours and twelve minutes. It takes a Turned eleven months without any food to starve to death.
A Turned can be bled out for eighteen hours before succumbing to permanent death. The blood trickles unnaturally slow. Though unethical, these techniques had provided some interesting medical advancements in the following years as healers looked to magic to aid in healing tactics: the concept of ‘the clotting of blood’ was discovered through observations of the blood flow out of a Turned, and it was discovered that the five races of Altana had similar blood clotting that occurred on open wounds, although nowhere near as dramatic. This was only one of many medical advancements that these practices, while regarded as unethical, had yielded.
After three years of scouring every possible corner of Vana’diel for a sign of Turned, the members of the Third Allied Infantry Division and Fourth Allied Cavalry Division had returned to their nations of residency as heroes. A total of nine-hundred turned had been eliminated, and only sixty-two Allied Members had been killed in the process. The last Turned not in captivity had been killed on the evening of the seventh day of the ninth month of 4UE by an unknown Mithran ranger. There are no reports of Mithran rangers in either division, leading to thirty years of speculation to occur until finally the identity was revealed to be the then Mithran Chieftainess, Alyria.
The Turned are now but a memory, but those few survivors left alive still find themselves crippled by the harrowing memories of the destruction the Turned had caused. It is estimated that 63% of the population of Quon and Mindartia had been destroyed due to the Turned and Demon invasions. The pioneer of modern statistics, Dame Shi, asserts in his second publication, Trends and Necessities in a Post-Crises World, that another three month of Turned onslaught would have seen the end of the five races on mainland Vana’diel. Shi later goes on to explain that the only races that have seen a remarkable recovery in population have been the Galkas and the Quadavs.
Those that once stood with us had been turned against us by the foulest of dark magic and crimes against humanity. They were known at the time as The Turned, as they ‘turned’ against the five races and sought only to feast upon their body and souls. At first believed to be some sort of sickness due to the fact that it seemed spread by bites, scratches, and spit, it was later revealed to Sectumsempra that it was a very advanced form of black magic that spread through tainted blood. Perhaps a sickness is not such a wrong description.
For a time, it had been thought that the Turned were required as part of a ritual needed in order to resurrect the Shadow Lord. This was later found to be false, and was simply a plan by the prophetic demon known as Kana’Vulu in order to lure Sectumsempra to the demon stronghold. The Turned were a plague against humanity, a nearly undefeatable swarm of enemies at first, but really had only existed to lead to the events that would resurrect the Shadow Lord.
Unfortunately, even after Sectumsempra had eliminated all the demons involved in the creation of the plague, the Turned still continued to ravish the land—though severely weakened from the equivalent of malnutrition—for some time. There were several scares and several more people fell and turned. On Lightsday, 1/4/01UE there was a minor breakout of the plague once more, as a Turned that had fallen into a ditch for some months had bitten a young Hume boy by the name of Bryange, who then ran back home, scared. Four members of his family were infected in the following hours.
Word spread quickly of these newly infected and they had been promptly executed through the use of extremely excessive force. A friend of Bryange had said that Bryange claimed to have been attacked by a terrifying monster in North Gustaberg. Under the organization of Wolfgang, a heavily armed team of Bastok’s First Infantry Division had been dispatched and found the final Turned, destroying it.
This was only the first of several outbreaks by straggling Turned that would be dealt with. In the fifth month of 01UE there was an effort made by the Third Allied Infantry Division and Fourth Allied Cavalry Division in order to scour the entirety of the known affected areas of Vana’diel and comb through one last time in order to commit a final purge. Several areas that had not been thoroughly investigated during the times of the plague had been found to be housing shockingly large amounts of Turned: the casualty reports from the Third Allied Infantry Division state that in Gusgen alone they had eliminated eighty-seven Turned and lost sixteen of their own men in that fight.
It seemed that Turned took an unnaturally long time to starve to death and even one victim would keep them well enough fed to live for months. It was first estimated to take six to eight months for a Turned to starve to a permanent death. In 29UE documents were discovered in a hidden research facility under Chateau d'Oraguille that detailed experiments that were run under the behest of High Prophet Trion, where they had smuggled several dozen Turned to San d’Oria. Apparently, the average period for someone to become turned was seventeen hours and twelve minutes. It takes a Turned eleven months without any food to starve to death.
A Turned can be bled out for eighteen hours before succumbing to permanent death. The blood trickles unnaturally slow. Though unethical, these techniques had provided some interesting medical advancements in the following years as healers looked to magic to aid in healing tactics: the concept of ‘the clotting of blood’ was discovered through observations of the blood flow out of a Turned, and it was discovered that the five races of Altana had similar blood clotting that occurred on open wounds, although nowhere near as dramatic. This was only one of many medical advancements that these practices, while regarded as unethical, had yielded.
After three years of scouring every possible corner of Vana’diel for a sign of Turned, the members of the Third Allied Infantry Division and Fourth Allied Cavalry Division had returned to their nations of residency as heroes. A total of nine-hundred turned had been eliminated, and only sixty-two Allied Members had been killed in the process. The last Turned not in captivity had been killed on the evening of the seventh day of the ninth month of 4UE by an unknown Mithran ranger. There are no reports of Mithran rangers in either division, leading to thirty years of speculation to occur until finally the identity was revealed to be the then Mithran Chieftainess, Alyria.
The Turned are now but a memory, but those few survivors left alive still find themselves crippled by the harrowing memories of the destruction the Turned had caused. It is estimated that 63% of the population of Quon and Mindartia had been destroyed due to the Turned and Demon invasions. The pioneer of modern statistics, Dame Shi, asserts in his second publication, Trends and Necessities in a Post-Crises World, that another three month of Turned onslaught would have seen the end of the five races on mainland Vana’diel. Shi later goes on to explain that the only races that have seen a remarkable recovery in population have been the Galkas and the Quadavs.
[+]
Interested to see where this goes. Keep up the good work!
Ohohooo, here we go again!
Reading glasses, ready! 8D
Reading glasses, ready! 8D
The Bastokan Theatre
Captain Wolfgang of the Allied Forces addresses the people of Bastok, 5/23/02
I am neither oldest, nor youngest, nor he who traveled most, nor am I the most well-spoken, the most well-read, the pinnacle of anything. What I am is a man that has seen the dark path of a world as it burns, and I am a man that would not let it burn again. So I come to you, here, on this evening in Bastok's pride--the metalworks, where Bastokan ingenuity had made us a strong, proud nation--to tell you all that we must not let ourselves fall again.
Aye, it's been but three short years since a short struggle for humanity came and claimed the half our brothers, our sisters, our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and our spirit. Just three years, and now we stand on the verge of crises once more.
Look at our food reserves, all dried up! Look at our water system, steadily becoming less clean. We have let this town fall to our apathy, our misery, our desire to pretend that all our problems were solved when Sectumsempra left the world, and that very stupor has caused poverty, hunger, disease, and despair to raise up. I see the start of the old racism starting, too.
And I come to tell you, as a hungry brethren that could have taken bread for naught just on my rank, that it need not be this way! Nay, for so long as any child in Bastok goes to bed without so much as bread and milk, and wakes up without a sock, I shall eat no more than the poorest of beggars.
But I come not with hollow words, with promises. I come not with threat: I come with knowledge, and I come with a plea: my fellow brethren, please, for all that can be done, let us work together to pull ourselves out of our own stupor. Let us bring Bastok once more back to the pinnacle of pride. Let us dispel the whispers that Bastok is a failing nation. Let us not turn our backs on each other, for petty differences as race and gender!
Nay, I say nay! I will not let Bastok crumble!
As we speak, our wisest engineer struggles alone to assemble the first of many machines that he has designed to save us. But Cid, he cannot work alone, and so many will not work without a promise of bread: and so I bring to you that, the promise of bread.
The famous engineer, Cid, works to build a machine that would be the heart of a water plant that would take the salt water of the sea and turn it clean for drink and agriculture once again. Help me, my brothers; help me bring food and drink back to Bastok, and glory to come after.
Any able-bodied man that is so moved to help, please, come join me up front here and let us march to where Cid needs our help, and let us show him that Bastok is still strong. In one moon's time, Bastok shall have clean water again.
Captain Wolfgang of the Allied Forces addresses the people of Bastok, 5/23/02
I am neither oldest, nor youngest, nor he who traveled most, nor am I the most well-spoken, the most well-read, the pinnacle of anything. What I am is a man that has seen the dark path of a world as it burns, and I am a man that would not let it burn again. So I come to you, here, on this evening in Bastok's pride--the metalworks, where Bastokan ingenuity had made us a strong, proud nation--to tell you all that we must not let ourselves fall again.
Aye, it's been but three short years since a short struggle for humanity came and claimed the half our brothers, our sisters, our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and our spirit. Just three years, and now we stand on the verge of crises once more.
Look at our food reserves, all dried up! Look at our water system, steadily becoming less clean. We have let this town fall to our apathy, our misery, our desire to pretend that all our problems were solved when Sectumsempra left the world, and that very stupor has caused poverty, hunger, disease, and despair to raise up. I see the start of the old racism starting, too.
And I come to tell you, as a hungry brethren that could have taken bread for naught just on my rank, that it need not be this way! Nay, for so long as any child in Bastok goes to bed without so much as bread and milk, and wakes up without a sock, I shall eat no more than the poorest of beggars.
But I come not with hollow words, with promises. I come not with threat: I come with knowledge, and I come with a plea: my fellow brethren, please, for all that can be done, let us work together to pull ourselves out of our own stupor. Let us bring Bastok once more back to the pinnacle of pride. Let us dispel the whispers that Bastok is a failing nation. Let us not turn our backs on each other, for petty differences as race and gender!
Nay, I say nay! I will not let Bastok crumble!
As we speak, our wisest engineer struggles alone to assemble the first of many machines that he has designed to save us. But Cid, he cannot work alone, and so many will not work without a promise of bread: and so I bring to you that, the promise of bread.
The famous engineer, Cid, works to build a machine that would be the heart of a water plant that would take the salt water of the sea and turn it clean for drink and agriculture once again. Help me, my brothers; help me bring food and drink back to Bastok, and glory to come after.
Any able-bodied man that is so moved to help, please, come join me up front here and let us march to where Cid needs our help, and let us show him that Bastok is still strong. In one moon's time, Bastok shall have clean water again.
[+]
The Bastokan Theatre
The Agrarian Revolution
Following the creation of the first desalination facility under the plans of Cid Highwind and managed by Captain Wolfgang, a large effort was put into studying animals and plant life. Up until this time, which would later be known as The Agrarian Revolution, families were generally still following a loose joint-family model in Bastok. It was not uncommon for children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and sometimes even further to be living in attached houses. Because of this setup, it had been the cultural norm for the family to own a small number of animals that they bred on their own accord and slaughtered when they needed to eat or barter with the salted meats in Bastok's markets.
It should come of no surprise that many of these joint-families were broken due to the Plague and Turned Invasion eliminating some three in five people. Part of the slump in Bastok had occurred because people were still trying to adhere to the same practices that they had adhered to for a hundred years, but simply did not have the people or animal resources left to keep it up.
Much of this had changed when Wolfgang had roused a hundred and fifty hard working, poverty stricken men and women to aid in the assembly of desalination facilities, and then a series of canals.
It is said that Cid had spent almost two weeks planning the location, direction, and dimensions of the canals. In the previous months he had taken to making mockup gardens, estimating how Gustaberg's soil would take to an influx of water and to figure out the most optimal patterns for water and soil.
The canals were dug and new freshwater was provided for Bastok. The facilities required coal, and so an exodus of miners had begun an exodus to Gusgen Mines once more, the richest coalmine on this part of Vana'diel. It was Wolfgang that started up the simple campaign called "Foods for Goods" and began organizing his workers.
It was fortunate that Gustaberg's soil took so kindly to the irrigation system. Cid had privately bartered with a Windurstian Ambassador and had given him a copy of the diagrams to make a desalination facility in return for four of their mages that were skilled in making crops grow. The mages would teach no more than five Bastokan mages the start of their field, but it should be enough, Cid had been assured.
With the soil once more having life breathed into it and with the help of magic, the first crop of wheat had grown in just 3 moon cycles--half the time that it had used to take. This first crop had totaled at 3 short-tons of wheat. Most of this wheat had been ground by an unskilled workforce that had also bought into Wolfgang's promises, and so in total only approximately 7,400 loaves of bread had been made from that entire crop--but it was a very, very good start, Wolfgang had said.
Suddenly, Bastok had food again. With his workforce now split into fifty farmers, fifty miners, twenty laborers, and thirty trainees in various necessary fields, Wolfgang had been able to provide forty loaves of magically preserved bread for each laborer and was able to store nearly 1,000 loaves of bread after taking half that many to the poorest locations of Bastok and feeding as many there as he could.
The second crop provided nearly double that, as well as a number of carrots and popotos. The entirety of North Gustaberg had been converted to farmland by this point. The number of desalination facilities had grown to eight surrounding Bastok, and Wolfgang had under his employment nearly six hundred people by the end of the first year of the Agrarian Revolution.
Yet at the end of the first year, crops noticeably began to drop off. It was only by a scheduling mistake where carrots were grown in a wheat area that the concept of crop-fatigue had been discovered: the carrots in those areas had grown madly and quickly.
Upon investigation, a team of trainee scientists had discovered there were different soil compositions in the ground depending on what was grown there. This led to one of the most groundbreaking discoveries of the agrarian revolution: minerals had been discovered, and the scientists of Bastok began to turn the entire crop-growing situation into a very large and cautious experiment.
On the third year of the Agrarian Revolution, Bastok's storehouses for wheat had been full for the first time in a hundred years.
The Agrarian Revolution
Following the creation of the first desalination facility under the plans of Cid Highwind and managed by Captain Wolfgang, a large effort was put into studying animals and plant life. Up until this time, which would later be known as The Agrarian Revolution, families were generally still following a loose joint-family model in Bastok. It was not uncommon for children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and sometimes even further to be living in attached houses. Because of this setup, it had been the cultural norm for the family to own a small number of animals that they bred on their own accord and slaughtered when they needed to eat or barter with the salted meats in Bastok's markets.
It should come of no surprise that many of these joint-families were broken due to the Plague and Turned Invasion eliminating some three in five people. Part of the slump in Bastok had occurred because people were still trying to adhere to the same practices that they had adhered to for a hundred years, but simply did not have the people or animal resources left to keep it up.
Much of this had changed when Wolfgang had roused a hundred and fifty hard working, poverty stricken men and women to aid in the assembly of desalination facilities, and then a series of canals.
It is said that Cid had spent almost two weeks planning the location, direction, and dimensions of the canals. In the previous months he had taken to making mockup gardens, estimating how Gustaberg's soil would take to an influx of water and to figure out the most optimal patterns for water and soil.
The canals were dug and new freshwater was provided for Bastok. The facilities required coal, and so an exodus of miners had begun an exodus to Gusgen Mines once more, the richest coalmine on this part of Vana'diel. It was Wolfgang that started up the simple campaign called "Foods for Goods" and began organizing his workers.
It was fortunate that Gustaberg's soil took so kindly to the irrigation system. Cid had privately bartered with a Windurstian Ambassador and had given him a copy of the diagrams to make a desalination facility in return for four of their mages that were skilled in making crops grow. The mages would teach no more than five Bastokan mages the start of their field, but it should be enough, Cid had been assured.
With the soil once more having life breathed into it and with the help of magic, the first crop of wheat had grown in just 3 moon cycles--half the time that it had used to take. This first crop had totaled at 3 short-tons of wheat. Most of this wheat had been ground by an unskilled workforce that had also bought into Wolfgang's promises, and so in total only approximately 7,400 loaves of bread had been made from that entire crop--but it was a very, very good start, Wolfgang had said.
Suddenly, Bastok had food again. With his workforce now split into fifty farmers, fifty miners, twenty laborers, and thirty trainees in various necessary fields, Wolfgang had been able to provide forty loaves of magically preserved bread for each laborer and was able to store nearly 1,000 loaves of bread after taking half that many to the poorest locations of Bastok and feeding as many there as he could.
The second crop provided nearly double that, as well as a number of carrots and popotos. The entirety of North Gustaberg had been converted to farmland by this point. The number of desalination facilities had grown to eight surrounding Bastok, and Wolfgang had under his employment nearly six hundred people by the end of the first year of the Agrarian Revolution.
Yet at the end of the first year, crops noticeably began to drop off. It was only by a scheduling mistake where carrots were grown in a wheat area that the concept of crop-fatigue had been discovered: the carrots in those areas had grown madly and quickly.
Upon investigation, a team of trainee scientists had discovered there were different soil compositions in the ground depending on what was grown there. This led to one of the most groundbreaking discoveries of the agrarian revolution: minerals had been discovered, and the scientists of Bastok began to turn the entire crop-growing situation into a very large and cautious experiment.
On the third year of the Agrarian Revolution, Bastok's storehouses for wheat had been full for the first time in a hundred years.
[+]
I was thinking about this a little earlier this morning, but has anyone ever written a story explaining this? I always thought that this left a huge opening, obviously!
Anyway...BUMP!!!
Anyway...BUMP!!!
Developing nicely, sect. Keep up the good work!
Bump! Provide a little feedback!
The Bastokan Theatre
The Last President
Wolfgang's aspirations did not end at bread. Midway through 6 UE, Wolfgang had joined the political front. Bastok had begun to attract outsiders again and had not only revived its port, but tripled its capacity and activity.
The next Bastokan Elections would occur on the Harvest Moon's Eve of 6UE; Wolfgang had rationed himself only 4 months to campaign.
His decision to run for the presidential seat had come as a surprise: he had been extremely quiet on the political front besides a few sneering comments as to the uselessness of politicians.
All four political parties in Bastok had already determined their presidential candidates and there was no write-in system at that point. On the seventh month of 6UE, Wolfgang held his first public speech in over 4 years, where he called for the people to rally around him to take the power from politicians who had refused to share bread when Bastok was in its more dire times.
The people were not so quick to forget Wolfgang's rousing and rescuing of Bastok some five years prior, nor had he been inactive in any way since: Wolfgang had taken it upon himself to oversee agriculture, restructure Bastok's military force, and act as an ambassador from nations--for two years he acted as Cid's assistant, whom was experiencing the weariness of age catching up to him. It would not be unfair to say that he had become Bastok's pride and joy.
Wolfgang had the people on his side. Within two weeks of announcing his presidential run he had controlled a political party with nearly 30,000 residents signed onto his cause. He had all but drained the other candidates of their constituents.
When the Harvest Moon came, Wolfgang had won Bastok with over nine in ten votes. On the Oak Moon's Eve, Wolfgang was inaugurated as President of Bastok.
As he took to the podium for his inauguration speech, everything changed.
The Last President
Wolfgang's aspirations did not end at bread. Midway through 6 UE, Wolfgang had joined the political front. Bastok had begun to attract outsiders again and had not only revived its port, but tripled its capacity and activity.
The next Bastokan Elections would occur on the Harvest Moon's Eve of 6UE; Wolfgang had rationed himself only 4 months to campaign.
His decision to run for the presidential seat had come as a surprise: he had been extremely quiet on the political front besides a few sneering comments as to the uselessness of politicians.
All four political parties in Bastok had already determined their presidential candidates and there was no write-in system at that point. On the seventh month of 6UE, Wolfgang held his first public speech in over 4 years, where he called for the people to rally around him to take the power from politicians who had refused to share bread when Bastok was in its more dire times.
The people were not so quick to forget Wolfgang's rousing and rescuing of Bastok some five years prior, nor had he been inactive in any way since: Wolfgang had taken it upon himself to oversee agriculture, restructure Bastok's military force, and act as an ambassador from nations--for two years he acted as Cid's assistant, whom was experiencing the weariness of age catching up to him. It would not be unfair to say that he had become Bastok's pride and joy.
Wolfgang had the people on his side. Within two weeks of announcing his presidential run he had controlled a political party with nearly 30,000 residents signed onto his cause. He had all but drained the other candidates of their constituents.
When the Harvest Moon came, Wolfgang had won Bastok with over nine in ten votes. On the Oak Moon's Eve, Wolfgang was inaugurated as President of Bastok.
As he took to the podium for his inauguration speech, everything changed.
[+]
The Bastokan Theatre
The Era of The Every-Man
"I remember sitting on my father's knee, hearing him tell me stories of the Crystal War, wondering if I could ever make a difference like my father did. He was part of a regime that was holding a swarm of Quadavs and Orcs from overtaking Rolanberry Fields. The fight lasted four days, he told me, and at the end of it so many had died that even though survivors on both sides could have kept fighting that they stopped fighting. Both sides retreated.
"It was not the most valor-filled tale that he could have told me, but it is the tale he told me that sticks out most. I remember rocking back and forth on his knee as he told me that. My father was not a man moved easily, but I remember seeing tears glistening in his eyes.
"I thought I understood back then why he was crying. He had watched a lot of friends die that day and still had lost the battle. Perhaps that was the time in my life that I knew, I would become a soldier too. Maybe it was to avenge the deaths my father couldn't.
"In the time of the Turned, I finally realized why my father was moved by that battle. I was in Delkfutt's Tower, trying to plan the best front to storm to demolish the Turned and Demons, when a sixteen year old boy had come to tell me that he had razed armies of Beastmen and had brought back an army of warriors. The kind of warriors we needed.
"And I remember knowing that I should have felt happy for it, but as I stared at that boy, rugged, beaten, bruised, broken, I remember thinking back to my father and I realized what a fool I had been. As he turned himself into a Soulflayer on a whim, I had finally realized the horrors of war.
"There stood Sectumsempra, a shell of the boy he used to be. I had done this, I realized. By ordering him to be part of that stupid special task force... I had taken a sixteen year old boy and turned him into a monster, all because he knew a little bit of magic and that made him the perfect candidate for a killing machine.
"That night I had climbed to the top of Delkfutt's exterior, and in the caustic winter winds I wept. I wept openly, because I knew it would be the only place I could weep and not destroy the morale of my men. I had finally realized the senselessness of this all. I had finally understood just how wrong it all was. There was no valor in killing, there was only suffering.
"Everything changed that night, and then again two nights later. He was screaming his sleep. I'll never forget those words.
"Help me, help me, someone! MAMA HELP ME, DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME! I NEED HELP, help, help, help me...
"I had to dismiss the medical staff. He had been screaming for an hour by that point, and had thoroughly frightened all the nurses and doctors. I watched over him as he slept, clutching his hand and once more taking to weeping. At some point he calmed down and he called for his lover for comfort, for courage.
"When he awoke, he asked one favor of me. The words are burned into my memory: If I ever fall to what I face, I want you to kill me and bring my body back to Al Zabi. A sixteen year old was begging me to watch over him as his own killer. He was prepared to make the sacrifices needed that may push him to the brink of death, then asked of me to kill him so he would not kill innocents. On that day, I understood the preciousness of life.
"I never had to kill him, but I brought the news of his fake death to his lover, and then again I had brought the news of his real death to his lover. I had carried his still thawing body to her to grieve, and I swore to never kill again.
"Life is too precious to waste as slaves, too precious to slaughter each other over petty squabbles. Too many friends have been killed, and I would have no more of it. I take my oath to office with this story and message:
"I come to you as Wolfgang, the peace-maker. I come to you as Wolfgang, a man so humbled by a boy that I could never elevate myself above you all and sit in an office above your homes. As of right now, I am requesting the disintegration of all political offices of Bastok, including the position of presidency. From this moment, Bastok belongs to all of its people. Together we will strive for a better tomorrow. No more shall we be a people ruled by other people.
"I welcome you, my brothers, to Bastok's new era of the Every-Man. Every Hume, every Taru, every Galka, Elvaan, Mithran: Bastok belongs to its people, not a president."
The Era of The Every-Man
"I remember sitting on my father's knee, hearing him tell me stories of the Crystal War, wondering if I could ever make a difference like my father did. He was part of a regime that was holding a swarm of Quadavs and Orcs from overtaking Rolanberry Fields. The fight lasted four days, he told me, and at the end of it so many had died that even though survivors on both sides could have kept fighting that they stopped fighting. Both sides retreated.
"It was not the most valor-filled tale that he could have told me, but it is the tale he told me that sticks out most. I remember rocking back and forth on his knee as he told me that. My father was not a man moved easily, but I remember seeing tears glistening in his eyes.
"I thought I understood back then why he was crying. He had watched a lot of friends die that day and still had lost the battle. Perhaps that was the time in my life that I knew, I would become a soldier too. Maybe it was to avenge the deaths my father couldn't.
"In the time of the Turned, I finally realized why my father was moved by that battle. I was in Delkfutt's Tower, trying to plan the best front to storm to demolish the Turned and Demons, when a sixteen year old boy had come to tell me that he had razed armies of Beastmen and had brought back an army of warriors. The kind of warriors we needed.
"And I remember knowing that I should have felt happy for it, but as I stared at that boy, rugged, beaten, bruised, broken, I remember thinking back to my father and I realized what a fool I had been. As he turned himself into a Soulflayer on a whim, I had finally realized the horrors of war.
"There stood Sectumsempra, a shell of the boy he used to be. I had done this, I realized. By ordering him to be part of that stupid special task force... I had taken a sixteen year old boy and turned him into a monster, all because he knew a little bit of magic and that made him the perfect candidate for a killing machine.
"That night I had climbed to the top of Delkfutt's exterior, and in the caustic winter winds I wept. I wept openly, because I knew it would be the only place I could weep and not destroy the morale of my men. I had finally realized the senselessness of this all. I had finally understood just how wrong it all was. There was no valor in killing, there was only suffering.
"Everything changed that night, and then again two nights later. He was screaming his sleep. I'll never forget those words.
"Help me, help me, someone! MAMA HELP ME, DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME! I NEED HELP, help, help, help me...
"I had to dismiss the medical staff. He had been screaming for an hour by that point, and had thoroughly frightened all the nurses and doctors. I watched over him as he slept, clutching his hand and once more taking to weeping. At some point he calmed down and he called for his lover for comfort, for courage.
"When he awoke, he asked one favor of me. The words are burned into my memory: If I ever fall to what I face, I want you to kill me and bring my body back to Al Zabi. A sixteen year old was begging me to watch over him as his own killer. He was prepared to make the sacrifices needed that may push him to the brink of death, then asked of me to kill him so he would not kill innocents. On that day, I understood the preciousness of life.
"I never had to kill him, but I brought the news of his fake death to his lover, and then again I had brought the news of his real death to his lover. I had carried his still thawing body to her to grieve, and I swore to never kill again.
"Life is too precious to waste as slaves, too precious to slaughter each other over petty squabbles. Too many friends have been killed, and I would have no more of it. I take my oath to office with this story and message:
"I come to you as Wolfgang, the peace-maker. I come to you as Wolfgang, a man so humbled by a boy that I could never elevate myself above you all and sit in an office above your homes. As of right now, I am requesting the disintegration of all political offices of Bastok, including the position of presidency. From this moment, Bastok belongs to all of its people. Together we will strive for a better tomorrow. No more shall we be a people ruled by other people.
"I welcome you, my brothers, to Bastok's new era of the Every-Man. Every Hume, every Taru, every Galka, Elvaan, Mithran: Bastok belongs to its people, not a president."
[+]
MOAR
Is this all made up or is for real information about historical events in Va'nadiel...if so i would like to read about the time when Tarus used to hunt down the elvaans >:D
Phoenix.Bomber said: »
Is this all made up or is for real information about historical events in Va'nadiel...if so i would like to read about the time when Tarus used to hunt down the elvaans >:D
This is the epilogue to a fanfic I started like 2 years ago. It gives a 'historical' account of how Vana'diel changed due to the incidents detailed in the story. I wish I write history for video games, even if it was just background barely canon in knockoff books like Halo has :(
[+]
Been a bit busy so I just now caught up on the two latest entries you made. I must say I'm greatly moved by Wolfgang's speech. I actually caught myself reading it aloud a few times. XP A lot of good emotion in there imho.
[+]
Awesome Sect, keep up the great work!
[+]
Phoenix.Bomber said: »
Is this all made up or is for real information about historical events in Va'nadiel...if so i would like to read about the time when Tarus used to hunt down the elvaans >:D
>:(
BUMP!
Yes, yes, looking forward to the next chapter!
Bridge
Wolfgang had ushered in a new era to Bastok and had set the nation a radically different course.
But Bastok, no matter how prosperous, did not greatly affect the rest of Vana'diel for quite some time. Bastok's citizens had agreed on a loose isolationist policy for approximately eight years as they got their nation back on track.
It is most enlightening at this point to analyze the Federation of Windurst as it went through its first reawakening since The Magic Age of the Crystal Era (Approx 288 CE, nearly 700 years prior) under the guidance of Star Sibyl Tukuku.
To briefly summarize, thought Windurst had always been the academic center of Vana'diel, it had lacked in arts and research for quite some time. Little innovation had been done in the last hundred years and Windurst had been slowly losing academic ground to the philosopher scribes of San d'Oria and the growing engineering field of Bastok, as well as to the fusion of Magic and Science that Jeuno's very elite researchers were looking into.
That is not to say that Windurst had become dilapidated compared to other nations: rather simply, Windurst was the most stable nation, but with stability came a reluctance to change. The Federation was growing stagnant, although quite peacefully and contentedly.
What no one would suspect, however, was that Star Sibyl Miratete would be the one to bring great change in Windurst, without a single person realizing what she had orchestrated the whole thing.
Wolfgang had ushered in a new era to Bastok and had set the nation a radically different course.
But Bastok, no matter how prosperous, did not greatly affect the rest of Vana'diel for quite some time. Bastok's citizens had agreed on a loose isolationist policy for approximately eight years as they got their nation back on track.
It is most enlightening at this point to analyze the Federation of Windurst as it went through its first reawakening since The Magic Age of the Crystal Era (Approx 288 CE, nearly 700 years prior) under the guidance of Star Sibyl Tukuku.
To briefly summarize, thought Windurst had always been the academic center of Vana'diel, it had lacked in arts and research for quite some time. Little innovation had been done in the last hundred years and Windurst had been slowly losing academic ground to the philosopher scribes of San d'Oria and the growing engineering field of Bastok, as well as to the fusion of Magic and Science that Jeuno's very elite researchers were looking into.
That is not to say that Windurst had become dilapidated compared to other nations: rather simply, Windurst was the most stable nation, but with stability came a reluctance to change. The Federation was growing stagnant, although quite peacefully and contentedly.
What no one would suspect, however, was that Star Sibyl Miratete would be the one to bring great change in Windurst, without a single person realizing what she had orchestrated the whole thing.
[+]
The Windurstian Renaissance
The Cardian Conundrum
In the first months of 1, UE, it had appeared as though Windurst was soaring ahead in the quest to reattain normal life. Due to the terrain and Windurst's layout of being interlinked through bridges, as well as being on an ocean, there were fewer points of invasion that the Turned were able to swarm. Without the stampede of bodies and the ensuing chaos that occurs when fighting them, Windurst's structures had been least affected by the Turned invasion.
What helped moreso was the fact that the Demon invasion had never reached Windurst.
Windurst was not without its horrors, though. The cramped conditions, dwindling food supply, and the fortification of Windurst had set the population up for a slew of its own horrors. During the Turned invasion, Windurst had first suffered a famine due to being cut off from the Rarab corrals and the farmlands. Windurst Woods was the only part of Windurst that had been successfully occupied, and so the War Warlocks had spent the next months trying to secure that location--although mostly, they were unsuccessful.
The population of Windurst had therefore been cramped into approximately half of the areas equipped for residential usage. With the farmland cut off, famine had spread. When the famine raged on, as people died of starvation, Windurst had been struck by its own plague.
That particular plague had struck the Tarutaru, in their frail stature, worst of all. By the time that the farmlands of Windurst Woods had been taken, approximately thirty percent of the Tarutaru population had succumbed to starvation and diseases. Only twelve percent of Mithras occupying the area had suffered the same fate, due largely in part of being able to survive on a primarily fish diet (whereas continually relying on a diet of fish would cause the other four raises to suffer from mercury poisoning) .
After the War, due to weakening of the working class, the citizens of Windurst had begun to increasinly rely on assistance from Cardians. Cardian production was relatively simple for any mage of moderate skill and the wood material was always relatively abundant in the area. Cardian production had hit a level close to five times that of the pre-Turned era.
As the working class regained its strength in Windurst, a great debate began: was it ethical for Cardians to be tasked with all the work? What repercussions would that lead to? Could increasing dependence lead to the downfall of Windurst's working class?
In my youth I had the pleasure of interviewing a number of residents from this time period. Several of them had quietly revealed that they had been concerned with the possibility of a Cardian uprising. It would be no difficult task for Cardian workers to bludgeon their masters in their sleep. A takeover could happen in a matter of hours. What if the producers of the Cardians became nefarious and wished to commit a hostile takeover of the country?
This was not an invalid concern: reports of Cardians going rampant were not entirely unheard of.
The debate raged on. Cardian production remained high. Though the assistance was a welcome addition, as Cardians filled more physically demanding jobs the and Windurst had become more structurally sound than it had ever been, tensions continued to raise until both sides began to organize into groups.
When the debate had almost grown to conflict, candle-lit secret discussion had begun. At the time, none knew where the rumor had started, but there was a rumor taking Windurst by storm: the forbidden art of summoning magic held the key, the rumor said, to linking the souls of Cardians and those they served.
The people of Windurst had become infatuated with the idea.
The Cardian Conundrum
In the first months of 1, UE, it had appeared as though Windurst was soaring ahead in the quest to reattain normal life. Due to the terrain and Windurst's layout of being interlinked through bridges, as well as being on an ocean, there were fewer points of invasion that the Turned were able to swarm. Without the stampede of bodies and the ensuing chaos that occurs when fighting them, Windurst's structures had been least affected by the Turned invasion.
What helped moreso was the fact that the Demon invasion had never reached Windurst.
Windurst was not without its horrors, though. The cramped conditions, dwindling food supply, and the fortification of Windurst had set the population up for a slew of its own horrors. During the Turned invasion, Windurst had first suffered a famine due to being cut off from the Rarab corrals and the farmlands. Windurst Woods was the only part of Windurst that had been successfully occupied, and so the War Warlocks had spent the next months trying to secure that location--although mostly, they were unsuccessful.
The population of Windurst had therefore been cramped into approximately half of the areas equipped for residential usage. With the farmland cut off, famine had spread. When the famine raged on, as people died of starvation, Windurst had been struck by its own plague.
That particular plague had struck the Tarutaru, in their frail stature, worst of all. By the time that the farmlands of Windurst Woods had been taken, approximately thirty percent of the Tarutaru population had succumbed to starvation and diseases. Only twelve percent of Mithras occupying the area had suffered the same fate, due largely in part of being able to survive on a primarily fish diet (whereas continually relying on a diet of fish would cause the other four raises to suffer from mercury poisoning) .
After the War, due to weakening of the working class, the citizens of Windurst had begun to increasinly rely on assistance from Cardians. Cardian production was relatively simple for any mage of moderate skill and the wood material was always relatively abundant in the area. Cardian production had hit a level close to five times that of the pre-Turned era.
As the working class regained its strength in Windurst, a great debate began: was it ethical for Cardians to be tasked with all the work? What repercussions would that lead to? Could increasing dependence lead to the downfall of Windurst's working class?
In my youth I had the pleasure of interviewing a number of residents from this time period. Several of them had quietly revealed that they had been concerned with the possibility of a Cardian uprising. It would be no difficult task for Cardian workers to bludgeon their masters in their sleep. A takeover could happen in a matter of hours. What if the producers of the Cardians became nefarious and wished to commit a hostile takeover of the country?
This was not an invalid concern: reports of Cardians going rampant were not entirely unheard of.
The debate raged on. Cardian production remained high. Though the assistance was a welcome addition, as Cardians filled more physically demanding jobs the and Windurst had become more structurally sound than it had ever been, tensions continued to raise until both sides began to organize into groups.
When the debate had almost grown to conflict, candle-lit secret discussion had begun. At the time, none knew where the rumor had started, but there was a rumor taking Windurst by storm: the forbidden art of summoning magic held the key, the rumor said, to linking the souls of Cardians and those they served.
The people of Windurst had become infatuated with the idea.
[+]
Enjoying the story, keep it up!
Bump!
Bump!
The Windurstian Renaissance
Approaching the Boiling Point
The quickest way to spread information is to threaten to ban it.
In the case of Windurst, a ban was not necessary. All that had to happen for the available information on summoning magic to spread was for several officials to call for a banning of its discussion.
It was with good reason that the Star Sibyl had issued a banning on advanced summoning magic. During the prior Crystal War Era, Karaha-Baruha had managed to channel the great avatar Fenrir and control a force that decimated hordes of enemies. No amount of Black Magic could come close to the destruction that one person controlling Fenrir could commit to, and so it had been struck as forbidden to go anywhere beyond the summoning of the friendlier avatars.
Though, as with all things, there were rumors that several people had in secret learned to summon the avatar Fenrir. These rumors may yet be just rumors, though they are worth noting.
At this point, several elected officials were calling for the discussion of it to be banned. That was all that it had taken for the existing information to be handed out in pamphlets and preached on street corners. Demonstrations were being had, and children would compete in who could summon an elemental longer. It became impossible to tame.
For as long as could be remembered, every week there was a community meeting in Windurst Walls in the town square. As the argument around summoning magic hit its highest point there was a particularly volatile meeting, whereupon each side of the debate had resorted to slandering the other and bringing personal issues into the matter.
As the meeting was about to escalate into threats, a single rifle blast echoed through the night.
It should first be noted that after the Great Plague, the Unholy War, the Demon Campaign, whatever you may prefer to call it, that the heroes in Sectumsempra's unit were all but deified. Many of them had become hermits, taken on new names, or disappeared entirely for quite some time.
As the rifle blast fired through the air, there was panic initially before it was realized that no one had been shot. The shooter, a Mithra dressed in the strangest of Eastern Garbs, stood alone. Those near her had fled quite quickly.
"I spend months traveling to see why other lands are growing to prosper and Windurst falls behind, and I see now that the purrr-oblem was right beforrr~e my eyes. It's you lot, bickering over something that doesn't even matter!"
With that, the Mithra Alyria turned around and left once again into the night. It had been the first time she had been seen in nearly three years.
Approaching the Boiling Point
The quickest way to spread information is to threaten to ban it.
In the case of Windurst, a ban was not necessary. All that had to happen for the available information on summoning magic to spread was for several officials to call for a banning of its discussion.
It was with good reason that the Star Sibyl had issued a banning on advanced summoning magic. During the prior Crystal War Era, Karaha-Baruha had managed to channel the great avatar Fenrir and control a force that decimated hordes of enemies. No amount of Black Magic could come close to the destruction that one person controlling Fenrir could commit to, and so it had been struck as forbidden to go anywhere beyond the summoning of the friendlier avatars.
Though, as with all things, there were rumors that several people had in secret learned to summon the avatar Fenrir. These rumors may yet be just rumors, though they are worth noting.
At this point, several elected officials were calling for the discussion of it to be banned. That was all that it had taken for the existing information to be handed out in pamphlets and preached on street corners. Demonstrations were being had, and children would compete in who could summon an elemental longer. It became impossible to tame.
For as long as could be remembered, every week there was a community meeting in Windurst Walls in the town square. As the argument around summoning magic hit its highest point there was a particularly volatile meeting, whereupon each side of the debate had resorted to slandering the other and bringing personal issues into the matter.
As the meeting was about to escalate into threats, a single rifle blast echoed through the night.
It should first be noted that after the Great Plague, the Unholy War, the Demon Campaign, whatever you may prefer to call it, that the heroes in Sectumsempra's unit were all but deified. Many of them had become hermits, taken on new names, or disappeared entirely for quite some time.
As the rifle blast fired through the air, there was panic initially before it was realized that no one had been shot. The shooter, a Mithra dressed in the strangest of Eastern Garbs, stood alone. Those near her had fled quite quickly.
"I spend months traveling to see why other lands are growing to prosper and Windurst falls behind, and I see now that the purrr-oblem was right beforrr~e my eyes. It's you lot, bickering over something that doesn't even matter!"
With that, the Mithra Alyria turned around and left once again into the night. It had been the first time she had been seen in nearly three years.
[+]
I finally got to sit down and read this. This is really well done, Xueye/Sect.
I NEED MOAR!
I NEED MOAR!
[+]
Sect, I see you on here lurking, liking things.
Bump >,>
Bump >,>
Bismarck.Nevill said: »
Sect, I see you on here lurking, liking things.
Bump >,>
Bump >,>
I haven't forgotten, don't worry. I've been waiting for spring break. (2 more days of school!)
A lot of days I'm up working on stuff and studying till 3am, and it's been a constant cycle of exhaustion and no inspiration, but I'm not giving up. Just need a few days of rest before I Can continue.
[+]
The Windurstian Renaissance
A meeting between the Star Sibyl and Alyria
"So we have come to an agreement: slowly but suuuurrrely, force their hands with fire. Light fires and fires until their own spark is rekindled."
"It would not be unfair to phrase it that way, I suppose. We must regalvanize the people. I fear the spirit of our land had been defeated. We fanned the flames a little bit with the Cardians and magic."
"And are you suuuurrre about the end result? It would change everything about our nation. Absolutely everything.
"Of course. This lie has gone on long enough. Where once being a Sibyl was true, since Fenrir was first called, not a single star will sing a song. It is time we show the people that their destiny cannot be found in the stars: it is, and shall ever be, in their own hands."
"How positively poetic. Which ember shall we rekindle next?"
"Set the tradeschools and the guilds ablaze with passion, my dearest friend."
A meeting between the Star Sibyl and Alyria
"So we have come to an agreement: slowly but suuuurrrely, force their hands with fire. Light fires and fires until their own spark is rekindled."
"It would not be unfair to phrase it that way, I suppose. We must regalvanize the people. I fear the spirit of our land had been defeated. We fanned the flames a little bit with the Cardians and magic."
"And are you suuuurrre about the end result? It would change everything about our nation. Absolutely everything.
"Of course. This lie has gone on long enough. Where once being a Sibyl was true, since Fenrir was first called, not a single star will sing a song. It is time we show the people that their destiny cannot be found in the stars: it is, and shall ever be, in their own hands."
"How positively poetic. Which ember shall we rekindle next?"
"Set the tradeschools and the guilds ablaze with passion, my dearest friend."
[+]
I assume Dasva is coming back and going to be going on a rampage? :D
Shiva.Galbir said: »
I assume Dasva is coming back and going to be going on a rampage? :D
Lol. No.
The Windurstian Renaissance
Managing Mischief: The Covert Operations
The return of Alyria the Great--so it was that she had been known in those days--had caused quite a stir in Windurst, or so the remaining witnesses I could interview make sure to tell me time and time again. People immediately vied for attention, for favor, and for information. To become on friendly terms with one of the great heroes against the Turned Invasion and Demon Campaign gave one immense social and political leverage.
It is said that for the first few days, Alyria kept mostly to herself, observing and festering in her own anger over what she saw. On the fourth day after he return to Windurst, followed by a group of people desperate for attention, she took to Windurst's Cooking Guild for some meals.
What she saw disgusted her. As she wrote in her journal that evening: A pitiful little excuse for what it had been: a paltry four students being taught by an idiot tutor that seemed to have never cooked a meal in his life, teaching out of a book, with a burning bun in the oven behind him! She was right in her observation: the tutor, Tsonga-Hoponga, had been a Conquest Overseer for Qufim before he had been recalled home to try his hand at cooking. As logs of Windurst town records reveal, his job there was simply unimportant enough that his name was placed in a hat with twenty-three other names, all of whom would be picked for various new professions.
Alyria's tantrum would become the stuff of legends: a witness says she seethed silently for a moment before flipping a table full of dishes across the room and blowing it to smithereens before it could hit the ground.
"A disgrace! A total disgrace!" she had yelled, as she began to fling dishes into the wall. Even her followers stood back in fear. No amount of destroyed dishes could come close to the damage she did with her next sentence.
Coldly, quietly, grinding bits of shattered platters beneath her feet, she said lowly: "This should have been Sectumsempra's home, and you disgrace it."
She walked away and appeared to hoard herself up in her room. Extracts from her journal reveal that she had taken a fake doorway down into hidden passages that would lead her to the Star Sibyl.
Word of her tantrum spread quickly. Within hours, the entire cooking guild had been trashed, most of its supplies and much of its structure floating in the waters.
It was then that her temper grew even worse.
Managing Mischief: The Covert Operations
The return of Alyria the Great--so it was that she had been known in those days--had caused quite a stir in Windurst, or so the remaining witnesses I could interview make sure to tell me time and time again. People immediately vied for attention, for favor, and for information. To become on friendly terms with one of the great heroes against the Turned Invasion and Demon Campaign gave one immense social and political leverage.
It is said that for the first few days, Alyria kept mostly to herself, observing and festering in her own anger over what she saw. On the fourth day after he return to Windurst, followed by a group of people desperate for attention, she took to Windurst's Cooking Guild for some meals.
What she saw disgusted her. As she wrote in her journal that evening: A pitiful little excuse for what it had been: a paltry four students being taught by an idiot tutor that seemed to have never cooked a meal in his life, teaching out of a book, with a burning bun in the oven behind him! She was right in her observation: the tutor, Tsonga-Hoponga, had been a Conquest Overseer for Qufim before he had been recalled home to try his hand at cooking. As logs of Windurst town records reveal, his job there was simply unimportant enough that his name was placed in a hat with twenty-three other names, all of whom would be picked for various new professions.
Alyria's tantrum would become the stuff of legends: a witness says she seethed silently for a moment before flipping a table full of dishes across the room and blowing it to smithereens before it could hit the ground.
"A disgrace! A total disgrace!" she had yelled, as she began to fling dishes into the wall. Even her followers stood back in fear. No amount of destroyed dishes could come close to the damage she did with her next sentence.
Coldly, quietly, grinding bits of shattered platters beneath her feet, she said lowly: "This should have been Sectumsempra's home, and you disgrace it."
She walked away and appeared to hoard herself up in her room. Extracts from her journal reveal that she had taken a fake doorway down into hidden passages that would lead her to the Star Sibyl.
Word of her tantrum spread quickly. Within hours, the entire cooking guild had been trashed, most of its supplies and much of its structure floating in the waters.
It was then that her temper grew even worse.
[+]
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