©Marty O Woolery/SinisterGoth1977/Gothica Darkness 2020/2021 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or modified in any form, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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{The vices and virtues of anything are the downfall of most things in this world. I focused on greed first because greed of anything, no matter what it is, money, bloodlust, flesh, is far worse in my opinion than most of the others. But I have a blend of both spectrum's going throughout the books.}
About the Author:
Growing up, I had it kind of rough, as the oldest of five sisters, being a built-in babysitter gave me a lot of time to get lost in my imagination. Being abused most of my childhood life, story writing helped me to deal with a lot. I have always been particularly good with English and at creative writings. While in school, it was one of my main escapes due to certain circumstances at home. I had written several stories as a teenager and always hoped to get them published, but as we all know, life happens when you are trying to plan. So, now that I am in my forties, I still try to write as much as I can, despite the fact that I am severely epileptic due to the abuse, I never let it slow me down any. I try to write every day, but there are those times when it is harder than others. After all, my medical issues do tend to get in the way some. I spend my time writing mainly fictional stories of things I could only dream about. I only hope my writing brings a smile to those who read them.
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Prologue:
Islatenne Empire, it is the largest known region with the highest concentrations of Beast-kin people. It can be safely divided into three main land features. The Southern section is the largest desert area of the country. Rainfall only comes a few months out of the year with large droves of wandering bandits along the roads. One good sized town sits in the heart of this area known as the City of Parch which can be found by finding the largest concentration of cacti in the region. The Central section of the country has the most rainfall out of the three land features. With the start of the large mountain ranges that stretch far into the north. Many streams, rivers, creeks, and lakes are spread across this section of the country with the largest red maple and bamboo forests. It also houses the largest concentrations of wild game scattered within. This area includes the largest city in the empire known as Slaver City. The Northern section of the country houses the tallest mountains with the largest peoples. This section of the country has snowfall almost six months out of the year. The town of Traders Post is the only large town in the northern most part of the territory almost hidden by the mountain ranges. It houses the largest markets for that area.
The Beast-kin were long thought to be descendants of the ancient gods by most of the scholars, but with so much of their history lost, no one quite knows their origins much anymore. Most mountain villages are guided by their mountain spirits. With most tribes overall worshiping Inari, for she is the goddess of everything. She usually appears to her followers as a shape-shifting nine tailed fox. The second most worshiped mountain god for the mountain tribes was Jizzo, the guardian god of childbirth and children. With birthrates low, it is not surprising that most tribes would give thanks. The Beast-kin races came in a broad assortment of cat, wolf, and bear are among the largest breeds. The lessor end of the Beast-kin consisted of the pan varieties. Such as the goat, sheep, rabbit, etc. The lessor Beast-kin were fewer in number but treated fairly by the larger breed Beast-kin. At least they were in the mountain villages. However, in the leftover cities, the pan varieties had it very rough. Due to their size, being the smaller breeds, most died as slaves, despite the features so many treasured. The pans were never seen as equals. Most pans in the cities reluctantly longed for a quick death.
Depending on how healthy a Beast-kin stayed, they could typically live several hundred years. The longest living Beast-kin was thought to have lived to be 450 years old. At least according to the scholars that kept track of such things. For the most part, a Beast-kin could look like they were age 25 for up to 300 years before they started showing any signs of aging. If nothing major happened to them anyway, like a hunting mishap or a training session gone bad. Unlike humans, Beast-kin birth rates were not as fast. Due to the more complex structure, bearing a child took up to a year. Due to this fact, multiple children were not as likely to be born, but it was a possibility. Everyone in the mountains shared in the villages tasks in which they lived and made sure no one was without. The lessors were usually tasked with gathering healing supplies and bush style foods. Not many pan's had vast knowledge of farming, but those who did, were plenty busy. While the larger Beast-kin were more times than not, set to be those of warrior class. Making sure to protect their peoples.
Before the shift in population between Beast-kin's and humans, many of the female Beast-kin were captured from the villages closest to the cities at young ages and were then held as a sort of pet for the humans. Many being treated as though they were a novelty item or decoration, therefore many humans did not realize until it was far too late, that they did not seem to age at all. Thanks to the stupidity of most humans, and most Beast-kin tribes not wanting to cause major waves with the humans, there were not many female Beast-kin left among the villages that had been discovered by humans. They outnumbered the Beast-kin at least two to one, with numbers being so low, fighting was the last thing they chose to do. Only those areas still hidden far enough away, were safe from any harm and the kidnapping of their females. But that all changed when a devastating sickness came through, with no cure to be found, even by the alchemists or sham-men's; and it wiped out most humans living in the larger cities. In some cases, the city was completely killed off except for the Beast-kin that had resided within. Unnerved by this new development, many of the Beast-kin were left kind of clueless on what they should do now. They had been pets or slaves so long, they had lost all identity of themselves. Wandering around the old human cities, the Beast-kin decided they had no choice but to learn new ways of doing things.
It was only a matter of time before all the remaining people, Beast-kin or human, to start a power struggle that never seemed to have an end. It was though they were all trapped in a continuous loop with no breaks. Soon enough though, a new and terrifying system came into place by those who believed themselves superior. Mimicking the way humans acted with most things, the remaining Beast-kin started to behave as though they were human. Most completely ignoring their ancient traditions, at least being ignored by the ones who knew them. Those traditions were once so highly prized by the older generation. Knowing the old saying, those who have the gold, make the rules, was truer now than it had ever been. If you had wealth of any variety, especially if you were rich in precious stones or metals, you had all the power. No one ever seemed to argue the logic, for they had seen it done that way with so many humans for years upon years.
Now the cast system had been brought back into play with full force and it all started with your birth. Your eye color and markings set you above or below others depending on what you had been born with. Though Beast-kin with the Chimeric eyes ruled above all others; in with the Chimeric mix, were those born with eyes that were both Chimeric and Gold fluxed. That combination got the highest amount of respect. Next were the ones born with gold flux in their eyes. And finally, those who had neither mismatched or gold flux, these would unfortunately be thrown automatically to the slave cast. Though there were the lucky few who were chosen on physical prowess alone to be designated as warriors only, despite eye color or markings. Those instances, however, were few. But for those lucky few, life appeared to be a little better. Only their uniforms saved them from heavy scrutiny. The discrimination among the Beast-kin seemed to be almost as bad as most humans used to be. Humans at this point, were now nothing more than slaves due to their numbers being even lower than the Beast-kin used to be thanks to the disease. With that in mind, there were few villages near the cities that stuck with making sure one had a true soul connecting mate.
You had to go further into the mountains to find those that stuck with the ancient traditions. It was an ancient ritual to make sure of the best match ups for the village leaders. A proper soul connection was met with powers increasing in the Beast-kin and the scents that gave off often coming across as those of berries or flowers. Marks would appear on each confirming the match. But due to the female Beast-kin populous being low, all proper traditional rituals had long since been ignored in most villages closest to the nearly abandoned cities. Far too many males being desperate, even trying to take human females as partners, even though most human partner pairings were ending in failure. Beast-kin and human just could not mix, therefore causing most children produced to die on or before the age of one; as well as the death of the woman birthing them due to size most times. With this crisis in place, almost all females found in the abandoned cites and across the lands were rounded up and basically sold into slavery conditions. No one ever even bothered to find any of their families, they just took them with no regard to their wishes.
By this point, most of the Beast-kin males had now become no better than the humans that stole so many children in times past. Those females who did not get bought and kept for whatever their owner's purpose was, was fated to be nothing more than breeding stock, a commodity, or piece of furniture if you will. No matter how you looked at it, they were never seen in a proper mating fashion. Whoever had enough money, got the opportunity for a child. Plain and simple, but the purchase of the females most times was for nothing more than the production of the child. Once born, the child went to the buyer and the female would once again be placed back into the pool to be bred again once the child was weaned. The fate of the women was by far worse than any of the men. The men most times were worked to death in the growing fields, especially if they were human. Only certain numbers of human males were kept out of the fields to make sure more humans could be produced. The only facts about this new and frightening world would come in from time to time from traveling warriors or salespeople. But that was what awaited in most areas that consisted of the old and partially devastated cities. As a result, not many of the females in the isolated mountain villages were ever allowed to leave past certain areas to ensure their safety. Mountain villages just did not want to take a chance considering what they were hearing. Such was the way of things in this new messed up world.