I name you, as my flesh, to my legacy you have claim
I name you; I bring you into my heart
I name you, you present my ideas, you present me
Respect and all that I have to you unconditionally
Unconditional love, my future to you I impart
Let the world know...you have my name
----a part of the Naming Ceremony
Welcome to Prydain, the Land Of Steam
The nation of Prydain exists today in very much the same way it has these past several centuries, on the surface at the most: the nation is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution. Steam technology advancements now are pushing mankind into a new era, a new age of progress. The burgeoning nation has just begun to touch the sky and master the sea, two frontiers on the doorstep of the land that imagination have longed for.
The recent sudden and violent end of one of the oldest and most noble house, House Archdeacon, has threatened that future. Dark clouds circle as history marches forward; the people that call this land home do not have the slightest inkling that this year would usher in the new as well as bring back the forgotten past. Many would welcome it, some would dread its coming.
It is now early evening and the nation's governing council, the Landskyp, is meeting. More so they are arguing about trade agreements between houses while the general populous lives on just as it has, unawares of the slow turning of history. The sun is setting on the last day of life as it was. Right now, in the slums of Avindr, a young girl has just pushed a young boy to the ground and started a series of events that will re-shape Prydain and set the nation on a course never thought possible...
"Ooof!" the boy fell backwards, landing face up on all fours upon the cracked cobblestone.
The girl standing over him, fist outstretched, scowled. "That'll teach you. Now stay down or you'll get another one."
She brushed her snow-white hair from in front of her eyes behind her ears where it barely reached and rested her hands back upon her hips where they had been before lashing out with blinding speed to deliver the punch. Her bright blue eyes stared intently down at the fellow street urchin; a part of her wanted him to get back up so she could knock him down again. It was not like he had not deserved it though, he and his gang of four others the same age had stolen the only piece of bread an elderly woman had.
A sigh escaped her lips. "No one helps us, yet everyone knows we'll help them... well, everyone who doesn't count in the world. Anyways, where is Alexandra? She missed my sweet moves."
"Zooey!" Another female voice called out from a little farther down the street as if in answer to her.
The white-haired one called back over her shoulder. "Over here Alex!" Not taking her eyes off of the boy she had just introduced to the ground.
The one on the ground, roughly the same age as his vigilante assailant, stared up as if wishing his eyes could burn a hole right through her. "Just gonna stand there?!" he taunted, wiping his bloody nose simultaneously with his tattered sleeve, the blood being indistinguishable from the dirt already on it.
She pointed her finger at him, "You're in no position to say anything, just keep quiet now. You all stay where you are as well." She nodded at the other members of the gang hanging back wisely just out of reach.
Alexandra came up behind Zooey, flanked with two others. The one of the left was a taller girl Alexandra and Zooey's age with flowing brown hair and the most beautiful golden-amber eyes; the other was the elderly woman the boy had stolen the bread piece from. She was being led by Alexandra, her every step creaking with years and suffering. Zooey handed the scuffed piece of bread she had recovered to Alexandra while the golden-eyed girl went and sat down next to the grounded boy.
Her voice was soft, and warm like a late summer's day. "I'm Sophia, may I?"
The boy pulled back, apprehensive, but Sophia reached out and wiped away some more blood that had escaped from his nose. She reached into a pocket on her worn brown dress and produced a pure-white fragment of cloth and handed it to him. His frightened expression relaxed a little as he accepted the cloth.
"It's not good to steal," she admonished, yet there was no recrimination to be found in her words.
"But we're hungry!" he meekly protested, shooting a glance at the four other boys hiding behind some decayed barrels a little further up the street, cautiously watching the proceedings, "We haven't had anything to fill our bellies in days!"
"But so is she," Sophia countered, voice still soft, "we all are. Everyone here in the slums is hungry and cold. But we can't steal from each other, then we become heartless. We can't ever let that happen."
The boy sniffled, trying to hide the tears that were welling up in his eyes, "I guess so."
"Everyone here is Oonskat, the outcasts society doesn't want. If we turn on each other then there's no hope."
Officially there were no social classes in Prydain outside of the Noble Houses, which ruled the land and the commoners who filled the ranks of the military, the farms, the tradesman, and merchants. Yet... society looked much different from those at the bottom of it.
Satisfied that Sophia had the situation under control, Zooey walked over to where Alexandra had helped the older woman take a seat on a dilapidated storefront, still tightly clutching the bread that they had recovered for her. She took a few nibbles, sighed, and placed the bread on her lap. Her eyes were old as they had seen so much, but she focused them on the red-haired girl directly in front of her, the girl's brilliant green eyes shining brightly in even the old woman's vision.
"Thank you Alexandra," she said, her voice trembling, "I don't know what I'd do without you and your friends around. You've all been cursed to end up here, but I've been blessed that you have."
"We're happy to help," Alexandra smiled, "besides, how else would Zooey let out her energy?" She turned to Zooey, "You didn't have to push him so hard you know."
"He was running!" Zooey protested and held her hands up, still panting from her chase, "it was the quickest way to fix the problem of me having to run after him. He's fine, Sophia's babying him so he'll forget all about it soon. Anyways Alex, we were supposed to be trying to find some food ourselves, now we've wasted the last part of the day."
The elderly woman held up her small piece of bread, but Alexandra put her hands on top of the old woman's and clasped her hands back over the bread. "No, you need it. If you do want to share it though, I think I can see several young boys who would forever grateful if you helped their stomachs get through another day."
The old woman smiled, then a hearty laugh erupted. "My dear! Alexandra, you're wiser then the lot of us put together."
"Wise enough that we don't have any food," Zooey murmured not -too-quietly under her breath.
Alexandra elbowed her friend, "Look, next food we find, you're first: I promise."
Zooey shrugged and crossed her arms. "No, I'm fine. Not hungry anyways."
"All right then...Sophia! Tell him and his friends that they'll dine on some fine bread tonight."
"You hear that," Sophia turned back to the boy with a motherly smile, "You'll be fine. Now get your friends hiding over there and you can all eat a little tonight."
"Thanks," the boy murmured sheepishly, "...don't deserve it"
"Of course you do," she grasped his head with her hands and stared directly into his eyes, "no one deserves to starve every day, no one deserves to be here. Now no arguments, and no more stealing. Can you promise me that?"
"Yes we can," a tear finally ran down his cheek.
"OK, off with you now, enjoy your dinner," Sophia shooed him off so he could gather his friends.
Alexandra turned back to the old woman, "I hope it's all right if they share your roof for awhile, they're not bad at all."
"I would love it," the old woman accepted with heart, "with some young'uns around the house, they can help me tidy up what there is to tidy. My old home will have some life in it again. Thank you Alexandra, you and yours are the kindest person I have ever met, you're noble."
"I'm not special," Alexandra blushed at the praise and waved her hand in front of her, "we're all just trying to survive."
With the five boys now helping the old woman get down the street, Alexandra turned back to her two friends. "Well, no food, I'm sorry, it's my fault: I got us involved again and now there's barely any daylight left to help ourselves."
"I think those boys will be fine," Sophia chimed in, her ever-soft voice a comforting swell in the still air, "I think they were on a bad path, they're on a better one now."
Zooey whistled. "We should be nobles, the four us. We should be having people bring us plates of cakes, meats, sweets, and anything else we want. We should have estates, and palaces. We should never be hungry, we should have clothes, we should have a full roof over our head, we should be able to go anywhere we want without people whispering, looking at us with contempt and..."
"But think," Alexandra interjected the list that would probably have no end, "if life was like all that as you describe, we wouldn't have ever met. Then we wouldn't be friends, we wouldn't know each other."
"You, Zooey, and Luca are all the surroundings I need," Sophia added.
"Yeah, yeah," Zooey yawned, "enough with the mushy stuff, it's getting late. Let's head back, maybe Luca had better luck in the Market District then we've had today."
"I second that, I'm getting hungry!" Alexandra said with a laugh and put her arms around her two friends as they started to make their way back down the long street.
All over the nation of Prydain, the sun was beginning to set on the thirteenth of the month of Heyannir, one of the coldest periods of the year. The group of three girls had a long walk in front of them back to their small hovel in the slums of the nation's massive capitol of Avindr. Zooey was right, by all rights all four of them should have servants waiting on their every word. They should be pampered, obeyed, and provided for. All four of them were born into a different lot in life, but the twisted paths and tendrils of time had led them there, now all four together, different beginnings but the same present.
They were part of the lowest class of people, the unofficial lowest caste: the Oonskat These were the cast-offs, the disposed, and the unwanted. In practicality, the Oonskat consists of criminals, wanderers, the homeless, beggars, and exiles from the various Noble Houses that rule at the top of Prydain's social hierarchy. This lowest caste are concentrated in the slums in the north eastern part of the capitol city Avindr, in a district that the other citizenry, the peasants, soldiers, and nobles never venture or even try think about. It is an embarrassment to the shining image of the capitol, to have such a slum district and its inhabitants, but it was a necessity, the unwanted needed somewhere to exist due to the hate-filled spite of the more well-to-do.
To say the slums are 'run-down' is putting it politely, they are possibly the oldest part of the city besides the ornate palaces that the Landskyp gather and rule from. Once a place where the normal peasants lived, now it is the domain solely of those unwanted everywhere else. The old wooden buildings are decrepit, falling down, propped up by bricks and equally-rotten planks of wood. Stairs leading up to second stories long since fallen into rubble heaps, foundations of buildings long since gone, empty stalls where business used to take place. Roofs with gaping holes in them and walls covered sometimes only by cloth. The ancient cobblestone streets are broken up, hard to walk on, weeds springing up between the cracked stones that had seen so many ages pass. The slums is an endless maze of alleys and small streets that grew over time like weeds themselves. It is easy to get lost in the slums, easy to get lost, and very dangerous if one ventured too far in and found themselves deeper in towards the Dark District.
Even with all the decay, the slums were quite an inhabited zone, inhabited only by the Oonskat. Looking from afar, the slums were very dense, buildings everywhere, the uneven roofs blocking the view from the ground level. None of the amenities in the rest of the capitol were afforded in the slums, no street lamps, no carriages for easy transportation, wells long since muddied and polluted.
There were no medical clinics there, and the Oonskat certainly were not permitted into the infirmaries elsewhere in the city. There were also no National Patrols of soldiery to maintain proper order in the area. The National Patrol was guarding the borders of the slums nearby of course, just to make sure whatever was in there did not go out to bother the commoners and nobles, the proper folk of the proper city.
Alexandra, Zooey, Sophia, and Luca's little corner of the slums was a single-room shack leaning up against the side of an old stone building that at one point was probably an apothecary of some kind. It is actually a modest abode for the slums, the four them are generally left alone because they are well-liked among most of the Oonskat in the area. This comes from the group's reputation for kindness and willingness to help others: commodities in either short supply or completely forgotten usually in the slums.
Each of them has a small pile hay for their beds and fragments of cloth for blankets. The walls and ceiling feature large holes they have tried to cover with odds and ends, pieces of wood or piles of rocks. Littered inside are random items each of them has collected, a piece of a mirror, a chair with three legs, and a badly-tuned lurra with two strings missing. The most valuable and interesting object that they posses is Alexandra's: a gold piece on a chain. It is the size of a pocket watch but has no latch to open the top and reveal a watch face, it is just a solid piece of gold with some ornate etchings on the top and bottom. Alexandra's mother had given it to her when she was very little, she had told her it was from her father she never knew.
Many times Alexandra had wanted to sell it to get food or real blankets for her and her friends, but every time she could not...it was the only item she had ever had from her father. One time Alexandra was about to hand it to a food merchant but without saying a word, Sophia had taken Alexandra by the hand and led her away. Sophia had told her that they didn't need the food that badly, that they could find some and that Alexandra needed to keep the golden piece...she needed something for herself. Alexandra wore it around her neck at all times, she never took it off and at night she slept with one hand gripping it tightly. She had no idea how her mother had obtained such an obviously-valuable piece, and made her wonder who her father really was. Her mother had always deflected the question and never told her before she died, leaving Alexandra in the dark as to who her father was and broken connections to her past.
At the top of the social ladder at the opposite end from Alexandra and her friends are where they should be: the Noble Houses, the controlling group of Prydain.
These families date back to the time of the founding of the nation. Before the current history, the region was divided between city-states, villages, nomadic tribes, and greedy landowners. The land, known then simply as Brithwyr, was fraught with strife, unhappiness and death. This constant state of misery for the people saddened one particularly rich landholder in a village next to the great Saile sea in the south-east, where the capitol of Prydain now sits. This man was known as Willem Arkland: he sought to unite the peoples into one cohesive form that could be at peace and progress into a new era.
Through shrewd leadership and business dealings, his village became large and powerful, possibly the largest in all the land with him at its head. A genuinely good man by all historical accounts, he wanted the same for all the people he saw living in squalor around him. By building alliances with nearby tribes, Arkland raised an army and swept across Brithwyr in a fast and relatively bloodless campaign. Where there was opposition, he tempered it with friendship, where there was fighting, he saw it done quickly with as little loss of life as possible. The conquered peoples soon discovered they enjoyed life under this new ruler better than their previous lords. Under Arkland's banner, they were provided with protection, support, and regular communication with the villages around them.
When the dust settled, Willem Arkland had united Brithwyr under his single leadership. In order to maintain regional control, he appointed preexisting village leaders as new more powerful lords. Under this system, former village heads and tribal leaders could continue to oversee their old lands and people directly. This served two purposes: to continue traditional leadership and maintain the trust of those local people. These leaders' families became well-known and powerful, they became the leading families of the newly-formed nation of Prydain.
This system over the centuries changed and mutated and as the original regional territories blurred, it gave rise to current Noble Houses, the houses built around the families that controlled the various regions under Arkland. Now, the Houses are only loosely tied to specific regions and exist mostly out of tradition and respect. They govern the land; the nation, as well as the entire social structure, would collapse without them. Those that are a part of, or serve a Noble House usually live a life of privilege. This is in stark contrast to the commoners of Prydain the class and even in sharper relief to the Oonskat beneath them.
It should not have been this way: Alexandra was in fact born into a Noble House. Back when her last name meant something other than shame, she was known as Alexandra Benham. When she was just a newborn, her and her mother were exiled from House Benham, cursed to live on the streets as Oonskat. Her mother dead now these past two years, sixteen-year-old Alexandra learned quickly to take care of herself, and those around her.
Zooey is also a cast-off from a Noble House, House Tatiana. That ancient family did not manage itself well and as its resources dwindled and it sank into obscurity and ruin as the head of the house gambled heavily. Several bad business deals and a quickly shrinking monetary reserve caused House Tatiana to jettison many parts of itself to just stay afloat and viable. One of those parts was Zooey. She was disowned when she was seven years old for nothing she did, just an attempt to save money. Cast off and branded as an exile, she was untouchable by society and forced to the slums alone. Old enough to understand what has happening to her, and by nothing of her own doing, Zooey has developed a chip on her shoulder very quickly. Despite her anger and resentment about how her former family treated her at such a tender young age, she cares deeply for the friends she discovered and will fight hard to protect them, they are the only people she loves.
She met Alexandra on the streets when she was ten: it was a rainy night and they both needed a dry place to sleep. Zooey had the spot, but Alexandra had a coveted handful of cheese she had taken out of a trash heap behind one of the stalls in the Market District. It was Alexandra that offered a trade: the food for sharing the dryness for the night. Zooey was distrustful but agreed, sensing the earnestness in Alexandra's voice, and figuring she could beat her up and escape if needed. However, with similar backgrounds and being the same age as well, Zooey's internal defenses were overcome and the two became quick friends. They have stuck together ever since.
The third but not final member of their cabal, the golden-eyed Sophia, was a recently orphaned peasant of five when she was seen by and adopted into House Bradana. They were a mid-level House of mild historical importance. The Bradana family is very old itself, possibly dating back to around the same time as House Arkland. However in more recent times its influence has faded and its influence shrunken due to relaxed and casual leadership by its aging heads and old-style attitudes. Content with pomp, ceremony and playing the noble part, House Bradana is physically only an estate in the country.
They possess no military forces, just a small family and small staff. Because of its historical importance it is well-regarded and is present at state events and is seen as a wise guide to society. Its leadership is content to play that role and does little but maintain House Bradana's current size and position.
When at the age of twelve, Sophia was accidentally caught up in a peasant protest while she was out shopping in the Market District. Swept up into the crowd as she exited a store, she was not strong enough to break out of the sea of surging bodies and was carried along in the flow. When soldiers from several Houses arrived to break up the protest before it escalated, she was discovered and recognized as a member of House Bradana. Sophia, timid by nature, was too soft spoken to properly defend herself. Scared of the adults arguing around her, she could not explain what had happened adequately when harshly questioned.
Believing her to be a part of the protest, Sophia was quickly 'un-adopted' by the image-conscious noble family and sent back to the streets. Someone of Sophia's nature would not last very long on the streets of the slums, filled the criminals, the desperate, and the forgotten. She hid most of the day, venturing out of her overturned barrel only at dusk to try to find scraps to eat that the rats had not yet taken away. A year passed when one fateful night she was set upon by a gang of other Oonskat who wanted the old blanket she had found half-buried in the mud.
Alexandra and Zooey happened to be passing by and seeing the helpless Sophia they intervened and drove off the attackers. Leaving the area quickly, lest the gang return with more numbers and fortified resolve, they took Sophia to their residence: the half-collapsed shed on the side of an old decrepit building. Alexandra and Zooey had some food, meager as it was, and Sophia had a blanket. An amicable agreement was quickly reached to share and Sophia had never left their side since.
Despite being a year older than the others, Sophia is often meek when around strangers, she is at times almost the 'little sister of the group'. An easy target for opportunists, Sophia is protected by the others while providing the unconditional loving center of this found family.
Zooey looked up at the sky with her hands behind her head, seeing the starts beginning to come out,"It's already dark!"
"It's getting much colder too," Sophia rubbed her hands on her arms, her thin clothing not adequate to keep out the season.
"It'll be all right," Alexandra tried to sound hopeful, "we're almost home, we can get a fire going and I'm sure Luca will have brought back something from the Market District."
Luca was the fourth member of their group, and at age fifteen, he was the youngest among them. Sometimes this is a source of kindhearted teasing from the others, but it does bother him and drives him to always try harder and match the bravery and kindness he sees in his companions. Luca, just like the others, was meant to be somewhere else; he was born originally into the respectable mid-level House Maren.
His mother was meant to marry into another noble house, House Cornelius, to solidify an economic agreement between the two Noble Families. Luca's mother instead conceived with the man she loved, a servant of House Maren. Outraged and wanting to quickly punish and remove the problem before House Cornelius could object further, Luca's mother was exiled. She did not last long on the streets and Luca was brought up by an elderly peasant couple until their own deaths when he was thirteen.
The newest member of the small group, he met the others when they saw him take on a gang of five Oonskat boys much older and bigger than him. Badly beaten, Luca continued struggling until the gang had had enough and left. Alexandra, Zooey, and Sophia befriended him and he joined their little family.
"Get behind me," Alexandra suddenly said, motioning for the others to fall in line behind her.
"What is it?" Zooey peered intently ahead, her hand reaching for the rusty dagger hanging from her belt.
Alexandra's eyes were narrowed and alert, "Trouble. Just keep walking."
Zooey finally saw what Alexandra had noticed: a man standing in the shadows to the right of the street ahead of them. With no other alternate route home, they would have to pass this stranger. This was someone they had seen before though, someone they did not want to be acquainted with at all. They began to pass by him when his head raised and a wicked smile broke out from under his grimy top hat.
"It's late for three such beautiful young things to be walking alone in this part of town. It's like you're asking for something to happen. Ah, and there's Sophia, you look so delectable tonight..."
He could not finish that sentence because suddenly Zooey's dagger had flown from her belt and was now pointed at the man's throat.
"Zooey!" Alexandra quickly stepped in.
"This creep again," Zooey would not take her eyes or blade off of the man.
"Can we please just go..." Sophia said barely above a whisper, eyes cast pensively at the ground and she tried to make herself a small as possible behind Alexandra.
"We told you before," Alexandra stepped parallel to the man next to Zooey's blade and looked him firmly in the eyes, "Sophia was no interest in your 'offer', please leave her and us alone. We don't want anything to do with your flesh-peddlers or your way of life."
"It's such a same. You could all make such a killing," came the toothy response.
"I'll show you a killing..." Zooey began to press the dagger before Alexandra's quick rebuke stopped her.
"Zooey!" Alexandra was flustered but maintained her composure, "look, please leave her and us alone. The answer is no, it will always be no. Stop wasting your time."
"Listen..." the man continued undeterred, "you three are missing out on so much money. Even the younger guy we've seen you running around with, we could even have a spot for him. My masters will kindly take you all in, you know, some people like a..."
"We're never going into the Dark District, never. Now please, tell your masters that message," Alexandra's tone did not invite further discussion.
The Dark District is the unofficial name for the section of the capitol deepest in the slums. It sits in the north western part of the city, a large area, but dwarfed in comparison to the city proper. Out of sight, out of mind of the citizens that never ventured near the slums, they were happy to let the criminals stay there and not bother them. To the east is Coal City, the main industrial district of the city, a large strip that runs from the north east of the capitol all the way down to water in the south. A district of Avindr filled with factories and populated only by workers. It is relegated to the far east of the city due to black fumes that shoot from the tall smoke stacks. It is the industrial heart of Avindr, as well as all of Prydain, the largest concentration of industry anywhere in the land. Everything from weapons to furniture is made there. Immediately to the south are the docks. The docks run the southern length of the entire city bordering the Saile.
The Dark District is where the worse of the criminal underworld worked and plied their varied evil trades. It was a place where anything could be bought and sold, decadence in its throne room. It was the black spot of Avindr even more so than the slums and Oonskat, a place decried by the representatives in the Landskyp. Despite all the rhetoric and the public shame of the area, nothing was done because those very nobles that give proud speeches against the criminals and their lair in the city sometimes would indulge in the various pleasures and forbidden fruits to be found there. It was a place where one could go in and likely never come out again, either in body or spirit.
The slums were the border between the Dark District and the rest of the city proper. No one was exactly sure what was going on among the under-lit streets and imposing buildings...those who went in for dubious business never would say, and no guards were brave enough: it was not worth losing their lives over. The crime lords too had their fingers in enough politics and enough dirt on many nobles to assure that no initiative would be passed in the Landskyp to clean up the district.
Beyond that fact, the criminals knew that no real action was demanded by the peasants because they hid themselves in the Dark District, they worked quietly and invisibly in the city proper as well as their more far-reaching operations in Prydain. Content that the evil stayed in its cave for the most part, there was no real pressure to spend the men and resources to clean up the area.
This particular man that Zooey now had her blade trained on was such a criminal from the Dark District. He was known to work for some of the worst of the worst, an infamous brothel known as The Guilty Lady. Sophia, with her soft features, long hair, and beautiful golden-amber eyes had caught the attention of the criminal lords that reigned over that dark abyss. They recognized her unique beauty, and they coveted her features, her body, her soul. Desperately wanting her for their business, she would just the perfect one to tempt even more of the higher-classes through their doors constructed out of broken dreams. The clarity and purity of her soul is also what they saw, and they wanted that most of all. It would be another thing their customers would find appealing, one more thing they could enjoy taking from her.
Several times they had sent messengers to try to seduce Sophia in going with them; promises of money and acceptance were made but Sophia would have none of it. The previous times, Alexandra, Zooey, and Luca had run off the tempters, firmly rebuking them, but the attempts didn't stop. Every time, grander promises were made, more money offered, bigger and shinier bobbles presented. This man now in their path was yet another in a long line that had to tried to draw Sophia and the others into the Dark District.
Negotiations breaking down, the man snarled, "My employers do not like people saying no to them."
"Well, they're hearing it now!" Zooey's eyes burned with intensity, her blade not quivering at all in her hand, perfectly still and poised ready to draw fatal blood.
Alexandra tried to bring the encounter to a close. "Look sir, the life you offer is an endless hole, a trap that people can't get out of. It's not something we want for our friend or our ourselves. We want better, and we intend to be better... none of that is to be found with you."
Sophia shrank further as the man's lascivious gaze to rest firmly on her, as he gestured grandly
"Why don't you let sweet-cheeks here speak for herself. How about it love, last offer. Don't let these deny you life of comfort and wealth! You'll be provided for, you'll live in complete comfort! No more living in a broken-down shack on the side of forgotten alley...no more going hungry night after night! No more being ashamed of your clothes because the holes get bigger and it's harder to cover up! You'll have the prettiest clothes and be desired by all...isn't that something you want? Isn't that better then what you have now?!"
"No, no thank you," Sophia whispered, tears beginning to fall onto the cobblestone below.
Alexandra took a step back and put her arm around Sophia, "She has us, now please leave."
"Get lost," Zooey added, gesturing with her blade towards the opposite way down the street, "our broken-down shack is way better than your filthy whorehouse any day any time."
"Such a dirty word for such a pretty girl to say," the man licked his lips, "we prefer to refer to it as a gentleman's club"
"There's none of them to be found there I assure you," Alexandra contradicted him immediately.
"Some of the most powerful men in Avindr, in all of Prydain frequent the Guilty Lady. Sophia, wouldn't you want to be with those men? All of them? You could find yourself a rich patron and wrap them around your finger. Just think of all the pretty things you could get, all the..."
"No. Tell them no. You'll never have her, tell them that if you wish," Alexandra said flatly, still gripping Sophia tightly to her. "Please leave or now or Zooey will not be able to hold back and will encourage you to leave."
The man tipped his hat, "I'll tell 'em, but I don't think they'll like it. We could have done this business-like, no need for harsh words, everyone coming out a winner. Oh well, have it your way, I'm just a messenger and lowly errand boy." He put his hands in his pockets and began walking away into the dark, whistling as he went.
"Don't worry about him Sophia," Alexandra comforted her friend, "he won't be back. Everything will be fine."
"Besides, if he does," Zooey slid her blade back onto her belt, "I'll give him what-for."
"I don't want anyone getting hurt for me."
"Sophia," Alexandra put her face in front of Sophia's so she could see her eyes plainly, "we're here for you, and we'll always be here for you."
"No one's getting hurt except anyone who crosses me," Zooey smiled confidently, hands behind her head again, kicking a little stone that had come loose on the street, "especially if they're between me and some food!"
"You can't win every fight, sometimes it's better to walk away," Alexandra chuckled, knowing Zooey would have none of it.
"Uh-huh, yeah, got it," Zooey was already not listening and now fantasizing about food.
"Come on," laughed Alexandra, pulling her friends along with her, "we need to get back home or else Luca will go mad with worry."
"He'll probably think the worst, go out and get himself into trouble trying to do the right thing or something," Zooey tried to feign indifference but it was of no use.
"It's so beautiful," Sophia was looking up at the clear skies, the stars shining like diamonds high above, "whenever something worries me, I just look up at night and I feel all right."
Alexandra still had her hand to Sophia's back, silently letting her know she was still there as always."I agree, it's nice to know that something so beautiful hangs over a place like this just like it does where the Nobles live."
"I wish the stars would spit on them," Zooey glanced upwards.
"That's not nice," Alexandra chided, "not all the Nobles are bad. A few bad people don't mean they all are."
"The family that kicked me out was pretty bad," Zooey's eyes flashed with momentary anger, "and yours, and Sophia's!"
"Come on," Alexandra urged them forward, "all this complaining isn't getting us home...and as much as I like the stars, I'd rather be seeing the insides of the my eyelids"
Sophia finally piped back up, "sounds good to me."
"And me," Zooey nodded, letting the moment of anger and the memory go.
The walk back to their home was long and tiring indeed, their feet ached with every step on the uneven cracked cobblestone. The wind picked up slightly, teasing, whipping at the hanging threads of their clothes. Clouds moved with the wind overhead, the stars playing hide-and-seek behind them in the heavens. The girls walked closely together for safety and warmth as the night grew later and the temperature grew colder. Lights from buildings, candles down dark alleys slowly went out as the people of the slums tried to escape their lives for just a few hours, hoping their dreams brought a better, albeit temporary, life. The slums never slept all the way...there were always scavengers, thieves, killers that all roamed at night. Many Oonskat though were victims of social circumstances, not criminals, just the unfortunate. Those people, the dispossessed that were just trying to survive, they tried to sleep and tried to stay safe from the real criminals and monsters that prowled those same streets.
The endless sea of collapsing buildings and human wreckage finally gave way to a welcome sight: their shack. A light was emanating through the large cracks in the walls let them know that Luca must already be back from the Market District. Zooey brushed the cloth doorway aside and Alexandra made sure Sophia entered before she herself walked inside. She immediately turned around and fastened the cloth in place over the opening with a small piece of leather string. It was not security at any means, but at least symbolically kept the world out.
"You're back!" the smiled beamed on the boy's face. He was sitting in the center of the shack next to small fire.
"Hey Luca," Alexandra turned to face the rest of the small room, "how was your day?"
He suddenly looked downcast, "I'm sorry Alex," tears suddenly welled up, "I couldn't get anything...I tried...I tried all day. No one wanted any help...any help from me...one of us. I...I tried to beg the merchants for food when it got dark and they were closing...but, they gave most of the scraps to the dogs...I tried to grab some, but there were too many..." Alexandra saw the cuts on Luca's hands.
"Hey, hey," Alexandra came over and put her hand on the top of his head, "we didn't do so hot either. Zooey chased down a gang, got bread, then I gave it away."
"Typical," Zooey plopped down on her bedding partially feigning exasperation, "I did all the leg work, Alexandra made nice with everyone...same old story."
"Sounds like you all had an exciting time," Luca picked his pocketknife back up and continued on the whittling he had been doing before the others entered.
"Too exciting for me," Sophia waved her raggedy blanket in the air, shaking off dust and bugs.
"We'll all go to the Market District tomorrow," Alexandra walked over to her own small pile of moldy hay and blankets, "I'm sure between all four of us we can get something good to eat."
"No!" Luca protested, "I don't want to see you, all of you begging. Let me..."
"None of that," Alexandra brushed off a final cricket from bedding and sat down, "we'll all go. We all need to eat."
"I can stay here," Zooey stretched her arms out above her head, not meaning the comment in the least, "I have a lot of sleep to catch up on."
"Beauty sleep..." Luca whispered.
"Hey!" Zooey threw a handful of hay in Luca's direction.
"Don't listen," Sophia was washing her hands in a small muddy puddle near the side of the shack, "you're beautiful Zooey."
"Why thank you, I know it."
Luca was looking up at the clouds through a large hole in the wooden planks that was the ceiling. "It's going to be a cold one. I heard some peasant women in the Market saying that the farmers outside Avindr are predicting a cold spring, colder than winter last year."
"Is that the juiciest gossip? The weather?" Zooey sounded disappointed, "come on, how about some Noble love-triangles? Military coups?"
"Zooey, that's so lurid." Sophia preferred more romantic fare herself.
"Well," Luca thought hard about everything he heard from the people ignoring him in the Market, "um, I heard Land Pirates have been seen on the plains of the Distansera..."
"Yeah!" Zooey was interested, "now this is the good stuff!"
In the north-east, the great and impassable Rotsen mountain range fades and gives way to the Distansera, endless flatland that goes so far to the north-east that no one in living memory knows what lies on the other side.
"The National Patrol can't find them, and no one knows where they're based."
"Now that's an exciting life," Zooey sprawled out on the hay, "doing whatever you want, living on Landships. That's the life for sure."
"Pirates?" Sophia wanted nothing to do with it, "I always thought those were on the sea."
To the south of the nation was the great sea, the Saile. It covered the made up the entire southern border of Prydain: all the way from the Great Woods in the west the impassable bogs & marshlands of the east. Its boundaries were unknown, it seemed to stretch in every direction, perhaps even to the end of the world itself.
"Well, I wouldn't be a pirate I guess."
"Let me see what else," Luca thought back, "there's going to be a big banquet to celebrate something for House Cornelius...invite only of course. There's going to be a Landskyp gathering in a few months..."
"Boring," Zooey yawned as she sat up and reached for the lurra propped up against the stone wall.
"Suit yourself," Luca went back to his whittling.
"Oh I am tired," Alexandra now stretched her arms out as wide as they would go, "I am going to sleep very well tonight."
"Maybe I can steal another string or two for this," Zooey plucked at the few remaining strings, straining some notes from the very old instrument.
"Good night," Sophia's eyes were already closing, her hands folded near her head.
"Good..." Zooey looked over, "and she's already asleep. I envy that one."
"Maybe we can find some cleaner water in the Market to," Alexandra's eyes were drooping, not knowing her tattered blouse had accidentally slipped from her shoulders to her middle back, revealing a tattoo under her left shoulder. It shone , reflecting the last threads of the fire in the center of the room. It was a word in fancy flourishing letters: Benham.
"Wow," Zooey said without thinking.
Alexandra blushed and quickly pulled her shirt back up as quick as she could.
"I'm sorry Alex," Zooey realized she had embarrassed her friend, "it's just, every time I see it... my own back hurts. I still can't believe they did that to...giving you the Family Name, then exiling you. That's just cruel...and how they did it....I mean..."
"It's in the past," Alexandra tried to move on, working to make a makeshift pillow out of some hay.
"But, using metal for a tattoo...Alex, they gave you the name and then sent you here. They gave you the Family Name!"
"I know!" Alexandra shouted, then paused, taking deep breaths to try to calm down, "but there's nothing we can do about that. It's unfair, it's unfair what happened to all of us, but, there's nothing we can do. That's it: nothing. Nothing except to try to keep on living."
"You're noble to me," Luca interjected, "no matter what some law says."
"A perfect gentleman," Alexandra smiled as she laid her head down on her makeshift pillow.
"I'm going to bed," Zooey set the lurra down, "today's been exciting enough. I hope tomorrow's quieter."
"But you're always saying how you want to have adventures, find fortunes, fight epic battles," Luca was also getting into bed, closing his pocketknife.
"Those can start after I rest," Zooey pulled the shreds of cloth she used as a blanket up close to her head.
Alexandra took one last look around the shack, the dying embers of the fire providing a soft orange glow. "Good night, everyone sleep well. We have a big day tomorrow. Let's try for a steak dinner and maybe some cakes."
"My stomach would probably explode if it had those again," Luca smiled at the thought of the tasty treats, "it's been so long."
"I'd fancy the cakes..." Zooey was nodding off.
"I'd fancy any food," Alexandra whispered so no one else could hear it. Her eyes slowly blurred and her eyelids finally shut.
The Noble Family Names, the most prized possession in all of Prydain. Everyone has a last name of course, but few have the last name of one of the Noble Houses. To have one those noble Names officially bestowed upon you entitles you to a life of luxury, respect, comfort, and power. It is difficult to obtain one of these names however, being born into the House does not even automatically grant someone the Family Name. It is bestowed by the leader of the House, only that person can give someone that distinction. The way a Family Name is conferred to someone is the leader of the House will gift them an item that bears the noble family's name upon it in some fashion.
This 'Named Relic' as they are called by commoners who view the proceedings of the nobles with envy, can be any physical object: a sword, a piece of jewelry, a pair of eyeglasses...anything that is durable and will last over time. In a usually private ceremony, though sometimes they are made into grand public spectacles, the leader of the House, has the Family Name etched onto the Relic, and that item is then given to recipient.
In the instance that the recipient is a newborn or just a small child, as is often the case when a Naming is performed, the Relic is given to the recipient's guardian. This is usually the mother, to hold for the intended receiver and to be given to them at a later date.
The Family Name is important in a very different manner as well beyond the luxuries it entails. Someone who bears the name of a Noble Family is considered a representative of that House in any and all matters they are involved in. Whatever that person says or does, carries the weight and commitment of the entire Noble House behind it. Because of the inherent danger of someone abusing this power, the Naming is kept very small, and usually to very close and trusted family members only. Female members of the House are not usually Named because they are usually married off to other Noble Houses to seal economic deals or fulfill long standing obligations of various natures.
The exact reason that it is rare and also undesirable that someone be Named to one House and then later also be Named to a different House, through marriage or unusual circumstances, is because at that point they possess the authority of two Family Names. At this point, they speak with the might of both Houses as a unquestionable representative of both, thus wielding twice the power...more so than any one House usually has.
This creates a binding alliance between the two houses in all matters that the dual name wielder becomes involved in, and commits the sizable economic, social, and military force of not one but two Noble Houses at the same time, superseding any previous agreements or standings. The reason that whatever a Name family member says or does at the immediate moment overrides any previous stated position or action is because the Name recipient is a full-powered representative of the House at the present moment; whatever they say or do represents the current position of the House and therefore invalidates any previous actions by the House and commits it wholly to a new course. In order to eliminate the possibility of dual Names being given, female members of the House are rarely, if ever, bestowed the Family Name. It is not unheard of though, women have even been heads of Houses before, but those occurrences are few and far between...and only happens when no Named male heir is alive.
Just as complex as the Family system of Prydain is, it has an equally complicated and mysterious system for keeping it legitimate and free of fraudulent claims. It would be easy for any person to go out and scratch a Family Name into whatever they find on the side of the road and then present themselves to the nobility and demand acceptance into a Noble House.
To prevent abuse and false claims in the system, each Name Recipient has to be verified by the Watchers at the time that they take their rightful place in the House. This can happen at infancy, or at any later time if the parties so wish. Verification can be made at any age with no restriction. The way they weed out the con artists from the true members of the nobility is through the verification, a ceremony that takes place in the Watchers domain of the capitol.
The Name recipient and their Name Relic are taken to the Winnowing Chamber, a beautiful chamber made of gold with a ceiling completely constructed out of stained glass. This special room sits at the end of a long corridor that wraps around the chamber's circumference once it reached the room. In the center of the chamber is a large machine, extending from unseen caverns deep below up to almost the glass ceiling. It is also inlaid with gold and consists of a series of large metal beams that twist and turn around each other, occasionally along the side of any one of the particular strands will lie a golden orb. There are no seams or bolts on it anywhere to be seen, it appears to be completely smooth, no evidence of tool marks anywhere to be found.
From looking at it, it's design lends no clue to its purpose, unlike most of the other steam technology in Prydain. It is said that the machine comes from the Old Time, from the lost village of science, Fru Alstad, but that is dismissed as folk stories and only the Watchers know for sure. It is unfathomable how such technology exists, how it was constructed, and even how it operates, but its judgment is infallible and is absolute law. This unique and awe-inspiring machine is known as The Fork, the source of its name an equal mystery as the machine's origin.
No one outside of the Watchers and named Noble Family members know exactly what the reaction is or what the event looks like, they are the only ones allowed to be present when the this occurs. The mystique of the process is but another way the Nobles keep the rest of the citizenry in awe and wonder of them. The recipient of the Naming has to be present along with their Relic, both at the same time...only then will the great machine activate. As far as how the machine knows that the right person and right item is there...that is a secret only the Watchers and the heads of House who bestow the Names, are a party to.
Despite now being part of the Oonskat, Alexandra was given a Name, and verified as just a babe in arms. The tattoo that she bears on her back is her Name Relic. Since the tattoo was made using a form of metal, it stands as a durable object, and the tattoo itself is the name of House Benham. Such a way to name someone has never been done, it considered to be cruel. The application of this metal as a tattoo is a pain that cannot be described, and to do so to just a small child is unconscionable. Taken from her mother Heloise's arms as just an infant by soldiers of House Benham and House Cornelius, Alexandra was tattooed and then immediately brought before the Watchers.
Despite the horrific nature of the Naming, the Watchers followed the centuries-old protocol and verified her as a named member of House Benham. Upon being returned to her mother, they were both at once officially cast from the house through the process of exile, the only means to strip a Named family member of their authority and position. The exiling and throwing a person down to the Oonskat is a fate almost worse than death in itself, but that was so much more so for Alexandra.
To be Named, and then to be exiled...it puts an even darker mark on you to society than even the other downtrodden suffer and was obviously their spiteful intent. To have a Family give you their name, and then later to cast you out for whatever reason, it is a deep shame put upon you and makes you the worst of the worst in the eyes of society.
Though Alexandra is not ashamed, she knows she did nothing wrong to warrant her banishment, it is still something she hides because of the stigma it carries and presses upon her. Even among her closest friends, her new family, she tries to not let it be seen.
She had asked her mother repeatedly when she was still in this world why: why had people done such a cruel thing to her. Her mother had only ever said that the hearts of some are wicked and that she must not let that cloud her thoughts or influence who she was, that the tattoo did not define her. Unfortunately, the tattoo and the exiling from House Benham did define her socially.
Sometimes the Oonskat are given money to do the jobs that the proper citizens do not wish to do, but it is especially hard for Alexandra: a banishment from Noble Houses are always noted by the masses.
To see someone kicked out from on high down past their own level is always something to gossip about. When Alexandra and her mother, who was not a Named member of House Benham, were exiled, it was certainly the talk of the town for several weeks. Because of this public knowledge of her circumstances, Alexandra has to struggle even harder than the rest of the Oonskat sometimes.
Because her tattoo is actually made of a metal composite rather than ink, in time, some of it has leeched into her bloodstream and the rest of her body. Due to this dissemination, there is a large degree of muscle degeneration at the shoulder. Also, because it is a metal compound, the tattoo has not allowed the skin, muscles and tissue on that part of her shoulder to grow in pace with her. This causes wrenching pain when her arm is too far extended in any direction or if pressure is applied to the area.
Alexandra has to constantly be careful to not strain that part of her body because in all likelihood it would never recover from any damage it sustains. The tattoo hurts from time to time even when she is not moving, but Alexandra does not let on to that, she smiles and hides that pain from her friends.
It is due to happenstance luck she lived through the process in fact; no one had ever used metal for such a purpose before and never had again after. Also, the fact that Alexandra was Named, verified, and exiled during one night was also a hot topic among the people. It was just so unusual, and no public reasons given. Typically when there is banishment, a public declaration would be made stating that the event occurred and giving the reasons for, so that the Houses come out always looking good. In the case of Alexandra and her mother however, only the statement of the event was made with no follow-up reasoning for the action. People gossiped, people wondered, but after a month or so, public interest turned to other stories and sources of amusement.
Unlike Alexandra however, Zooey was not a Named member of House Tatiana when she ws banished, she did not have to bear that additional shame. Luca was the same way, as his mother was banished before he was born and thus was born into the Oonskat. Sophia was likewise unnamed. Being adopted and female ensured that would never happen. Adoptions are rare, the Noble Houses want to continue their own bloodlines and adoption does not further that goal. Despite being of no real benefit to a House, adoptions still do happen from time to time. When she was exiled from her House, she fell all the way past her commoner birth and into the lowest class because of it.
All four of them started off in nobility, and all four are now living in a one-room hovel, shivering under tattered rags against the cold and the night. The vain hope that tomorrow would bring the sun and with it bring better times always proved a disappointment; all the sun ever brought was another day of hunger and misery. They tried not to let it get to them, they all had different attitudes and ways to cope with their situation. They had finally resigned themselves to the fact that they would probably never escape the slums and the lives they were in now.
However, fate and the twists of time have a peculiar way of breaking apart and reuniting again. As the four slept, as the nation at large slept, those thin threads of what some may call destiny began their weave once more. Though Alexandra could never imagine it, what had started the day she was banished was about to come full-circle and change not only her life, but everyone's in ways they could not imagine.
Welcome to Prydain, the land of steam, and a nation hurtling towards a reckoning with its past.