Gra Gryning

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


"This is Ajax, you will be riding with him."

I had some experience in war and found myself drafted into fighting.

"Aye."

Bran had seven sons and four girls. His four older sons were in north Africa, his three younger sons were at home. Ajax looked at me and gave me a bottle.

"You get sea sick?"

"Never."

"Take one anyways...this is your first time riding a roo."

I felt slightly insulted but I took a pill anyways then I got on a big scarred roo.

"Come on then."

I held on for dear life as the creature moved with blinding speed, my stomach jumped along with the roo as I followed Ajax. Then we stopped and Ajax looked at me, checking my state.

"We're here."

He got off the roo while I looked around.

"This is a farm."

He nodded.

"I know. We can't let the Japanese have access to food or water, or anything that will make their lives easier."

I felt sick as he knocked on a door. It opened and an old woman looked at him.

"Hello Miss."

She looked at him with sadness.

"This is about the Japanese, isn't it?"

"Official orders. Any unsecured farms are to be burnt, all forms of habitable buildings destroyed."

She nodded.

"This farm is all I have."

Ajax nodded.

"And the land will continue to belong to you. We have room in our home, you would be under our protection for the duration of the conflict."

The old woman nodded and went inside. She brought out some gas cans and poured the gasoline over her fields with our aid. Then she went inside her small house and swept it. With this finished she poured the last bit of gas on top of her wooden floors by herself and lit a match.

"I do this for Australia."

She placed the match on the ground. We watched as the fire spread, the woman's face was stern as she watched her home burn down.

"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

I stared at her as she starting to sing slightly louder.

"Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

I watched as the fires consumed all of her crops and the woman continued singing.

"Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

The fires consumed her small house and all of her worldly possessions.

"Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.
Down came the troopers, one, two, and three.
"Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Suddenly her small house collapsed. We watched the fire rise into the air as she continued to sing.

"Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong.
"You'll never catch me alive!" said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

She turned away, and looked at us.

"Well, come on. Let's get on it."

"But your home."

She smiled at me.

"Australia is my home, mate. As long as she still stands, my home still stands."

I stared at the still burning home.

"Why did you sing?"

She smiled at me warmly.

"Well son, in order to have a proper dance you need music."

Then she pulled a pistol out of her bag.

"And I'm ready to dance."

 

[Cherico]

The Legacy of the Phenix

Bill Nye



The lost Phenix people had a large impact on all human sciences but two in particular immediately benefited. Mathematics, from their discovery of Non-Euclidean geometry, and medicine, from germ theory and definite proofs of their existance, which changed and saved lives. As did their research about phages, vaccines and numerous other medicines.

When Merlin came to earth almost the entirety of their knowledge base was opened to humanity and its scholars. Over five thousand years of history and science was laid bare before humanity at once.

The ultimate problem with this knowledge is that the vast majority of the phenix people's technology and science was based on magic. It was a society where magic was not only common but an omnipresent part of life. A culture where every single individual was taught how to use magic. This simply was not true in most human cultures. Finding out what scientific principles worked only with the imposition of higher dimensional power and which ones were always valid in our base universe was difficult.

It didn't help that Merlin, for all of his intelligence, was incredibly bad at organizing knowledge. This often meant that knowledge was hidden in plain sight. Devices and knowledge that could have changed, and later did change, the world was often hidden amongst historical notes, fiction and useless dross. The only part of the library that was organized were the classbooks used as a part of the standard Compass education.

The sheer amount of knowledge, the struggle to adapt a completely different technology base and the horrible lack of organization meant that what should have completely changed humanity forever ended up only changing the world in dribs and drabs. This state of affairs continued until the soviet union managed to beat the united states into space with Sputnik.

After this humiliation the united states went to compass and found several spells that affected gravity. These spells had the potential to make space launch trivially easy. The question of what else had been lying out there hidden in plain sight for hundreds of years was also asked. To this, Merlin shrugged.

The decision was made to send in a small army of libarians to collate and finally organize the great library. Even now, 30 years after this process started, we are still going through the large amounts of information. These books have helped improve computer technology, battery technology and numerous other aspects of life.

With the destruction of earth, our attempts to study the phenix and their technology and magic have only increased.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I watched the road with Art, waiting for any sign of the Japanese.

"Why are they still there?"

It had been a month. A month where the Japanese had stuck to their territory outside the tangle.

"Don't know sir, we're just thankful. The more time we have the better."

I frowned.

"Any word on how things are going?"

"The Japanese launched simultaneous attacks on the philipines, French Indochina, the dutch east indies, parts of Alaska and they also have an ongoing invasion of china going on."

I sighed.

"How bad is it going?"

"They almost captured Singapore, the east indies is a toss up and the invasion of the Philipines is being successfully held back."

I blinked.

"How? I thought yanks were withdrawing from those islands."

"The entire Silent Legion was in Luzon, doing training exercises. The main part of the Japanese advance in those islands decided to hit Luzon first."

I stared at him.

"Famous American unit that's composed entirely of deaf magi. They were formed during the war of 1812, they actually managed to get a law passed that the unit can not be disbanded and has to have at least 5,000 people. There were 10,000 of them on Luzon. That's 10,000 magi, against a force composed mostly of Japanese conscripts and some regular units."

"So what happened?"

"The Japanese ships were caught heading towards the philipines, the americans sent out the air force, which managed to sink a couple ships but were overwhelmed. And then their main forces hit Luzon....and got slaughtered which meant they had to withdraw forces from their attacks on other islands. Story's proving to be the same pretty much everywhere. The Japanese had the element of surprise but they spread their forces too thin and are attacking too much at once."

"Think that will win us the war?"

"Don't know...Singapore's holding right now, the empire is sending in reinforcements, what's left of the French navy is on its way and the yanks, of course, are still in a rage about Pearl harbor. Right now it's all holding actions."

I sighed as a truck road towards us.

"Jap.."

Art raised his rifle.

"No...I know him. He's a mate, tell him to stop and he will."

I got up and left cover then I walked into the middle of the road, Ito stopped the truck.

"Sorry mate, you got to stop and get out."

He looked at me, his face white as a sheet. He got out of the truck then he stopped, landed on his knees and started throwing up. He continued to puke as I got up next to him and patted him on the back.

"Ito. It's ok, we're mates, I'm not going to kill a mate."

Ito shook as he started to dry heave. I helped him up and then he fell down again. He curled up into a ball and started to sob uncontrollably.

"Ito."

"They made me watch."

He spoke through his tears.

"Ito."

"They made me watch."

Art got out of his hiding hole.

"We are commandeering your vehicle."

"They made me watch!"

Ito's crying was hysterical at this point, I wrapped my arms around him and took him to the back seat. Art took the wheel and, for a lack of a better idea, I simply hugged Ito as he continued to cry. The only words he seemed capable of saying was a mantra of madness.

"They made me watch..."

We drove back to Kathrine, to the growing army of Mandy's that slowly filtered in from the rest of the nevernever. The guards let us pass as Art stated.

"Prisoner of interest."

I held Ito against my chest. He was, at this point of time, dead asleep but still shaking as if stuck in a nightmare. Art stopped the car in front of his family's manor, got out and saluted his father.

"General Giles."

"I'm not a general Art, I'm just acting commander until we actually get one in the field."

He looked at Ito.

"You managed to capture a prisoner."

"Ito's civilian.", i said while starting to get out of the car, still holding him.

Bran frowned.

"Wake him."

I shook Ito a bit and he woke up. He stared at Bran.

"They made me watch."

"Son, I want."

"They made me watch."

Ito's eyes were empty and hollow and puffy.

"Ugh."

Bran slapped him and Ito shook himself, regaining some of his composure.

"They....they tapped it....what they did, after they did it....they spared me, told me to give the tapes to the government said...said you would break...I..I couldn't do anything and."

He started crying.

"Art....check the car for tapes."

We all followed as Art opened up the trunk and I saw photographs and film.

Art picked one up and gave it to his father. Bran looked at the film as Ito let himself fall on the ground again. He once again went into a ball and started crying. He continued to do that as I rubbed his back. Bran left us and went off to watch them.

When he came back his face was briefly filled with rage, then his face calmed down.

"Da?"

"Son...I have some wonderful news, our previous concerns about Japanese prisoners taking up our limited space and resources will no longer be a problem."

"Dad..."

"You understand my meaning."

Art nodded.

"I do, da."

I looked up at him.

"Ito is a mate, he's not with the japs. He."

"Nothing is going to happen to Ito. My problems are with the Japanese military, not civilians who are suffering from shellshock."

I took a breath, and looked at Ito.

"You think it's shellshock?"

"I don't think, I know."

He got on a knee.

"I know what you're going through, I've had a lot of good mates who broke because of the horrors they saw on the western front. What they did to you broke you and I don't judge you for it because they were trying to break you. In time we can help you pick up the pieces but you're going to have to work with us, ok?"

Ito nodded through his tears.

"I have a room inside that isn't being used. Art, take our guest there."

Art grabbed him, helped him up and walked away. Bran then turned his gaze onto me.

"I need you to take the truck south, to the university."

"But the war."

"I know you have experience, and you're a decent enough shot, but the only people in the northern territory who have radios strong enough to relay this message are the Graves."

I frowned.

"Them? The whole family's a bunch of mongrels and all of them have kangaroos loose in the paddocs."

"I get your meaning but while the Graves are monsters they're our monsters and they understand, in rather graphic detail, what will happen the moment they stop being our monsters."

"Well if you have to deal with a devil might as well be one you know."

 

[Cherico]

The Darwin Massacre


When Darwin was invaded by a force of 100,000 japanese troops led by Prince Asaka they surrendered without a fight. The city was declared an open city. Darwin didn't have any defenses, didn't have any soldiers. Under the Geneva conventions, the city should have been safe.

That wasn't true though as Prince Asaka thought that the people of western countries were mentally and physically weak. His men had all fought and participated in the rape of Nanking, and he wanted to make an example. At first he turned the people of the city into forced labor for his military. Then he reenacted the rape of Nanking with all of its grisly atrocities onto the city of Darwin.

Out of a city of 5868 people only 76 would survive.

Most of them were people who had wisely decided to flee into the outback before the surrender took place. one of them, Ito Subaru, was a Japanese expatriot who was spared simply to spread the message of the massacre.

Asaka was convinced that the Darwin massacre would convince people to flee instead of trying to fight the Japanese. There were several problems with this plan. The Australian continent was completely unprepared for the invasion, this is true, but his forces wasted a month on rape and rapine. This gave the Australian defenders time to mobilize and organize a defense. The Darwin massacre, instead of breaking Australian willpower, simply enraged the Australian people.

The news of the massacre got out into the wider world quickly and it, likewise, backfired. Singapore had considered surrendering before the news of Darwin. They were outnumbered, and cut off from supplies, but with the news of what happened the governor general ordered the city to be held at all costs.

The defenders were, at the time of their relief by the british, subsisting on rats but with the help of imperial magi, careful rationning and the knowledge of exactly how japan treated their prisoners they held out until help arrived.

In the philipines the Luzon invasion was slaughtered but other Filipino islands were not nearly as lucky. Mac Arthur, in his journal, notes that he thought about ordering a surrender of the islands. With the news of Darwin, he and the other chiefs of staff ordered American and Filipino forces to fight to the last.

The Filipinos, knowing exactly what awaited their people, were the fiercest fighters and the silent legion, after firmly securing Luzon, took their limited boats south and proceeded to liberate the other islands of the philipines from the Japanese. The americans also used experimental teleportation spells to put more troops onto the islands and bring in supplies.

The first 6 months of the pacific war were defined by Japan's agressive advance into several countries and they often enjoyed a great deal of success. But, at the end of the day, their logistics were lack luster, their weapons of war were often technically lacking, their magi used a less powerful system of magic and were outnumbered, and finally their own brutality had awakened sleeping giants and instructed their enemies that surrender was not an option.

After the 6 months of hell Japan would find itself outnumbered, outgunned and surrounded by enemies who wanted revenge.

The quick victorious war the Japanese had been promised never materialized.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I continued to drive onwards, night turned into day and day turned into night but I had been given heaps of food and cans of biodiesel, more then enough to make it to the rock. With me driving like a madman, and with whatever enchantments were put on the truck, I made it there in a couple days.

I was stopped by armed security, the abby guards looked me over.

"Why are you here?"

"War business, I have intelligence to send to the folks down south."

"We have to search you anyways."

I sighed.

"Understandable."

I declared the weapons on my person and after they confiscated everything, including a dull pocket knife, I was allowed through. Ayers rock was a university town that had been carved into the rock itself. As I drove through the tunnels I was a bit impressed. Once I got to the top I saw shops, businesses and places where people lived. Abby's walked around, some of them were dressed traditional like, some in suits. I passed a man playing a digeridoo and drove up to the location I had been told about.

I saw armed Abby's everywhere with tommy guns, I was searched again as I gave them my letters of introduction. Then, and only then, was I let into the mansion that the Graves family lived in.

The first thing I noticed were the thick walls, inscribed with runes. All the doors were made out of steel plate. Then I heard the faint strumming of a piano.

"Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose."

It was a man's voice.

"When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose."

The singing got louder as I got closer to the room on the end.

"When you press me to your heart
And in a world apart
A world where roses bloom."

The Abby next to me holstered his gun and opened the door, I saw a man a little younger then me singing to a woman.

"And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Every day words
Seems to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose."

"Suvie Bruce you are doing better yes?"

The woman's accent was thick and French.

"If I get better maybe I could get you into my bed."

He waggled his thick eyebrows and the woman laughed and hit him with a newspaper.

"Always naughty thoughts with you Bruce."

"Only around you momamazel, you inspire me like a muse."

The woman chuckled.

"You say that to all girls."

"True but it doesn't mean I don't mean it."

She wacked him playfully again and sashayed out of the room.

"Another lesson another day yes?"

"Yes."

He looked at me and yawned.

"So um....I have no bloody clue who you are.."

I stood ramrod straight and tried to speak proper.

"I was sent by the armed forces. There was a massacre in Darwin, we need someone to spread the word to the folks back home."

"And I own the most powerful radio in the whole bloody outback, and own the only airfield in miles, right."

I opened the trunk that contained the movie reels.

"So this?"

"Japanese intelligence of a sort."

He grabbed a reel.

"Mind if I watch it?"

"It's a bit disturbing."

He scoffed went into the back room and watched the tape I sat down awkwardly and then he came back white as a sheet.

"You lied to me."

"I told you it was disturbing."

"You told me it was a bit fucking disturbing. That was not a bit disturbing, that was a fucking horror show...fuck whoever got that deserves a fucking medal, I wouldn't have the stones to go into that mess."

"Actually the japs made the movies, said they wanted us to know."

Bruce Graves stared at me.

"You are fucking kidding me."

He leaned back.

"Fuck, I need a drink."

He grabbed a phone.

"Hey....yeah I need a drink...no not vodka, coffee. If I have any booze I will just throw it up and I don't want to waste perfectly good booze. We're out of coffee? Right...the bloody war. Tea then, earl grey, have Rupert bring it up...and tell that little shit not to drop it again."

He put the phone back on and took deep breaths.

"Rupert?"

"His father is Keith Arthur Murdock, one of the best reporters in the fucking world."

"And the boy?"

"Taking care of him for his da, getting him an education and an intership. Between you and me the boy's fucking useless, my money is that the little shit will never amount to anything at all but lets keep that under our hats, no use hurting the feelings of the simple."

The boy came into the room and placed some tea on a table, Bruce stared at the tea set and sighed.

"Good, you haven't dropped any."

"Can I work on something sir?"

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Go with Carson, he's writing some nonsense about flowers."

"But that's boring, carson's boring."

"Boy....you have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run and you cant even crawl yet. So it's either join Carson on his fluff piece or you get to spend more time in the mail room."

"Fine."

The boy stormed off and shut the door.

"Spoiled little shit."

"He's just a boy."

"This is how he acts when he's bloody well behaved."

I frowned.

"Considering your family history."

Bruce turned his head towards me.

"My ancestor was a bloody fuck up, you understand that? It's not my bloody fault he made a error in judgement."

"That error killed over a million people."

"Ok, admittedly he was a grade A piece of shit but we have been trying to make thing right."

"Like that time your family goons machine gunned striking workers."

The man pinched his nose.

"Ok admittedly me grandpa was a rough man but it was a rough time and."

"And then there was that incident with the baby formula."

"Donny is a very distant cousin, and yes he did fuck up."

"And kill 300 babies."

"238 not 300. Compensation was paid to all of the families affected. It was a tradgedy but I do not own his company, have any stock in his company or have anything to do with it. My portion of the family is focused on our empire in radio and the papers, not baby formula."

I looked at the tapes.

"So I bet this makes you have extra bad feelings about the party considering who the japs are allied too."

"FUCK YOU!"

He slamed his hands on the desk.

"That story was a bloody lie and slander."

"You mean the one where you and your blokes dressed up as Nazis and had an orgy in a sex dungeon?"

"Yes, we did not dress up as bloody Nazis."

I blinked.

"You're not..."

"Cant a bloke have an orgy in the peace and safety of his own sex dungeon without being accused of being a bloody Nazi?"

I stared at him.

"O....kay."

There was silence.

"I'm sorry. I'm just out of sorts, I'm from Darwin and."

"Shit...."

The man slicked back his hair.

"I didn't fucking know...right, so this whole conversation? water under the bridge. Fuck, you want a girl? I can get you one."

I frowned.

"I'm married."

"I know, so am I."

"Your wife cant possibly approve of this."

He smiled warmly.

"Of course she does, joins in on the fun too. Positively love that woman."

"No sheila is going to approve of her bloke doing the naughty with another woman."

"She's French."

I lifted a finger and then lowered it.

"Well that explains it, doesn't it?"

 

[Cherico]

Italy during the great wars

Ablerto Zanno



Italy's decision to not go to war during both world wars has been at times decried as acts of cowardice and alternatively lauded as wise decisions that prevented destruction of our nation. The decision not to go to war, in both cases, was made by the king Victor Emmanuel the third. Victor was a notably superstitious man. His father, Umberto, had capitalized on the existance of actual magic by bringing back the sibyls, as a nod to the glory of the roman empire.

The sibyls were a cadre of witches whose sole job was to scry the future. Though this was one of the most difficult forms of fate magic the late king thought it was important to have oracles, even ones who were limited in truth, for the government to consult.

The sibyls, though limited in action, were of use and accurately predicted the weather, earthquakes and the eruption of mount Vesuvius. Predicting these things was reliable if at times difficult, but predicting people? The fate of nations required a full department of magi, a department of witches, and even with this teamwork the process was difficult.

With the assassination of archduke Ferdinand Italy was caught between allied and Central powers. Though the Italians had an official alliance with the central powers they had signed secret treaties with the allies. The majority of the Italian political establishment wanted to stay out of the war. Some, however, said that Italy needed to heed its commitments to the central powers and others said that dealing with the allies would give Italy more territory.

The king consulted the Sibyls and, after a lot of hard work and efforts, they formally told him that he had no good options. Joining the Central powers would lead to disaster and joining the allies to disaster. Neutrality would be the least worst of the options. With this advice in hand the king declared Italy's neutrality.

The british and French responded by limiting the amount of coal and other resources that made their way to Italy so that the country couldn't just profit from both sides. The first year of the war was a harsh one but the King was, with some diplomatic help, able to cut an important trade deal with the Monroe pact.

American coal companies needed to export to survive due to the country's reliance on cheap magical alternatives. They were eager to jump into the formerly closed Italian market. Doing so by ship was blocked by the british empire but the American airship companies were eager too and daring enough to take the job.

The government hastily ordered the creation of several airship strips. These locations brought in the coal that Italy needed for its industry, and civilian life. The Italian government and its companies however soon found that the market for coal in the central powers was exploding. They soon bought excess coal from the pact and sold it on at a profit.

While some Airship companies like the silver line were willing to risk the blockade for profit, most would rather sell their products to neutral countries who would then sell them to the central powers. Italy became the central hub for this trade. The allies' need for material also grew and Italy, after initial growing pains, was able to use this crisis to further industrialize at home. There was also a build up of their colonies of Lybia, Somalia and eritrea, with Lybia being the priority of the three.

After the war the country struggled financially and fascism rose in Italy. At first the king ignored them and then tried to work with them. He used parliamentary procedures to limit their crazier antics like the attempted war with Ethiopia which thankfully never happened and was prevented through diplomacy. Unfortunately the leader of the fascist party, Mussolini, wanted his glorious war.

He got his chance during the Spanish civil war where Italy supported the nationalists against the republican forces. Flush with victory, and with war on the horizon, Mussolini signed the pact of steel. When the second world war was declared Mussolini declared war on the allies. During the early stages of "the phoney war" the king consulted the sybils and then, officially, Musolini fell down some stairs.

It was only later during the 1950's that the government and monarchy admitted that they assassinated him. It was already an open secret that the king had ordered him to be killed and, really, no one had been fooled. The king and his new prime minister talked to the French and british and told them that the duce did not speak for Italy and that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Then they offered both countries one million dollars each in reparations for the scare. The French and British empires rolled their eyes, accepted the money and then concentrated on the much bigger threat of the Nazis. Once again during the second world war Italy would sell resources and manufactured goods to both sides. The money would be used to properly settle Lybia with growing numbers of Italian settlers, focusing on the arts, education and new schools of magic.

When the war ended the country was one of the few countries that had not been ravaged by the war and would use its industrial heft to help rebuild Europe. After Communist backed revolutions caused Italy to lose Eritrea and Somalia during the 1950's Italy abandonned its practice of neutrality and joined nato, in exchange for recognition of its last remaining colony in Lybia.

Though there were a few rebellions by the Lybian arab minority during both the 50s and 60s these were ruthlessly crushed, the participants killed, their families land taken and given to Italian settlers, increasing the Italian majority population.

Nowadays Italy remains one of the most traditional countries in Europe, the great leveling of the world wars never really happened here and the church remains an omnipresent force. Abortion is outlawed, women still do not have the right to vote with attempts in 1946, 1953,1964 and 1981 all failing. The rapture has only increased Italian conservativism, and made the country even more religious.

Disconnected from Europe and with a world of its own I find it likely that the country will become more isolationist, stogy, conservative and backwards. Sometimes I wonder if we would be more liberal and daring if we had joined in the world wars but then again the price of human lives would have been too much.

Italy is, in many ways, a creature of the past, a look of what European culture would look like without the world wars. It is up to future generations to decide if the conflict was worth it.

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


The sky was a bleak grey and the land around us was destroyed.

"Ship....this is allied forces in Odessa, please state your business."

the man had a slight Australian accent, I put my book away and replied.

"This is the Discovery, we're here to see why this mess got started in the first place. I'm going to radio the mission codes to you, copy that?"

I did so and I heard a sigh.

"You're twelve kinds of crazy, you know that? Come on then, we have a fort near the ruins of Odessa. Our boys will meet your team, god knows we're bored as fuck staying here."

"Copy that, you need me to bring the booze."

"Hell yes, the only thing we have to drink is American beer."

"So?"

"Americans consider Fosters to be good beer...let that sink in."

"Um, we have whisky not a lot but."

"We can ration! come in Discovery, we're waiting for you."

I sailed closer and saw the bombed out ruins.

"Discovery we have visual. Welcome to Odessa or what's left of this shit hole. For obvious reasons you're not going to the city itself."

"Radiation?"

"Not rads but we have Russian plagues and chemical weapons. The soviets kind of shit the entire bed here."

"And?"

"Nato protocol, all weapons of mass destruction are to be used on the soviets in the event of war. This all of this is the product of the Russians suicidal temper tantrum."

I crept closer to the shore and saw a metallic wall made out of scrap.

"Heading in, anything I need to do?"

"Just decontamination, come on in."

The six of us got out of the boat and I carried with me a case of wiskey. I was greeted by a bored mixture of soldiers from around the world...no, around the system, have to remember that. Earth died and humanity was scattered around the solar system.

A man looked at me and then at my book before laughing.

"What?"

"You're reading me great granda's book."

He held out a hand.

"We talked on the wireless, I'm Merlin Mc Clain. welcome to Hell."

"That bad?"

"Oh no, we just named it Fort Hell. Seemed fitting you know."

He looked with fervor at my small box of booze.

"Oh thank Jesus, finally something that doesn't taste like piss."

The ramshackle doors opened and I saw barracks and.

"You have a hotel?"

I blinked.

"Did it survive the bombs or."

The man laughed.

"No, that's the Greenbrier hotel."

I blinked again.

"Ok, way back when there was this family called the Callwell's in the western part of virginia. This was about in 1850 and they wanted the hotel to be something major, something special. On a lark the builder contacted the old bird."

"and?"

"And he aggreed to fund the construction, even send magi to help build it. But there were conditions."

Men armed with glass wands waved them over my group. They turned blue and we were given the thumbs up and walked into the fort.

"Like what?"

"The old bird...well after having your entire people wiped out, you get paranoid. The old bird build hideyholes, shelters and a bunch of other things in case the world ended. The Virginian government always blocked his attempts to build something like that instate but, if someone acted as the front man..."

We walked into the hotel and I stared at the décor.

"He would be able to build it up?"

"Yeah, precisely. After the civil war the government found out about the Greenbrier and other plans."

"Were they angry?"

"Hmm no, but the Greenbrier was close to DC so they decided to give it official sanction. If anything happened that's where the government would fall back to, so the old bird had official sanction to go nuts."

We went to a book case and Mc Clain reached to a decapitated statue and pressed a very evident button.

"What happened there?"

"We got tired of moving the head every time we wanted to use the real elevator."

The bookcase moved and revealed doors. We went inside.

"Giving us a tour?"

"Yes?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored, my good sir. really, really, bored."

The door opened and I saw row after row of glass tubes filled with people. Troops wandered the halls with looks of boredom on their faces.

"What's this?"

He waved a hand.

"Behold the remnants of the Ukrainian race."

I stared at the people in the glass tubes.

"So this is?"

"Suspended animation. The old bird built a hundred of these tubes a day since 1820, put them in his little hideyholes."

I did the math.

"There must be millions of these things."

"By the time of the exchange there were 6 million of the damned things and one sixth of them were in this hotel."

"So."

"Yeah the feds decided that, if everything went to shit, they would save one million of their own people. This was in case project rapture didn't pan out for some reason. So after the exchange we went to war. The Estonians had the fucking sense to immediately surrender, they were the smart ones."

The man sighed.

"So men like me? Got stuck taking the war to the Budapest pact countries that didn't wise up."

"I take it it was bad?"

"Estonia got lucky. None of their cities got nuked, apparently we hit the sites that were going to take out their cities. We were able to save a lot of them because of that. Ukraine did not get it so easy, all their cities got hit with everything."

"So these?"

"People the anarchists were able to save, most of them are civilians."

"We're working with anarchists?"

The man sighed.

"Before the exchange Ukrainian anarchists were the single most organized resistance group past the iron curtain. We funneled stuff to them like weapons, info and food and in exchange they gave us information. When the exchange happened they phoned their polish allies and called in all of their chips."

"And that's why the greenbrier's here?"

"Yep, we didn't have the resources to save all the civilians, specially with the remnants of the commie government still shooting at us. So, like in other buddapest pact countries, we teleported people down to the bolt holes and put them on ice. We owed the anarchists one, so they got the largest."

"And?"

"And we put every one we could on Ice until nuclear winter ended or we figured things out. and neither of those things have happened so every capsule we have is filled to capacity right now."

"So the other countries?"

"Estonia got about half of the boltholes. I think they're ready to take them out of stasis soon so that's another 3 million people. the Ukraine got the Greenbier and a bunch of other boltholes that are being protected by other forts, that's another half a million people on ice. The rest are scattered pretty evenly."

"Any hard fighting?"

"Not really, the Ukrainians we dealt with were mostly civi's or allies. The government had some plan to fight us but they're all dead now."

"What actually happened?"

"Some fighting but mostly disease, radiation, and starvation did the killing. I think the worst part of the war outside of Russia was in Romania."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the Romanians fully drank the koolaid. Gave us quite a bit of fighting before the idiots got themselves killed."

He paused.

"Stupid, just stupid. All they did was get a bunch of people killed for stupid reasons."

He looked at me.

"So you're heading into the union?"

"Yeah."

"Wish you the best of luck. Doubt you will find much, we nuked everything they had."

"I still want to try."

Man nodded.

"As I said, wish you luck. As for me? Im getting a drink."

He pulled out a flask and took a sip.

"So what happens to them?"

"Hell if I know, they're talking about us moving this whole show to one of the empty planets. You know, let the Ukrainians have a consolation prize. That's what the refugees that didn't get iced are asking for, but that's."

"Slow going?"

"Every separatist ethnic group that was a part of the alliance wants their own world and there aren't a lot of them out there. The Shiks and the Tibitans had connections to people who were willing to back their moves and even then they had to cut a deal with the old bird to make it happen."

"So you don't know."

"No one knows. And the UN has told the old bird he only gets one more pick. Everything else gets decided by UN mandate..."

"Indonesia?"

"No, they got their own planet based on their own merits. Officially, they were only off the list because of some minor pissing contest about territorial waters and the government decided to go non aligned for a bit at the worst possible time..."

he took out a cigarette.

"Of course, none of them would have died if Reagan."

"Didn't fuck up."

He nodded and slapped me on the back.

"Don't worry, no one's blaming the yanks for this mess. You didn't think Ivan would be this fucking stupid...we all thought he was smarter than this."

 

[Cherico]

Know your Ally

Pacific region

1945 war film


An image of a football field

"By now you should know all about our enemies and why we fight. But we are not fighting alone."

An image of five people, in shadow.

"In the eastern theater you will be working the most with these five men: Bruce the Australian, Phil the Philipino, John Britain, Chan from China, and Kim from Korea. It's a good solid team and we're all trying to get that ball to the endzone. Let's start with John."

An image of a British soldier.

"John might seem a little standoffish but he doesn't mean anything by it. The british appreciate keeping a cool head and being polite but that also means that they tend to under report when things go wrong. When John says things have gotten a little sticky? It means he needs your help now!"

An image of London.

"John is here to help but this war isn't as personal, isn't as meaningful to him as it is to the rest of us. John's worried about the folks back home, worried about the Nazis who are bombing his cities as we speak. So if he asks why we're here, don't take it personally he's got other things on his mind. We have known John for a while now, fought by his side in World War One, lets talk about someone else."

An Image of an Australian soldier.

"This is Bruce. Pearl harbor was rough for us, we lost a lot of good people. Unlike John though this war is personal for Bruce. The Darwin Massacre."

An image of a ruined town.

"Taught Bruce the hard way what happens to people when you surrender to the japs. They invaded his country, killed his people. They made a mistake though. Bruce might be laid back but when you invade his home there's nobody fiercer."

The Australian soldier shakes his hand.

"Australian culture, much like American culture, is infused with magic. One in four people use it actually but, unlike America where magic is spread out and about, in Australia it's concentrated here in the outback."

A map of Australia.

"So if you're a magi Bruce is either going to get it or not get it, don't take it personally. In fact don't take things personally in general. Bruce is going to be a little more relaxed than you're used to, a little more irrevent. He's got a wicked sense of humor so take things in stride but when the chips are down you will thank God he's got your back."

An image of a Chinese soldier.

"Chan has had it rough. The Japanese burned down his capital, destroyed his cities and murdered his people. You don't have to tell Chan what this war is about, he knows first hand just how bad things can get. Chan's been through the rough of it and you might wonder why he's so prideful, why he can't admit why things have gone wrong? Fact is, he's going through a rough time. His entire family, his city, might be gone. Pride might be all Chan has left but even if things have gone to hell Chan's a scrappy fighter. Treat him right and he will have your back."

A thumbs up.

"This is Phil. We've known him for awhile, our relationship to him has had its ups and its downs but we mostly get along just fine. Family is very important to Phil so his father, his mother, his grandparents, siblings? If you're joking around, they're off limits. If you insult his mother, you deserve what's coming next and your PM isn't going to have a lick of sympathy for you."

An image of ships.

"And Phil is worried about his family. The japs have invaded his home and, though we're fighting like mad to kick him out, there are still holdouts going around killing people. So this war is a touchy subject, don't go around bragging or looking down on Phil. He's got problems of his own and problems on his mind. That's why he's going to be a little late, a little out of sorts. He may not be punctual but he will be there and that's going to be important."

An image of a man in a white mask, black clothing and trench coat.

"You might be wondering why Kim is dressed up for Halloween? fact is, Kim's country was the first to be conquered by the Japanese, the first domino to fall. If the Japanese figure out who he is, they will try to murder his family."

An image of people being hanged, including women and children.

"Kim is a brave man so he's not letting that stop him but he has to take precautions so that the japanese can't find his people. Kim has been fighting the Japanese for over 30 years now and that makes a man a little impatient. It drives a man to drink harder, yell louder, get angrier. Sometimes Kim might seem a little shady and two faced. Don't take that personally, Kim was forced to do that to survive. Because Kim doesn't know who's a Japanese informant or who's on the level."

An image of a Jayu Soldier mowing down Japanese soldiers with a Tomson submachine gun.

"It takes time to earn Kim's trust. He doesn't give it lightly but when you have earned it, and you will have to earn it, there are few friends you would rather have."

An Image of six men strutting into a sunrise.

"The Japanese sucker punched all of us, Billy yank, John Britain, Bruce, Phil, Kim and Chan. But we have dusted ourselves off, gotten off the ground and we're ready to roll. These are our friends and our allies and we're all ready to roll."

 

[Cherico]

Ralph Essen


The film ended.

"That was surprisingly even handed."

Merlin shrugged.

"Yeah the official stuff the yanks gave their troops was always pretty mild. Now the stuff made for the home front? That could get a little wild."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, it was war, one of the worst ones out there. Everyone who fought the Japanese dehumanized them in different ways. You know, to make it easier to pull the trigger. You guys, the yanks? You compared them to robots, your propaganda during the war years was bloody mild."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, read some of the Blinky Bill books they made during the war. They were really racist actually. We aussy were a whole lot less restrained on that front than you lot, we basically compared the Japanese to monkeys at every turn."

I shrugged.

"It was a different time."

"You think we were racist though? no one tops the Chinese for anti Japanese propaganda. Yanks compared them to robots and we compared them to animals but as far as the Chinese back then were concerned the Japanese were demons straight from hell."

I turned and looked at the one Chinese member of my crew.

"Yeah...that hasn't changed that much, we still look down on and hate the Japanese."

"But wasn't that decades ago?"

He laughed.

"Oh...oh, you have no idea. One thing my people are really really good at is holding grudges and after what the Japanese pulled during the war? they're going to be in our bad books for at least a hundred years. And that's a number that has gone down because the Russians managed to make what they pulled look like child's play. And no, we do not buy the Japanese sob story that it was all the fault of the evil black prince who corrupted the government."

He leaned back.

"We're not stupid, though we do appreciate that they went through the effort to find a scapegoat rather than trying to pretend that nothing happened."

I looked at the Australian.

"Yeah, we don't buy it either but we more or less let things go after you yanks nuked them."

I turned my head and turned back to the other man.

"We built a statue of the people who nuked japan and put it in our nation's capital, just to piss the Japanese off."

He paused.

"No regrets."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I took a drink of tea as Graves stared out the window.

"It's hard to believe it's come to this mate."

I shrugged.

"Seems like the world's gone mad."

I had, at that point, been in the graves house for a couple days.

"Fair Dikim."

I stared at the man.

"You're um."

"Less of a prat than expected? The trick is to have a really horrid reputation and then, when people meet you in real life, the bar will be so bloody low that you can't help but surpass their expectations."

I nodded.

"So Brian, what did you do before the war?"

I sighed.

"Sold curios from the mandies."

Graves nodded.

"Nice honest work."

I felt a little surprised at his statement.

"If you're expecting me to brag."

He pointed at a sign.

"Pride goeth before the fall."

"Family motto. Well, not the original one, we figured out we needed a new one after the incident."

"I still don't know how you lot bloody survived, Darwin still has a crater where your old home used to be."

Graves blinked at me.

"That thing's still bloody there?"

"Fair Dikum, before the invasion we used it as a place to make out. Proposed to me wife there."

"Damn...."

He sighed.

"Trick of it, why we survived is this, you know about curses."

"Yes?"

"Well, long and short of it, curses just alter probability. Stack the deck, as it were. Thing is you can only stack the deck so much before it goes around the bend and becomes good luck."

"Really?"

"Pull out a coin."

I did so.

"All right, Now flip it in the air and let it land on the ground, I'm going to call it."

I flipped the coin.

"Edge."

The coin landed on the ground on edge, I looked at him.

"Do it again."

I flipped more and more coins and watched them fall on edge.

"That's bloody ace."

"Has limits of course. You see, if we brag, that bad luck comes, right as rain and slaps us right in the face...but that's why we always seem to come out on top financially...They say the curse will stop affecting us after the 7th generation."

"Doesn't seem like a curse."

I heard a knock and graves sighed.

"I'm bloody great."

"Um sir."

The boy slipped and hot tea slammed into Graves' face. He just looked at me knowingly.

"Sir! I'm sorry and."

"Don't worry 'bout it. This one was on me boy. I only yell at you if you cock things up, now fetch more tea."

The boy ran off and he wiped off the hot water.

"Every time....look, after what happened to your town you're welcome to stay with us."

"My families up north."

"They can come here."

"My country needs me."

The man sighed.

"I understand that, did some time in the service myself."

I couldn't picture someone as wealthy as graves in the military.

"Really? I was stationed in the western front."

"I got lucky. I was stationed in Africa, spent the entire war chasing ghosts, any stories?"

I closed my eyes.

"We were on leave, it was late in the war and they let us visit England. you know the motherland? me and my mate were sitting down, decompressing when this white feather girl shows up."

Graves grimaced.

"Heard about them."

"Yeah and they were every bit as obnoxious as the tales say. So she gives us a piece of her very limited mind, doesn't let us get in an word in edgewise, when this woman shows up in a purple uniform."

"Yank?"

"Got it in one, the yank tries to sit down. She looks tired, right? And the white feather girl goes into this tirade about how this random sheila is braver than all of us, the yank gets up out her chair and then says four words."

I paused.

"What did you do?"

Graves nodded and leaned in.

"White feather girl doesn't have a response to that so the yank calls her a hypocrite and a coward and a cunt. Rather than just walk on by, the crazy bint slaps the yank."

Graves grimaced.

"And then?"

"And then the yank beat the stuffing out of the stupid cunt, threw her out of the train very next stop. All of us soldier boys? We cheered."

I smiled at the memory.

"And that's how me mate met his wife."

Graves slapped his knee.

"Ace stuff. Sounds like a winner."

I smiled.

"She was. But she was a Mandy and when he came back with her the city gave him a choice Darwin or her. He chose her and I never saw him again."

Graves nodded.

"That seems to be the way of things."

"Think they will get better, graves?"

"I don't know Brian. But it wont be my family that changes things, we're fuck ups, the entire lot but maybe maybe our kids can fix our sorry mess."

"Don't envy them."

I got up.

"Gotta go, there's a war on."

We shook hands and I left to get into my truck, to go back into the war.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


I drove down the endless flatlands back to the wizard town of Kathrine. I felt a sense of worry that grew as I got closer to the town. The feeling only got stronger when I noticed the smell of smoke. I drove closer and then noticed walls had been erected all around the town.

"business?"

I blinked and looked, and saw my son?

"Billy?"

"Oh. hi Da."

His face was covered in soot, and his eyes looked tired.

"What happened?"

"The Japanese attacked...it didn't go so well for them."

I looked at the pile of dead bodies.

"You don't say."

"Mind lending a hand? I have to bury them."

I got out of the truck and grabbed a shovel, started digging. I looked at Billy as he calmly dug a hole.

"Billy?"

He looked up at me.

"What is it da?"

"Um...why are you doing this?"

"Volunteered, I helped kill these men only fair that I help bury them."

He put away another chunk of dirt, he was calm about this, too calm. It reminded me of some thing.

"So you killed someone?"

"Yeah da, been forced to do it a couple times, it's the war you know."

We looked at the hole and grabbed one of the corpses, then I froze.

"Bloody hell."

I backed off.

"What's wrong da?"

"His arm...it's tattooed and I don't know what it does."

My son rolled up the dead man's arm, exposing more of the tatoo.

"Huh....looking at it and...I don't know what it does."

He dropped the arm and pulled his note book out of his shirt pocket.

"Billy?"

"I'm looking and...I don't think he has a self destruct rune on him...I mean it would have gone off already if he had one."

"Maybe it's connected to the rest of him?"

Billy nodded and we got together and took off his shirt. The dead man's body was covered with Tatoos of various sorts.

"Billy that's...that's extensive work, the man must have been an absolute freaking beast in combat."

"Hmm, I don't know. Sure it covers most of his body but it seems like a bit of a slap dash job."

"Slap dash? Look at it, the man must be covered in enchantments, I only have a single Tatoo and that's to help me breath underwater."

"Which you got because you're afraid of drowning."

"Bloody right I am. During the last war the Jerry submarines were everywhere, it's just good sense to go to the mandy's and get that basic work done."

Billy continued to carefully examine the corpse.

"I...I don't think these tattoos do anything da."

I stared at him.

"What are you bloody talking about?"

"I think that the tats are purely for looks. ya know, to show off."

I stared at the body and then at Billy.

"That's bloody stupid, why get a tat if it doesn't bloody do anything? At that point you're just wasting skin and space on nonsense."

Billy shrugged.

"I don't get it either, it just doesn't seem practical."

He shrugged and grabbed the man's legs.

"Little help da?"

I grabbed his arms and we put his body into the ground and then covered it up with dirt. Job done with, we got into my truck and went to town. A hastely made metal gate opened up and let us in. I drove forward and then stopped and stared.

"Son?"

A cat was sleeping on a box. But the cat was surrounded by a glowing blue ball, the ball slowly changed shape, becoming square and then changing into a pyramid and then back into a ball.

"What's going on?"

"Oh that's just whiskers."

Billy sounded bored.

"He's a good cat and."

"Son, that isn't what I'm talking about?"

My son sighed.

"Whiskers is a guardian beast."

I turned and stared at him.

"Ok! Humans are not the only creatures on earth with souls, most beings have some magic but it isn't advanced enough to be a soul. There are six creatures who have souls. there are Whales, Dolphins, Crows, Owls, Dogs and Cats. Humans have the heaviest souls at 21 grams, Whale and dolphin souls weigh 13 grams, A cats soul weighs 9 grams, a dogs 7, and Owl and crow souls weigh 3 grams. If you have a soul, you can use magic of a sorts."

"Of a sorts."

"You need to be sentient, biologically capable of a certain level of ethics and have a soul to use seasonal magic. But if you initate a creature that isn't sentient into seasonal magic you can create a familiar or guardian beast."

He pointed at whiskers.

"When a cat is initiated they gain the ability to create forcefields. The color changes based on the season they're initiated in, blue for winter, green for spring, red for summer, and yellow for fall but they all have the same powers."

"And these fields of force?"

"Are fully capable of stopping bullets, explosions and other things. It has a side effect, changes a cat's behavior, makes them protective. Winter cats will latch onto a person and obsessively protect them, spring cats will protect a building, summer cats will protect a family and autum cats will protect an organization."

The cat opened its eyes and yawned as its owner exited a bar.

"Come on then."

The cat created a glowing platform, and then jumped on it, the creature purred as it floated next to his master.

"And...that's rare?"

"It's mostly done by cockneys. They're big on their magic cats but outside of their bit of London and the people who travel elsewhere, it's not common."

He shrugged.

"Whiskers' owner is from London, tells me that the cockney areas of London are untouched. The cats wont let their bit of the city get hurt by the Jerrys."

"If that's true then why aren't they more common?"

Billy shrugged.

"Don't know da, don't know."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain



My wife hugged me when I got back to... well, not our home but our living quarters. She had a meal, cooked a simple stew made out of roo. Not the reds of course, Mandy's were protective of their reds, but one of the greys I think.

"Glad you got here safely."

"Glad to be back love."

She looked at me.

"You're worried?"

"I'm fine."

"No Brian...when you worry about things you don't use as much slang, I notice these things."

"Well there's a war going on."

She let out a breath.

"That's true but...I think it's something more."

I took another bite of bread.

"Billy's acting odd."

My wife nodded.

"Well he's been drafted into fighting in this damned war, that's going to change things about isn't it?"

I thought about it.

"No, not odd like that. look, I was on the front, I saw things. Folks, normal ones, they would hesitate to pull a trigger and, after they killed a man, it would shake you up."

"I will talk to billy, help get his spirits up."

"No, its not like that, Billy was just fine. He buried the body of a dead Jap with no problem."

"So our boy has some tougher stuff in him."

I felt a sense of frustration.

"That wasn't tougher stuff. He just wasn't affected by it, the horror of it all. Back during the war, only three people who could just shrug that kind of nonsense off like it was nothing. Veterans, folks who had a screw loose and....mandy's."

My wife looked up.

"What?"

"It's not that they're bad people but they're all about their rules, their code you know. They could be the nicest blokes you ever met but put them in a uniform, tell 'em to kill? And they would kill, no hesitation, no problems. First time every time, it gave a lot of blokes the creeps."

My wife looked around.

"It's not just the blokes Bruce...The Sheilas, the Mandy ones, they don't act like normal Sheilas, don't think like normal Sheilas."

I stared at her.

"I'm sorry honey but can you explain?"

She took a bite of her own bread and closed her eyes.

"Back home in Darwin...it's hard to explain but even if you didn't like a sheila, you knew that there was a sisterhood of sorts you know? Even if you didn't like each other, you were still one of the girls."

"Mandy girls aren't like that?"

"Not at all. They're colder than normal girls, they don't try to see your side of the story. It's all facts, it's all results, they don't have that compassion that normal sheilas have..."

She sighed.

"And that's not all. Nothing here seems right, people will just walk on the bloody walls or on the ceiling to get places and even the bloody food is different."

She pulled out her purse and pulled out a glowing ball.

"What's that?"

She cut the ball open.

"Zap fruit. It's not even from bloody earth and the mandy's eat it."

I looked at the fruit as it slowly shifted color.

"I'm going to try a bite."

"Bruce don't you dare, it can't possibly be safe."

I pulled out a spoon and looked at the cut up half, there was a large pit and I took a spoonful of the fruit. I took a bite and blinked.

"It pops in your mouth."

My wife looked at me in horror.

"Oh my god, you're going to die. They bloody poisoned you, those."

I took another bite and chewed it, taking in the popping sensation.

"It's actually not bad, tastes a bit like a mixture of Watermelon and Oranges."

My wife shook her head as I took another bite.

"What? It's actually pretty good and you get used to the popping...might be worth having again love."

She shook her head as I took out a knife. I was surprised to find out that I could spread the fruit on my toast like butter and, as I took more bites, I closed my eyes.

"Saw a flying cat?"

My sheila nodded.

"Yesn that's owned by the Ness family, they're from London...I think the whole thing's bizarre but they're cockneys, so what did you expect."

"I didn't know that nonsense was real love...I always thought it was something they made up for in children's books from the motherland you know."

My girl put her hand on mine.

"You said it, right? Were in the nevernever now, different rules. Wish I could go home but there's no home to go back to."

I squeezed her hand.

"We will make a new one, a better one."

 

[Cherico]

Rhyming Cats


Alex Kind 1981

A spring cat to protect your home, a summer cat to protect your family, an autum cat to protect your business and a winter cat to protect you.- A traditional cockney blessing


Tales about magical cats existed before the arrival of Merlin and compass academy. In Egypt they were worshiped, in European folklore they were the familars of witches and in celtic myth cats also played an important role. Take for example the myth of the Cat sith, the feline fairy cats of Scotland.

So it was perhaps not surprising that someone would be inspired by these myths and try to create actual enchanted cats. Indeed several other countries have had magi who have uplifted cats and other animals but only in the cockney areas of London did the practice truly take off.

This practice started with an English boy named Tomas Ward.

During the American revolution Ward worked for the british navy, as a young boy of ten. His ship was destroyed during a storm and he ended up wandering the country, lost and without a way to get home. He was from a poor and destitute family and without an income he had been forced to go begging.

However the young country had little love for boys who had loyally served their enemy and times were lean for him. With the war over Ward was stranded, without much hope he traveled north and, on a lark, joined the first class of Compass academy. The young boy, who would later be renamed the king of cats, found his fellow students to be warm and welcoming and Merlin, far from being the monster he expected, a kind teacher.

Under Merlin's tutelage Ward learned the mystic arts. When he was finished the headmaster paid for his fare and helped the young boy get home, to Cheapshide London. There Thomas Ward found himself with new skills, new abilities and without a source of income. He tried renting out his services but found that they were not wanted by the city's upper crust.

This attitude would change in time but for the young Ward these early days were hard ones where he was often forced to sleep on rooftops. One day, during the darkest part of the winter solstice according to legend, Ward happened upon a dead mother cat and her kittens. Only one kitten, the smallest of the lot, was still alive. Feeling a sense of pity for the tiny creature, and not having anything better to do, Ward decided to do an experiment.

The winter solstice was the time when winter's powers were at their height so Ward performed a ritual to initiate the kitten into the mystic arts. If it had been most animals it would have not had an effect but Cats are one of the few creatures on earth with souls. The small creature mewed and then a blue ball of force surrounded the creature.

Ward looked at the kitten and named him Grimalkin. Soon after he found Grimalkin Ward was able to find some work, helping out law enforcement in the east end of the city deal with a crime wave. Ward and his Familiar Grimalkin gained a reputation for quick thinking and bravery. This reputation would see him drafted into the napoleonic wars.

During these wars Ward and his trusty cat became war heroes. they would clash, time and time again, against the French and would be amongst the few people who regularly went up against lightning Jacque and survived. When the war ended Ward retired back to the cockney parts of England and wrote his memories which, though exaggerated, ended up becoming the beloved 'King of cats' series.

With his fame other people from around the Bow Bells asked him for their own magical cats. Ward, now an older man, obliged and his sons and apprentices kept up the practice after he died. In time magic cats became a cultural hallmark, and staple, of life in the east end. Getting a cat from the local wizard or witch became a rite of passage, and these magic cats were fierce protectors.

Spring cats proved to be excellent protectors of the home, killing vermin and using their force fields to protect their homes from intruders. People also noticed that houses with spring Kittens were cleaner and that objects were less likely to break.

Summer cats cared less about the home itself but gained a reputation of being fierce protectors of their families, expecially children. There were numerous cases of summer cats braving fires to lead children, and their owner's families, to safety.

Autum cats were the least interested in people and instead protected businesses and organizations, such as stores, libraries and ships. Their owners stated that they often found that business seemed to have a little more luck with the shop's cat around.

Finally Winter cats, of all the rhyming cats, show up the most in media. A winter cat will pick an owner and then obsessively defend him or her until it's dying breath. Even after the owner is dead they will defend their owner's corpse. Winter cats could and would follow their masters to the ends of the earth.

When EastEnders joined the military their cats found ways to sneak onto the bases where they trained, snuck onto any ship transporting them. At first the british military tried to discourage this but it proved to be a futile gesture and the cats protective nature was accepted. Soldiers and sailors who had winter cats often developed stories of how their magic powers saved their lives and grew attached to them.

Those stories were told to the folks back home, were written down and put into plays. The image of the smart aleck cockney and his magic cat became intertwined in the british and imperial mind. But the practice of having a rhyming cat around was not officially endorsed by the british military, who often considered them to be pests. They were tolerated by the higher ups but not loved.

World war 1 changed this. When the cockney eastender's went to war their rhyming cats came with them, by hook or crook, despite the protests of the brass. With the war, the cats proved their worth. Time after time the cats would protect their masters from explosions, bullets, fire, poison gas and other german attacks.

The math simply did not lie. On the front soldiers who owned a rhyming cat were 3 times as likely to survive than those who didn't. Tales of these heroic cats spread and the british brass at long last accepted that these creatures had an official role to play in the british military. With heavy assault teams being paired with winter cats to help defend them.

With the end of the war many soldiers brought their rhyming cats home with them and the practice, which was once limited to just the east end, spread slowly to the rest of great britain. The first world war started to create a place for these magic cats in the greater british culture, world war 2 would cement it.

With the german blitz, the people of London got to watch a nightly miracle, glowing flashes of light, green, red, yellow and blue streaking throughout the east end. The people of London united to defend their city and, in the east end, so did the rhyming cats. Throughout the war, despite the best efforts of the luftwaffe, the east end would remain completely untouched by german bombs.

The rest of the city wasn't so lucky but the image of the magic cats defending their city was burned into the public's mind. Winston Churchill saw this and ordered the creation of more magic cats. These cats would join their masters in battle and gain a reputation for loyalty and bravery.

After the war the british gained a new appreciation for their little lions and they showed up in british media. Private Pike in the series "Dad's army" was gifted a cat by his worrying mother, in movies like "Flame over india", "Where eagles dare" and "The wild geese" rhyming cats were also featured and of course the "King of Cats" book series were turned into movies and a long running popular TV series during the 60s and 70s.

These days the practice of using rhyming cats has spread to other NATO nations and, if Nato and the Buddapest pact ever go to war, our Little lions will surely fight by our side once more.

 

[Cherico]

Japanese Text book



Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, the black prince, brought great shame and dishonor to both the Japanese nation and its people. It is difficult to talk about such shameful matters but it is important that we learn about such a horrid man, to understand why Japan created the system of checks and balances it has today and how to recognize men with evil intentions so we can prevent them from getting power and bringing another disaster to our people.

Japan, before the Black Prince tainted our country's honor and reputation, was an enlightened and innocent country. We understood the great changes that magic and western technology had brought into the world and adapted to it. However, all around us, we noticed that our Asian brothers were in either states of barbarism or states of bondage. So we decided to use our power to help others.

When Korea was in a state of chaos, the Korean royal family invited us in to re-establish order in their country. We did more than that, we brought the light and wonder of civilization back into korea. As china collapsed we tried our best to save as many Chinese civilians from their disorganized collapse. And, of course, even then we understood the darkness that laid inside the Russian heart and regrettably were forced to go to war to defend both ourselves and our brother countries from their evil.

But, in our zeal to improve the world, we overlooked the darkness that existed in our own nation. we were a naïve country back then and didn't understand that evil men could corrupt even the purest of intentions. Japan unfortunately had to learn this lesson the hard way and we are teaching you today so that this will never happen again.

The black prince was born in 1887, the 8th son of a prince and a lady. He grew up in a life of priviledge and wealth but, even as a child, this was not enough for him and he screamed for ever more. He learned how to mask his evil intentions and nature from other people and managed to trick the ailing emperor Meji into giving him the undeserved honor to start a new branch of the imperial family.

But this great and supreme honor was not enough for him, so he schemed with other evil men to corrupt and subvert the government to his own ends. Thus he and others started using dirty tactics like blackmail, threats and even assassination to eliminate those that stood between him and power. He did his best to hide the truth of his nature and actions from his Nephew, Emperor Hirohito.

But Hirohito, as isolated from the truth of what was happening to his country as most of his fellow countrymen, started to suspect his uncle's ill intentions. He decided to entrust his uncle with a command, in hopes that it would teach him responsibility and bring him back on the path of righteousness.

He was Naïve and the innocent people of china paid the price for that naivety. The black prince saw this command not as a lesson but a chance to finally act out his sadism and freely express his evil nature in safety. So he gathered an army of the worst souls in Japan and engaged in a campaign of senseless slaughter.

He tried to hide his evil and depravity but, slowly, the people of Japan were starting to figure out the true nature of the black prince and his evil actions. Knowing that the time of judgement was coming upon them, the black prince and his evil conspirators looked for a distraction. They pushed the powers around them, trying to sow the seeds of discord between japan and other nations.

As their desperation grew, their actions grew in their depravity until they were left with war as the only viable way to escape punishment for their actions. The black prince's warped mind thought he could earn forgiveness with conquest and so he plotted the sneak attack on pearl harbor, the Darwin Massacre and the numerous other atrocities that he forced our military to commit.

1.8 million Japanese people would die because of the Black Prince's mad grab for power. Our nation's reputation will be forever tarnished by his horrid actions and, because of what he did, our land was occupied by outside nations. Thankfully the Japanese people were lucky, the victorious allies did not want to destroy us but to make sure that men like the Black Prince would never led our people astray ever again.

This is why we have an independent judiciary. This is why we have a separation of powers. And this is why the Japanese self defense force is not allowed to go into politics. It took a lot of work to undo the damage that the Black Prince did to our nation, to once again be accepted as one of the righteous nations of the earth.

But we did that hard work and, when the most evil nation that humanity has ever known destroyed the world, we stood by our allies and we were rewarded for our just actions with our own world.

Japan is now blessed with all the resources and land it could ever want and need. you, the children of Japan, will enjoy this bounty but it is also up to you to keep your eyes open and make sure that another Black Prince does not take power and destroy our nation again.

 

[Cherico]

Jack Churchill



"You are under orders to make sure the princess does not do anything risky."

This was the sentence that started my life as a royal body guard.

"You do know of my reputation right?"

I was a well known madman.

"Yes, look our other plans to rein the princess in have all failed. The woman has a gift for sneaking past the royal guards which she did and."

"Snuck into London and helped dig people out of the rubble caused by fritz's blitz."

The man looked at me with disdain.

"The crown princess shouldn't be rummaging through the rubble, that matter should be left in other hands."

I mentally marked down the man as a ponce and let him continue.

"So we found out she had a fancy for that greek fellow."

"Prince Phillip."

He waved me off.

"And thought that, maybe an early marriage would rein in her wild impulses. instead this happens."

He pulled out a news paper I looked at the head line 'Princess Elisabeth kills 5 german commandos.'

She sat on top of her loyal corgie, a sword reached high into the sky, her husband held onto her with one arm and the other held a tommy gun in the air.

"This, this bloody event just ruins the royal reputation. This woman is supposed to be our queen some day. What kind of Queen kills commandos?"

I looked him straight in the eye.

"A Scottish one."

The man turned a delightful shade of purple, the kind of purple me great aunt's rug was made out of back in the days when parliament sold the royal color to pay off its war debts.

"That is besides the fact. My plan is simple, you are quite simply mad, the princess likewise is no doubt also mad, therefore I think it likely that your madness will counteract one another."

The man had, quite simply put, tempted fate. It was my duty as a gentleman to make sure he paid lady fate her fair due.

"I see your point."

I was led into another room where the princess waited. She looked at me with appraisal, her Corgie Dookie laid on her lap on his back as she rubbed his belly, the dog's eyes were closed and his tongue was out.

"I heard there's been quite a bit of nonsense going around these parts."

she continued to lovingly stroke her dog.

"World's full of nonsense. it's the war I'm afraid."

I looked her in the eye.

"Technically I am supposed to put an end to it but the man who gave me the order was very rude. So, If there's any nonsense about, I want in."

She looked at me and then smiled. The room went cold, the fire that had lit the room went out and I saw a strange glow. I looked up and saw a certificate of graduation from compass academy, then I saw other photos, of her next to the old bird, and an award as valedictorian.

"So....what made the king let his daughter go to a yankee school?"

She smiled and continued to rub the dog's belly.

"No one honestly thought I would be in line to inherit. I mean my uncle ran off with a divorcee, no one saw that one coming, and when I was seven I pestered my father to learn the mystic arts. He thought that forcing me to choose between leaving England for 3 years or staying would make me drop the subject."

I nodded. Above her fire place I noticed a sword.

"Oh you noticed Excalibur? not the original of course. It was my gift for graduating at the top of my class, worked very hard for it actually."

"I bet you did, your highness."

She looked at me.

"You wouldn't lie to a member of the royal family, would you?"

"Of course not miss."

"Good then grab some weapons the Germans have thrown a party and a few of our boys have unfortunately gotten stuck there."

My throat was dry.

"Really?"

"They're absolutely horrid hosts. I mean the food, the music, the ambiance, all of it is quite lacking. And anyways all of them have been away from home for a bit too long."

She snapped her fingers and the dog rolled around and yawned. He landed on the ground and floofed out.

"Dookie….we're going to crash a party."

The dog slumped on the ground.

"reh."

The princess gave him a look and the dog grudgingly got up and followed her, I did the same some. Guards raised their rifles as she passed, she glared at them and they walked away. This continued until we got into a car.

"Philip."

The man hugged her and opened the car, she sat next to him while I took a seat in the back.

"Who's the fellow?"

"A new recruit for the mission."

Her husband nodded.

"Do you think this is a good idea? I mean it's awfully dangerous."

The princess turned her head.

"January 9th is Caterday is it not?"

Phil nodded.

"Yes, it's where the east end celebrates the king of cats and people put on Cat ears, put out milk for strays, make cat treats and other nonsense."

"I assure you Philip, if we pull this off, I would love to celebrate Caterday with you, ears and all."

The man raised a finger as if deep in thought.

"Well, my concerns have been addressed."

We continued onwards until we were outside of town. Philip dragged a box out of the trunk as a selection of rough looking men surrounded us, then an airship landed.

"Think you can pull it off?"

"With ease gentlemen."

The queen pulled a music box out of her pocket and we all got aboard. She placed the music box on the ground and went into a different room. I said nothing as the other men leaned against the walls. The Princess's consort for his part brought out a tommy gun and started loading it.

The music played and I felt the world tilt. When it was finished the princess came out in full armor, she lowered the visor and kicked open a door.

"Hmm Germany...."

She lifted a finger and I looked down at the POW camp below us.

"Dreadful weather. Well waste not, want not."

The jewelry on her armor glowed a bright blue as her hands moved then it started raining and then snowing. We stood there for hours, waiting.

"Dookie...Come boy there's work to be done."

The dog barked and grew to the size of a horse. She got on the creature's back and then jumped out the door. I looked at her husband in horror.

"Well, best to follow her."

He opened his large box and brought out carpets, lots of flying carpets, we got on them and I followed them to the ground. Once we got there we proceded to cut up Jerries with guns and other odds and ends.

They didn't expect us, so we were able to make short work of the guards. With that done we gathered the POWs and got them onto the airship.

I was, of course, fired for the whole mess. But that was what it was like, working for the queen during the war.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain



With the arrival of a fresh new day I got to work. Kathrine really didn't need my help as a shopkeep but I knew a little about cars and volunteered to help maintain the trucks, cars and growing fleet of hastily made armored trucks. It was hard work but I got paid decent quid for it. I took some quid out of the bank and went to a bar to celebrate my new job.

The bar was small and owned by a nice mandy family, I ordered a beer and sat down.

"Brian? Is that you?"

I looked up and barely kept myself from gasping.

"Jack! Bloody hell mate it's been forever and a day."

I waved him over and he took a seat at my table.

"It's been forever mate. How are things going in Darwin."

He grimaced as if remembering some thing.

"Before, you know, the war and all."

I shrugged.

"After you left I went into curios, sold them to the outside world, made a good living. And how are you doing Jack? haven't seen or heard from you since you and your Sheila left town."

Jack closed his eyes.

"It was rough those early years, the two of us wandering the outback looking for work. Eventually I got lucky though, found a rancher that was looking for someone to manage his roo's."

I nodded.

"So good work?"

"Yeah, eventually I got enough quid to buy my own farm. These days I grow Zap fruit, me and the miss's have one of the biggest ranches outside of Algeria."

I stared at him.

"Never heard of the stuff before the war."

Jack shrugged.

"It's a French thing, mostly, they put it on their toast, in candy and desserts and the like. But for the most part it's a breky thing with them."

"Can you tell me more?"

Jack beamed.

"They're a pain in the arse to grow. Can't be too wet because they're a desert plants and they can only be grown on a ley line because they use 'em for sustenance and such. The French discovered that the bloody things grow like weeds in the sahara and, since they own Algeria..."

"They grew a lot."

"Biggest export to the mother land, their full of vitamins, taste great."

"Like a mixture of Water mellon and."

"Oranges, I know. And kids love the way they pop in your mouth and the fact that they glow. They also keep really well and the fruit just spreads like butter. There are other places that grow Zap fruit. The yanks grow 'em in New mexico and Arizona and we grow em in the outback but."

"Desert and leylines."

I smiled at him.

"You lost weight mate."

He nodded.

"Yeah I know, used to be fat Jack. Now I'm almost bloody healthy."

"Wife's doing?"

"Keeps me on burner when I get a little too heavy, makes sure I eat right, and of course farming's pretty physical, so I get lots of exercise."

I smiled at him.

"Glad you're doing well, I'm sorry things."

Jack waved me off.

"None of that Nonsense Brian. You were the only mate who had me back when I came back with Gwen. Everyone else considered it a bloody scandal, said I was trash and all that. You stood up for me."

"For all the good it did."

The old feelings of guilt returned.

"None of that Brian, you were a good mate."

I smiled at him.

"So what's it like being married to a mandy."

Jack lifted an eyebrow.

"Don't think Gwen counts as a Mandy she's a yank."

"Well then what's it like being married to a witch."

He motioned for my drink and I let him have my brew. He took a sip.

"Fair."

"What?"

"Fair, Gwen's always been fair with me. now I'm not going to lie a witch can come off as bossy and pushy, especially at first, but they don't play games. They have their little rules that you have to follow or they will get mad of course."

"Sounds like a pain."

"Like your Sheila doesn't do the same thing?"

"Point taken."

"so anyways they have their little rules but they tell yah up front what those rules are and they don't change on you. I dated a few other sheilas and it was always so bloody exhausting, like nothing was ever bloody good enough."

"To be fair you dated a lot of crazy bints Jack."

"Fair Dinkum, but with Gwen, as long as I'm following through on her little code, then things are right as rain."

"Wife says the mandy's are cold."

Jack shrugged.

"They kind of are, but they're fair and, in the end, I kind of prefer that."

I nodded.

"To each his own mate."

He took another sip.

"Well I best buy you a beer to make up for the one I stole from you."

"Jack it's no problem."

He waved me off.

"No fair's fair mate, and we have some catching up to do."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


"So what brings you to the bar Jack?"

He slowly sipped his brew.

"Business, I live further south. I come up here to sell Zap fruit."

I blinked.

"I had one of those, they taste like a mixture of water melon and oranges."

Jack nodded.

"I know, I make the things. When I was starting out all we could afford was land in the desert, only things that grow there is Zap fruit, so me and the misses would grow them and sell them up here."

He paused.

"We were going to talk to someone who was going to organize something with the other Zap fruit growers. Thought he died during the invasion but apparently he got out just in time."

"What do they look like?"

Jack leaned back.

"Creepy."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Imagine a grotesque pile of pure white bone sprouting from the ground. Now imagine glowing little orbs, growing out of what looks like outstretched clawed hands."

He paused.

"The plants look creepy and ugly as hell but the fruits are actually pretty tasty. The plants produce fruit four times a year and they grow great in deserts and don't require watering and they're surprisingly easy to harvest too."

The door opened and a man walked in with a cat floating next to him. He looked around the bar and sighed as he walked up to Jack and held out his hand.

"Jack."

"Stanly."

He had an accent.

"From London?"

"You can take the boy out the east end but you can't take the east end out of the boy, name's Stanly."

He shook our hands, and I took that moment to get the measure of the bloke. His suit was shabby, not dirty but a kind of well worn kind of shabbiness that comes with the passage of time. He wore a simple tweed hat that matched his brown suit. his tie, which was also brown, was also worn and shabby.

His skin was pink and his nose was sunburned and peeling.

"What brings you to Australia?"

He smiled and sat down, he opened up a suit case as his cat floated down to his leg, moving its head as if on the lookout for trouble.

He placed two cue balls on the table.

"Look at these two cue balls. One of them is made out of Ivory and one of them is made out of Zap tree wood, so which one is made out of actual Ivory, tell me? Cant tell the difference? That's because there isn't any. Ivory is made out of this stuff called Dentin, it's in teeth, it's in tusks and Zap tree wood is basically made out of the stuff."

He pauses.

"You are looking at the tree that killed the Ivory market. In the old days you had to go to Africa, kill an elephant and get their tusks to get half way decent Ivory. The Zap fruit tree destroyed the old Ivory trade. Why go all the way into the bush when you can just grow a whole tree of the damned stuff in your colonies. So people stopped using elephant ivory and switched wholesale to zapwood tree. Only people who still buy elephant ivory are the Chinese and that's as an impotence remedy."

"Right. Back to it, Zap wood trees can't stand too much moisture, they either die or won't grow and you have to grow them on a line, they're finicky that way. There are only three countries on earth that grow the blooming things, The yanks in Arizona and New Mexico, the French in Algeria and Australia. If you haven't heard of the Australian zap wood trees it's because it's mainly grown in western Australia."

He lights a cigarette.

"In a little patch of desert to the northeast of Perth. So, the French were the first to get into the Zap wood trade. Some French bloke walks into compass, asks if Merlin has anything of interest and then asks nicely for a sample and gets it. Man's name was Auclair and if that name rings a bell then you know they're a big deal. One of the richest families in the French empire."

He takes a deep drag.

"So the market for Ivory crashes and this leaves the bloody French with a near monopoly. Well, we can't have that, so we brits go to compass and also ask nicely for some Zap wood tree and then have an absolute devil of a time finding a place where it can grow."

"Australia."

"Yep, so they start growing it in western Australia and Perth, which used to be nothing, became the port where pretty much the entire empire's supply of Zap wood got exported to the outside world. It's the industry that built that city."

"Sounds like a big deal."

"It is. So Ivory gets used to make piano keys, billiard balls, statues, chests, all sorts of things and people discover more ways to use it and demand goes up. And that little portion of desert in western Australia simply isn't enough any more and the war? Wars made it worse but Australia has other deserts, including one that bloody surrounds Alice springs."

"And that's why you're here in Australia?"

"Got it in one, I work for the billiard supply company in Manchester. We're a new company trying to make it into the big leagues and the other blokes? They're leaning hard on current Zap wood tree producers not to sell to us."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Lots of things are illegal but happen anyways, so we decide to bypass that whole mess and get on the ground floor of a brand new Zap wood tree industry in the northern territory. It would have turned out brilliantly too, if the Japanese hadn't tossed the whole deal into the rubbish bin."

He leaned back.

"Missed Caterday because of this bloody war."

"Caterday?"

"Oi, it's a day were the whole east end gets together to celebrate tommy ward and his magical cat Grimalkin, the first rhyming cat."

He put his hand on his cat's head.

"Oh, and what's it like?"

"People put on cat ears, make kitty shaped treats and have a parade but honestly it's mostly an excuse to get drunk."

"So like any other holiday then."

He nodded at my statement.

"Pretty much."

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


"So how's the industry doing?"

Jack was trying to be diplomatic, it made sense to get along with your future business partners.

"Actually pretty well, the war has increased the demand for a good game of billiards of all varieties but I think what you really want to know about is the Ivory trade."

He pulled out a slip of paper.

"So, the Ivory trade is currently worth around a 240 million pounds a year, down from what it used to be. The French dominate the industry and make around 192 million pounds a year from Algeria's Zap wood tree farms."

My eyes widened.

"They control 80% of the worlds Ivory trade, this is one of the reasons why the French go out of their way to settle native French men in Algeria, brought in the Christian arabs during the great exodus and why they stomped the berbers whenever they felt they were getting uppity. Algeria is their most profitable colony which may be why they decided to retreat there when the jerry's invaded."

He sighed.

"We, the british empire, control 15% of the Ivory trade so that's around 36 million pounds coming out of Australia. A sizable amount but no where near French level of control. Finally you have the yanks, they control 4% of the trade and make around 9.6 million pounds a year, but the yanks? They're a nonfactor, their producers pretty much just sell to the domestic market. They don't really export which means your biggest competitors are the French."

"Figures."

"That's the long and short of it. Now as a Zap wood tree producer you don't just make money off the wood but off the fruit too, and as you know that can bring in some pound notes too."

He leaned back.

"So, Jacky boy, that amount of Zap wood tree, you still good for it?"

Jack nodded.

"Of course."

"Right...so I've been talking to a couple of the other business men and the government and we got ourselves a plan."

Jack leaned in.

"Can't tell you because it's state secrets and all that but, once the Japs are out of the picture, I still want that bloody Zap wood, you understand."

"Can't go home empty handed?"

"Jacky boy, I missed Caterday for this bloody mess, you better believe I'm not going to let go of that bloody wood. That said they're looking for a few volunteers to spot out the Japanese positions and take something out."

I leaned in.

"Take what out?"

Stanly brought out a map.

"This here? It's the water treatment center, turns salt water into fresh, if that goes the city of Darwin runs out of water."

I stared at the building.

"I used to live close to it."

"You thinking about volunteering?"

I thought about it.

"I'm in."

"Good, once that thing blows no more water for the japs and then our friends can stay thirsty."

It was risky but I was rather bored of the motorpool and wanted something to do. And, who knows, it might be a bit of fun or I might die but honestly dying in a fight sounded better than dying in me bed. At least it was more dignified.

 

[Cherico]

Magical beasts

Joan Baran


The Seven magical creatures of earth, or at least the ones capable of magic, are humans, Dogs, Cats, Owls, Ravens, Dolfins and whales. But just because a beast has a soul it doesn't mean it will receive the same abilities and power that others receive, especially when a creature is limited by the power of its soul and its mental capacity.

The first creature capable of magic is man. Because the human race is capable of true reason and moral capability they are the only species on the planet capable of practicing magic as the ancient phenix did. Because life is so rare in the galaxy we are the only known species capable of true magic with that great races demise.

The Next species I will talk about is whales. They are capable of some magic ability and it is true that the French did imbue a white wale with magical might during the napoleonic wars. But this proved to be an absolute disaster. The creature could not be controlled and would spend the rest of its life hunting whaling ships, transports and war ships of all sides with out any discrimination.

It took an international group of ships led by captain Ahab to finally slay the whale and this effort would result in his own death. It is because of the white wale incident that it is against international law to awaken whales.

The next race are dolphins, This was attempted a few times in south America. Dolphins, when awakened, gained the ability to change their shape and species. However the result had a very alien mindset and, once again, could not be controlled by their attempted masters. The resulting creatures could be kind or cruel on a whim and could become violent at any moment. It was for those reasons that awakening dolphins Is like wise illegal.

Owls and Ravens, the next races I will speak of, have the same behavior at awakening as they become bonded familars of their owners. They comprehend and obey their masters, acting almost as an extension of them. Their masters can also see through their familiar's eyes. Because of this gifting a Crow or an owl familiar to the blind is a common practice in lands that allow the practice of magic. But these creatures were also used as spies and servants in times of war and otherwise.

The French Raven core, started by Napoleon, used their beast's gifts well, helping the French win more then one battle. They are in fact still used for this purpose by multiple governments to this day. The British and their colonies use owls for this purpose, mostly to be contrary.

The next race I will talk about are dogs. The germans were the first to use awakened dogs in warfare, under Gerhard von Scharnhorst of the Prussian army. He created his Teufel Hunde or devil dogs as a way to even the odds against Napoleon's elite vanguard unit which was composed solely of magic users.

This had limited success but it was enough that they became a part of the Prussian military. This spread to other militaries across the globe. Teuful hunde or devil dogs come in five main flavors, winter, spring, summer, autum and mount.

All devil dogs have a protective aura, the ability to walk on any surface and a third power. Most breeds of dog gain a breath weapon based on their season, ice for winter, dust and stone for spring, fire for summer and wind for autum. Some breeds of dogs, most famously the corgie, grow into large mounts for their owners. This feature is also shared by saint bernards and other herding dogs.

Winter dogs were adapted by quite a few fire departments. Autum and Spring dogs were widely used by various military groups and swat units. The mount breeds became popular amongst more wealthy individuals. But summer dogs, the original devil dogs, were rare outside of germany.

This was because the dog's ability to breath fire made them an obvious fire hazard and it took careful training to make sure the dogs were not a danger to themselves, others and everything else. During world war two summer dogs or devil dogs would be intrinsically linked with the SS in the imagination of the world community. Their use in several atrocities, like the bordeaux massacre, forever tainted their image and, after the war, the dogs were put to death by the victorious allies.

Turning to the last race that can use magic we find the common house cat. The rhyming cats have a reputation in media for being loyal protectors, especially in England. It is thought by some that they can cast magic like a human. Truthfully they are mostly limited to the creation of force fields of various size and shapes.

However they do have mana and, with an enchanted collar, they can aid their masters with various spells if properly trained, giving the illusion that they can do more.

With this said different cultures use guardian beasts differently.

Americans tend to have an adversion to giving non sentient creatures magic and the practice is highly regulated and rare. The british love their enchanted cats and give their owners tax breaks, loyal mounted dogs are loved by the royal family, winter dogs are used by firefighters and Owls are used in the military and by the blind. However summer dogs are illegal to own in the country and are heavily mentally corollated with the Nazis.

In japan the Shinto priests campaigned for a monopoly over rhyming cats and were able to receive it, the military likewise campaigned for a monopoly over enchanted dogs with summer dogs being a favorite, especially for the black prince. After the war the reputation of devil dogs in japan was irreparably tainted with their association with the lost war. Rhyming cats however were not involved in the war and mostly just protected Japan's historic temples from bombing.

Koreans for their part prefered to use enchanted birds and they remain popular pets there. The Chinese share America's apprehension with enchanted beasts and strictly regulates the trade.

Culture.

The british holiday of Caterday was created in honor of Tomas ward and his enchanted cat after his death in 1840 in the east end. The holiday remained a purely east end tradition until world war 2. With rhyming cats in the news for their heroic defense of their city the tradition of Caterday spread to the rest of London and then to the rest of great britain. It was then adopted by various commonwealth countries like New Zealand, Australia and south Africa. After world war two the Japanese adopted Caterday but it is celebrated very differently than in the commonwealth.

In the commonwealth Caterday is a celebration of cats where people wear cat ears, eat cat shaped treats, drink alcohol, and give gifts to their house cats.

In Japan Caterday was adopted by the national confectioners association as a paired holiday to valentines day. In japan on Valentines day women give chocolate to men as an expression of love, friendship, courtesy or just obligation. The Japanese wanted a holiday where the opposite occurred. Having heard about Caterday by british occupation troops they decided to make things fair by having Caterday be a romantic holiday like Valentines day.

On January 9th men will give chocolates to the women they like and on february 14th girls will return the favor. Japanese Caterday likewise has the tradition of wearing cat ears and cat treats and it is tradition for young men in love to go to a shrine and pay respects to the shrine cat to gain luck in their efforts to gain love. The british version of the holiday simply does not have the romantic aspects that Japanese Caterday has and commonwealth countries often are left perplexed about romantic films centered around the holiday.

Enchanted birds too have a holiday, though it is only practiced in Brazil, this is called all Owls day. The holiday is celebrated on November 15th and it honors the day when Brazil's magic community was able to foil a military coup against the royal family. Using their owl familiars to pass messages and spy on the conspirators the magi were able to foil their plans and save the country.

For this action a national holiday was declared. All owls day is celebrated with a parade where men and women dress up like owls. Children hold dolls that represent the men who attempted the coup at the end of the parade the dolls are hung and the children set them on fire.

Devil Dogs used to have a holiday on May 2nd called Devil dog's day that represented their use and successful defense of Berlin in the famous May siege but that holiday is no longer celebrated due to its deep association with the Nazi regime.

 

[Cherico]

Brian Mc Clain


"No talking."

Five Carpets, five bombs, five maps and two words.

The bombs were simple time bombs as a few of the people back in Kathrine had experience with explosives. At first I thought these were explosive experts from the war but that turned out not to be the case. There was commercial mining in the Outback and a few of the boys used that bit of knowhow to make our bombs.

We flew in silence, low to the ground in the darkness, until we got close to the northern coast and then waited until we got to the desal plant. I remembered for a moment going there with my mates when I was younger. We would jump the fence, have a few brews and just explore the place.

We landed on the rooftop and our leader brought out some lock picks. I shook my head and just turned the doorknob. He stared at me as I whispered.

"They never lock that door."

We went inside and my heart beat a little faster, it reminded me of my time spent on the western front, wandering no man's land at night and wondering if tonight was the night I was going to die. We crept down into the plant and found it to be completely dark.

The five of us separated and looked at our maps with enchanted goggles. I crept to my portion of the plant on the north east side towards the area that took in the sea water. I felt a sense of bloody nerves take over as I crept through the darkness, there wasn't an ounce of sound as I crawled downstairs.

It was bloody creepy there in the dark, alone. I expected guards, maybe not a lot of them but someone or something. Instead there was more darkness and silence, I got down into the basement level without a bloody fight and then I went through the doors of the plant until I finally got to the main pipes.

When I got to the pipes I took off my pack and brought out the homemade bombs, all of them used clocks.

"Three bloody hours."

There were seven main pipes and over 30 bombs because there's no kill quite like overkill mate. I set them up along the pipes and pressed the buttons and then I crept up to the roof. I didn't know if the others had been caught or were dead, If I had been lucky or not. I took a deep breath and opened the door to find the other 4 men waiting for me.

They motioned in the darkness and we got on our carpets, the five of us were silent as we flew in the night.

"There wasn't any one there."

Stanley the cockney was the one who broke the silence, I looked at the others and they nodded. One of them, a bloke I didn't know, spoke up.

"Did they even know where the city got its water from?"

We shrugged.

"Because, if the Japs didn't know where the city got its water from, why would they protect the plant?"

"Someone would have told them in the city."

The bloke nodded.

"Don't mean to be rude but did they actually talk to anyone before they wrecked shop?"

The five of us were silent deep in thought.

"So what you're saying is that we weren't in any danger at all?"

The bloke shrugged.

"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that, if they killed the city before they knew it, then they're not going to know what needs to be protected and such and if you don't know that then why send guards?"

I decided to change the subject.

"How long will it take for them to run out of water?"

The bloke sighed.

"24 hours before the city's tap runs out. if they're smart they stocked up on water and with rationing they might last months. If they didn't then they're going to have a real hard time."

"by the way how are we keeping them from just steam rolling us?"

The bloke smiled.

"Illusions and a little space manipulation. Every time they come after us we take pot shots at them, they give a little chase and then end up exactly where they started."

"And that works?"

"Yes, takes a lot of people to pull off. Every now and then their mages manage to dispel them but they use a weaker kind of magic than we can so we just kind of brute force things out as best we can. Some times we lose people but for the most part it works out."

"Must be the best illusion ever."

"Nah, reward for best illusion goes to the old bird."

"Really? what did he do?"

"Made the entire country of Denmark think they lived in a world of darkness and silence for seven months...Danes are still kind of mad about the whole thing, they lost Greenland which became Israel."

"Any way we could do something like that?"

The bloke shook his head.

"Merlin tapped every leyline and nexus in Denmark to pull off that stunt, and he was workin' against people who didn't have any magical defenses. Nah, you can't do things like that any more. Every country on the planet has some kind of defense or a magi who can shut something like that done."

He paused.

"It was a simple spell done on a massive scale, world's smaller now."

I looked ahead.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Hell if I know sir."