- TNP Nation
- Floresque
- Discord
- DivaythFyr
Once there were rock pools by the oceanside. They were carved out of limestone, wet and jagged from untold millions of years' worth of water lapping on their edges. They never dried, even under the baking midday summer heat between two tides. Inside them lived all manner of creatures - crabs, anenomes, tunicates. The crabs had a hard chitinous shell that was etched with a thousand scratches but never cracked. Soaked in salt water and beaten against the walls of the pool, the shells took on shapes and carvings that looked like a living map of the ocean floor. Occasionally, a seagull would grasp one of the crabs in its foot and shatter the shell in its beak.
The succulent meat would feed its discoverer once, then the discoverer's children again. But the shell, shattered into dozens of pieces, would sink to the bottom of the pool. Tides would go in and out and the shell would either be eaten by the crab's erstwhile neighbors or be dissolved over months in the abrasive salt water. Some would go back into the limestone that made up the pool - contributing in some small way to the only home the crab ever knew.
A thousand years later, the pool was filled with dirt and refuse and a city was built on top of it. It was named Nov-rith - New-city. The city was made up of the toil of its inhabitants, the Myrorians. It was born in celebration - of the new year, the year that their nation would finally have a state. It planned with perfectly straight streets forming a perfectly surveyed grid, and it was to be the capital of their nation. The latter part never transpired - it instead became the largest and richest settlement in the country. In the back of their minds, the hardworking Novrithis knew this was for the best. The capital of a nation made up of Myrorians would be too political to be successful.
Rolis Vrotrith sat in a coffeeshop on the corner of Fifth and Oramyn and scratched the gray hair on his chin thoughtfully. Novrith had become the unofficial home of House Vrotrith, the political faction that his brother Rothis founded thirty years ago and had already become successful enough to control the city councils of most of Myroria's coastal ports.
Dedicated from its inception to peaceful democratic reform in the All-House Union, it worked within the decidedly aristocratic system of the nation. This had earned the House a good deal of enemies both among fellow leftists, who despised what they viewed as political grappling, and the rightists it opposed in Myroria's legislature - Houses Quarrovth and Moomintroth. They in particular despised Vrotrith's dangerous socialist leanings.
Despite these difficulties with the politically-savvy, Vrotrith had made great inroads among the urban working-class and college educated. Chiefly responsible for this success was House Vrotrith's regular protests, which happened across the country on a regular basis and usually ended in a few arrests but fewer actual charges. City councils were either packed with Vrotrith loyalists or too poorly funded to concern themselves with a few rabble-rousers the state media would ignore anyway.
"Are we quite certain this won't end badly for the protesters?" Rolis asked.
"Yes," Saveseru said. She spoke with haste, but never uncertainty. She was in her mid forties, and had been working for House Vrotrith in various roles since she was in college. Today, she was Deputy Leader of Novrith District. Vrotrith preferred to avoid legitimizing the nobles who controlled Myroria's provinces by properly referring to them as "Counties". "It's a larger protest than we've done before, but we have no reason to believe that the police will be any more strict than normal."
Rolis continued to scratch his chin. He was always thinking, and therefore always scratching. Acquaintances often mistook him for a psoriasis patient. "Security services?" he said. Saveseru looked skeptical.
"It's not a protest big enough to attract their attention. But none of my sources have reported seeing them poking around in our business, if that's what you're asking."
A coffee machine sounded off behind Rolis. He abruptly stopped scratching and picked up his plate, which once had a pink-frosted donut sitting on it but now had only crumbs. He walked towards the trash can and Saveseru followed.
"Good luck," he said. "If the turnout is good enough you should say a few words. You're good with a megaphone."
Saveseru chuckled. "I'll consider it."
Rolis smiled. "You take the day. I have some things to do at the office."
The two exchanged goodbyes and went separate ways. Rolis faxed some paperwork to the Pelagis branch, spoke to his brother on the telephone, and left the office at 4:03 PM. He walked to his apartment in the Rosewater neighborhood - near the ocean, ate dinner at a small bar near his apartment with his wife, read a book, and then went to bed. In the morning, Rolis' wife awoke to find him dead.
The succulent meat would feed its discoverer once, then the discoverer's children again. But the shell, shattered into dozens of pieces, would sink to the bottom of the pool. Tides would go in and out and the shell would either be eaten by the crab's erstwhile neighbors or be dissolved over months in the abrasive salt water. Some would go back into the limestone that made up the pool - contributing in some small way to the only home the crab ever knew.
A thousand years later, the pool was filled with dirt and refuse and a city was built on top of it. It was named Nov-rith - New-city. The city was made up of the toil of its inhabitants, the Myrorians. It was born in celebration - of the new year, the year that their nation would finally have a state. It planned with perfectly straight streets forming a perfectly surveyed grid, and it was to be the capital of their nation. The latter part never transpired - it instead became the largest and richest settlement in the country. In the back of their minds, the hardworking Novrithis knew this was for the best. The capital of a nation made up of Myrorians would be too political to be successful.
Rolis Vrotrith sat in a coffeeshop on the corner of Fifth and Oramyn and scratched the gray hair on his chin thoughtfully. Novrith had become the unofficial home of House Vrotrith, the political faction that his brother Rothis founded thirty years ago and had already become successful enough to control the city councils of most of Myroria's coastal ports.
Dedicated from its inception to peaceful democratic reform in the All-House Union, it worked within the decidedly aristocratic system of the nation. This had earned the House a good deal of enemies both among fellow leftists, who despised what they viewed as political grappling, and the rightists it opposed in Myroria's legislature - Houses Quarrovth and Moomintroth. They in particular despised Vrotrith's dangerous socialist leanings.
Despite these difficulties with the politically-savvy, Vrotrith had made great inroads among the urban working-class and college educated. Chiefly responsible for this success was House Vrotrith's regular protests, which happened across the country on a regular basis and usually ended in a few arrests but fewer actual charges. City councils were either packed with Vrotrith loyalists or too poorly funded to concern themselves with a few rabble-rousers the state media would ignore anyway.
"Are we quite certain this won't end badly for the protesters?" Rolis asked.
"Yes," Saveseru said. She spoke with haste, but never uncertainty. She was in her mid forties, and had been working for House Vrotrith in various roles since she was in college. Today, she was Deputy Leader of Novrith District. Vrotrith preferred to avoid legitimizing the nobles who controlled Myroria's provinces by properly referring to them as "Counties". "It's a larger protest than we've done before, but we have no reason to believe that the police will be any more strict than normal."
Rolis continued to scratch his chin. He was always thinking, and therefore always scratching. Acquaintances often mistook him for a psoriasis patient. "Security services?" he said. Saveseru looked skeptical.
"It's not a protest big enough to attract their attention. But none of my sources have reported seeing them poking around in our business, if that's what you're asking."
A coffee machine sounded off behind Rolis. He abruptly stopped scratching and picked up his plate, which once had a pink-frosted donut sitting on it but now had only crumbs. He walked towards the trash can and Saveseru followed.
"Good luck," he said. "If the turnout is good enough you should say a few words. You're good with a megaphone."
Saveseru chuckled. "I'll consider it."
Rolis smiled. "You take the day. I have some things to do at the office."
The two exchanged goodbyes and went separate ways. Rolis faxed some paperwork to the Pelagis branch, spoke to his brother on the telephone, and left the office at 4:03 PM. He walked to his apartment in the Rosewater neighborhood - near the ocean, ate dinner at a small bar near his apartment with his wife, read a book, and then went to bed. In the morning, Rolis' wife awoke to find him dead.