Always Mine
This story - Always mine was written in 2016. It was written for the fictional world of Escafeld, which I co-created with Mathew Presley and Chris Joynson for Sheffield Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Group to use as a shared world to set anthology short stories in. I have listed the world prompts that I used in the story at the bottom of the story. The group no longer uses this world and the anthologies are no longer available.
Please note, this is my last version I used before it was submitted to the anthology - so any errors in it are mine. Also please note, this story is NOT young adult. I hope you enjoy it.
Always Mine
Restraints dug into Ellie’s wrists. The cuffs cutting into her skin, spilling a red river from her wrists to the once pristine, white floor. She blinked. Coming round from the blow she had taken to the head when she had been in that damp pit of a cell, that she had spent the last two days in. She blinked again. It wasn’t just the floor that was clinically unnerving in its nature. There was the white table that was lined with collection with syringes, glass bottles filled with different coloured liquids and cog parts. Her head was whirling. Just what were they all for? And underneath the table was a drain. Her body shook, nerves taking over her. Just what did they need a drain for in here?
Above the table there were a series of picture showing the human body and sketches of automations. Images of different systems. The skeleton structure. The nerve system. The bloodstream. Next to the human diagrams were those of automations that broke down each individual cog and its movements. Her heartbeat quickened as if it needed to get in a set number of beats assigned to it before it stopped. All those rumours in the Whispering Mask were true.
The pages had been full of whispers that experiences had been developing Dwarven technology and combining molten steel with cordyceps fungus, so that a simple injection would attack bloodstream, infect it and replace it with a steel clockwork mechanism, leaving only the victims mind intact. But until today, she hadn’t believed it. Not with other articles that it printed about the long-lost kingdom of miners, tales of ‘lost heirs’ and a ghost story on every other page. It was hard to believe that their was actually a story of any merit in there. But right now those stories of turning people into automatons made a scary amount of sense and was probably the only reason that she had been taken off to a prison cell when she was caught instead of facing the penalty for treason.
Machines lined the wall, tracing movements, charting blood. Clockwork mechanisms going into overdrive. Dials whirling. Buttons flashing. The charts on the wall, showing how they would force her blood to split and be replaced with steal. Clear for all to see as if it was there on show to add to her fears. One prick to the thumb, the patch imputed and her own special roboticisation would start. One more prick. A quick shot to her wrist and it would be over.
Her arms were pinned against the sides of the chair. And her feet bound to its legs. She tried to kick out. Hit out. Rocking the chair as she did so, but not loosening any of the restraints. Her arms and feet still as tightly bound as before. But that meant nothing. Nothing. She’d been fighting her whole life and this was just a chair. She had fought against things a lot harder than a chair. She couldn’t let a simple chair defeat her. Her fingers curled into her wrist. There had to be some way to release these. Some way to stop them from killing her. This the penalty. Stealing from the Goldharker family was a criminal offence. Especially if you took something that was as precious as coal in this society. But it looked like she had been chosen for worse. They would change her.
Ellie shook against the restraints. Scarring her bare skin as it rubbed and burnt against it. Her breath quickened, keeping pace with her rapidly accelerating heartrate. She needed to get out of there. But the chair was staying firmly stuck in place. And if anything her restraints digging in further. She bit down on her lip, drawing blood. She had to ignore the pain and fight through it. She shook against the restraints again.
The door opened. Her heart was pounding. Leaping up from her stomach. Beating out as many beats as it could. This was it. She should be struggling. Trying more than ever to escape. But she froze. She didn’t need the restraints to stay in place. That figure was familiar. Very familiar. Her eyes fixed. His walk hadn’t changed. Despite his status, he still had that limp. The one that had gotten him excused to the library during sport. The one that had meant he met her. And there he stood, standing in the corner, back turned and facing the computers. Why couldn’t he turn? Face her. He placed the syringe into a slot on the wall. The machine flashed twice. First yellow, then green as the deadly mixture was sucked inside the syringe.
He turned, holding a syringe in his hand. A single shot to the arm, the penalty of a thief. The very thing that would mean her death. Her six breaths in as many seconds. No this would be than worse her death. She’d still have her mind, still be able to think, to feel. She just would have no control of her actions. No control over her movements. She’d be just clockwork, no better than automaton and acting on others instructions. And dependent for survival on the shots to keep the mechanic in her body clean and stop them from seizing up.
Zeke tapped the syringe and turned around.
Ellie grabbed his hand and pulled him into an empty classroom. Zeke smiled as the door closed, that Goldharker smile that was flashed across so many newspapers and so many pictures. It was enough to win many a girl over, but had never made her heart melt. It was harder than that. It had been built of sterner stuff and hardened even more after the Goldharker family had started laying off people to replace them with the new automatons and the people who had been turned over to them by the coppers. Why pay for labour when you could get it for free? Especially when there were rumours about people stealing from the coal reserves.
She took in a breath. She needed to keep that hardened resolve now. His dad had cost her’s, his job. It was due to the Goldharker family that they were being forced to rent out all but two rooms of their house so that they could make bills meet. The reason that she was being forced to sleep on the floor on a mattress with her sister, while her brothers shared a second and her parents were sleeping in the kitchen. It was the Goldharker family that meant she was being forced to leave school instead of paying the post sixteen fee to finish her education or even take the time to find the right apprenticeship. She could weaken that resolve for a smile.
Ellie offered Zeke a weak smile. “We need to talk.”
“That’s not the reason we normally come in here.”
Zeke pulled her towards him. His smile growing and becoming less Goldharker and more Zeke. More like the boy that had asked her to reach the books on the top shelf in the library when she had still been taller him and unaware who he actually was. More like the boy that she had skipped class with and hid cuddled up under the same coat by the boat hut. More like the boy that had pulled a wire from an old clock and twisted it into a ring as he told her that he loved her.
She moved in closer to him, resolve weakening more each passing second, that smile was just too tempting to resist. This was only going to make things harder. It would be so much easier to just see him as the Heir to the Goldharker fortune. But that smile had melted things. Damn him. Damn that smile. She placed her hand on his cheek, before she snaked it round his face to his neck. She stepped in closer. So close she could feel his breath. Hear his heart beating. They kissed.
The kiss grew and deepened as the pair of themselves in it, losing themselves. The loud noises from the adjoining school corridor become a distant humming sound in the background. He held her tighter and she gripped passionately back. A tantalising dance of tongues and emotion taking over sense and reason. Hands gripped on hair. Exploring each other’s bodies. Hearts pounding. Taking their breath away. The kiss took over.
Minutes later they pulled apart. “We still need to talk.”
He caught her hand. “But this is so much more enjoyable.”
“I can’t argue with that, I’ve never been able to argue with that, which is why we are in this mess in the first place,” she said as she stepped away, “but we can’t ignore what is happening anymore. Standing here won’t change anything, so one of us needs to sensible here. We still need to talk.”
“What if I want to live in denial?”
“It’s time we face facts. Denial isn’t going to help either of us anymore. And it isn’t practical.” Ellie smiled. “And, you’re nothing if not practical.”
“I don’t want to be practical anymore,” he said stepping back in closer, “not when it concerns you, El, I have never wanted to look at things practically. I want to stay in denial.”
“I get that, but it still won’t change what’s happening.” She took in a breath, summoning her composure. “So, I guess it’s my turn to be practical.” She gulped, pushing down her nerves. “I’m leaving. It’s time to give up on fairy tales and happy ever afters and face reality. I’m sixteen, eligible for a rank on the registry. I can’t stay here. I need to take my role. It’s what’s expected and the decision has already been made. I’m just here today to collect my stuff and tomorrow, I guess I’ll be down the mines, working to help the Goldharker fortune.”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“Why? It’s true. I don’t have the skills to go into the clockwork factories, they value skills in maths and engineering instead of exploring mythical histories of elves, trolls and Unelma, the Dreaming One. So, it’s the pits, after all. We won’t live without coal. Let’s just hope I don’t get released in the same fashion that my parents have - to the new automations. And there’s really no point dragging this out any longer.”
“Ellie.” He pulled her closer to him. “You can’t just leave like this.”
“What choice do I have, Zeke? Even if we could cope, if my position wasn’t being monitored. We can’t pay the fees and I’ve had a decent run here. More than most get.”
“What about a scholarship?”
“I’m never going to get one of those, not now they know. Can’t have the regular folk getting too close to the descendants.”
“That doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it matters to others, and even if it didn’t, how do I stay in classes when my mum can’t put food on the table?”
“What will you do? You can’t stay in those mines. They’ll kill you. I see what people look like down there.”
“And I know what they look like when they finish for the day, more than you do. I see them coming home completely drained. I know what the pits do to people, trust me.”
“So, you can’t go into them then. You’ll have to find a way out of them. Let me help you, we’ll think of something together.”
“No, we won’t. The dreams over.”
“Well, what else will you do then?”
“Other than the mines? I don’t know.” She leaned in and kissed him. “But I’ll think of something, I always do.” She stepped away. “Look after yourself, Zeke.”
“El,” he called as she placed her hand on the door, “You know that I’m not going to forget you.”
She smiled, “I should hope not.”
Zeke tapped the syringe again, “I had to pull some serious strings to get you the injection. Not all traitors get lucky, Ellie.”
Ellie looked at the syringe, narrowing her eyes at it at the green liquid moving inside it, her mind going into overdrive. The Whispering Mask had contained many articles recently on what was going on. Why hadn’t she taken them seriously? A shot from the syringe and mechanical functions took over your body, steel filling up the bloodstream and the clockworks taking over. But none of it explained how it felt. What it meant to be changed. What actually happened. What happened to your mind? Just the technicalities. Her body shook. Quivering against instead of fighting the restraints. Her nerve was failing, just when she needed it most.
She changed her focus, heaving in several breaths. She had to force herself to calm down. She looked at Zeke. If she could just get him to actually look at her, she might stand a chance here. Maybe he could reverse things. And if he couldn’t. She’d make sure that he watched her go through this. Make him see what he had done. But his eyes avoided hers. His face fixed and firm. Unmoving. Practical. And emotionless. Just like he had been pictured on all the posters around the city. But then that was Zeke. He was nothing if not practical. And he probably thought that what he was doing was exceptionally practical right now.
Ellie gulped. She wouldn’t let herself be scared or at least show someone that she was scared. “Yes, some of them get to die.”
“Exactly.” His hand touched hers and he placed the syringe at her wrist. “You’re going to live.”
“If you can call it living.”
“El.” He looked at her, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones. The mask of practicality dropping, his face softening. “I call it your only option.” He offered her the smallest of smiles. He touched the metal ring that even after all these years she had never taken off her finger. His smile grew. And there he was, her Zeke, and just for that moment, it was seven years ago and she was sixteen again. “Why didn’t you try for that scholarship?”
“You know I couldn’t. Not all of us have a fortune to rely on. I did what I had to, I always have.”
Zeke’s smile faded. Disappearing as quickly as it came. “And so have I.”
He shot the liquid into her. She pulled against the restraints. The cut into her wrists, drawing blood. But it was far too late for anything to change now. They both knew that. The fight was over. Zeke pulled away the empty syringe.
Steel embedded in her and crawled up through her bloodstream, interlocking her cells together. Taking control. The drugs were doing their work. She only had hours left as herself. Once her blood had been corrupted, she’d be just another clockwork soldier, dependent on their machines to function. Her laugh echoed around her head. Well, that was no different from being a clog in the resistance army. She’d had no choice over that either. Not since she had been made to leave school; not since she had been forced into the mines and the realities of being at the bottom of society had been slammed into her face daily.
Daydreams could only keep you going for so long. Life wasn’t fair and the pretence wasn’t worth the disappointment it caused when you opened your eyes.
Her hands begged to curl into a fist but her fingers stiffened. They wouldn’t bend. She was already losing her blood. Losing her will and becoming dependent on that drug. She would be back into the mines in no time and this time she wouldn’t get to escape the darkness in the evenings. See her family. The clockworks stayed down there. And all this had been for a couple of bags of coal.
Ellie turned away from her younger siblings and pulled a book out of the bag that contained her life’s worth – all the possessions that she had been able to carry out of the house before it had been repossessed. A single bag – not much to represent nineteen years, and hardly a single personal possession amongst them. Two books, a notepad, a watch that had once been her father’s, hat and goggles and that small metal ring. The rest of the bag was made up of clothes and other practical things like pans, knives and the basics to survive.
She opened the book. It was dark. The others were asleep. The job and responsibilities done for the day. At least for a couple of hours, she could bury herself in the legends and forget that they could barely afford the five beds that they needed in the doss house. Pit wages didn’t stretch that far when you had to focus on keeping four people in school. And while her life may have been ruined, there was still hope in saving theirs’, at least until the registry got its hands on them. And then, well it was anyone’s guess what would happen then. But if they could stay in school long enough to get the right marks in maths and engineering so they ended in the factories and not in unskilled pit roles. She wouldn’t let them get lost in dreams and legends at the expense of being practical.
She shifted in her position, making herself as comfortable as she could down here and letting her mind fly away with the stories of dragons. Letting the dreams and legends take over.
“Girl,” Ellie looked up from the book, using her thumb in place of a bookmark, as an older woman parted the crowds that were gathered around the small fires and made her way over. “Are you okay, girl?”
She nodded. “Fine.”
The older woman offered her hand. “I’m Veronica.”
Ellie rejected the hand. “I know who you are, you’re part of the resistance, you organise the raids on coal supplies and you come down here each night recruiting. Telling people who are foolish enough to believe it that you can give them a better life if they join you. But I don’t buy it and I’m not interested. I’m just trying to get some rest before the morning.”
Veronica knelt. “You look cold. Why don’t you go near the fire like the others?”
“Because I’d prefer to be alone,” she held up the book, “I’m busy with this.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Dead.” It had used to hurt saying those words but now, well, it was just a matter of fact. “Died in the pit explosion last month.”
“You look pit age; how did you get out?”
“I was in a different part, I’m still a worker. It was the registry office that when down. It only took those who couldn’t work.”
Veronica looked straight at her. “The Whispering Mask said that explosion wasn’t an accident.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me, there’s no money in those that can’t work.”
“And you’re not going to do anything about it?”
“I stopped thinking like that when I left school. We aren’t going to change anything. And dreaming gets you nowhere.”
Veronica smiled. “So, let’s focus on the practicalities. Have you got somewhere to stay? Food to eat?”
“I’m getting by. I have a job.”
“Until you can’t work and are in line to register at the next pit explosion.”
“I’ll take my chances, I’ve years before I go on the useless list.”
“What about the little ones.” Veronica gestured to her twin brothers. “They look almost registry age. Ready to join you in those pits.”
She turned to look at her sister and three brothers, she paused. It wasn’t as easy to dismiss this now. She had sworn that she would do whatever she had to in order to look after them. And that was a promise that she wasn’t going to break. She gulped in a breath, regaining her composure. “You’ll help them.”
Veronica smiled. We’ll get them off the list.”
Ellie frowned, she wasn’t so submerged in the fantasy to have forgotten how this world worked. “In exchange for…?”
“You help us out.”
Her nails dug into her palms. Drawing blood. She bit down on her lip. Her body was shaking as drugs entered each part of her, poisoning her body. Molten steel coursed through her blood making her hands stiffen, then her arm, flowing through her blood. Each vein darkened and her body shook, jerking against the restraints, this time involuntarily.
Zeke placed his hand on her wrist. “It really is for the best, Ellie. It’s the way I can look after you.”
Statements, comments, retorts were screaming in her head. She was desperate to fire back a response but molten steel was taking over. Lighting her up. Each nerve clicking as movement changed, working as if on clockwork. She screamed. Limb after limb, flaring up. Her body jerked again. A furnace had lit her up. Flaying each limb. Drying her up. Burning her out. Seizures taken over. Her head pounding in pain.
Zeke released the restraints around her legs. This was finally her chance to run only her legs wouldn’t move. Everything was so stiff. Zeke moved the restraints on her wrist, brushing over the ring on her thumb as he did so.
Her body crashed to the floor. Falling out of the chair. Steel reaching her organs. Her heart. Pain shot through her. Pulsing through her. Shaking her core. Flaming. Licking. Burning. Her heart pounded. Fighting against it. Her breath quicken. It pierced. Breaking her. Losing the battle, she blacked out.
Ellie twisted her hair into a knot and tucked it under a flat cap, hiding the blonde from view. Dark colours were far better on missions than blondes. She pulled on her dark coat, buckling it at the waist. She couldn’t have it coming loose out there. She checked her watch and took in a deep breath, before pocketing it. Nerves building. It was almost time. No matter how many runs she did, she wasn’t sure that she would ever get used to this feeling.
She took in another breath and turned to look at the map, that she had picked up from the morning’s briefing. It looked an easy enough run. She released the breath, her heartbeat slowing back down. Pocketing the paper, she adjusted her googles. She was ready. There was no point in hanging around here, any longer.
Dismissing pointless worries, she closed the bedroom door and headed into the living area. Noise filling the room in an instant. The twins arguing over the stove and Nell and Bertie playing some kind of card game instead of doing their homework. Acting like they were just a normal family like anyone else.
“I’m off.” She said.
Charlie and Henry stopped their argument in an instant. Charlie looking right at her the way that their dad had used to. “Are you going to be alright?”
“Of course, I will.” Ellie smiled, “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I still think you should take one of us with you,” Charlie gestured to himself and then his twin, “we’re eighteen now too, it’s not like we’re too young anymore.”
“I need you here.”
Charlie smiled, “That’s why I said one of us.”
“You’re still not coming. I made this deal to keep you all safe. And besides, if you came, I’d spend the whole time watching my back and it would take twice as long.” She huffed out a breath. “So there is really no point in arguing. I’ll be back soon.”
“El,” Henry said, his voice breaking through the thoughts that had so clearly been occupying the frown lines on his forehead, “I don’t get it.”
“Get what? It’s pretty simple, really. We’re helping people survive by taking what we need from those who won’t miss it.”
“But when I was working in the reserves the other day, our supplies were fine. There’s no need for another run.” Henry said.
“Well, it must be the shortage in the mines then. They are starting to run really low, having to send the automations down to the much deeper level. So, I guess, we’re just getting our stocks in order before they run dry.” She offered them smile as she checked her watch again. “Now, I really better be off. And try not to destroy the house before I get back.”
Ellie slipped out the house and into the darkness of the night. Her heart returning to it pounding pace. Just because the streets looked empty didn’t mean that they actually were. Walking so fast that she was almost jogging, she turned corner after corner, twisting between the streets. Every two minutes her head whipping around. That familiar feeling of being followed come back to her. Just like it did anytime she came out here. She took in a breath, dismissing the feeling, just like she had done with the nerves in the bedroom. Just she had done so many times before.
Fifteen minutes later and slightly out of breath, she arrived at the long road that lead up to the mine. She ducked into a corner, hiding herself between two buildings and checking the map again. She let out another breath. Reading the words twice. The bags had been left in storage area three. Pocketing the map again, she checked her watch. She was right on time.
Ellie gulped. Here it went. She took into another break, before breaking into a run. Darting straight up to door on storage area three. She yanked on the door. Locked. But that wasn’t unexpected. All it meant was finding the right window. She circled the building three times. Settling onto a window, she jumped onto the ledge. Holding onto the top, she swung with building momentum and kicked through the panel, metal on her boots meeting wood. Not pausing for thought, Ellie dropped through the window.
Landing on the floor, she allowed herself a moment to compose herself. A gun fired. A piercing sensation cutting through her leg. She fell. Her hand reaching down there. Blood was spilling everywhere. The gun fired again. Missing this time. She had to get out of here. Scrabbling her way to her feet, ignoring pain, she took a couple of steps forward. Dragging her right leg. The gun fired again.
She fell to the floor covering her head. She glanced over her shoulder. Three figures emerging from the coal stacks.
“Is that her?”
“Yes.”
“Be careful with that gun then, we take this one alive.”
Ellie kept her eyes firmly closed. Her body felt heavy. Stiff. Everything was weighing her down. It had happened. She changed. But she couldn’t open her eyes yet. She could live in denial for just a couple more minutes. For the moment, she could pretend that it was just her body aching after a hard week in the pits and nothing more. She just needed a few more minutes.
A door creaked open and she closed her eyes even tighter. Here came the collection. Life over. Under the ground as one of the clockwork army. But if she stayed still, maybe they would think it hadn’t worked. There were stories in the Whispering Mask about experiments going wrong. And if she stayed very still, then maybe they would think that had happened to her. She just needed to stay very still. And given how heavy her body felt, right now, that wouldn’t be difficult.
“You ready to shift it?” a female voice said.
“Move her?” Zeke said, “No, not yet.”
“You know it’s just a machine now.”
“No, she’s not.”
“You’re not going to send her into the pits, are you?”
Ellie’s head pounded. She knew that voice. She was positive that she knew that voice. But she just couldn’t place it. It was so tempting to open her eyes and check. But that would give away the fact that she’d survived this.
“I thought she’d be more useful in the house,” Zeke said.
“You know she’s not the same now.”
“I know. But this is the best option we had. I did the right the thing here.”
“That’s your choice and if you honour our deal, what do I care?”
“You delivered the girl, you’ll get your coal, Vanessa,” Zeke said. “Besides, we need your markets to continue as much as we need our markets if we’re all going to survive this. Get the bags on your way out and leave the drugs.”
The End
The Prompts:
· AGE OF HAMMERS (Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Victoriana, Gaslight horror, Alt-history, gothic fantasy, new-weird) - The northern continent is now unified under Imperial rule, and begins an age of discovery and invention. Old magic is replaced by new science, and these innovations lead to expansion beyond the southern coast; airships can cross the equatorial oceans with ease, opening up the far southern continent. The northern city of Escafeld is an industrial centre for the Empire, and fuels the southern Imperial City’s conquests. The Age officially ends when the empires finally descend into open war; with resources like coal and oil rapidly depleting, new methods of science and political movements turn Terra into a world closer to modern-day Earth.
· Escafeld City: Now part of the Great Calshani Empire, Escafeld’s unique position in the continent means it’s an industrial centre, with the boring matters of leadership and governance delegated to the fetid boroughs of Greater Calshan County. When the Dwarven mines were sacked, Escafeld was in the perfect position to overtake their industries; coal and iron ore are continually belched from the mountains, down to the village-sized furnaces and cogworks. Former Elf forests are now part of the Escafeld Civic Arboretum, which aims to be green and lush, but for most of the year is sulphurous.
· Advances in Technology: At the Age’s beginning, there’s a renaissance after discovery of Dwarven tech. Steam engines, coal power + rail travel spread throughout Empire. As mining + chemistry progress, gas extraction possible; first airships built. Further south, steel hulled ships traverse equatorial oceans; southern continent discovered mid-Age. Diesel/petrol leads to more efficient engines; no. of airships in Empire increase, leading to air superiority + faster travel. Near the Age’s end, coal + oil reserves dwindle; airships no longer viable, replaced with planes + cars.
· The Goldharker Family: ‘Where there’s muck, there’s brass, and Goldharkers trade both’. This merchant family is so sprawling and omnipresent that any port or border-town without a Goldharker is considered the lesser for it. Many would have you believe the entire family were cut-throats, swindlers, conmen, smugglers and slavers; indeed, the Goldharkers only cultivate this rumour, because only poor people would believe such rubbish. That said, wherever there’s a coin to be made, there’ll be a Goldharker involved somewhere. The Goldharker Family were originally from Mathar, the transport vessel the Golden Harkener arrived on the northern coast just as the Shemeld canal began construction. As the canal cut its way inland, the Harkener was dragged behind, gathering labourers as it went. Once the canal reached Escafeld, the Goldharker family were perfectly positioned to deal with trade barges and tolls, and to pick up whatever contracts were delivered from the south. Sensing where the profit was, the Goldharkers reinvented themselves from the crew of a slave transport ship into a merchant family, and spread out across the Escafeld trade routes.
· Goldharker Mining Corporation: After the dwarven mines were overthrown and looted, Imperial General Magnus Goldharker was perfectly positioned to claim and reopen the mines in his family’s name. Goldharker Mining runs throughout the Copperspine mountain range, harvesting much of the nation’s coal, gas and oil; unlike other, more scrupulous, business models, Goldharker mines are often penitentiaries as well. Prisoners in the mines are released once they’ve repaid their debt to society; the Goldharkers offer prisoners chance to have their sentences reduced, but these deals never work out well.
· The ‘Goldharker Hotel’: Although Goldharker mines often run as prisons, not everyone there is guilty of a crime. Goldharker owned slums and dosshouses are notorious for gangs running ‘recruitment drives’, taking away those who wouldn’t be missed, or who can’t make rent payments. Although gang leaders are tried and convicted, nothing links them to the Goldharkers, and the Empire does nothing to regulate the productive mines. When someone mysteriously disappears, people often say someone’s ‘staying at the Goldharker Hotel’.
· The Whispering Mask: Printed on defective presses and funded by non-Imperial activity, the Whispering Mask is an underground newspaper. It prints anti-Imperial rhetoric, from valid criticism to frothy-mouthed howling, alongside stories of pure fancy. Ghost stories are rife, as are the ‘lost heir’ stories. If you believed the Whispering Mask, half of Escafeld were the displaced rulers of a long-lost kingdom of miners, pretty tree-lovers, or some other ridiculous notion. No-one remembers where the name of the paper comes from, nor the emblem on its front page; a smiling face decorated with flowers.
· Imperial Law Enforcement: Known as coppers (after the copper badges handed out to officers), the Imperial Law Enforcers were formed in the mid-to-late Age, when the military was required in national defence. Without the full combat training of an Imperial soldier, the Enforcers were expected to mediate and report as much as prevent criminality; as the cities grew, so did the need for a multi-layered, convoluted police force. While the Knights Executor are long disbanded, coppers took on a similar reputation; when they turn up, it’ll end badly for someone (although, unlike the Executors, it’s not likely to end in someone getting killed.)
· Automatons: Originally discovered in Dwarven forts, Automatons were a secret weapon that never got deployed. Resembling a dwarf in full battle armour, the first Automatons were dismantled, and Imperial scientists back-engineered most of the mechanisms that move and control them. The one part of them engineers have yet to reproduce is the elaborate cogwork of their command module; all attempts to study and dismantle one result in its destruction. Luckily, an Automaton’s module can be fitted into any number of new designs, and the Empire commandeered thousands of modules from the Dwarves.
· SIC-B Experimentation: Ever since the link between electricity and brain functions was established, medical scientists have experimented, often illegally, on controlling people’s thoughts. One such experiment resulted in SIC-B, a biological agent that replaces the victim’s nervous system with steel infused organic wire. Whether this controls the victim’s thoughts, or just their movements, isn’t entirely clear. Over time, the entire body is replaced by this metallic infusion. As the full horrors of this came to the surface, the Empire destroyed all knowledge of it, and their connections to its funding.
· Imperial Registry: Although no longer concerned with racial heredity, the Imperial registry still audits the growth of the Empire; now, it tracks the movement of workers, keeps a census of available workforce, and tracks class of work; skilled workers earn more than unskilled, and a new pecking order appears, with social climbers and nouveau riche occurring more often as grafting industrialists mix with old establishment. As the Empire covers the whole northern continent, the ‘Imperialisation’ of names is commonplace; the Registrars are overworked and notoriously lazy, and think Imperial names are better anyway.
· Imperial Scholarship Fund: As technology advances, the need for more skilled workers leads the Empire to begin a scholarship, to educate children in science, engineering, and basic etiquette. Anyone with a full name and proper registration can apply, though in practice, the paperwork leaves this to the middle classes. Occasionally an orphan or child worker can get up the ladder with their CO’s commendation, though the noble classes aren’t too keen on people rising above their station.
· Unelma, the Dreaming One (from the Age of Dreams): Highest of the known Dragons, Unelma explored the world, and from his dreams he formed life to dwell there. He dreamt of mountains, and the dreams became Dwarves. He dreamt of forests, and the dreams became Elves. He had nightmares, and they became monsters. After the monsters came, he stopped his dreams taking shape, yet he still dreamt of many things. He dreamt of nobility, corruption, greed, humility, arrogance, deference, poverty and riches. These dreams begged to be real as the others before them. Unelma finally took all these disparate dreams, and they became Humans.
· Dragon Broods (from the Age of Dreams): Descendants of Unelma and his dreams of family, Dragons can be hatched from eggs, or appear fully grown from thunderstorms. Rather than having a strict bond of family, Dragons instead attune to their surroundings, becoming members of a particular Brood. The five greatest Draconarchs and their broods are; Yatava of the Frost Brood, Halkema of the Chasm Brood, Vihrea of the Forest Brood, Sininae of the Sea Brood, and Tulinar of the Red Brood.
· Goblins (from the Age of Dreams): Children of Nightmare, goblins are the cave-dwelling, sun-fearing enemies of the Dwarves, who lives as bandits and scavengers in the abandoned places of Terra. Goblins hate pretty much everyone, including other goblin families; they curse Unelma for making them this way, they curse Calsharon for leading purges of the southern clans, and they curse each other for not bowing to their family’s obvious superiority. Their only saving grace is their foresight; they aren’t very smart, but can plan ahead with superhuman ability.
· Dwarves (from the Age of Dreams): Children of Stone, Dwarves live either in vast underground halls, or in mining towns on the surface. They’re in a state of constant battle against goblins, dwarves are renowned as armourers and soldiers in addition to miners. They’re somewhat standoffish with humans, only trading with Escafeld clans, and having a distrust for Elves and the southern lands of Calshan. They’re also obsessively secretive about their crafts; since humans stole metal from their fallen soldiers, they’ll never send any weapon out of a stronghold unless they can guarantee it’ll return.
· Elves (from the Age of Dreams): Children of Wood, Elves live nomadic lives through the forests, never staying too long in one place, usually because they’re too busy chasing trespassers and cutting them down. Elves claim to be the first of Unelma’s creations, and so are clearly his chosen people; everything that followed, be it Dwarf, Goblin or Human, are the result of the Dreamer’s nightmare. Humans often romanticise and misunderstand Elves; yes, they’re beautiful, attuned to nature and live free. No part of that means they’re in any way nice.
· Trolls (from the Age of Dreams): Children of Nightmare, and akin to Goblins. Instead of cursing the world as the Goblins do, however, Trolls are much more adaptive; their bodies spontaneously change to their environment. Even Trolls of the same family can appear different; Bark Trolls have tough, woody skin and green hair, while Coast Trolls grow webbed fingers and slimy coatings. Superstition says that some trolls even adapt to villages, and appear as humans, learning to speak and behave as civilised humans. No troll, however, can stand the ringing of bells, and so villages ward off interlopers at hourly intervals.
· Fae (from the Age of Dreams): Children of Lyral, the mother of nightmares. Unlike the other misbegotten creatures of Unelma’s feverish dreams, Lyral intentionally made the Fae as things of horror and malice. While their creator and leaders were banished from all memory, many Fae were allowed to remain in the hidden places of the world. Tied to a certain location, and only able to manifest at dawn or twilight, the Fae appear deceptively beautiful, with eyes that reflect no light. The Fae trick mortals with promises of youth and splendour, and steal man’s gifts from their own, be it a shape, a voice, a breath or a soul.