“You still haven’t seen me yet.
And I hope you never do.”
Darrio
Dissonance
In the Stony Realm, the worth of a man was measured by the size of his account and his relationship to it. Pious or agnostic, virtuous or vicious, ethical or otherwise, the scales of the economy had but one dichotomy. One was either valuable or worthless. Everyone from the richest merchants and their whispering advisors to the poorest beggars and the vermin they lived with understood this system. They lived under it, bargained from within it, and though many were sacrificed for it, not everyone agreed with it.
The winds of change were blowing, and what was once a pleasant breeze transformed into a raging tempest. Militias grumbled with discontent over the terms of their contracts, and the powers of the realm, still reeling from the drain of the war, squeezed as much as they could from the denizens. The transactional nature of their relationships became a focal point of contention, and then there was news from the north. The Great Destroyer was loose in the world.
Investors placed their bets, and the wealthy built what hedges they could against potential losses. Friends became acquaintances, competitors became adversaries, and the companies they employed remained as tools for their self-centered avarice. The name of the game became survival of the fittest. Such was the state of the realm, but this was a game the Destroyer had no interest in playing. The once great Commonwealth of Associated Interests incurred a debt, and the time had come to collect.
The Stony Realm
A rocky but resource-rich territory with sparse vegetation and looming plateaus made the Stony Realm a natural location for numerous mining operations and the state-like interests that oversaw them. With commodities buried beneath the earth refined into gems, metals, and other products for the market to exploit, the Commonwealth grew into an economic powerhouse with wealth forming the backbone of its confidence and trade routes serving as the lifeblood of its benefactors. Anything that could be monetized was put up for sale, and the skills for warfare were no exception. Even during the conflict, free militias placed their bids against interest-backed companies for contracts, and the foundation for almost all relationships within the realm was based on a transaction.
Given the material state of affairs, it was inevitable that cracks would appear within the status quo. The Commonwealth of Associated Interests was just that, an association of interests and not a united nation. Corruption was rampant, espionage was assumed, and company conflicts involving bloodshed were not uncommon. Seams of mutual benefit, common sense, and a hesitancy to assume responsibility for the mess kept the region from splintering into warring factions, but such unity was tenuous and fragile. The people had little power to change it and most were too busy trying to survive. Peacekeepers did their job to maintain order, but everyone with discernment knew it was only a matter of time before the hollow values of the Commonwealth would cause it to collapse under its own weight.
Characters
Jayne
The Just
Jayne knew there were hidden forces behind the ebb and flow of commerce, but his investigative scope was limited. There was only so much one man could do within a system designed to enrich those in control, and as a peacekeeper, he had his wife and community to worry about.
The night he felt the winds of the Commonwealth shift was the night he happened upon a terrible development. He returned home alive but shaken by the affair, and there was a string of murders in the city right after. Who could he talk to about what he saw? Only his wife knew the truth, and they kept it to themselves.
The time for disclosure came suddenly when a dark voice used a foreign language to beckon the denizens outside, and a crackling pillar of flame appeared in the center of the city. It would become the spark that ignited revolution within the realm, and Jayne would turn into a significant figure in what was to come.
Shell
The Counselor
Serving in the war was hard. Surviving it was harder, but living once it was over was the hardest. She had the support of the company and Flint to make things easier, but the bodies, viscera, and lives of men she could not save still haunted her. She hoped to do better in her new role as a contractor.
It was certainly not easy work, but the company loved her. She was more attentive to their needs and sensitive to their feelings than her predecessor. The contracts she was able to secure were still physically demanding, but having a former medic to look out for them was a comfort.
However, none of these facts were able to assuage Shell’s insecurities for long. A dark-skinned figure was then spotted in one of the mines, and this caused her stress levels to spike. Hunters had never done business in the Commonwealth, and the trauma she suffered from the battlefield assumed the worst.
Talim
The Seeker
Before the war, Talim joined the Order of Magnus in search of truth, but the yield was too small. He then turned to the school of illusion and became an indisputable master of the craft. Through practice and war, he pushed his body and mind to greater heights, but he had yet to be satisfied.
A giant in stature by the war’s end, Talim lived a thousand lives through the psyche of others. Some he nurtured and some he crushed, but through it all, his grasp on the truth still seemed unsure. He lacked something he could not attain through mere study, and the request of his captain made finding it a priority.
A dark whisper called out to him, the evil specter of a long-deceased spirit, and she mocked him. She said there was no point. She said he should give up, but Talim resisted. He had to find the answer, but the evil spirit laughed. She said there was no answer, and she threatened to kill him before one could ever be found.
I will not be stopped.
Available Now
That’s Not All!
This is only one volume of the series, so check out the other entries listed below.