The Works of Jean-Paul Rogers.

In the darkest night of winter cold
Softly steps the night of old
His face weary of battles bold
With body broken by days untold
His heart afire with tales of old
With face a struggle of courage bold
Walking on towards homely fold
In the darkest night of winter cold

Jean-Paul Rogers was an eminent writer and poet during the age When Earth Went Dark. His works are now considered classics, the epitome of Apocalyptic-era works. Jean-Paul's writings were targeted towards a young audience, as he believed the children of Earth were the most important part of society. Jean-Paul lived in a small village in the south of Europe, born fifteen years before Earth Went Dark. Jean-Paul originally intended to become and engineer, and spent his early life studying books he salvaged from city libraries. Jean-Paul had very few sibling, as most pre-apocalyptic families were small. His father was killed the first few years of famine, likely while scavenging for food. This forced Jean-Paul, his mother and two sisters to migrate south to Italy, and eventually they hitched a boat ride to Sicily, where they joined a survivors coalition and began work as farmers. Jean-Paul was just eighteen at this time, and his sisters were thirteen and nine. Jean-Paul would tell them stories as they worked in the fields, carefully nursing sickly crops under a dim sun. From these stories came the first of Jean-Paul's works, and Jean-Paul soon became popular for his wit and bright outlook on life.

In 191 Jean-Paul eventually began running humanitarian missions away from Sicily, as the island began to export a portion of their excess food to the mainland. It was a turbulent time in the Mediterranean as Jean-Paul fought pirates and avoided bandits, exploring the world outside Sicily for the first time since the apocalypse. The suffering and devestation he saw motivated him for the rest of his life. Sicily's export business soon attracted unsavory attention, and his new home was raided several times between 187 and 188. Jean-Paul volunteered to be his coalition's representative and travel to Cyprus, where he sought the aid of The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes of Malta and of Space. These knights agreed to protect Sicily and its inhabitants from raids in exchange for a steady supply of food a goods from the island. Armed with this contract, Jean-Paul returned to the island and united its several factions under his leadership, quickly becoming the principal producer of food in the Mediterranean. Jean-Paul was officially elected the president of Sicily in 190, and the island's population of five million made it a primary naval power in the Mediterranean. From the Knight's base in Sicily, the Knights of Malta would eventually reunify Italy, restoring it to a traditional democratic government.

Jean-Paul stepped down from his office in 193, and he joined the Knights of Malta. Jean-Paul would travel Europe, restoring order and bringing humanitarian aid across the continent. During this period, the governments of Spain, Germany, and Beneloux were officially reformed; or created, in Beneloux's case. Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden all maintained their sovereignty throughout the crisis. Jean-Paul continued to serve the Knights of Malta until 194, when he fought in the violent restoration of Romania's government. Jean-Paul was traumatized by the few battles he had participated in, and the Knights of Malta granted him an honorable discharge, a generous pension, and the honorary title 'Grand Priory of Sicily'. It was during his retirement that Jean-Paul finally got the chance to focus soley on his poetry, and he used his fame as a humanitarian worker to spread his stories and pieces across the world. He was much loved by all that knew him, and every year each country under the charter of the The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes of Malta and of Space celebrate the day of Saint Jean-Paul on the twentieth of October. Jean-Paul never married, and died in the company of his two sisters in 242, suffering from cancer as so many of his generation did.

Summary

---
They took away my chairs and table
They took away my glorius throne.
Now here outside the spider maple,
I make this bed of rock my home.
---
Yesterday is but a story,
Tomorrow is just a myth.
So always work to earn your glory,
Because every day is a gift.
---
In the darkest night of winter cold,
Softly steps the night of old.
His face weary of battles bold,
With body broken by days untold.
His heart afire with tales of old,
With face a struggle of courage bold.
Walking on towards homely fold,
In the darkest night of winter cold.
---

The Beggar’s tale
By Jean-Paul Rogers

Place not your faith in mighty deeds,
Trust not in fist and bone.
For kings ride out with mighty steeds,
Into battle all alone.

There was once a king with massive wealth,
This king possessed a beautiful throne.
His men all praised his generous health,
Until he died at lonely home.

As the king on deathbed lay,
He looked about the desolate place.
And hour by hour he did pray,
That he might see a friendly face.

As the King was freshly dead,
A tyrant rose up in his stead.
And as his heir fled the castle,
The new tyrant made death his vassal.

Their severed heads atop the gate,
Did serve the Tyrant as worthy bait.
Lured by Tyrant into dungeon deep,
The king's family he will ever keep.

Legends say an heir escaped,
Though not much is said about their fate
On horseback he roamed far and wide
In broad daylight did he did hide

For this was a man fueled by revenge
His sadistic sword sharp and gleaming
His slaughtered family he would avenge
To silence the wicked Tyrant’s beaming

But his venture was doomed to fail
He’d battle the Tyrant to no avail
And there the shattered hero lay
With his family his body would stay

As the peasants woke next morn,
They looked about with face forlorn,
But no one cared about their plight,
No hero saved them from Tyrant's might.