Hell v4006 - Part 1
For as long as the solar system has been spinning in a vast expanse, our world has been held to a set of unwritten rules that are quite different from the laws and decrees that exist to govern the human plane of the Surface World today. These rules are unyielding, and unchanging. Much like the conspiracy theories that permeate day to day life, they do for us as well, albeit in vastly different forms.
Here, we make no mistakes. Every action must have a purpose, every reaction planned, rehearsed. We must stick to the laws that govern our way of life. They must never be broken, as the form the foundation of our livelihood, and our existence. To break is to commit suicide, to sign off on the murder decree of millions. It is a promise that the perpetrator, and the rest of their line, will suffer, repeatedly, for not conforming.
In 199 CE, this is what Wisdom and Virtue did. Both were highly regarded and respected officials, high in the line of power. It was a time of peace for all realms, in the wake of Holy Wars that had threatened all life. In this year, they violated one of the most sacred laws: marriage. One must never marry outside of their social bracket, let alone breed.
For vampires such as them, this meant that they could not marry or reproduce outside of their respected clan, or sub-species rather. Virtue Dalca hailed from one of the last remaining purebred European tribes, a lineage diluted by Werecat inbreeding centuries past, and a line failing to continue their way of life. Wisdom Cahyadi represented the exact opposite, as a Native hailing from the smaller and stronger Southern Oceania Tribe.
They, like many before them, violated the principle by performing the sacred rites of marriage before Rozanica, consort and later replacement to the creation god Rod. Unlike many before them, the pair were fully prepared to take the fall for such a choice, a blunder in the eyes of our governing body. They were creatures built by a culture driven by protocol, law above all else.
Unfortunately for spectators, the public decapitation and burning ordered for the two was canceled before they reached the stage. A pardon was issued for the duo by the High Council Chairman, Zona Ravera.
After much debate with the High Council representatives, Zona and the Angelic Representative, Luciano, had come to the conclusion that they could not afford to lose an esteemed European officer with the race declining at an alarming rate. Likewise, training a replacement for the Native representative was out of the question, as many of the recommended candidates were either killed in action or still missing in the years following the end of the Holy Wars. The High Council, the highest governing body in the world, agreed to sentence them to conditional banishment.
This conditional banishment took the social construct of what is not seen does not exist. They were given a centralized plot, some 300 acres, on the edges of any developed civilization. The pair were ordered not to leave unless a council summoned them. A form of present day house arrest, if you will. Though the years, they built a large establishment with delivered supplies, and it came to be known as Ostacre Inn.
Through the decades, the stipulations of their banishment lessened in intensity, and they took a large dive into activism- among other ventures. Quietly, smuggling rings were broken up overnight, and the slave trade took repeated blows. Many victims were returned to places of worship with no memory of the time they spent away. This continued for many years, as vampires will live for several millennia unless acted upon by an outside force.
Again, in the autumn of 1973, the law was broken a second time, with the birth of Wisdom and Virtue's first child, Deceit. The short, sixteen month pregnancy was easily hidden as a series of contagious viruses and blood diseases requiring quarantine and seasonal depressive episodes. Athena, a gargoyle asked to staff one of the two onsite libraries in late 1786, watched over the pregnancy with a careful hand. With the help of Wisdom's younger sister, Etna, the birthing process went fine, with no complications.
During the days following, both Virtue and Deceit’s health took a turn for the worst. Virtue was rushed to St. Vincent's, an all race extended medical center under control of the High Council. Wisdom was pulled into custody for violating his probation, and Virtue's reprimand was suspended until her health improved. The child was left in the temporary care of the remaining three Cahyadi siblings, and the newborn was taken to Pryhott Place to undergo careful observation, as the first natural mixed-species child to survive more than minutes post-birth.
Wisdom and Virtue were both brought up on charges on October 17th, 1973. They were acquitted when the child could not be produced to solidify claims of a broken law, and Zona sealed the rest of the file. Deceit's whereabouts were unknown for a total of 36 hours following the trial, before being returned to her crib not long before Wisdom and Virtue were returned to the premises.
On November 3rd, at 3:01am, a physician by the name of Xavier Watson was rushed to Ostacre Inn on an urgent house call. The infant was not breathing, and officially declared dead at 3:12 am, three minutes after Dr. Watson arrived on scene. At 4:17 am, the child began screaming for no clear reason, and Dr. Watson gave a clean bill of health. Over the course of the following three weeks, no medical reasoning could be found explaining the event.
The family's life was considered relatively uneventful until May of 1985, where the couple welcomed their second daughter, Merci, during a brief trip near the Gulf of Guinea. There are no existing incident reports detailing any legal action taken against the family at that time.
No other reports are recorded until May 2nd of 1997, when a distress call was made from Ostacre Inn. Hired help had come in on a regular scheduled day off by previous request of Virtue, to discover the East Wing on fire. All four of the occupants were assumed to be inside, as the housekeeper made it clear that the East Wing was used regularly as family space.
According to witness reports, Deceit- age 12, managed to pull Merci- unconscious and age 6, outside of the wing and into a breezeway before the ward was completely engulfed in flames. The charred remains of Wisdom and Virtue Cahyadi had to be identified with dental records, though the bodies were too destroyed to leave any clue on why they were unable to escape the fire on their own. Foul play was ruled, and arson was listed as the official cause of death.
According to the housekeeper, the couple had no plans that evening, save a dinner with the Chairman of the High Council, Clydell Andrews. the Andrews family denied such a meeting occurred, and continued to back the claim that Clydell was home with his own for dinner.
Deceit was routinely interviewed, but said nothing. She suffered severe burns to her hands and arms. There was also the assumption that she had suffered emotional trauma. Merci was hospitalized, but remembered nothing upon regaining consciousness. The girls were reprimanded into the custody of the council the following morning. Etna Cahyadi, Wisdom's sister, was determined to be the girls' next of kin. She became their legal guardian on July 6th, 1997.
[Notes at the bottom if the page explain the rest of this document was lost in the Hell Riots of 2002, which destroyed 30% of the Naporia Archive's upper levels, when the riots spilled over into District 89, formerly known as Knife's Edge, in the Hell District.]
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