Prologue: The Gladius Legacy

The world of Ultimus is an ever-winding, ever-twisting ball of cultures and beliefs that collide and maneuver with one another. The traditions in celebrating mortality in Mourn are not easy to find elsewhere; much like the charred ruins of the once-great Halo Empire, or the nomadic forest tribes of Southern Union. Even with the various cultures, lifestyles, and connections throughout the world, there is only one place that is voluntarily closed off from the others, the Island of Tod.
Tod is roughly the size as any country in Union or Meta, but is in such a location that it is disconnected from the mainlands. So, the island is filled with its own diversity in cultures and life, unaffected from the outside world, and vibrant in its existence. There is Auferetu, the northern portion of the island, home to kingdoms and wondrous technology which fill the space with a sense of future. Veritas is the southern half of the island, separated into tribes and tight-knit communities, where tradition and work are the backbones for those who prefer life be a little less, manufactured. Lastly stands the sacred mountains of Middle Ground, said to be home to spiritual life and undiscovered beings.
Middle Ground was seen as too dangerous to cross over, so in order to travel between Auferetu and Veritas transportation services both aerial and naval were created. With this came the spread of influence between the two sides as well as their citizens' influence. One of the most famous examples of this was the rise of the Gladius family, who made a name for themselves in many academic and magic fields. Though they became very popular in their expertise, their home estate was common knowledge, and only a few were ever allowed to enter.
The Gladius family were seen as a unique class of academia as they would often collaborate and combine both scientific and magic based laws of the world. It seemed each family member found a new subclass to study and explore, and with each generation came a new wave of ideas. This held especially true for the generation of the sisters; Ammitt, Sabinus, and Meditrina, that would bring on a new legacy for the family name. Right from birth the each of the sisters were different from the family norm, while they did express great interests in the arts and science the way they went about such interests was new.
Meditrina would collect animals and draw blood or perform surgeries without a clear goal in mind, whereas other biological based studies included anesthetic and careful planning. Sabinus took over entire studies to research history and build intricate timelines with overlapping layers, debating with herself and her sisters on the relevance of one event to another, and the connections between them all. While the eldest sister, Ammitt, deviated from the academia almost entirely, and put her attention in the magical and divine but with the scientific outlook on her trials.
The sisters would often sneak out from the estate and travel to towns, even going as far as the kingdoms of Auferetu, to collect new ideas, equipment, and test subjects. Eventually the family would catch on to the horrendous acts they committed to life, and the terrors they would bring upon the peace of the public, and soon they were confined in doors in an effort to teach them that freedom came at a price. But this would only spark the creativity of their problem-solving; Meditrina would focus more on the preservation of life than the dismissal of it, Sabinus would look to present day politics and events through the delivery of articles when she ran out of history, and Ammitt found a new theoretical field of study that combined her love of magic with her family's interest in science, that of the Voidist.
As the girls wasted their days away locked in the estate, the outside family gained a new honor, that of the royal adviser to the Midnight Empire of Auferetu. They were allowed access to special high-class labs and sensitive data regarding the histories of the Auferetu Kingdoms and held a certain level of legal amnesty. Over the course of the next few years the sisters became masters in their fields, namely Ammitt who developed an entirely new method that turned the theory of Voidism into a reality.
Then, one by one, family members slid into the guise of normal lives, the legacy faded but the position of the royal adviser still stood proud to the Mother Gladius, who was the only voice of reason that kept Auferetu from trying to take over Middle Ground. The sisters stood by her side through thick and thin, though their up-bringing made them accustomed to seclusion they would attend special meetings and learn the ways of politics and debate.
Tensions grew and soon Auferetuian extremists began attacks and illegal mining along secluded portions of Middle Ground, the sisters held spoken histories of the mountains close to heart, close enough to take on their own extreme actions against the Auferetuians. They began to wreak havoc among the mining operations and attack locations; harming the individuals but taking care as to not cause any deaths. The eldest sister, Ammitt, recruited members for a secret group that would serve as spies and agents for her and her sisters, to protect the more active sites while the sisters charged spells and traps in more sacred areas.
Outrage grew in the kingdoms, saying the counterattacks were too reckless and that they shouldn't aim to harm those who invaded Middle Ground, some kingdom figures even began to accuse the Mother of aiding the sisters in their efforts, claiming that she never cared for the health and prosperity of the island as a whole, rather that she stood her mind in the traditional beliefs of the past. The Mother stood tall, even through all of the accusations and calls for her head, she put her focus on helping those who lived near Middle Ground that were stuck in the cross-hairs, giving them access to jobs, housing, and other important necessities.
One day a meeting was held in the Lucubratio Empire, the leader of all of the kingdoms in Auferetu, to quell the rebellious outlook on the whole situation. When the Empress announced her support to protect Middle Ground, and to not have its sacred land be ruined by the greed of others, it sparked an uproar among the crowded streets and soon it grew into a riot. Citizens who traveled from other kingdoms threatened the Empire as a whole, and violence spread over to the Lucubratio palace.
Palace guards were too ill-equipped to handle the oncoming waves of angry citizens, they quickly overtook the courtyard and flooded through the halls. Soon they reached the meeting hall, where all the royalties and their councils were gathered, and charged towards the Empress. Many of the other kingdom rulers dashed in an attempt not to get caught up in the situation, and one such ruler shoved a bystander in front of the Empress, to think they could give their life to protect the Empress as well as make way for him to get out of harm. This bystander happened to be none other than Mother Gladius herself, whose fair rose dress grew darker by the second, before councilmen were able to control the crowds out of the hall.
That night marked the beginning of a new threat to the fragile peace of the island, as well as the end of the Gladius legacy with the passing of the Mother. The Sisters grew bitter of the Lucubratio Empire, and all of Auferetu for that matter, they drew back influential contacts, locked important documents and findings away, they stopped attending political meetings and any event in Auferetu. With their mother gone they had no reason left to hold back from what they wanted to do, they careful demolition of mining operations turned into explosive catastrophes, lumbers were met with enchanted forest spirits and larger groups faced direct opposition from Arcanus, the group Ammitt created, who were less that merciful this time around.
But during one particular encounter the eldest sister met a strange gentleman, who helped her fight off a group of extremists that intended to take advantage of her. The stranger exhibited a sense of honor and respect unto the mountains and the wildlife that was only taught throughout Veritas, which surprised Ammitt, enough so that she invited him to stay at her family's estate. Some months later it is discovered that Ammitt is with child, which turns out to be with children, and the father is unmistakable. When this truth comes to light Ammitt and her sisters take a vote, and agree to find a nonviolent and safer way to deal with the threats on the mountains, to protect each other and the oncoming children that would inherit their legacy. This is where our story begins.

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This is a draft of chapter one, I am not sure I want to start out the Grateful story with this but I figured it'd be good to get it out into the open anyhow. It is more of a short story in and of itself within another story.

Entry for WorldEmber 2018

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