A Tale of Heroes

 Introduction The Eastern Mediterranean is a part of the world that seemed to have lost its relevancy, as the conflicts of nations and powers and history moved further west and inland, with the main players being England, France, Prussia, and even Russia. Long forgotten was the land that once played home to the stronger half of the Roman Empire, long ridiculed was the "Sick Man of Europe", the world forgetting that the invincible Sultans once shook two continents to their very core.  The matter did not ease with the rise of the new powerblocs in the 20th Century. The United States and the Soviet Union both had bigger concerns and interests than what the Greeks and the Turkish and the Egyptians could desire, their battlefields extending throughout South Africa, through Asia, and and even through South America. Further exarcebated was the situation with the United States emerging as the clear victor, and the world's eyes focusing only on that hyperpower that now stood above...

June 11th, 2020. Dear Cousin Julia Elizabeth Adams. Its Origins.  The Cretan Senate – or as they insist on calling it, the Cretan Gerousia – was formed following the Humble Revolution of 1742. Originally, following the King’s departure, Crete was turned into a maritime republic, somewhat similar to those of the Italian peninsula. The Dogis was elected by the nobility and the Overseers, who were a remnant of the Hero-Monarchs’ time. The Overseers ran the farmlands, and were in charge of administering the peasantry in the name of the Crown, and eventually the Dogis. However, as urban populations grew, and Crete began to increasingly rely on foreign imports to feed the citizenry, the influence of the Overseers waned. While originally envisioned as a (admittedly lesser) partner to the nobility, capable of contesting decisions and making their will – and that of those they represented – known, their growing irrelevance weakened their ability to affect policy. As the richness in the cit...

PRIVATE COPY OF THE MINAS ARCHIVES. FOR THE EYES OF THE MINOTAUR'S DESCENDANTS ONLY.   24/11/1939 It is done. Come January 4th, I will be Eklektós of the Cretan Republic.  The road to get here wasn't an easy one. I suppose I did not have to compromise as much as others around the world have, but I still had plenty of late nights planning strategy, convincing the hard-headed, and amassing the small victories needed to bring the party under control.  But despite the fireworks and the guns going off in celebration, I am not with my wife and son, but sitting at an office, waiting for the third report of the evening, even as my heart hammers in my chest.  The British sent their congratulations second. The French third, and the Americans fourth.  The Germans were first. My father always said there's a test for everyone. It's not ever the same, and its stakes can be different, but a test there will always be. It's one that questions a person's character, and their stre...

Excerpts from the Private Journals of the First Treasurer. 03/08/961 The Romans are gone. I know I wrote on it before, but I cannot believe it yet. They held us hostage within our own city for the better part of a year, and in one morning, two... children, for they are absolutely children, shatter the whole of their army and see them thrown back into the sea? And their reasoning makes even less sense than their feat, if that could be believed. It is not because they seek to conquer our island for themselves, or because one of the Emir's allies has paid them to. No, they did it because "Phokas is a cunt", and they disagreed with how the man waged his war.  They have killed an army. An entire Roman army, and they have done it because they disliked its leader and his methods. Or, rather, the woman does. The man barely speaks, seemingly more content with following her every word. I could say I disapprove, but I don't dare to. The man may not speak, but his eyes say everyt...

April 26th, 2015 Susanne Dietrich-Wolff The Powered and their Effect on the Waging of Wars  It is, one would suppose, somewhat dumb to start this with the phrase "powered people exist". It is a fact of life that any human -- or rather, any living being -- on this Earth is more than capable of realizing on their own. Some of the people among us are different, and they are different in extraordinary ways. They are not lesser for it, nor are they superior. They eat the same food that we do, enjoy the same things we do, fall in love just like we do, and the million other small things humans do throughout their life.  But the truth remains that they are different. Despite being of significantly lower numbers than the non-powered, they have affected history in deep, undeniable ways. Were things just the slightest bit different, perhaps we would not have had blood be the sign of rule for centuries, but instead the fantastical powers they wield.  The effect they have had is varie...

  For When You Return Day 7,665 I met Basil today. He's done much since I last saw him, back when you were still with me. He broke the Bulgarians, subdued the Croatians, and even marched on the north, to the Tauric Peninsula.  But he knows. Even as he spoke of Sicily, he could tell. He is greyer now. Smaller, less muscular. The only part of him that remains the same are his eyes.  He seemed angry that the same had not happened to me. I suppose I would be angry too, perhaps.  You never were.  Regardless, he knew why I had come. He reassured me that he would not, even if I was gone. But I did not come for the reassurances of a man that I knew was too smart to give me reason to kill him. I came for the one that sat next to him, the wastrel that knew only to gorge himself on food and expensive women. Where Basil was too smart to try, this one was too foolish to succeed.  Still, he assured me he'd taught his generals otherwise, at least. Crete was to be an unspo...