The heavy stone slab slid along the snow, carrying the villagers towards the red igneous rock that guarded the capital of their fledgeling empire. The mission had gone well and although his cute student seemed to be suffering from the moral dilemma of his actions, Victor was sure that he would learn and grow from them. Flavia was another valuable asset that he was overjoyed to get as a little bonus reward. She was eager to learn, and seemed to already have the basic fortitude that would be required of her to learn the ways of the assassin. Her youthful optimism brought a source of positive energy for the group, something that was needed after such a bleak affair.
Whilst they walked Victor decided to break the casual small talk as a way to give a lesson to his two pupils. He announced in his silky smooth inviting voice. "Cho, Flavia, why do you two think that I treated those two villagers so harshly when they demanded that we hand over our prisoners?"
The query made the pair pause as they thought for a moment, the eager Flavia was the first to step up and attempt to answer the Emperors musings. "Because you did the work and it would be insulting not to be allowed to finish your work by killing them?"
"Not exactly, I do feel that we must be the ones to deliver the punishment, however it is not simply because I would enjoy it, or feel annoyed that my kill was stolen from me. Personally, so long as they get the justice they deserve, I do not care who swings the blade. What about you Sir Cho? What do you feel about how and why I acted in such a way?" Victor turned to his companion as they walked along flattened snow left by the slab of stone in front of them.
"You needed to make a point?" Cho stared deadpan at the assassin, the poor boy still trying to deal with all that had happened in the past few hours, Victor let out a sigh as he began to wax lyrically about his plan and why things had to play out the way they did.
“Precisely my boy, I had all of the points to make and needed to do it in the most efficient way possible. I do understand why you may not have liked the way I went about it, you are young and naive to the way the world works at times. What you need to learn is that not every society functions on the same basic rules that your Republic city did. Cities do not have the same risks and experiences that those living out on these ice sheets have to deal with on a day to day basis. " Flavia was enthralled by the speech, taking a small notebook from her pocket and jotting down notes on the speech whilst a melancholic Cho vaguely listened.
"Think about it this way, the first thing you did when you arrived in our city was to get to know the place, you socialised and then went out and got new clothing. You thrive in city life because you understand the basics of how the social rules in those environments function. You knew how to use your position as a new member of the ruling classes elite to get some benefits whilst not abusing that position to the point that the normal folk get sick of you. Cities especially in the heights of their social structure work on aesthetic, manners and wealth. Do you really think that I actually care too much about having a large palace? The fancy clothing and decadent crown? Do the titles really mean all that much? Not to me. But it means a lot to those in the city that are lower on the ladder and lets them know where everyone stands in relation to one another. Thus when we are dealing with our own city and especially other cities we must do our best to project wealth, aesthetics, and sophistication." Victor took a pause to allow the young girl to catch up on her notes, her pen writing furiously across the paper.
"These are the weapons of a cities social elite, after all, rumours about their debts, their poor choices in partners or vices, and their behaviour can often be as much poison to someone's position in society as any venom can be. We project these tools so that we can avoid the need for power struggles and underhanded politics, we don’t need to take drastic actions like killing malcontents if we can make them seem foolish, misguided, ugly and brutish. This is how we keep the status quo in a city, after all in a civilised society if you just have all of your enemies put to the sword people really do not appreciate it and you become a tyrant. “ Cho pondered over the Emperor’s words, he wondered where he was going with his little lecture and how the cities rules related to the way that he had treated the tribal men earlier.
“Now even if you don’t think that you do any of this, you do. You try your best to look like a respectable member of the civilised society that we have manufactured in Neo-Nippur because it's what you are used to. You do everything that I have just talked about but on a subconscious level, you do it without thinking and it is second nature to you. It's why when I invited you to a feast and gave you a role in protecting that society you jumped at the chance. But out here.” Victor waved his hand over the horizon pointing to the villages that dotted their view, including the one that they had originally arrived at during their quest.
“The rules are different. These people are not members of some advanced feudal society, they do not have the luxury of having a small percentage of the population focus on growing their food so that the rest of the upper class can just sit around and discuss the arts, and philosophy, and spend all day trying to invent new things. No! Out here there are far different social rules. Think about it, when you enter my palace what do you see? You see artworks on the wall, master crafts of architecture, everything that those civilised folks that we rely on to keep us in our positions of power would be in awe at. What did you see when you entered the chief of that tribe’s palace?” Cho was still trying to figure out exactly what Victor was getting at, he although still shaken from his ordeal he seemed curious, for once the smug grin that usually crossed the Emperor’s face was gone. A warm half smile replacing it as he imparted his knowledge of how the world functions onto this proteges.
“By palace do you mean that big hut? If so all I remember where the animal bones” Cho answered, taking the bait.
“Very good Cho, and yes I mean the hut because if you put some thought into it, that hut was the palace! It is the largest building in the village by far is inhabited by the natural leader of the civilisation, and is decorated in a way that will cause shock and awe to those that see it. For you see whilst those city folk love their well-designed buildings that will last hundreds of years as a sign of success and power, in an environment like this where there is far less certainty who has the time or resources to invest into that sort of structure? To a tribal or nomadic society that would just seem foolish. To them, hunting trophies show that they are well-fed, and capable of a fight, it's a sign to enemies to stay away because this tribe have taken down much worse than a few measly raiders, and it says to their people that they are protected by a paternal guardian who will, if they stick to his will, make sure they eat well.”
Flavia finished writing down the last statement as she looked over her notes. “So what you are saying Emperor Wolfe is that, uh. Power in tribes is based around might and short term impermanence? Whilst in cities it is based around how decadence and longevity?” Victor’s half-smile turned full as he let out a small chuckle.
“That is exactly it, so to answer why I acted the way I did we have to go back to when I met the chief. That started a war of ideology, now as much as you may think I show disdain for their culture I actually appreciate it. I can respect a man who has spent his entire life, fighting battles to keep his people alive, that is a very noble way of life. But unfortunately, it is not what I feel is the best way for their society to run, I sent scouts out to the villages around the mountain offering them places in our city along with help to make sure that they would be able to adapt to the culture shock but most turned it down.” Cho rolled his eyes, obviously, they would turn down uprooting their tribe from their homeland and entire way of life.
“I had also heard about rumours of this little case that we solved so when we visited the chief I left him with a declaration of war, not of the literal kind, but on an ideological level. I was going to prove that whilst noble, and traditional, that their system of rules had become outdated and that a new ideology was on the horizon. I wanted to show him that if he did not take the hard decisions to accept and adapt to the future way of things, that the future would come for him and his people sooner or later. They could choose to become another footnote in history, a tribe that got out-competed for resources by a much larger empire, turned on by their neighbours and likely picked off by the monsters that hunt these wastes.” Cho could see the sense in Victors words, after all, he had experienced the pleasant warmth and decadence of the city that they called home, in comparison to the bleak and cold reality of the wastes perhaps it would be for the best.
“Now, by showing that their ways of loose but friendly tribes were a system that could lead to their downfall all I had to do was to show that one tribe was exploiting the others, didn’t even need to be this bad, the level of bad blood that even a small infraction blown out of proportion would have created would have made this tribal confederation hard to keep up. And as they relied on each other for resources, all it takes is one domino to fall, for the ideology war to end in our total victory. Now you may be thinking that none of this would really explain why I had to be belligerent to their warriors. And you are right! You see to truly show that the Neo New Babylonian ideals of law, order and civilisation where the now dominant ideology around here I had to first play by their own rules, we had to show strength and power. If we had just handed over the prisoners it would have made is seem subservient to their chieftain and we would go back to just being the city folks that helped the mighty tribe defeat their evil enemies” Victor stretched as he started to wrap up his lecture.
“You only get one chance to make a first impression, and we did that. They now know that in these lands it is our word of the law that decides how things are run from now on, and the letter to the chief will allow him and his people access to the city and their living accommodations. And I also made sure to pick my target well, I went for the tribe best known for their martial prowess and hunting skills. With them falling under our influence, and the distrust over this little incident, it’s only a matter of time before our glorious empire continues to grow! So, any questions?” Victor scanned the eyes of his students as he walked backwards.
Cho seemed to have questions running through his mind, his eyes darted to Victor but quickly dropped again as he continued to sulk over having comitted murder for the first time in his life. Flavia however was quick as pipe up. “So why do we need these villagers when they are not adapted to the ways of our city? Why not just move them on and take the land like the imperials did in their colonies?”
Cho seemed stunned by this line of questioning, however, Victor remained unphased. “That is a good question but you need to consider the reasons as to why an empire like ours wants to expand? Does their land have any resources that we need immediate access to?” Victor waved around to the ice sheets.
“There is plenty of game to hunt and ice to cool our drinks around our capital, and there is still plenty of space to expand within the caverns so places to put people are not a major issue either. The next question you need to ask is could we simply not just leave them where they are and station guards in their village to secure things? We could but given the day to day style of their lives we would be incurring a net loss to our empire and not even one as kind as I could allow that to go on for any length of time.” Victor pointed the cannibals as he spoke.
“Now the final two questions are related to why these folks have to be punished and removed from our society. The final question about if we should just chase away the villagers or not? Are they really inferior to us? Now I know that with our technology, and our books, and our buildings you may think instinctively that, yes of course we are! But I would argue that being able to survive out on this ice sheet and settle down, nevermind just do what our miners do where they spend a year at a time then leave, is actually almost as impressive as surviving on the streets of a big city, if not more so!” Victor shook the hand pointed at the cannibals pointing each one of them out.
“Now these folks are too far gone, they have chosen their route of civilisation and it is one that is incompatible with how we wish to rule, I assume that even you Cho, do not wish to see these people walking happily amongst our streets? No, but I feel that given the resources that we have available to try and make the transition as smooth as possible, the other tribal folk can find a new meaning in their lives, they can teach our warriors and scouts how to traverse the land better, and how to fend of the native fauna. And we can teach them how to farm, how to craft, and how to be of use to our society. Probably increasing their average lifespan by double digits!” Dropping his hand from the cannibals and pointing to the volcano that they called home Victor announced.
“And there is one resource that is in my eyes we need more than any other at this current time. We need manpower! The more people we have available to us, the more people we have adding new ideas to how we can do things. The more people are having kids, the more kids there are the more adults we get, the more ideas the quicker our technology can advance and the less people we need doing jobs like farming! The less people we need to be making food, the more people can spend time enjoying life and inventing new things for us to make use off. The more people that have free time, the more people that can sign up for our military and the more space we need for our expanding population. You see it's a cycle of needs that I am speeding up by bringing in outside help for the population boost!” Spreading his hand wide as if to say tada the assassin awaited a reaction, Flavia quickly clapped forgetting that her notebook was still in her hand, a look of horror crossed the girls face as it started to fall towards the snow.
Cho focused his earthbending and before the books pages could be ruined by the moisture from the snow a pillar of rock burst from underneath the white mush, holding the book up, dry as ever. The blonde reached forward and tucked the book safely back into her pocket before rushing over and embracing Cho. “Thank you so much! I don’t know what I would have done if my notes got destroyed!”
Victor chuckled as he continued to lead the way, glad that his students seemed to be able to coexist without killing one another, something that was surprisingly rare in Victors line of work, at least since he took up the job.
The trio and their prisoners approached the elevator that led to the city of Nippur, two large fiery beasts rushed towards them, their riders wearing the black and silver of the Neo Nippurian scout core, spears at the ready as they surrounded the party. Cho seemed ready to defend himself as did Flavia but Victor just waved them down. After a few seconds the scouts lowered their weapons and their salamanders relaxed. “Emperor Wolfe, we have news to report” claimed the head of the scout core, the one that had given them the information that lead to their map piece, her red hair matching the flames radiating from her mount.
“Well then you had best report, no need to give a big display like this everytime you tell me that a new tree, or interesting rock formation has been discovered” He said with a giggle the scout women rolling her eyes.
“You know, I thought after this promotion and giving you that information I might have shown I deserve a little respect” She said with a tut. Victor’s eyes seemed to light up.
“And I would have thought that after me giving you that promotion you would have at least learned how to recognise your employer from a distance, after all how many attractive thin blonds with red eyes are there,” Victors eyes darted down to Flavia who simply smiled back at him.
“Ok you know what, respect earned, what is your report my loveliest of head scouts” The redhead rolled her eyes once again as she replied.
“We had some strangers arrive at the city, there are guards keeping an eye on them ready to arrest them but we decided to wait for your guidance on this matter. Should we throw them into the cells?” an eyebrow raised Victor seemed intrigued, knowing roughly what the answer would be he leaned forwards.
“Oh? Tell me about these strangers? What do they look like?”
“Well, one of them looked like a more modest version of the gem village women, same height, and if the armour is form fitting then built like a bodybuilder. Carried a big sword too, although we didn’t know if we should have confiscated that” The head scout shook her head whilst looking at the guards at the gate.
“Well yes, you probably should have confiscated their weapons, don’t want people running around that might decided to start trouble with a giant sword. I would not worry about this one though, I am pretty sure I know who she is” Victor mused, he was certain that this woman must have been the bodyguard for his most prized guest.
“The next one was a man that depending on how you looked at him could be described as roguishly handsome or scruffy. I guess it would depend on what you are into. He seemed to be under the thumb of the rest of the group so we didn’t really pay much attention to him” Another description that Victor nodded to, from his memory this would be the stow away that they had captured, if not for inviting him to the feast Victor would have almost considered asking him to be captured and thrown into the cells.
“There was a uh? Cat person? Seemed like the one in charge, gave off tough grandmother vibes? That was a new one even for us.” Chuckling at the look of confusion on the scouts face Victor knew exactly who she was referring to, the fabled Ra, queen of the Nippurian streets economy and one of the individuals that helped the city survive the power vacuum left after the battle of Nippur. A figure that had been of interest to the diplomat due to both her skills above and under the table. He would have to have a long chat with her about the procedure for breaking into Nippurian prisons. A fierce tiger of a businesswoman and one of the most valuable assets the city could gain.
“Oh! And there was this woman, she was just something special.” The redhead seemed almost out of breath as she recalled watching the group from afar.
“Let me guess, curves in all the right places, a warm but melancholy smile that could either melt your heart or turn your you into a crying mess with the sadness in her eyes? Lips that with just a gaze dry your own? And a voice that sounds like an angel singing?” The scout snapped out of her daze nodding.
“How did you know?” Victor reached into his pocket and removed what appeared to be a rolled up magazine. On the front cover was a man that resembled their current emperor, only with spiker hair and a more noble visage, there was also a paragraph that read “exclusive interview with the head diplomat of New Babylon Victor Wolfe!” skipping past some pages reaching the centrefold before showing the rest he looked at the gathered crowd.
“Flavia, be a dear and close your eyes, you are a bit too young to see this.” The girl pouted but did as she was told, turning away as Victor showed Cho and the guardswomen a spread of Masa laying on her side, her pose hiding her modesty. Cho seemed to snap out of his melancholy and the scout almost passed out on her feet, their faces turning bright red despite the cold of the icy wind.
“This woman? I mean, I keep it for the articles but it is quiet a picture isn’t it?” Victor stuffed the magazine back into his pocket to the disappointed look of the rest of the group.
“Yes that women, how much for a copy of the magazine” the head scout asked.
Victor simply winked “it's not for sale, although if you are good enough maybe the three of us could have some fun together”
The fiery redhead burst out laughing “Sorry Victor but you are really, not my type, and I know all about your reputation, but do you really think you have a shot with her?”
Victor leaned in “I have my ways, and just what would qualify as your type miss scout?”
“Uhhh, well you know those groupies that hang around your palace? That is more my type” She said with a smile.
“Fair enough, keep up the good work scout!” Victor leaned back a little, returning to his more normal posture as the chief of the scouts giggled, her eyes going wide as she remembered something.
“Oh! There was one more with them, a small and rather strange looking girl with white hair?” an eyebrow raised on the assassins face, this description didn’t match with any that his guest had informed him of, but if they were travelling as a party she couldn’t be that bad. Worth keeping an eye on though as she may serve some use as all the strange folk he had met had so far.
“They are all my honoured guests and should be treated as such, well except the scruffy fellow, if you see him grab anything he shouldn’t remove a hand to teach him a valuable lesson. I also need you to send a message around everyone important in the city, we are holding a feast to celebrate another successful mission, our honoured guests, and the glory of Neo-Nippur.”
The head scout nodded, she had not been promoted in time for the last party and thus was out on a mission whilst the social elite got to enjoy the festivities, this time she would most certainly be enjoying her time off. She happily rode off on her salamander to spread the word around town.
“As for you two, its free time for now, I need to deliver these prisoners, I do expect to see both of you looking presentable at the feast so I recommend a shower, get the blood out of your hair. Scrub the sins of your back!” Victor patted Cho on the back as the guards guided the prisoners off the stone platform and into the elevator, the emperor taking up his position at the back of the line as they descended into the depths.
The walk to the pyramid was an uneventful one, Victor had made the choice to use his stealth belt and follow the parade of prisoners from the rooftops of the city, after all seeing their fearless leader covered in blood and viscera was not the image he wanted to portray at this point. The towns folk stared at the villagers as they were guided by the guard patrol, hushed whispers about their potential crimes spread like wildfire, none really guessing the true depths of their depravity.
The guardsman marched them up the steps of the pyramid, armed guards dragging prisoners up the steps of a temple to face their fate being an image that the assassin quite enjoyed. Once inside the pyramid, despite the initial protests of the cultists, the prisoners were soon locked up in one of the makeshift cages that Sigmund had intended for his little summoned monsters. Close to where the pair needed them to be and probably the hardest prison to escape from in the city due to the how many people now regularly lived within and worshipped at the temple.
The emperor made his way into the storage room of the temple, always a hive of activity with cultists. Victor moved through careful not to bump into anything, the invisibility from the belt hiding his presence. Approaching what appeared to be a dead end hidden from view by an inlet in the wall he lifted the crystal to the hidden passage, the door quickly sliding open as the assassin stepped through. The silent slide of the false wall closing behind him as he continued towards the laboratory.
Once inside Victor could see the android Bishop working away at his computer desk, Victor was not sure if this was to write up information required for their experiments, or if it was just a rather intense game of minesweeper but Sigmund seemed to take no notice of the strange mechanical man.
Sigmund was as always scanning his tome of suspiciously arcane knowledge, although today he seemed a little more on edge than usual. His eyes moved quickly across the pages, and his hands clenched. Victor pressed the button on his belt and with a click he reappeared in front of Sigmund.
“No need to hurt your hands in anticipation my friend, I have good news for you!” The emperor smiled. Sigmund hardly looked up, the tension in his shoulders almost awaiting news that more of his cultists had been given a trip to the ER to build up their ‘mental fortitude’.
“At least twenty!” Victor announced, Sigmund looked upwards, puzzled.
“You know, prisoners, all cannibals too, so no one will really miss them when they are gone, perfect subjects right?” Sigmund let out a sigh of relief, for Victor, this was better news than expected.
“And the even better news is that I only want three used for our little deal. Keep the numbers low to observe them for now, make sure we are able to handle it. The rest are my gift to you, to do with as you please. I just ask that you not do something stupid like set them free. Then again, you are a Vrell not a Varma. Similar names, very different people.” With a quick look down Victor remembered that he was still covered in the gore and viscera from his recent escapades.
“And with that, I am borrowing the shower!”