---------Hervalle Empire, Malim Estate---------
On the sprawling Malim Estate sat a luxurious manor large enough to fit thousands of guests. A feat it often accomplished during the frequent parties the Malim Family were famously known across the Central Continent for. However, the Malim family had been oddly quiet in recent times. Their famous Manor hadn't welcomed partygoers in over a year. A frightening revelation for the many nobles and wealthy patrons who relied on such parties to forge connections among Hervalle's powerful nobles.
Such members of society's upper-crust would no doubt be astonished at the sight of the current Malim Estate. The Mailm Gardens, famous for their polished and perfect look, had grown wild stretching haphazardly making the grounds a nightmare to traverse in any type of formal clothing. To make matters worse the Manor, which had served as the Malim family's shining jewel, currently held a bleak and run-down appearance. Large crevasses could be seen around the Manor's entrance where the towering decorative marble pillars had been removed. The engraved walls were chipped away in places and the pearl white tone showed signs of yellowing. Even the Manor's stained glass windows were replaced with wooden shutters. But no matter how bad the outside, the inside of the Manor was even worse.
The Manor floors known for being so clean they sparkled were caked in a thick layer of dust and grime. Empty patches in the dust-marked areas where imported furniture had been removed. Not a single Eastern Continent rug was to be seen nor were their matching tapestries. The only furniture to be seen were simple wooden chairs spread out seemingly at random in clusters throughout the Manor. On the chairs sat college-age smiling figures talking in enthusiastic voices and wearing purple robes while running between them playing energetically was a seemingly endless population of children.
Yes, the occupants attitudes did not match this apparently rundown Estate. Instead of being sad or depressed at the obvious hard times the Estate had fallen on they held joyous, if focused faces. Eagerly engaging one another in conversations spanning from the magical to the legislative. Sometimes even two or three would stand up and make their way outside to the overgrown gardens to spar actively trading methods and techniques with one another as they did so.
If one were to ignore the setting they may mistake the violet-robed people for bright students attending a famous school taking time to discuss their classes with one another. Well aside from one thing that is. All the young people, excluding the children, were horribly and irreversibly scarred. Long, deep, winding scars spanned over all their faces and any visible skin. Most wore gloves and high boots that with the help of their long Violet Robes covered all their skin except for their faces. But if their faces were anything to go off of it was likely their bodies shared similar extensive scarring.
In addition to the scars if one observed the spars they'd learn the young people were far more powerful than any their age had any right to be. Spells at the fourth level were a common sight while they fought with a speed few who weren't battle-hardened veterans could match often resulting in the cheers of children who momentarily stopped their playing to watch the entertaining spars. Some of the children even playfighting with one another mimicking what they'd just seen the adults do.
No matter whether young adult or child all seemed to treat each other kindly and with respect. Even when sparring there was a level of poise and good-naturedness which seemed to juxtapose with their horribly scarred faces. Children's voices could occasionally be heard as they cried out in pain from a fall or playfighting injury, but the crying child would immediately find themselves being cared for by one of the violet-robed adults intently pouring their valuable mana unhesitantly into their wounds to hasten the healing process. The violet robes young adults care for the children seemed uniform and thorough never holding back to entertain or play with them, showing more care than even some parents with their own children.
Although everyone treated each other well there was one man, in the same violet robes, sitting at the center of the largest group of violet robed young adults and children, who all seemed to treat with exceptional respect. The man's face was similarly scarred but as opposed to his compatriots it showed visible signs of age. He appeared to be a man in his mid-forties through his scars. The scars seemed even more wicked and cruel than the others on his aged face. Scars took up more room on the man's face than normal flesh making the rare unblemished piece of skin seem like the outlier rather than the scarred parts. Despite his visage being one of untold cruelty his face was incredibly warm. A friendly smile occasionally flashed across his torn lips as he continued to speak with the crowd before him.
"A constituency is a body of people who have the power to elect their leaders. But to be a member of the constituency is not necessarily a right for all. Only those who demonstrate themselves to be of good moral character and knowledgable should be given that power."
A young woman spoke up from the surrounding crowd. "But Senator if only those who are proven knowledgable can choose leaders then wouldn't the leaders restrict who can be deemed as knowledgable in order to ensure their successful election?"
A smile flashed across the older man's face as he turned to the young woman before responding. "It is the constituency's responsibility to choose a leader who will guide the body in an appropriate direction; however, the constituency has an inherent responsibility to not only use their power as they believe best but to also use it to grow the constituency. Any group that seeks to hoard power among the few rather than spread it to any who deserve it, does not deserve to be a member of the constituency in the first place. And always remember to avoid inducting members based on differing economic or cultural backgrounds will only prevent the constituency from an opportunity to grow in scope and understanding. For that reason alone, even while ignoring the principle of it, any discrimination against those from poor or foreign families should be dealt with the utmost severity."
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The young woman who asked the question as well as most of the other attendees let out expressions of relief hearing the Senator's words. It was apparent most had come from the poor or foreign backgrounds described by the Senator.
Seeing the expressions the Senator let out another smile of his own before stepping out of the middle of the circle sitting instead on one of the surrounding chairs. Seeing the Senator had finished his oration some of the group began drifting off as the next speaker an eager 16-year-old boy with ashen hair stepped into the center to speak.
"Thank you, Senator. Your words were enlightening as always. The topic I wish to discuss is unfortunately one regarding our past and the outlook on our future."
The people who had started to leave immediately returned upon hearing the ashen-haired speaker's opening words.
"Tyrant took our futures from us when they abducted, bought, or beguiled us only to subject us to their horrible experiments." Looks of anger and anguish covered the faces of the adults around the crowd while the children seemed more removed just copying the actions of the adults out of instinct rather than memory.
"We managed to live with sane minds while so many did not. Still if not for the Senator opening his home and resources to us I have no doubt we'd be dead or stuck back in their dungeons a fate far worse than death."
The heads of the observers nodded to the man's words with many sending a thankful glance in the seated Senator's direction.
"Thankfully Tyrant is now dead. Crippled first by those now known as Nox then put down by our own hands. But despite Tyrant's death those who started Tyrant. The ones who initially approved torturing children. Those known as Blitz and the Hand are still unaccounted for."
The audience's anger at simply hearing the two previous leaders of Tyrant's names was palpable. Their eyes turning vengeful in an instant.
"I have recently learned they did not run and hide after leaving Tyrant to the dogs as we previously thought. They instead went to the Hervalle Council turning all the research they'd made by killing children in return for asylum."
An outcry rose out of the spectators. An outrage which only seemed to quiet as the speaker continued.
"Sadly, as we all know we cannot fight the Hervalle Empire alone yet." He gestured to the surroundings. "We've been hiding here taking advantage of the Senator's hospitality, slowly growing and biding our time, but I've come to tell you all we've run out of time!"
Disbelief flashed through the observer's eyes. Finally starting to see where the speaker's words were going. A woman from the crowd spoke up.
"Virozoh I understand your quest for vengeance, we have all lost much to Tyrant, but why fixate? We have an opportunity to make a new future to make a better world. We don't need to squander it in a rush to distribute justice."
The crowd took the woman's words allowing some of their anger to dissipate. Of course, the woman's words seemed true, they thought, what's the point of rushing for revenge if there's no future for anyone afterward.
The ashen-haired Virozoh turned to the woman while holding a grim face, "Hannah I have no doubt you mean well with your words. However, I have information that may change your mind." Turning back to the crowd he began speaking with renewed vigor.
"As some of you know two of us recently returned from Numina with over a dozen recently freed child slaves. Truthfully though despite our attempts to be covert, the Church's agents found us soon after we left Hervalle."
A few isolated gasps came from the crowd.
"I call upon Edmond to come forward and speak what he learned." The Virozoh stepped aside his long ashen hair swaying as a nervous young man with a striking red beard hiding some of his scars took the center. After glancing at the new speaker hurried whispers filled the air.
Seeing this Edmond forced himself to stand up straight and address the crowd without looking like his normal beaten-down self.
"As I see you can all tell I'm unable to use any type of mana. To my knowledge, I'm the only surviving case of mana circuit severing. One of Tyrant's most brutal experiments, it focused on destroying a person's ability to process their own mana and monitoring what effects it'd have on the body. They tore out our mana circuits while still awake and pumped a never-ending stream of mana into us. It's believed over a thousand died in this process. Despite the sacrifices Tyrant eventually gave up on the project saying it yielded no usable data. A failed experiment, I was forced to act as a servant for Tyrant's torturers until the Constituency's rise when I was lucky enough to make it out alive."
He turned to the Senator.
"I went with Virozoh to Numina's Warports. We were approached by Evokers from the Church being led by Eldris the aide to their Blue Pillar. She's vicious, even killed a pack of Nox's agents when they came after us. But she did end up offering us a deal."
A hushed silence fell upon the onlookers realizing this could be the moment they'd all been waiting for.
"Eldris said the Church would make sure we would be able to make Blitz and the Hand pay if we helped Lioness Luxia of the Vernicus Kingdom win her war with Hervalle."
"Treason." The voice came from the young woman who'd spoken up earlier. "You speak of blatant treason. We may be seeking to change Hervalle from within, but that's different than working to destroy the Empire."
The Senator stood drawing all attention to himself immediately. "The Hervalle Empire may be the Empire we were born to, but that does not make it our duty to support blindly ignoring its own crimes."
The woman confused asked the Senator to elaborate, "What do you mean Senator? What crimes have the Hervalle Empire committed."
The Senator continued passionately, "Some of our Constituency encountered hostile forces while tending to one of our monster research subjects. Three of them died while the rest observing from the distance reported seeing the Empire's Iron Guard and Owl of Nox leaving the scene. It's clear Nox and the Empire are teaming up to eliminate us once and for all. The Empire turned their backs on us first in harboring Blitz and the Hand, we do not need to hesitate in taking the necessary steps to defend ourselves."
Virozoh spoke up after the Senator finished, "I for one stand with the Senator as I have since the day he first broke me out of the lab table I was chained to. Who here stands with us? Who here has the resolve to fight the Empire which turned its back on us. Who here will stand against this broken world so it can be remade anew as our Senator has described!?"
A roaring response came from the crowd which had grown to include over a few hundred adults in violet robes with many children sprinkled in throughout.
Echoing cheers all around him the Senator's gaze fell on a little boy. He wondered for a moment about his own child he'd left behind. Feeling his ruined face he resolved himself to introduce himself to his child once he'd done something they could be proud of. He would leave a better world for them to inherit. That was his promise.