Dana Velazquez was born and Beheld while her father was off fighting in the war. Her mother cursed his name on the day, but even an abandoned wife supported the cause.
The history of New Soto had been one of bloodshed and tragedy even before the revolution that raged on that day. Every child of the nation grew up with stories of the forgotten homeland. Many facts may have been lost to time, but there were plenty of shared throughlines that persisted. The story of The King That Leeches was one that nearly any child could retell in detail.
The tale went that the golden city of Soto had been larger and more magnificent than any that remains today. ‘Golden’ is a bit of a misnomer as the city was decidedly brown, as it was built from the surrounding woods. The people lived in luxury and harmony, with no hunger or poverty to be seen. For a time they produced everything in excess, crops, spices, clothing, weaponry and many goods, they built huge storehouses and wanted for nothing. The main focus of their army was infrastructure, spending each day turning the lush forests into the ever expanding cityscape. The people would joke that it was easy to get lost in Soto, as the street you were on may not have been there the night before.
During this time, The King That Leeches was able to skim his luxuries off the top with no issue. He would take the best cakes, and the finest wines, but even the lowliest peasant had their own cake and wine so they were hardly worried about him. As the city’s population skyrocketed, the expansion of land and buildings was as necessary for survival as it was to fuel the bustling economy, and pockets of the people.
To facilitate their growth, the city would send out scouts each day to plan for the next areas to expand. Over time the scout reports became more and more similar, no matter the direction they set out. Water. On nearly all sides of the massive nation, there were seas for as long as the eye could see. Quickly, the resources of the city became scarcer, and the lavish lifestyle started to decline.
The story continues that the people were resilient, and accepted the changes, as if they had much choice. They learned to share what they had, and their culture became communal out of near necessity. But the king at the top refused to accept the material changes, and fought to live in delusion. He demanded the same luxuries, the same sweets and treats that he had always had before. Since he was the king he got what he wanted, but like the city before he always wanted more. He demanded that they use their dwindling resources to make ostentatious statues and monuments to himself and their nations, as he gorged himself on their remaining delicacies.
Eventually the people started to hunger and want, there was no more to go around. The king knew the times would be hard so he stockpiled all he needed and barricaded himself in with the redirected army of builders now serving as his closest allies. He would outlast the hard times, and they would rebuild again.
The people refused to starve silently. They had no weapons to fight back, but the city of Soto was built with wood.
As they set out to rebuild their community they would not look back, not at the leech, not at the ash.
The amount of truth to the story is ultimately unknown, besides the fact the people of Soto now live in New Soto, and share a cultural memory of a duplicitous leader. They were determined not to repeat the past, so they were sure to never forget it.
Despite their supposed awareness, Dana has heard more than once that New Soto was invaded while they all slept. Not a military invasion, if anything it was a cultural one, but honestly that was of little concern to most people. It was the betrayal that really got to them.
One day, everyone’s story was the same. It was just one day, suddenly there were new people everywhere. Not overwhelming in numbers, but enough that it was jarring and noticed by all. Very few New Sotoans had met a Constituency citizen before this day, and even fewer had dared make the journey. A few goods, mostly metals, were exchanged with the nation and this was the extent the majority even considered the Constituency’s existence. Hostile posturing began on the streets, but the perplexing fact was that they were civilians, not invaders. The confusion deepened when the Constituency foreigners began claiming they had lawfully entered under the new border provisions that had gone into effect by New Soto’s own government. Dana’s people were in the dark, whatever was happening.
While there were tensions between the two peoples, the rising anger of the New Sotoans was quickly aimed at their own president. Over the course of a single week protests turned to riots, in the name of answers. Remarkably after seven bloody days, the president simply put out a public message confirming the new border rules, and informing all the citizens to prepare and welcome their Constituency neighbors. The hatred of their figurehead was only masked by the achievement of answers, but it faded a bit over time. The law itself was insulting, as there was no promise of free movement into the Constituency state, but those that came to New Soto were hardly an issue. There were mass declarations of losing faith in their president, and droves promised to never vote for him to stay in office. Unfortunately he would not allow for an election until the day he died.
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Perhaps one of the largest factors in putting off both his election and death dates, was the hospitality of the New Sotoans. They were eager to learn about their new… Neighbors? The explanation was that they shared a ‘maritime’ border, and the Constituents were coming over on vessels larger than any of the fishing ships that the New Sotoans possessed. Another area where Dana cannot gain specifics, surely there are detailed maps of the borders and surrounding areas, but she is curtailed wherever she looks. Her mother tried to explain that the location of the other city was simply not their focus, they were more concerned with trying to save their souls initially.
They learned, fortunately, that even people as foreign as the Constituents had heard His Words. Unfortunately they soon found out that while they claimed to follow them, they hardly abided by the rules outlined. They twisted the ideas of honor and faith, turning them into personal qualities, separate from a community. In New Soto they were more correct, or group focused, with their interpretation of the work. It turned out that the unremarkable behavior, and ability to at least talk the spiritual talk by the Constituents allowed for the mixing of the two peoples to play out smoothly, for a time.
A year before Dana’s birth, they found something in the hills. By all accounts the Constituency and the president found something in the hills of New Soto. Nobody that Dana ever spoke to could tell her what specifically had been found. All that’s known is that it was valuable and quickly sold to the Constituency. It frustrates Dana when she presses on the subject, was it iron, gold, some sort of artifact? Her countrymen could only insist it was a tragedy to sell and they saw no benefits from the transaction either. Her cousin told her flatly that it doesn’t matter what was in the hills, it’s the principle of the matter.
The people felt they were being taken advantage of by the person they had given their trust, so as the people will do, they responded with revolution.
Nearly half the population defected immediately, with the large portion of holdouts being the military personnel who had to make a more drastic sort of decision. Over the length of the fighting, more and more would leave the old behind, and join up with the new movement. It was the flipping of General Orchard that most point to as turning the tide. A young, rising star in the ranks of the president’s regime, Orchard was the first official of his status to join the rebels. He gained a position at the head of the rag tag coalition, and importantly inspired waves of others to follow him in switching sides. Suddenly the revolutionaries were converting as many of their opposition as they were killing. Either route led to steady progress, as they slowly moved in on the president himself.
They knew from the start that the palace would be the greatest obstacle. Orchard said that a dozen men could hold a hundred with the fortifications that had been built up over the years. They essentially surrounded the structure, but they could not push in without a crippling loss. Desperate for allies, Orchard began talks with mercenaries and militia groups, but none would dare lead the push, the rebel’s money didn’t do it for them. Finally he turned to the only other connections he had left, and he called for reinforcements.
The Discovery of the Silver is the name that passes between the people of New Soto, when they discuss the rallying of Constituency troops. Small, large, dark, pale, short, tall, man, woman, or any other, no characteristic ran common through the army of the Constituency. Many of the people who had been presumed civilians were revealed to possess their own armor, and plenty of those who had professed the status as well. None of that was held against any of them, as they came when they were needed, and they were needed badly. It was deemed a miracle, how else could they explain it? An ally that was able to turn the tide, and simultaneously armed to the teeth with their own gear? That was as near a gift from Heis himself as anything could be.
The entire spearhead of sprinting troops was made of those in silver armor, though just the first row. The armor alongside the surprise at seeing the Constituents proved to be a crippling leading blow, and they completely penetrated the defenses on the first sweep. Once inside, the rebels swarmed into every open space, and soon enough the palace had been swept clean. Elections were set, marriages were held, the partying began. As fast as he could on the day of her birth, Dana’s father ran home.
For the first years of her life, Dana would be regaled with tales of her father and family who fought against the tyrant. She would hear of those in the silver, their might, and morality, in the most reverent of tones. Those foreigners that they had welcomed, well that had been the best decision they ever made. Her father would scoff and throw up his hands, wishing he had a set of armor for himself. Declaring it would have really settled his nerves, he was terrified of abandoning his family. He would conclude that no, no, a Soto warrior doesn’t need the clunky protection of plated armor, they have their instincts, talents, and most importantly their brain. He would tap his temples two times, and then tap Dana’s.
“You have to always use this, this is your greatest weapon, as it was mine, and my father’s, and his mother’s, and all those before us.”
Those early years were sweet, the liberation and the newfound friendships alike. Dana would never forget roaming the streets with the other kids from town, causing havoc, making memories. For those memories her people died, her father risked his life, her mother gave birth alone. Those golden days were far too important to forget. He will acknowledge the child of war.