Chapter 49: Disclosure
Excerpts from Brief History of Xoth
Nobles and Commoners
Except for democratic city-states or Bohalen, most of Xoth is split into two classes: nobles and commoners. Commoners are the majority of the population and consist of the middle to lower-class civilians. The nobles consists of families that earned their titles or ranks through either financial means or major contributions to a land or high-rank noble. These contributions are usually acts such as military achievements or civil acts that greatly impress or serve a king or emperor.
In many places around Xoth, tension are high between commoners and nobles. Many nobles treat commoners as lesser beings or pawns. The commoners in turn resent many nobles because of the treatment they endure. Rebellions are fairly common, but nobles usually are well trained in magic and they hire mercenaries to grant them protection so rebellions are cut down before they have a chance to gain momentum.
These tensions are not always the case. In the northern lands of Erlonia, the Duellia kingdom's nobility is well respected and the commoners are fairly treated. They also, unlike many of the other kingdoms of Erlonian, do not engage in expansionism and keep to themselves. The Bolaweth kingdom focuses mostly on mining resources and uses their trade to enrich their kingdom for both the nobility and commoner.
The ranks of nobles are the following:
Knight
This title is non-transferable that is usually given to a soldier who has gained acknowledgment for a heroic act. Sometimes this title is given to non-military personnel who have made a great achievement but not enough to warrant the title of Baron or above. In the latter case, the title is symbolic and does not give the individual actual power. The military knights are given power equivalent to a Commander.
Baron
Baron can either be granted to a person for recognition or the title can be granted if a person pays for it. The title usually comes with land for the Baron to rule over.
Viscount
A Viscount title gives the person power over many territories. These territories are equal to counties for Humanity.
Count
Count act as representatives of the King to the Viscount territories. Any land they own is located inwards of a kingdom's territory so they are not expected to defend it.
Marquis
These individuals are similar to Counts in terms of power but their land borders on another country's territory. They are expected to aid the country in defending against foreign invaders. With these responsibilities, while a Marquis is similar in rank to a Count, they are more trusted.
Duke
These nobles directly serve the king or emperor and are responsible for ruling over entire regions of a kingdom. In times of war, Dukes organize the military in their regions in place of the king or emperor.
King/Emperor
The absolute ruler of a country and leader of the military. This title is hereditary and is passed onto the eldest son unless stated otherwise by the king or emperor. These rulers usually surround themselves with advisors to ensure they have multiple opinions to consider before they make their decisions.
Village Government
Villages make up the majority of dwellings that Xothicans live in. In these villages, government takes one of two forms. Smaller villages have a village elder who make most of the decisions that affect the village. Larger villages have councils that consist of the most influential members of the village who make a decision together.
Democracy
Democratic governments on Xoth are in the minority and are reserved for some city states and the continent of Bohalen. How each location sets up a democratic government varies in types of elected officials, elections and term limits. Democracy is often sneered at by nobles for allowing commoners a say in the future of a city or country. What is ironic is that many locations that engage in democracy have a better economy and standard of living for the populace than the average non-democratic city.
Excerpts from Thunder's Recommendations Report
->Instituting a currency exchange program
Reason: One of the biggest challenges we will face in the future is the integration of Xothicans into modern society. We want to make sure that Xothicans can operate independently in Human society as soon as possible. It may be cheaper to allow Xothicans to exchange their currency for our own. Eventually our currency will over take Xothican currency due to its value and convenience. Without a large disruption in Xothican lifestyle, Xothicans will be given time to adapt to Human society and even gain employment in Human businesses.
VVVVVV
"How did this happen?" the French President demanded.
The world leaders had met at the UN with the UN Secretary-General and the UNDF Supreme General present in the meeting. The press were left out of the meeting due to the sensitive nature of recent events.
"This is what we know," President Forest said. The man stood at a podium with all the country leaders staring down at him. "At five-thirty-eight pm yesterday, a fleet of United States Air Force Avenger Drones were taken control of through hacking. These drones set course for Thomas Everett's civilian home and at seven-o-eight, they unleashed the entirety of their arsenal on his property before they crashed on his property. Firefighters were dispatched to the location along with the Canadian military to quarantine the area. Since the attack, we have had no contact with Everett. Worse, after the interview, the Xothicans disappeared."
"Do we have anything to go on?" the Brazilian President asked.
"We were able to track down the person responsible for the hack." An image of an obese man appeared on the screen behind the President. "His name is Ian Brown. He was a student at MIT who showed some promise but dropped out to live a more leisurely lifestyle. Ian had a profile on the largest Xothican site known as Xoth Daily Informer. On this site, Ian Brown has wrote many comments that praised the Xothicans but criticized Thomas Everett. After news broke of Tom's... unique relationship with the Xothicans, his writings became more vile. He displayed an obsession for the Xothicans. Before the Avenger drones were hacked, Ian participated in a chatroom on the website. Here he declared that he knew Thunder's true identity and where he lived. Right after, he used a program to gain access to the USAF servers and hacked the fleet. We had the FBI detain him. We are currently interrogating him as we speak."
Stolen novel; please report.
"What about the Xothicans?" the Indian Prime Minister reminded. "Why did they disappear?"
"We are still investigating their disappearance. In the studio building where their interview took place, we discovered the dead body of an unknown male. We are running an autopsy on him but, from initial investigation, it seems like he died from an aneurysm. The FBI are gathering local CCTV footage. This is what we've found so far."
Video footage appeared on the screen of an alleyway with a lit door and brick walls on both sides of it. The door was nearly torn off its hinges as Vivian knocked open the door and the other followed behind her. They then went up the alley walls by jumping back and forth between the two walls while Reia flew up.
"As soon as they reached the roofs, we lost view of them."
"Why were they running?" another leader asked.
"We don't know. Considerable resources are being used to try to track them down and to investigate the attack site. The FBI, CIA and CSIS are cooperating towards this end. We are also presented with a very difficult situation when it comes to the public." The President gestured to the UNDF Supreme Commander.
Commander Steele stood up and approached the podium. "As mentioned before, Ian Brown announced that he knew Everett's identity and that he would attack him at his home. That information leaked before any Intelligence service had a chance to keep it quiet. Due to the size of his property, it was easy for the news media to figure out that only Thomas Everett's home was attacked in the initial attack. His name is all over the news. Without him with us, we can't have Thunder make an appearance and disprove these rumours. We need to find them and we cannot do that when we have the public confused and in a rage and the news media's scrutiny. We don't want a repeat of the Monster Day riots. I'm afraid we have reached the point where disclosure is our only option."
VVVVVV
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean...
The island Tom had his safehouse on was an island paradise in every sense of the word. The island's total size was five acres. It was home to lush forests, black rocky cliffs, and black sand beaches. The island was formed long ago by a volcano that emerged from the ocean but had since became dormant. In a clearing in the center of the island was a large home that was surrounded by palm trees, rendering it invisible to anyone outside of the island.
On the black beach were Tom, Reia, Tala, Sylmae and Vivian, who, in their swimwear, sunbathed on towels. Reia was on her stomach with her wings spread out.
"How did you find this place again?" Sylmae asked while she turned onto her back.
"I spent a lot of time going through the Maps App to look for locations to place safehouses," Tom replied. "I had one house placed in Northern Canada for convenience, but I needed a safehouse that would be almost impossible to find. I looked along Earth's fault lines to try and find possible islands that formed from volcanoes. After a while, I found this place."
"Well, this place is perfect," Vivian said. "I haven't been able to enjoy a beach like this since my visit to the Bohalen continent."
"Wish we could stay here forever," Tala sighed. "No missions. No fights. No world ending apocalypses."
"I wish that too," Tom said. "Sadly, fate had other plans. But let's not dwell on that. We have two full days to ourselves. Let's just enjoy ourselves."
"He's right!" Vivian said as she sprung up to her feet. She picked up a pair of goggles. "I'm going to enjoy the water here!"
Vivian made a mad dash towards the water.
"I've noticed that there is a large concentration of sharks around here!" Tom yelled to her. "I know they can't really hurt you, but try not to kill them. Some of them are endangered!"
"Got it!" Vivian yelled back as she ran into the water. The water went about three feet deep until Vivian got at least fifty feet out. The ground then gave away to a sharp drop where the underwater cliff went downwards out of sight. Coral covered the side of the cliff and it was swarmed with fishes of many species.
Vivian was immediately greeted by the sight of a twenty foot long Great White Shark. The shark casually swam towards Vivian. Its mouth opened and closed as it approached. Vivian stared right back at it. She shook her head in disapproval.
'You don't want any of this,' she thought at it. 'You really don't.'
As if the shark was able to sense the power Vivian held, it turned away in a hurry.
'Yea! You can't handle this little dwarf!'
Vivian swam upwards and broke the surface.
"Hey, you all should come in!" she called out. "There's a lot of cool stuff to see out here."
"Alright, we're coming," Sylmae yelled back.
Sylmae and Tala got up and grabbed their goggles. They ran to the water.
"I'll be in soon," Reia said. "I want to enjoy the sun a little more."
"I'll do the same," Tom said.
Sylmae and Tala ran towards the water. Tom stretched out before relaxing again. Reia turned her head towards Tom and she smiled.
"How are you holding up?" she asked.
"About as well as one can after an attempted assassination," he joked.
"I mean about this whole prophecy thing."
"Which part?"
Reia turned on her side to face Tom more directly. She propped up her head with her hand. "Well... You did start this whole adventure by actually being chosen by a god to protect the world. Now it seems like it was mostly random for you and that we were Chosen Ones all along..."
"Are you worried that I'll be jealous of you all for that?"
"Well..."
"I never cared for recognition," Tom assured her. "Nothing really changes for me personally concerning the prophecy. I'm fighting to save lives. Doesn't matter if a prophecy said I was meant to do it or not. If I take away anything from what I've learned, it's that my beautiful, smart and capable girlfriends turned out to be even more special and awesome than I already thought. I am absolutely brimming with pride and joy that I have you all in my life."
Reia happily smiled from his assurance.
"I love you and the others. No matter what happens in the future, I will always stand by you all."
The two heard some playful screams and looked in the direction of the others. Sylmae and Tala were both topless and chasing after Vivian who ran with their bikini tops.
"I'd be an extremely selfish man if I asked for more than this. Wanna join them?"
"I sure do!"
"Great!"
Tom got up and, before Reia could get to her feet, Tom gave her a playful slap to the butt.
"Ah!" she yelped.
Tom immediately made a dash for the water.
"Oh no, you don't!" Reia yelled. She flew up and quickly caught up to Tom and wrapped her arms around his chest. Reia flew up high with him in her arms.
"Reia, what are you...?"
"Heh, heh, heh. Think you can slap my ass and get away with it?"
Tom was over fifty feet in the air over the water.
"Heh." Reia released her hold on Tom and allowed him to drop.
"Not fair!" he yelled as he fell.
Tom impacted the water which exploded upwards. Nearby, Vivian, Tala and Sylmae watched the spectacle.
"D-Did he forget he could teleport?" Vivian muttered.
VVVVVV
UNDF Recruitment Has Surpassed Expectations, Reaching 200,000
Report: USAF Drone Fleet Hacked And Used To Destroy Canadian Property
Hacker Announced Knowledge Of Thunder's Identity
Hacker Ian Brown Has Been Arrested By The FBI
Thunder And The Xothicans Missing!
UN Spokesperson Reveals Identity of Thunder and Companions After Rumours Of Identity Leak
Who is Thomas Everett?
Is Thomas "Thunder" Everett Dead?
What Does The Future Hold For The UNDF Without Everett And The Xothicans
UN And Other Nations Offering Massive Reward For Information That Could Lead To The Discovery Of Everett Or the Xothicans
Draig Corporation Announces That They Will Create Refugee Centres For Displaced Xothicans
Draig On Missing Xothicans: "They Need To Be Found And Protected. Their Importance To Humanity's And Xoth's Future Cannot Be Overstated."