Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

ENO Level 3
At Level 3, an ENO is contained entirely within a physical system or systems, and only relied on external code traffic or avatars to communicate with the worldwide network.

These ENOs will take over unprotected home machines above a certain power or memory threshold, but are also known to take over data storage banks, server farms, and enterprise computing. Their isolation from the wider network, and their ability to close off all external connections and remain viable, makes them especially difficult to destroy.

Block 171, a group of abandoned homes in Detroit that was found to be host to an ENO Level 3, is a good example of this. The entire area needed to be manually disconnected from the electricity grid and demolished house by house.

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ENO Level 2
Similar to the ENO Level 1, this is a rogue algorithm, program, or process that has access to a secure storage device that is used to protect vulnerable parts of its programming. This usually takes the form of a compromised machine with local storage, as in the case of the Yellowknife Outage, where the ENO Level 2 was found to be operating out of an ATM.

A physical data location, especially one that is protected from outside intrusion, makes this ENO an order of magnitude harder to both detect and to destroy than a Level 1. Typically the physical storage device must be destroyed or isolated to guarantee this.

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ENO Level 1
This form of ENO is a rogue algorithm, program, or process that has no physical presence but is distributed on the global network, often as malicious, embedded, or altered code.

While its distributed nature makes it difficult to destroy per se, a much lower level of disruption is all that is required to cause the ENO to cease functioning. For instance, in the case of the infamous Naples Urban Network ENO, a targeted destruction of a single piece of code caused the ENO to fall apart, as that malicious piece of self-replicating code was easily identified and easily targeted.

These types of ENO are both the most common and the easiest to deal with from a modern data-security sense.

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Elrike Kinslayer
A report prepared for the Emperor, the Imperial chancery, and the Landsrat

From what records are available, Elrike Kinslayer, also known as Erik Kesselhofen, was the youngest of several illegitimate sons of a minor noble in Kesselhof. As service as a Landsknecht or a clergyman is one of the few roads to personal advancement to someone in such a situation, it is understood that Elrike took this route.

As part of the Kesse Landsknechte, Elrike participated in the suppression of the Goltari, the repulse of the Nassen, and the overthrow of Prince-Bishop Leonard IV. However, for reasons that are unclear, shortly after the end of the latter, the Landsknechte expelled Elrike from their ranks.

No reason was ever given, and no official report exists for the removal. The commander in question, Gerhard Strauß, is dead and the Kesse Landsknechte were decimated at the Battle of Bad Kessel. While some who served alongside Elrike have been located and interviewed, they were not close, and could offer only limited information.

These events were rumored to be a result of Erik attacking or even killing a fellow Landsknecht, thus the appellation Kinslayer. But, again, there is no record of any such acts of fratricide, and then as now opinions are divided on what the actual circumstances were.

Elrike seems to have attempted farming and merchantry before being hired as a mercenary by the Ever Hungry Army just before it was annihilated at the Battle of Twin Bergs. In its aftermath, Elrike seems to have used the battlefield experience of a Landsknecht to organize the defeated rabble and organize a retreat. This set off a chain of events that led to higher and higher commands, with the result that Elrike currently leads the largest and best-organized of the Death Brigades.

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Anna Scytheblade
A report prepared for the Emperor, the Imperial chancery, and the Landsrat

As the leader of a large formation of rebellious peasants, Anna so-called Scytheblade is notable for being a woman and a blacksmith of some skill, both unusual in the eyes of the Landsrat and those of the Church. It is believed that this situation resulted from her circumstances in the Wasserlauf Valley, where testimony indicates that she was the only child of a village blacksmith.

Trained in his trade by her father, Anna reportedly declined all offers of marriage in favor of said trade, much to her sorrow when her father died and his forge was claimed by an uncle, who reportedly disinherited his niece and forced her to labor and glean for survival.

An incident variously recorded as a verbal insult, a physical assault, or an carnal impropriety occurred between Anna and the minor noble for whom she was laboring. Rather than take the issue up with the proper ecclesiastical authorities, however, Anna reportedly stole a scythe and reforged it into a sword, which was then used in the unlawful killing of her liege.

Rather than being punished for this violation, Anna appears to have sparked a general revolt in her area, and her production of swords, pikes, and other weapons made from farming implements has been responsible for much of the peasant armory.

At present, the location of this force is Wasserstadt, but its exact disposition is unknown owing to destruction of bridges in the area.

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Ulus Vin Tengen, the People’s Margrave
A report prepared for the Emperor, the Imperial chancery, and the Landsrat

Unlike many of the Death Brigades leaders, detailed information is available on Ulus Vin Tengen. The eldest son of Linne Vin Tengen, Margrave of Anna, his records are complete and available for perusal. It seems that he was the only child of the Margrave’s first wife to survive infancy, and attended the Imperial Military Academy as well as the Eisburg University. It would seem that this education would have prepared him for assuming his father’s lands and titles, but a major controversy erupted surrounding this.

To wit, Linne Vin Tengen, his second wife, and their young son–Ulus’s half-brother–all perished very suddenly and within a day of one another. It was widely rumored, though never proven, that Ulus had poisoned them, perhaps only intending to poison his father. Ulus, for his part, claimed that the deaths were natural, but the uncertainty resulted in the Imperial Chancery being called upon to mediate, and the matter was put to the Landsrat. As a result, the Margravate of Anna went to Hume Vin Tengen, Ulus’s uncle and a Landsrat member himself. Ulus was formally accused of murder and placed under arrest.

The circumstances surrounding his escape are, as yet, unclear. Suffice to say that he was able to amass a following in the Margravate of Anna, claiming to be the true Margrave and pledging reforms. Now, to the experienced statesman these empty promises are revealed to be the hollow and naked bid for power that they are, but among the serfs of Anna, these falsehoods soon found a willing audience. Ulus was also able to draw on former connections to gain supplies, arms, and armor for a time, and his knowledge of tactics used by Landsknechte made him exceptionally dangerous even with untrained troops.

After Hume Vin Tengen was killed in battle, Ulus declared himself Margrave–a “People’s Margrave,” a term he did not deign to define. The Landsrat declared him an outlaw and awarded the Margravate to a cousin, who has since been unable to fully pacify it. At present, the Margravate of Anna is rent and lawless, a major stronghold of anti-Imperial peasant unrest, and a prime target for Landsknechte to reclaim for the Emperor. Ulus himself, as a noble, has been sentenced to death by silk strangulation, and a purple cord currently awaits his throat in the Ratisbon Town Hall.

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Vasili the Steel Hand
A report prepared for the Emperor, the Imperial chancery, and the Landsrat

It is believed that Vasili, called the Steel Hand, was born to peasant farmers in the marches attached to the Free Imperial City of Flussburg, although the fiefs int he area keep very poor records and this cannot be confirmed at present.

What is certain is that he was one of a number of peasants who abandoned their lieges and turned to brigandry in the face of the Long Hunger, and he and his band were captured in a sweep by the landsknechte in the employ of the Bishop of Flussburg. The leaders of said band were of course hung and beheaded for their crimes, while the lesser members were merely made to suffer amputation, upon the Bishop’s mercy.

This Vasili’s right hand was therefore amputated, which indicates that he was of middling importance in the bandit gang, as the lower members lost only a finger. It is safe to assume, though, that this event embittered him despite the mercy he was shown, as upon his return to his holding Vasili fashioned a steel prosthesis for himself of a hand holding a sword, and took to organizing and inciting peasants to unlawful acts of disobedience against their lieges.

It is important to note here that, despite legends to the contrary, it is quite impossible for this Vasili to fight with his steel hand–this has been attested by several sources who have been in his presence. It is, rather, a decorative item with the detachable sword being simply a melodramatic and decorative touch. Vasili, when he has been observed in battle, seems to quietly switch to a shield on his right arm and an actual, if improvised, sword in his left hand.

In any case, Vasili’s striking appearance and outspoken oratory, combined with the continuing emergency of the Long Hunger, quickly led him to amass a large number of followers. They were responsible for several ambushes of landsknechte near Flussburg, raiding manor houses, and stealing grain and supplies. The Bishop of Flussburg personally led a force against them after this; his defeat and subsequent burning at the stake by peasants is a grim and heretical chapter in the current crisis.

Currently, Vasili and his followers are believed to have joined with several other groups in an attempt to bolster their numbers and training for an expected confrontation with Imperial troops.

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Further up the road, a member of the elite Seagull Guard was drinking with an Ur-orc Deathbloom, both with their helmets off and sharing their rations. The Seagull Guard had a piece of Dormorian blackbread in his mouth, while the Deathbloom had his lips around a flask of Mirithian ale.

“What are you two doing?” cried B’carmna. “Fraternizing like that, when the grim Lord Khyr is on the verge of total victory once he obtains the True Circlet!”

“I no longer obey Lord Khyr,” the Ur-orc said. “I consider my oath of falty absolved and my loyalty transferred to a committee elected by my unit.”

“For my part, I have foresworn the Grey City and its Wizard-King,” the Seagull Guard said. “They would throw my life away for their own gain.”

“I don’t think a final all-out assault on the Dormorian Grimgate to distract Lord Khyr while the True Circlet is destroyed is throwing your life away,” B’carmna said.

“Oh no?” said the Seagull. “Marching into impossible odds to give someone else a chance to survive? You tell me how that’s fair, at war’s end.”

“The war will end, with total victory for evil, if you don’t remember your duty!” said B’carmna.

“Bollocks,” the Deathbloom said. “Do you think we Ur-orcs, or even the Unterorchen, want to have our lives thrown away at the last minute either? When the Deathly Horde swept the Grey City clean, was it Lord Khyr there getting slaughtered? No! And now he expects us to go on as if we hasn’t all lost brothers, sisters, lovers in the defeat?”

“What of the True Circlet, then?” said B’carmna, desperate. “If Lord Khyr attains it, he will-”

“He will what? He don’t do nothin’ we don’t do for him.” The orc spat on the ground. “You ain’t all-powerful if no one listens to you, that’s for damn sure.”

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Spite is a thing with feathers
With jealously guarded nests
Squabbles that break out at feeders
Territorial songs without rest

Aggressive displays for the neighbors
Even if they’ve done nothing to chide
Greedy tearing apart of their labors
For the eggs and the young ones inside

Nature is no Disney movie
When everyone’s out for a meal
Even when the others are flighty
You beg and you borrow and steal

Flocks are a last resort only
Tree branches with room for just one
It may seem like you are quite lonely
But you’ll have more kids when you’re done

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“Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,” said Mrs. Ramsay. “But you’ll have to be up with the lark,” she added.

To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were
settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night’s darkness and a day’s sail, within touch. Since he belonged, even at the age of six, to that great clan which cannot keep this feeling separate from that, but must let future prospects, with their joys and sorrows, cloud what is actually at hand, since to such people even in earliest childhood any turn in the wheel of sensation has the power to crystallise and transfix the moment upon which its gloom or radiance rests, James Ramsay, sitting on the floor cutting out pictures from the illustrated catalogue of the Army and Navy stores,1 endowed the picture of a refrigerator, as his mother spoke, with heavenly bliss.

It was fringed with joy. The wheelbarrow, the lawnmower, the sound of poplar trees, leaves whitening before rain, rooks cawing, brooms knocking, dresses rustling–all these were so coloured and distinguished in his mind that he had already his private code, his secret language, though he appeared the image of stark and uncompromising severity, with his high forehead and his fierce blue eyes, impeccably candid and pure, frowning slightly at the sight of human frailty, so that his mother, watching him guide his scissors neatly round the refrigerator, imagined him all red and ermine on the Bench or directing a stern and momentous enterprise in some crisis of public affairs.

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