Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

Calleporto was a small kingdom that had been an uneasy neighbor (and sometimes province) of larger Esper for centuries. It had maintained its independence largely thanks to its mercantile navy and far-flung trading empire, pursuits reflected in its flag designed by Dom Manuel IV the Great, the king who led its expansion into a world power.

The white crosses against a blue sea represented the trade routes pioneered by Calleportese vessels plying the ocean, while a gold armillary sphere represented those same mariners’ famed navigational prowess. The crown of Manuel I, the first king of the nation after its reconquest from the Saracens, tops a heater shield upon which is each of the possible rolls of a six-sided die. This represents the Wager of Manuel, in which a key siege against the Saracens was decided by a single roll of the dice, both Manual and his opponent Mullah Hacén having agreed to “let the Lord, or Allah, decide without bloodshed.” A long-held legend attributes the iconography to another wager, this time for the port of Sindapur, that was also won by the Calleportese. A more cynical view makes note of Manuel IV’s love of gambling, the debts of which the state inherited on his passing.

In any case, unlike neighboring Esper, Calleporto was never fully occupied by Valois. Its royal family escaped overseas and the Valoise Emperor did not even deign to name one of his relatives as a puppet king, instead seconding whatever conquests his troops made to Esper. This had the effect of inflaming Calleportese sentiment still further, and their struggle against the invasion remains a point of national pride in contrast to Esper, which “rolled over and died before it rose again.”

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The Kingdom of Esper, also known as Hesper or Hesperia depending on the language used, had become a world power under the Catholic Dynasty of its founders but by the time of the Empire of Valois had fallen on difficult times, defeated in multiple wars and had long periods of unrest, child kings under regencies, and general disorder. Its flag still flew across half the world, with the yellow and murrey (purple) of Esper’s predecessor kingdoms along with the Pink Lion of the Catholic Dynasty on a pure white shield, but it no longer commanded the respect it once had.

It was this unreliability, along with the persistent fear from its ally Valois that Esper would defect, that led to its eventual invasion and virtual annexation under the Emperor’s brother as King of Esper, overthrowing the young King Amadeo XXII and his regent Queen Joanna IV. Young King Amadeo eventually became infamous as “the basest king in Esper history: cowardly, selfish, grasping, suspicious, and vengeful, incapable of any perception of the commonweal, thinking only in terms of his power and security, unmoved by the enormous sacrifices of his people to retain their independence and preserve his throne.” But his youth and inexperience, compared with the despotic incompetence of the Valois-installed regime, led his standard to be raised again and again in revolt against the occupiers.

Valois modified the flag of Esper during its occupation in what one contemporary called a “base mockery,” modifying their Scierie-Soleil flag with the gold-and-murrey colors of Esper and making the center of the sun the same shade as the Pink Lion. Intensely unpopular, this flag was repeatedly hauled down in an act of vandalism and at one time nearly one eighth of cloth shipped from Valois to Esper was for replacement banners. When the Emperor’s brother fled the country for the third and final time, the remaining flags were widely burned in streets.

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After the Valois Empire destroyed the old Holy Teutonic Empire, reducing the former Emperor to a mere tributary/allied King, the Valoise reorganized the other lands into the Teuton Confederation, sometimes also called the First Teuton Republic especially after the creation and fall of the Second Teuton Republic 150 years later. Despite the name, the Confederation was only nominally republican, and virtually all of the reigning monarchs retained their thrones. Each was, as a condition of peace, required to send a delegate to a central legislature or Bundesrat as well as providing troops to fight alongside Valois in its further campaign.

In theory, the Bundesrat and its presiding officer, the Bundeskanzler, were a more democratic alternative to the old Imperial Electorate and Emperor, voting on all major decisions. In practice, though, the Bundeskanzler was derisively referred to as an ersatzkaiser or valoisenkaiser–the ‘substitute Emperor’ or ‘Valoise Emperor.’ All decisions were nakedly made for the benefit of Valois, there was little room for discussion or debate, and all the delegates were essentially Valoise puppets. This perhaps contributed to the swift collapse of the Confederation in the face of the resurgent Preuben, Ostrich, and Poccnor forces.

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A decentralized and incredible confusing jumble of principalities, kingdoms, duchies, grand duchies, and bishoprics, the Holy Teutonic Empire was famously denigrated as “neither holy, nor Teutonic, nor an empire” by the Duc d’Arouet in Valois. In this case, it was a literal truth: the Reformation had destroyed the stranglehold the Church had once had on the religious sphere, less than half of the subjects spoke Teutonic at home, and the decentralized and elective nature of the Imperial crown meant that few Emperors were able to act as anything but a first among equals.

This was, perhaps, one of the reasons why the Valois Revolution resulted in the Empire’s total downfall and dissolution. Other than a common currency, a common flag, and a common army, there was little to bind the various states together, so after the armies were shattered and the last Emperor captured, there was little to prevent a catastrophic breakup of the Teutonic lands. Only the core of the Emperor’s personal lands in the Electorate of Preuben remained loyal, leading Emperor Frederick Wilhelm VIII to declare himself King of Preuben in an attempt to maintain his royal power and prerogatives. This led to the old Teutonic Empire flag continuing to be used as the flag of Preuben for over a century afterwards.

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Name: Horiuchi Kei
Title: Divine Gardener
Weapon: The Tines of Destiny

Horiuchi Kei’s gardens, from their topiary to their koi ponds to their careful bonsai, are extensions of Horiuchi himself, and his legendary eye for detail. He has therefore a reputation as being extremely cold, irritable, and even misanthropic, but nevertheless he is extremely warm and nurturing to plants and small animals like koi fish. Patrons have reported receiving letters addressed to their gardens, and if they reply in a way that indicates a problem–or do not reply at all–Horiuchi Kei has been known to appear at their door demanding answers. His garden tool, the Tines of Destiny, is a twin of the Unmei no Fuguhiki forged by Sengo Muramasa and despite its simple nature is the equal of any weapon on the battlefield or off.

Name: Ike Takashi
Title: Divine Weaver
Weapon: Tengoku no harinezumi no hari

Patterns, textiles, silks, and satins; Ike Takashi is a master of every form of textile creation. Having worked his way up from a runner at a weaving concern to the undisputed head of the weavers’ guilds and a master of the art, Ike is by far the most institutionalized of the Seven Divine Crafters, generally traveling only as it relates to supervising and auditing weavers around the country rather than wandering as he sees fit. But this does not speak to any softness or weakness on his part; his signature weapons is a pair of steel needles connected by a chain called Tengoku no harinezumi no hari, the Spines of the Divine Hedgehog.

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Prince Vladimirov was found dead the day after he closed the Imperial Marionette Theatre and transferred its building and assets to the ballet company that were run by his lover. The Okhrana opened up a special investigation to deal with the matter, since it seemed obvious that one of the marionette makers had been involved. Vladimirov had, after all, been found in his own dressing room, hung from the same horsehair ropes that were used in the elaborate puppetry masques of old.

But the staff were carefully accounted for in the investigation, with the orchestra playing at an engagement across the Neva and the major marionette players performing at a private engagement for Grand Duke Mikhail. Even vengeful old Sakharov, the theater’s owner, manager, and head puppetteer, had spent the previous day vainly attempting to secure a personal audience with the Czar or Czarina. The Okhrana determined their movements rather precisely, given their informants and the aristocratic circles in which the puppeteers and musicians tended to move.

In the end, those in the Prince’s inner circle privately suggested that he had used the marionette cord, which had been quite accessible to him after the theatre’s closure, for an unwise bout of autoerotic asphyxiation. Nevertheless, Sakharov was officially charged with the crime and exiled to Siberia–who, after all, would have wanted to tell the Czar that his second cousin had died in such a sinful way?

The Okhrana report tactfully omitted the tiny footprints found in the dust on the closet floor and on Vladimirov’s shirt.

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I think they’re alive, living. I’ve seen them bleed, I’ve seen them flee from danger. There might even be language in the words coming from their mouths, if you can call them mouths. And yet when they’ve been followed to their obscure lands of origin, through chinks and cracks from the natural world into places that are wrong, it is as if they’ve forgotten how to be a people, how to be a civilization.

Their buildings, dwellings, whatever you want to call them are magnificent. Edifices built to some age-old plan and a purpose that defies understanding. But even now they clearly do not know that purpose. The beings squat in the decaying ruins, using them as little more than base shelters where once clearly much more was meant to be.

There is infrastructure, technology even, in those places. I see them use it, but it is never repaired, never extended. When it crumbles, they simply go elsewhere. I may not be able to understand much about the intricacies of their world, but I think I understand this much.

They are living beings, and they have forgotten how to live.

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Name: Takenaka Chihiro
Title: Divine Chef
Weapon: Unmei no Fuguhiki

A legendary chef, Takenaka Chihiro wandered as a culinary ronin, wandering in search of his brother and cooking to feed his way as he did. Legendarily gentle and good-humored in temperament, he followed a personal code he called the “Menu of 108” that emphasized the value of friendship, laughter, and good meals shared. Perhaps his unhappy early life, in which his impoverished family had sold him into servitude under a local chef, had some bearing on this. Eventually he came to apprentice under the legendary court chef Fukuda Hitoshi in Kyoto. It was not until Fukuda’s death that he began his journey. His weapon, the Unmei no Fuguhiki, is an ordinary chef’s knife made with traditional katana crafting techniques as a personal gift of Sengo Muramasa.

Name: Masaki Miyako
Title: Divine Calligraphist
Weapon: Shi no Fude

A noted calligrapher and artist, Masaki Miyako was the illegitimate daughter of a daimyo and a washing-woman. One of a pair of fraternal twins, she was rejected by her father while her brother was accepted and legitimized. Knowing her father’s love of calligraphy, Masaki trained herself from a very young age in the art, cutting her own brushes and making her own ink sticks. Despite her incredible skill, her father preferred her near-illiterate brother, but the legendary calligraphy teacher Fujiwara Dai took her on as a pupil instead. Known for her cold, efficient, and ruthless work ethic, she has traveled ever since as an artist-for-hire, inheriting her master’s appellation as Divine Calligraphist upon his sudden death. She makes each of her Shi no Fude herself; calligraphy brushes with steel handles, they double as kunai and can be thrown or stabbed with lethal effect. Her handmade ink is also impregnated with a deadly poison; only she knows the secret of safely licking a brush coated in it.

Name: Sando Fumio
Title: Divine Architect
Weapon: Tenno Luopan

A geomancer and builder, Sando Fumio is renowned for the classic beauty of his structures and the exceptional quality of feng shui present in his creations. A very silent, very private man, he is known for his terseness and laconic remarks and very little else. Other than his place of origin, Osaka, little else is known about his origins. It is believed, based on his accent and affect, that he trained for some time in China, though as with all of his life, details are quite scarce. His prized possession, the Tenno Luopan or Emperor Compass, is a device of rare quality and sturdiness, equally at home in architecture and combat. On those occasions when he must do battle, Sando is known to affix the Tenno Luopan to a staff and use it as a spear of sorts.

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The massive bulk of the airship loomed over the fugitives, illuminating them. But it wasn’t a police ship with spotlights, but rather flashing an advertisement: IF YOU HAVE A BLIMP NEEDS LIFTING WHY NOT HYDROGEN? COME RIDE THE FIERY WINGS OF HUMANITY HYDROGEN: IT’S WHAT’S FOR LIFTING

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