My siblings and I have sought to find the history of our adopted mother since the time of her death some years ago. She never told us much about her past, except that she was born to poor parents somewhere in the Western Kingdoms. Occasionally, she might mention the most common dishes they ate and her favourite foods or the trading system, but not much else.
We have travelled the entire Western World searching for somebody who knew something about her, but to no avail. Maybe she is as nameless and faceless as she says she was. It's strange how a person, nobody knows exists, can leave their own country and become a famous figure recorded in history. If she hadn't come to the Eastern Kingdoms, she would have died nobody - and nobody would have cared.
What we do know about Madorra is that being born to poor farmers during a time of famine in the Western Kingdoms, they lost their farm to their creditor. Her mother died not long after during childbirth to her younger brother who did not survive. She was brought up by her father, until he disappeared one night, leaving her alone. The time spent with her father had taught her many skills and she travelled to wherever there was work. Then during the Boom Year (a year of excess in the Western Kingdoms, so much that they didn't know what to do with all the extra food and money), she met somebody, cut some sort of deal with them where they became relatively rich... before they 'disappeared' her. She was given some money and banished from the Western Kingdoms. Heading through the difficult mountain passes - which she says took almost 5 years to cross, she emerged in the Eastern Kingdoms.
We suspect that after her arrival in the Eastern Kingdoms, she continued to keep a relatively low profile to get a hold of the current situations and get over the culture shock of what was the beginning of Maguiren's tyrannical reign.
It was during a raid by the Breakers for all the eligible females in a certain town, that she was spotted and protected by Queen Esthoria. This is how they became firm friends. Officially, she became one of the queen's handmaidens. Unofficially, she was the queen's eyes and ears in the kingdoms, often going on long journeys to obtain a fabled bottle of 'pure' air-water or to have a new dress made out of rare materials. She accidentally bumped into Maguiren on one such excursion, while he was out recording the success of yet another one of his experiments. He noticed her intellect, so the story goes, and after attempting to apprehend her, she scolded him and told him off - and he was unable to do anything about it. Because of that one scolding and her ability to avoid capture by him, Maguiren came to highly respect Madorra. An invitation was often sent to her through the queen to have dinner together with them, where he would discuss his experiments and ideas with her. The history books say that she mostly argued against him and made him lose his temper, nevertheless became a firm favourite and friend of the royal court.
Mother never told us what the discussions were about. It wasn't worth talking about, she'd tell us.
When she and the queen discovered my siblings and I, they decided they had to do something about Maguiren, because it was through the logs and records in the underground laboratory that they discovered what kind of a man Maguiren truly was. Before, they had been unable to make up their minds about whether he was a good-but-misguided man or plain evil. After our dramatic rescue, of which every sibling, except for Dugan, played a part, Madorra took us into hiding. Queen Esthoria was locked up in her apartments for the next 5 years, during which Crown Prince Gavin Eugene Fallon Otissaphir was born.
We, the Rebellion, discovered the Unseen Realm and used it to communicate and plan. Later on, during the Battle of the Cliffs, it became one of our main battlefields as well. The Unseen Realm is another plane of reality in which those with the correct gifts, with enough strength, are able to operate and move in. Generally, it just looks like a dark void and people from far away can meet together in the realm, although not moving from where they physically are. It makes distance shrink somehow. Nobody really knows. We don't really understand the laws that govern the Unseen Realm and so never stay there any longer than is needed. There are stories of people who have tried staying there for extended periods of time and they... they were never found again.
Come to think of it. I've never introduced any of my siblings. Here we are in order of age:
- Marcie - the strongest and wisest of us. Everyone goes to her with their troubles.
- Dugan - dark, silent and mysterious, nobody is sure of his gifts, but he is the only one who can truly stop a Breaker.
- Clarissa - funny and bubbly, she and Tamilo are a bit like twins.
- Tamilo - a practical joker, partners with Clarissa to make everyone laugh.
- Gideon - serious fighter type, big muscles, etc, you get the idea.
- Verity - like her name, can tell whether you're telling the truth or whether someone has cast an illusion. She has this thing about wires and mazes.
- me - you know.
- Jamiel - can run and move as fast as the wind. He is also the most attuned to danger and can sense if any of us are in danger, so he's like our messenger and watchman.
Yes, we all have exceptional gifts, but not all the gifts have names, so I can't tell you and if I did, we'd be here forever... or a few weeks, minimum.
What gifts did Mother have? I'm sure you want to know. I wish I did know. Not even Queen Esthoria can tell us exactly what sorts of gifts Madorra had.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
all things in moderation
Haha. I have posted often, have I not? Sorry for the wait. I have no excusable excuses.
Since Twylla is just about as dependable as I am in putting up regular posts, she at least, has mentioned a little about herself. Now, it's my turn, I suppose.
The world is divided into the Eastern Kingdoms and the Western Kingdoms by the Dividing Ranges. The house where my 7 siblings and I grew up together is in the midst of the ranges, the roads required to get there secret, narrow and treacherous. We are adopted siblings, my brothers, sisters and I, who grew up together in secret with our adopted mother, Madorra. Madorra had rescued us and brought us up as her own after the Battle of the Cliffs had reached its conclusion and Maguiren Dark Shadow had been defeated.
My siblings and I are known in the world as the Children of Madorra, as we played vital roles during the Battle of the Cliffs, holding at bay Maguiren's forces whilst Madorra and Esthoria, Maguiren's wife, struggled with him. The Battle of the Cliffs was the final confrontation for domination of the Eastern Kingdoms.
It is common knowledge that everybody in the world is bestowed with a certain number of individual and unique gifts in their own measures. Many people may have a common gift, for example the gift of capturing moments of time in picture, but the measure or style of the gift will vary from person to person, so some will be more skilled and adept in their gift than others. Others may have more unique and rare gifts, such as the ability to hold fire in the hand, the gift of barriers, foresight and the breaker gift - which is able to break the effects and product of almost every gift out there. The breaker gifts were extremely rare and were once used by Maguiren as a means of controlling his experiments. The Breakers were his special guards and patrolmen who kept his law in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Perhaps that is yet a little confusing, so I will go a little further back in history to when it all began, some years before my birth.
It all started with Maguiren, the King of Ozarra, and his need for more power and wealth. This is all before I was born, by the way. He was a scientist, a researcher of the different giftings that have been bestowed upon the human race over the centuries. On seeing some of the rarer gifts, he sought for ways to strengthen and improve them. To give and take the gifts as he pleased. Thus began the Great Experiment of Maguiren.
Machines and formulas were made and tested first upon animals, then upon fellow human beings, most of them being the outcasts of society. From the very dregs of the Eastern Kingdoms: the lame, the deformed, the deaf, the blind, the poor and beggarly, emerged the Breakers. The Breakers were Maguiren's most loyal and fanatical supporters. Some people called them the Cursed, the ones who brought bad luck. It was only because of them that Maguiren achieved Dictatorship over all the Eastern World.
Once the Breakers were declared a success, Maguiren used them to learn the best methods of introducing certain gifts of his choosing into society. Gifts that he could control at his own whim. This is how normal people ceased to be in the Eastern Kingdoms. 'Normal' was to be gifted in something, anything. From speaking to animals to calling rainstorms. Everyone was gifted with gifts once considered more rare.
When he discovered that his experiments worked on others, he used them on himself. His aim was to obtain every gifting in the world. The result, semi-world domination. Unopposable, undefeatable, invincible and immortal. He had discovered the secret of lasting youth. Eventually, he hoped to take over the Western World, but only once every person and gifting in the Eastern World had been duly documented and taken for himself. Due to the ominous and forbidding nature of the Dividing Ranges, very few effects of his experiments reached the Western Kingdoms.
During his travels, Maguiren discovered 8 children who could oppose him. They had been born with either very unique gifts not found anywhere else in the Eastern Kingdoms or their gift ability was stronger than any other. These 8 children were my siblings and I. We were captured and taken deep into his underground stronghold, the whereabout none but Queen Esthoria, Madorra and my siblings and I know of. We became test subjects and were forced to undergo various forms of torture and activities under Maguiren's eyes in order for him to discover the full extent of our abilities. Our full strength and abilities were never able to be properly measured in all the 10 years of our captivity.
Then Madorra, a traveller from the Western Kingdoms, crossed the Dividing Ranges to learn whether the rumours of Maguiren's reign and activities were true. She found us during her investigations, at the same time befriending Esthoria and learning that she too was extremely gifted. The two helped us escape and the Rebellion was born.
Since Twylla is just about as dependable as I am in putting up regular posts, she at least, has mentioned a little about herself. Now, it's my turn, I suppose.
The world is divided into the Eastern Kingdoms and the Western Kingdoms by the Dividing Ranges. The house where my 7 siblings and I grew up together is in the midst of the ranges, the roads required to get there secret, narrow and treacherous. We are adopted siblings, my brothers, sisters and I, who grew up together in secret with our adopted mother, Madorra. Madorra had rescued us and brought us up as her own after the Battle of the Cliffs had reached its conclusion and Maguiren Dark Shadow had been defeated.
My siblings and I are known in the world as the Children of Madorra, as we played vital roles during the Battle of the Cliffs, holding at bay Maguiren's forces whilst Madorra and Esthoria, Maguiren's wife, struggled with him. The Battle of the Cliffs was the final confrontation for domination of the Eastern Kingdoms.
It is common knowledge that everybody in the world is bestowed with a certain number of individual and unique gifts in their own measures. Many people may have a common gift, for example the gift of capturing moments of time in picture, but the measure or style of the gift will vary from person to person, so some will be more skilled and adept in their gift than others. Others may have more unique and rare gifts, such as the ability to hold fire in the hand, the gift of barriers, foresight and the breaker gift - which is able to break the effects and product of almost every gift out there. The breaker gifts were extremely rare and were once used by Maguiren as a means of controlling his experiments. The Breakers were his special guards and patrolmen who kept his law in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Perhaps that is yet a little confusing, so I will go a little further back in history to when it all began, some years before my birth.
It all started with Maguiren, the King of Ozarra, and his need for more power and wealth. This is all before I was born, by the way. He was a scientist, a researcher of the different giftings that have been bestowed upon the human race over the centuries. On seeing some of the rarer gifts, he sought for ways to strengthen and improve them. To give and take the gifts as he pleased. Thus began the Great Experiment of Maguiren.
Machines and formulas were made and tested first upon animals, then upon fellow human beings, most of them being the outcasts of society. From the very dregs of the Eastern Kingdoms: the lame, the deformed, the deaf, the blind, the poor and beggarly, emerged the Breakers. The Breakers were Maguiren's most loyal and fanatical supporters. Some people called them the Cursed, the ones who brought bad luck. It was only because of them that Maguiren achieved Dictatorship over all the Eastern World.
Once the Breakers were declared a success, Maguiren used them to learn the best methods of introducing certain gifts of his choosing into society. Gifts that he could control at his own whim. This is how normal people ceased to be in the Eastern Kingdoms. 'Normal' was to be gifted in something, anything. From speaking to animals to calling rainstorms. Everyone was gifted with gifts once considered more rare.
When he discovered that his experiments worked on others, he used them on himself. His aim was to obtain every gifting in the world. The result, semi-world domination. Unopposable, undefeatable, invincible and immortal. He had discovered the secret of lasting youth. Eventually, he hoped to take over the Western World, but only once every person and gifting in the Eastern World had been duly documented and taken for himself. Due to the ominous and forbidding nature of the Dividing Ranges, very few effects of his experiments reached the Western Kingdoms.
During his travels, Maguiren discovered 8 children who could oppose him. They had been born with either very unique gifts not found anywhere else in the Eastern Kingdoms or their gift ability was stronger than any other. These 8 children were my siblings and I. We were captured and taken deep into his underground stronghold, the whereabout none but Queen Esthoria, Madorra and my siblings and I know of. We became test subjects and were forced to undergo various forms of torture and activities under Maguiren's eyes in order for him to discover the full extent of our abilities. Our full strength and abilities were never able to be properly measured in all the 10 years of our captivity.
Then Madorra, a traveller from the Western Kingdoms, crossed the Dividing Ranges to learn whether the rumours of Maguiren's reign and activities were true. She found us during her investigations, at the same time befriending Esthoria and learning that she too was extremely gifted. The two helped us escape and the Rebellion was born.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
welcome twylla!!!
Welcome to How to fy an onion... whole, Twylla!
It is exciting that you have decided to join me in regaling our audience with our tales. I hope you enjoy your blogging time here.
On another note, all those previous posts have gotten themselves into a jumble and I'm still sorting them out. Sorry to anyone who views this blog to find it pretty bare contentwise.
May I also add that while this blog is up for the world to read, we would also appreciate the common courtesy of not copying anything, plagiarising or stealing our original ideas from this blog. This blog may be for your entertainment only, but it does not mean that you can throw aside your manners.
Other than that dark note, enjoy!
It is exciting that you have decided to join me in regaling our audience with our tales. I hope you enjoy your blogging time here.
On another note, all those previous posts have gotten themselves into a jumble and I'm still sorting them out. Sorry to anyone who views this blog to find it pretty bare contentwise.
May I also add that while this blog is up for the world to read, we would also appreciate the common courtesy of not copying anything, plagiarising or stealing our original ideas from this blog. This blog may be for your entertainment only, but it does not mean that you can throw aside your manners.
Other than that dark note, enjoy!
Friday, January 23, 2009
previous posts removed
All previous posts on this blog have been temporarily removed... I hope you don't mind (not that I think there is anyone out there who minds, since I have no readers... but that's fine. Just fine.)
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