World-Building: A Bit About A New Nation

 Last week, I threatened promised that I would mention more about the flags of other nations in the project that I'm world-building. Well, a fact that my fiancé knows about me, but that I haven't mentioned is that I love to make PowerPoint presentations. This is important because I have made a PowerPoint feature the meanings of all the flags of the nations and keep adding to it as I add nations flags. 

Anyway, this was just a little bit of a detour because this past week, eight new nations were created and they could potentially rival the Vesmain Empire. They certainly serve as a reason for why Fleyye and Askington were willing to join the Vesmain Empire via treaty and why the leader of Preycia sent Sarai to negotiate with Vesmain. So, allow me to introduce you to the Leskovin Federation.

This is the flag of the nation Leskovin and the unofficial flag of the Leskovin Federation. The nation of Leskovin has been conquering and allying with the nations around it to form the federation. They share a border with Preycia, though this border is divided by a mountain range which has been discouraging them from advancing toward Preycia. 

The white, as we learned last time we talked about flags, stands for sincerity, peace, purity, and harmony while the green is agricultural influence, prosperity, fertility, and hope. These are crossed by a blood red chevron representing bloodshed, military prowess, war, power, and domination. And over top of all of it is a blue dove--blue for determination, liberation, alertness, good fortune, strength, and loyalty, and a dove for peace, gentleness, and purity. 

I'll leave it here for now because I will be working more on world-building the world. The climates, geographies, cultures, politics, and all that of all the various nations. Yes, all the current nations. I'll also be working on figuring out things that they specialize in (so that I can stop joking about Obriona exporting assassins and Vesmain being masters of long curses, even if it's true). 

World-Building and Reading

 I haven't done much work this week, mostly because I discovered a love for alternate history novels and finished reading Days of Infamy by Harry Turtledove and began the sequel End of the Beginning. I did, however, get a few things done regarding the world-building that I've been doing on this project. Last time I posted about the project, I mentioned that I made flags and said that I might share them. This is the time.

Now, much like flags and coats of arms in our world, the colors and symbols on the flags in this world have meanings. In most cases, the meanings are the same as they are in the real world. There are a few symbols on the flags that I couldn't find any meaning for so I had to make one up, and those I'll indicate as we come to them. 

For information about symbols seen on coats of arms, I used this website and for flag color information, I went here. 

The first flag I'll be sharing is also the coat of arms for the Arnuanna family, which if you've been following the history lessons, you'll remember are the royal family of Preycia. 

The purple stands for nobility, sovereignty, and justice while the white (which is also considered silver in coat of arms) stands for sincerity, purity, peace, and harmony. The blue seen on the goat represents determination, liberation, alertness, good fortune, strength, and loyalty. The goat itself stands for practical wisdom, victory through diplomacy rather than force, working hard to achieve high honors, and a belief of having god on their side while the swan shows perfection, beauty, grace, a lover of poetry and harmony, and a learned person. 

As you can tell, all of that stands for everything the Preycia royal family represents: education, diplomacy, the belief that they are destined to rule by gods-given right. It is interesting in that while Preycia isn't the only monarchy, they are the only country to have the color purple in their flag and for their flag to be the coat of arms of their royal family. 

I'll only discuss one more flag in this post and that is the flag of the Vesmain Empire. 

The red stands for bloodshed, military prowess, war, power, and domination while the black stands for determination and defeat of enemies. The white, as was stated before, stands for sincerity, purity, peace, and harmony, which, given what we know about the Vesmain Empire seems completely wrong and inaccurate. Except, remember, their religion is Order of the White Wolf. In this case, the color is chosen more to represent their deity than for what it means. The wolf itself stands for loyalty, ferociousness, mercilessness, and a deadly enemy to have as well as representing their deity. 

As with the Preycia flag, this flag stands for everything the Vesmain Empire represents. Vesmain allows the conquered nations to continue flying their flags, though flags that contain animals will have to remove them as animals--barring the white wolf seen in their flag--are forbidden from being represented as that would take worship from their deity. The conquered nation of Zethea has yet to remove the crane from their flag and, so far, Vesmain hasn't pressed the issue. 

 Starting off the first excerpt from The Agency of 2022, we have "Inmate 064" which ties in very closely with "Artifact 0145HF" so you may want to go read that one if you haven't already. 

Inmate 064

History & Description

            Inmate 064, known as the Pied Piper only when under the influence of Artifact 0145HF, is perhaps one of the most well-known inmates the agency currently has incarcerated given that he is the multi-billionaire Maximilian Hester. Inmate 064 has been in custody of the agency wardens ever since his supposed suicide in 2020 and has expressed remorse for his actions, except when in the presence of Artifact 0145HF. When exposed to Artifact 0145HF, he becomes panicked and attempts to flee or destroy the artifact while avoiding contact with it at all costs.

            According to all wardens and support team Sigma personnel, Inmate 064 is a model inmate, despite knowing that there will be no parole or release for good behavior. He follows all orders, behaves himself, keeps his cell tidy, and has proven willing to provide information regarding Artifact 0145HF, how it came into his possession, and his experiences with it.

Testimony 2020-06-27

Arch. Doyle: Statement of Inmate 064, previously known as Maximilian Hester, regarding his experiences with Artifact 0145HF and time spent as the Pied Piper.

Inmate 064: Please don’t call me that.

Arch. Doyle: Interview recorded direct from subject by Archivist Miah Doyle with support team Sigma Officer Levi Tolley witnessing.

Inmate 064: I don’t really know where the…the flute came from.

Arch. Doyle: Why the emphasis on Artifact 0145HF?

Inmate 064: Because…because it looks like a flute, sounds like a flute. But it’s not. It doesn’t feel like a flute. Not…not exactly anyway. It feels like something…different. Wrong. It feels unnatural. Wrong on so many levels that it just…it grates on you. It permeates everything. Possesses you. Possessed me. But it’s just a flute. It is a flute. It’s not some kind of demonic artifact. It’s just a flute. An old flute that I must have bought at an auction.

Arch. Doyle: You don’t remember?

Inmate 064: No. I just woke up one day and it was there, on my dresser where I always put new purchases. I must have bought it, but I don’t remember it. No one else seemed to acknowledge it whenever they’d see it. Or whenever they were supposed to see it, like when they were in my room and looking right at my dresser. They’d comment on the other things on my dresser—a pair of bookend statues that I purchased from an antiquities dealer two days before the flute showed up, a samurai sword that was a pain to get through customs, an artistically embellished clock designed to sit on the mantle of a fireplace. But no one ever mentioned the flute. It was as though they couldn’t see it.

I know how stupid that sounds. It was real. Is real. Clearly. You have it. You’ve seen it—

Arch. Doyle: Actually, I haven’t seen it personally. But I do understand what you mean. People from the Agency have seen it, it’s been catalogued and stored.

Inmate 064: Woo, you scared me for a minute there when you said you hadn’t seen it. My point is no one else seemed to see it. I’d bring people over, I’d point it out and they’d just…kind of stare for a moment as though in a trance then talk about one of the other things on the dresser by the flute. It was like…like it didn’t want to be seen.

            I know. I know how stupid I sound. How crazy. It’s just a flute. It can’t think, it can’t want anything. But I know how it felt to be around the damned thing. I was the one it chose. Heh. Again, I sound crazy. It’s just a flute. It can’t physically do anything. Except…it can, can’t it? It changes the engravings on it whenever someone plays it.

I didn’t notice it at first. I tried to avoid looking at the thing, being honest. It…unnerved me. No one noticed it and it…it felt wrong. Just looking at it made me feel ill.

It was 2014 when I noticed it had changed. Initially when I saw it, the engravings were of bare vines. It…vanished from my home on the twenty-sixth of June. Or at least…I don’t remember it being there after that date. I can’t remember seeing it again until four years later. But before it vanished, that morning I looked at it and the vines…there were buds on them. I thought it was strange, but then I ignored it, finished getting ready, and left the room.

It’s all a bit hazy from that point on. I know had important meetings and that I went to those meetings, but I can’t for the life of me remember anything that was discussed or who I met with. I just know that I returned home at the end of the day and the flute was gone.

I was relieved, to be honest. I didn’t have to see that damnable thing again. I thought maybe someone had stolen it, but my mansion has the best security and nothing else was out of place. Nothing else was missing. Still, I was just glad to be rid of the damn thing.

I heard on the news about the children vanishing from the park and thought it strange. So many children just vanishing in plain daylight with their parents right there. Quite an organized kidnapping. Had to be. Kidnapping just one kid in a public area would be hard enough, but to take ten children at once? Very organized operation.

The flute came back in 2018, sometime in May. It was on my dresser again. The engravings were bare vines again. I didn’t pay much attention to it. It still bothered me, still felt wrong. Felt worse now, especially since there’s no way someone could have gotten into my mansion to put it there. It just seemed to appear or disappear whenever it wanted.

In June, I noticed the engravings had buds again. Fifteen this time. I counted because it seemed like more than the last time. I once again went about my day and it was gone when I came back. Again, my memories of what I did that day are foggy, but I know that I went to meetings and made deals with very important people, but I can’t remember who they were or what the deals entailed.

The news that evening mentioned a school bus of fifteen elementary-aged children was hijacked and the kids were missing. I felt bad for the parents. I don’t have children myself, but I like them. I just…well, I never found the right person. Anyway, my heart ached for those parents. To just lose your kids when they’re supposed to be somewhere safe…that’s just a nightmare.

I didn’t see it again until 2020. It came back from wherever it goes when it vanishes. Vines again. I tried to ignore it like I had before, but…I couldn’t this time. It…it was almost like it was calling to me. I know, I know. I sound crazy again, but that’s how it felt. It was calling to me. It wanted me to pay attention. It wanted…it wanted more.

It told me to host a charity event for children at my mansion. It wanted me to play it and…I did. I did everything it said because I couldn’t resist. There was just something about it that made me cooperate. When the day of the event arrived, I donned my green suit that I always wore and, once everyone had arrived, I began to play.

I don’t…I don’t remember much after that. It gets foggy. I just know that when I stopped playing, there were agents there demanding that I come with them. I handed over the flute and they brought me here. I don’t know what happened to the children. I just know that the vines were thornier and there were one hundred and thirty rose buds on it that morning.

Arch. Doyle: Statement ends. Witness statements from receptionists and security footage at Inmate 064’s previous place of employment indicates that he never went into work on days corresponding to the kidnappings in 2014 and 2018. Whatever Artifact 0145HF is, it would seem that it has the ability to remain hidden in plain sight and alter memories, at least of the one it is targeting. The question still remains with how it connects to the first instance of Artifact 0145HF and the original Piper.

 

I hope you enjoyed that excerpt. There may not be any more excerpts from The Agency for awhile, but I'll still try to keep updating. 

Ringing in the New Year with World Building

 Hope everyone had a good holiday season. 

Over the holidays, I had a bit of a computer malfunction so my posts may not be as frequent as they were last year due to laptop difficulties, but I'll make a good try of it. 

Also over the holidays, I did a fair bit of world-building when I wasn't visiting every used bookstore near my mom's and hunting for alternate history books because I've found a new genre that I enjoy. This means that the 53 index cards for the timeline grew to 56 and are still growing. Thanks to a wonderful website for creating a coat of arms (which can be found here), I now have flags that represent the nations involved in the world from my still untitled project. There will be more information about those flags, the colors, and the nations they represent in upcoming posts. 

In this post, I'll share a little about a character who was mentioned in the recent history lesson: Sarai Arnuanna. Sarai is the only son of the ruler of Preycia, Keyleth Arnuanna, who ascended to the throne after the assassination of his father. Despite the potential danger in sending Sarai to the heart of the Vesmain Empire to negotiate, Keyleth sent Sarai (and a couple bodyguards, he's not a fool) in a luxury Preycian liner (but not a luxury airship, which would have been the traditional way for Sarai to travel) to the capital city of Vesmain where he is to negotiate and sign a treaty between their two nations. 

Sarai arrives in Vesmain dressed in the national royal dress of Preycia, decked out in diplomatic adornments that house mind-bending magic to encourage others to bend to their will. He is confident that this will be a simple enough mission and that the treaty will work well in their favor. He doesn't want to let his father down as this is the first time his father has trusted him with something so important. 

Naturally, as I mentioned in the recent history lesson post, things go completely wrong and Preycia ends up at war with Vesmain.