by
Azerath
» 25 Feb 2015, 19:57
Before the founding of the Republic there was a nation that thrived among coastal islands. The Devil Malum disguised himself as a solar deity and presented himself to the nation. The people of the island nation were enamored with him, and worshiped him as their god. Malum demanded statues and great wonders built in his honor. In order to comply with their god's desires the islanders took their large ships and captured people from other nations; forcing them to serve their god.
For centuries the nation thrived, and the slaves were bred until all memory of their nationality was lost. Into this world, Spero was born. Spero's mother, Lucindee, hid her pregnancy and gave birth to Spero in secret. She was able to hide the boy away all day and allow him to taste freedom at night.
The god of gods, Requesta, sent the Archangel Draniel to speak with Spero. Draniel appeared to Spero each night in a moonbeam to teach him about Requesta saying, "Requesta, the god of gods, hath seen thou art pure of heart and strong of will. She hath chosen you to bring light to a world wreathed in darkness." Having no knowledge of language nor parchment to write on, Spero invented his own and engraved the teachings with soot and needle upon his body.
Spero taught the other slaves from the writings on his body. He taught them to read and write, but they were not the masters' words. He taught them to speak with one another, but it was not the masters' tongue. It was the language of Requesta, the language of freedom.
And so the slaves could speak in front of the guards and their words were as nonsense. They could leave messages and their writings were as scrapings. This caused the masters fear, and fear caused the masters to bribe and torture slaves to find meaning in the nonsense and scrapings. In this way Spero became known to them. Requesta warned Spero of the coming danger and Spero bid his mother Lucindee kill and flay him so that the writings of Requesta could be saved. But Lucindee could not bring herself to kill her son.
The Masters came for Spero and tortured him for five days and nights but could not break him. Then they brought him before Malum. The devil praised Spero for his strength and offered to make him his servant. Spero refused. The devil praised Spero for his courage and offered to make him his highest priest. Spero refused. The devil praised Spero for his faith and offered to make him a god. Spero refused. So, Malum ordered Spero's death.
The masters stripped Spero of his clothing, hung him by the arms from their tallest temple, and left him to bake in the sun. For 30 days Spero hung without food, water or clothing. The masters grew restless. They brought him down and threw him to hungry dogs, but the dogs would not eat him. They then built a great fire and threw Spero in. The flames and smoke obscured their vision and when the flames had died, there was no sign of Spero.
The masters searched the lands, high and low, but finding naught, they again turned to torture and bribery. They discovered Lucindee was Spero's mother. In an effort to draw Spero out, they paraded Lucindee in front of the slaves and demanded she renounce her son and Requesta. She would not, so they broke her finger. Again they demanded she renounce her son and Requesta. Again she would not, so they broke another. Ten times they demanded and ten times she refused. Then they opened her throat and left her in front of the slaves.
With that act, the Rebellion was born.
Caelitus Mihi Vires