Prologue

Sea raiders from the Red Sea in the west, bandits from the forests in the south, an ever expansionist kingdom in the north and hostile creatures of myth and legend in the farmlands in the east. The land surrounding Mervine is an ever inhospitable landscape filled with cutthroats and dangerous creatures looking to break into the lush, rich and fertile territory of the glorious city-state. Legend tells of how two leaders, St Marvinus and St Mervinus,by blood and sweat settled quarreling clans into one great nation.

Now as if it were divine punishment from the heavens, crisis has emerged in all directions; sea raider attacks have grown more frequent and intense strangling the invaluable trades routes in the west, monsters attacks have destroyed farming settlements in the east and there are even rumors that the northern king is readying for war. Refugees have flooded into the territories of Mervine and there is not enough resources to support them in terms of bedding, food and employment. To make matters worse, the refugees that have been created not having a steady nor safe profession have turned to banditry in the wild south! Any good citizen of Mervine dare not venture south for fear of being robbed of life. Paranoia grips the streets of Mervine with speculation that soon Mervine by one adversary or another will be taken by force of arms.

Chapter 1 - Beginnings

The streets of Mervine were clean, if clean could ever be considered the right word to describe them. The people who littered them took pride in who they were, and therefore where they lived and often were productive enough to volunteer with community projects. I noticed that even the rabble who lived in the lower, stuffier, parts of the city would keep their heads high. The founders were rebellious, crafty and highly meritocratic entrepreneurs who through a combination of rebellion, bribery and coercion secured vast economic freedoms unlike neighboring city-states.

Tens of thousands of businesses that would otherwise be prohibited in other cities on the continent allowed Mervine to have the highest per capita income in the world. Entering some of the more prestigious parts of Mervine required you to prove your finesse through a letter of recommendation, high status or a hefty bribe. Some areas required you to be rich in status and wealth, some only wealth and some only status. There was some class warfare because of the segregation but with the high social mobility there really was no cause for a revolution. After all, if your friends and family could move up in the world, why couldn’t you? That is not to say that there wasn’t the occasional scuffle but the slight of an eagle eyed a patrol was enough to cause people to disperse. It wasn’t the violence that they feared but the ostracization that would follow. A criminal record could damage your reputation for life and could only be expunged with exceptional service and even then, people would remember.

Desperate farmhands were pouring into the cities, but especially Mervine with its fantastic reputation for high employment and open borders policy compared to a neighboring city state like Equemon. Mervine always had a net positive population increase because of its high standard of living and the fact that you could leave your past behind. It had a reputation for being welcoming to vices such as forbidden relationships from neighboring towns and villages including fugitives from other states. There were practical, as well as petty reasons why Mervine did this. Rogue elements bring a ‘do or die’ mentality which is a great quality for an entrepreneur. If criminals could reform and become productive members of society then it looked bad on the former's homeland, if not, they would be cast out one way or another.

Mervinese openly jeered at how other societies were ‘barbaric holdouts’ that should be ‘vanished into the void of nothingness and vanish that void into another void’. Originally, every society had a common history of people roaming as nomadic clans until some decided to settle down and create towns that grew into cities. Those that didn’t were eventually exterminated from the continent in an event called The Great Project because of their refusal to abide by civilized laws. Calling foreigners ‘barbarians’ seemed like an accurate description to those in Mervine who thought the fact that other societies hadn’t copied their ways proved the latter’s inferiority.

The entrance of thousands of farmhands meant that there was an excess supply of labor; unskilled laborers in practice as their careers had recently become obsolete. Exploring Mervine I found that many were hardy, young men instead of the poverty stricken, ill and old desperadoes that’d I hope to be competing against.

If I was going to rise high in this city, I needed to employ any advantage I could get! Even if it meant muddying the waters of morality just a little bit. I scanned every nook and cranny that I could in the city for any opportunity I could find. There were places that I didn’t check for they were either locked off to me or a hotbed for perfectly legal, though questionable activities; prostitution, gambling and drug dealing.

I came across a double doored gate with purple banners at the front. Purple stood out to me because I had only seen very wealthy looking people wear it.The gate wasn’t low enough for me to jump over or see through and the gaps were too small for me see what was behind it. There were two very well fed halberdiers on duty standing by it. They were covered from head to toe in chain mail so that only their eyes were visible. Both of them had key rings on their hips and crossed their halberds together when they spotted me.

“Who goes there?”, one of them bellowed at me.

“My name is Colette. I come from the countryside. What is behind this gate”, I asked.

“You’re unfamiliar with the rules of the city I see. We call this St Marvin’s Gate. Only Mervine’s most rich and influential citizens may pass and see what is behind this gate to what we call Mervine’s Interior. Where we are standing is called Mervine’s Exterior. Keeps the haves from the have-nots. I can see by your fashion that you are not a have”, he said and pointed to my dress.
I looked down and stared. I was wearing a white full-length chemise with a red kirtle on top. My long, soft and lush brown hair freely flowed down to my chest.

“We don’t discriminate if you’re from the countryside, Argon, or Equemon. You need only have the backing of a highly influential member of our society and you may come and go as you please”, he explained, "or a lot of money".
“Who do you define as highly influential members of society?”, I asked.

“Well I apologise for misspeaking, I meant VERY highly influential members of society. These people rarely leave the gated community so you’re going to have to impress one of the grandmasters, CEOs, guild leaders or powerful merchants around here. Their operations require them to spend most of their time outside here in the Exterior”, he answered.
“Why would any important people around here want to give me a chance?”, I asked.

“They wouldn’t”, he said.

“So how-“, I began.

“You must do something on your own that catches their attention. One of their representatives will come and see you if they think you have potential. Not impossible, I have allowed new people to become part of the Interior before”, he said.

“Thanks for the advice. I’m curious about who pays you and your loyalty to your employer. What is stopping someone from buying up all of the guards in the city and over?”, I asked.

He gave a small chuckle.

“It wouldn’t be the first time it’s been tried. There was once a powerful man who tried that a few decades ago named Vestlin Abrott. A grand feat such as the destruction of the roots of our very civilization had him lynched in the streets”, he answered, “As for our salaries. We are actually volunteers that survive on donations from wealthy backers. We’re true believers of Mervine”.

Volunteers that got paid? I saw the contradiction but I could understand what he meant when he said that.Perhaps he said ‘volunteer’ to make himself look good. I wandered about what was behind that gate. I imagined a vast community of Mervine’s elites that supplied the best goods and services the world had to offer. Outside in the exterior there was freedom, but where was the quality? Perhaps segregation of the elites from the average Mervinese served the purpose of making sure that people entering couldn’t destroy the heart of the city. Nevertheless, I kept walking around the city and thought about what I could do. I had no money to make a public spectacle and there were no jobs to go around. I had almost given up until a ringing voice cried out to me.

“Hey, you over there”, It said, “I have something for you”.

I looked and saw a young, smiling humbly dressed salesman beckoning me to come closer. He had set up shop with a table, a chair and a bowl and was holding a small metallic device that had a lever and an opening large enough to put your fist in. Without saying a word, he placed a peeled potato inside and forced down the lever. A dozen or so rectangular shaped potato pieces flew out and landed inside a bowl. A labor saving device.

“A nice piece”, I began, “but nothing that can’t already be done by a blade and a hard surface”.

“People these days don’t want to sit around and peel vegetables. They want to get out there and be distracted, be entertained. This piece will fetch a high price, as long as someone like yourself was selling it”, he reasoned.

I couldn’t argue with his reasoning. People sought immediate gratification. Besides, over the long term it would actually save you money. Provided that you were planning to eat potatoes for at least a month.

“I’m no different from all these drifters you see on the street. Why did you want to talk to me?”, I asked.

His eyes darted below my chin, and so did mine. I understood the implication immediately. It was obvious that I could profit by reselling it but he had the advantage of knowing how much it actually cost to produce.

“I’ll sell it on your behalf”, I continued, “but I want ten percent of the selling price”.

“Ok, the minimum sale price is two Joppean silver coins,” he exclaimed as two coins were flashed with a wave of his hand, “the more you sell it for the more we’ll both profit.”

Joppean currency was one of the many different currencies used in Mervine. Its creator, Joppe Wig, guaranteed 99.9% silver content whilst other most other currencies used a mixture of tin, copper, gold, lead and mercury. Joppe was able to do because he happened to own enough silver mines necessary to create the silver coin blanks in the first place. Meaning that Joppe could only supply as many silver coins as he actually had silver. All coins were tied to the value of their metallic content, so counterfeiting was detected by biting or cutting in them. Unfortunately, this had the long-term effect of coins becoming uglier with repeated test cuts and so, for a small price, you could bring your Joppean coins to an approved mint and have them reforged anew. To say that Mervine existed on a silver standard or gold standard or any other standard, would be both incorrect and correct. For the founders had the foresight to ensure that the freedom to create and circulate your own currency within Mervine was written into the constitution. It was customary for people to swear allegiance to the constitution above all else every time they signed a high-end contract.

If I was going to get my hands on any currency, I was going to need to think of something stand out among the numerous sales pitchers. I had seen street peddler interactions play out, and they didn’t work at all. Men holding various bits and pieces in their hands would smile and call out to passing strangers, and would promptly be spat on, ignored, or sometimes if they were too persistent, punched. The only time I really saw people stop and buy anything was from food vendors who were making a killing from all the wanderers on the street. This was because there wasn’t really anywhere a homeless person could stop and cook; rooms were often overbooked and estates were out of the question. Sub par food service was overlooked because it was at least a few steps better than eating out of your hand. My head wandered places and I thought to myself why I didn’t show instead of tell and make delicious fries to show how useful this device is. I stared at the table in front of me, only a device was on it.

“My name’s Colette”, I introduced myself to the salesman.

“Tises”, he replied and gave me firm shake, “any ideas on how to sell this thing”.

“Why don’t we cook some fries so can show how great this device is?”, I asked.

“I can’t exactly think of a way to inexpensively boil them”, he continued, “I’m poor like you”.

I was confused and slightly offended. “You seemed like a have instead of a have-not. How else could you afford to produce this unless you owned a factory?”, the realization hit me,” You didn’t actually make this did you?”.

Tises shook his head, “You caught me, it’s a family heirloom. My great grandfather made it by hand”.

“You’re letting it go for just TWO measly silver coins?”, I asked, “been in the family for a few generations and you’re selling it?”.

“I’m an only child. My parents said that as its bearer I had all rights to it. To sell it or keep is my call and my call only,” he answered.

I felt upset that he would do such a thing. But then I felt stupid for feeling upset. Should the ghosts of the past really get to determine what their descendants do with what is currently the latter’s property? It’s a such a silly thing to feel angry on some stranger’s behalf. For now, I didn’t know much about Tises but he seemed shameless about the whole affair. I thought that maybe it was because he was a genuinely bad person or he really thought he did nothing wrong. Either way, I wasn’t here to judge. I remembered the sneers that I gave the device in my head as I talked to Tises. How I thought using a more sophisticated device in the place of a simple blade was a money sink. If I had reservations about buying it surely otherwise would as well. An idea popped into my head that would exploit the competitiveness and greed of people to enrich myself and Tises. We had between the two of us after some inquiry twenty-three Joppean Coins, a sack of peeled potatoes, the device and a table but that was all we needed.

A competition was held in which we agreed to payout the Joppean coins to whoever could slice potatoes faster than our device and charged one Joppean coin per entry. As predicted, people underestimated the device and struggled to keep up with their knives and we kept adding their entry fees into the prize pool to draw more and more people in. We didn’t have to supply the knives as it was a common carry item for self-defense in the city and people ended up cutting themselves trying to keep up.

Crowds gathered and volunteered their peeled potatoes as they were excited to see the competition go on. We began to use unpeeled and unwashed potatoes so that the competition could go on as peeling was a very long time.
As the prize pool approached two hundred Joppean coins we increased the entry fee to two Joppean coins and allowed two people to compete together charging them separately, then three, then finally at four. We didn’t feel comfortable increasing it to five people at a time as our device only narrowly beat four people at a time because we overlooked the bits and pieces that got stuck in the small openings that the fries came out of. In the end, we were left with four hundred and ninety-three Joppean coins between the two of us, a messy street full of potato peels and raw fries, an empty potato sack and a setting sun. I may have seen a bit of red liquid as well. The crowd dispersed to reveal a gang of armed men in bright muscle cuirasses. Their weapons were sheathed and they were watching the competition when the crowd first began to gather. One of them approached.

“Have no fear my lady”, he said, “you’re a newcomer here with an unusually large sum of money. We’re here to keep the peace in case some unscrupulous characters get any ideas. You should be careful, especially with all these strangers around”.

He signalled for me to look with his head and snarled at a group of bums. They had been looking hungrily at Tises and myself. The bums ran off. There were no regulations as what competitions or businesses you had on the street, but we were informed that it was common courtesy to clean up after yourself lest you gain a negative reputation. We paid thirty Joppean coins to some drifters to help clean up our mess and they were grateful for the work. I lightly teased Tises over the price he had suggested when we first met for the device. Can you believe that something that could have gone for two coins now made us four hundred and sixty-three Joppean coins after clean-up fees.

It was also clear that the device itself had gained notoriety and we were getting offers up to five hundred Joppean coins for it! The story of two people, who came from nothing rising up in Mervine with a simple idea was exactly what the founders would love. It became obvious to us that copycat devices would sprout all over the city as news our success spread so the sooner we sold it the better before it inevitably lost its value. We sold it for five hundred Joppean coins and I received four hundred and eighty-one coins for the whole ordeal out the 963 Joppean coins made in total. I understood the cost of just having one business partner that one day.

Still, I can’t say I was too ungrateful as I gave Tises a peck on the cheek before we parted ways.A representative of Joppe, Mertolle Asie, had heard of my successful moneymaking scheme using his employer’s currency and agreed to allow me to deposit my earnings with him. Provided that I visit his office at a local Joppean branch. Unlike Tises and the ruffians on the street, he had a silvery voice and was voguish with a fine white tunic. It wasn’t dusty and dirty like mine was working out in the street. A clever and subtle way to prove your finery while remaining humble.

“In addition to counting all these coins there is also the issue of verifying that each and every single coin is authentic. I assume you didn’t check all of them no?”, he quizzed.

“Well, no-“, I started.

“This is going to be a long night”, he ended.

After hours of cutting, weighing and checking he told me that I was very lucky to have three hundred and eighty-eight Joppean coins to my name at the end of it. Perhaps people were feeling particularly honest earlier that day. He would increase my account balance back to four hundred and eighty-one Joppean coins in exchange for my account of the events of the day, a signed letter of recommendation from myself to Joppe Wig himself praising Mertolle, and a contract stating that I would use Joppean currency above all others.

“There’s also the matter of your oath,” Mertolle stated, “I must warn you that this oath is no mere formality. It is a matter of life and liberty not just for the people of Mervine but for the entire world. Those who break their oaths will see their associates desert them, their assets seized, their reputations tattered and their bodies exiled from Mervine for life”.
Mertolle had a very serious face. I nodded in acknowledgement.

“Now repeat after me. I, Colette, solemnly swear that I will defend Mervine above all else and uphold its constitutional values to the best of my ability. Including, but not limited to, ensure that in all dealings my superiors, partners and underlings also take the Oath of Mervine”, he said.

“I, Colette, solemnly swear that I will defend Mervine above all else and uphold its constitution to the best of my ability”, I continued, “Including, but not limited to, ensure that in all dealings my superiors, partners and underlings also uphold the Oath of Mervine”, I replied.

“I’m awarding you, in recognition of your skill, a letter of safe passage that will guarantee that no one bothers you while you’re in this city”, he paused and handed me a letter, “and if they still do they’ll find themselves with fewer friends”.

He could have meant anything when he said that but I thought it would be better not to ask.

“I am authorized to recommend one person to join my organisation, Joppean Holdings, we will give you preferential treatment in many services including but not limited to defense, financial, and entertainment services, etc”, he offered, “Full disclosure, joining us may or may not close off opportunities or benefits from our competitors or create enemies for yourself which we will not be liable for. Unless explicitly stated, any actions undertaken in the service of Joppean Holdings will make you accountable for them”.

I had secured myself a good reputation in Mervine and a healthy bank balance but sooner or later I would have to align myself with one of the many factions in the city. I wasn’t sure people cared about their factions this much. Surely, I would just become another competitor within Joppean Holdings if he recruited me. As if he read my mind, he spoke, “Depending on your performance, I will be rewarded accordingly”.

Now it made sense. I had what could only be described as ‘momentum’in my standing with Joppean Holdings so although it was true that I had an amicable relationship with them It wouldn’t last. Soon, I would be forgotten and become another grunt vying trying to climb up the ladder if I just accepted a low-level position. There was a possibility to negotiate for a higher rank I just needed to find the right phrasing.

“Is there anything I could do to further the cause of Mervine, Joppe and yourself?”, I asked.

Mertolle lit up like a candle.

“There may be something that you could do”, he explained, “it might require stealth, intrigue, deceit BUT it’s for the good of Mervine of course. We all have to follow the Oath of Mervine that you’ve just taken. Let’s just say if a problem existed, and I’m not saying it does,you wouldn’t involve Joppe or…associates if you were caught so to speak”.
“Of course. Discretion is a core value of mine and Mervine and its inhabitants must be put above all else”, I replied.

“Good so I can be clear with you. There is an impending danger upon us all that threatens to tear the very fabric of Mervine apart. There have been whispers that the king of Argon plans to annex Mervine and steal its riches”, he continued, “Mervine has a number of powerful defense agencies that are contracted to defend it under the Oath of Mervine but it would be costly. We would of course have to pay them high compensation in the event of an attack and foot their medical expenses in addition. Not to mention the chaos that would befall us if we lose and he enters the city”.

I had heard rumors of a unilateral brain drain from Argon’s sphere of influence into that of Mervine. Faced with a heavy bureaucratic burden, entrepreneurial resources freely flowed into Mervine and it was draining Argon’s coffers dry by robbing them of a tax farm.

“Better to squash the invasion before it begins”, I reasoned.

“Exactly. Equemon is a neighbouring city-state that is also a protectorate of Argon. There have been tensions between the Argonese garrison stationed there and the people of Equemon. We also happen to have agents within the Argonese garrison. Go and there and see to it that Argon will not be in any position to invade. I may think granting you access to Mervine’s Interior to be an appropriate reward if you succeed. If you fail, do not even think of speaking of this conversation. It goes without saying that that there will be consequences should you choose to do so”, he ordered.