History of Ruin

Imperial year 2618

New Walls was an ancient city, or more properly, had been built on an ancient city. Friendships had been made and broken over arguments about whether the tunnels under the city had been made by humankind. Certainly, there were sections that showed the touch of human improvement, but most parts were simply caves, layered with limestone and stone growth.

None of this mattered to the shadow flitting between stalagmites. Cautiously looking before dashing to the next, it appeared to be dwarfed by the rocky growths it darted between. If one could take a closer look, one would realize that the shadow was in fact a child.

The shadow’s name was Lucian.

Lucian might have ten, except he was clearly very skinny and maybe a little malnourished. He was dressed in rags for a shirt and breeches. A thin, second hand, woolen cloak covered his shoulders against the damp of the tunnels. The hood was pulled up over his head as he glanced around.

Running around another stalagmite, he suddenly stopped. Creeping up to the next on, he looked around it. Fifty paces down the tunnel was the faint flickering glow of a campfire.

A party of Imperial surveyors were camped out in the tunnels, in Lucian’s way. They looked to be working on their equipment, cleaning and repairing it from their day’s work.

Lucian was annoyed. Why did the Imperium feel the need to survey the tunnels when they could have just asked one of the street children? Lucian, like the other street children, used the tunnels frequently as a way to get around the city and to escape the notice of ‘respectable’ folks.

Creeping forward over the damp, slick stone floor, Lucian took a closer look at the surveyors’ camp. Two men in suits were poring over a map laid out on a table next to the fire. Not seeing any Imperial soldiers or guards, Lucian crept within earshot.

“... not supposed to be here. We don’t have permission to be this far down the tunnels. We didn’t even bring any guards!”

“What are you afraid of? A few street urchins? We are so close to finding it!”

“Street children aren’t the only filth that use these tunnels. And we have no guards and no one knows we’re here.”

“We’ll only be a little longer. Besides, there are supposed to be schematics to weapons of great power in the cache, if we can find it.”

“Fine! But don’t say I didn’t tell you so…”

The chubbier of the two men who had been looking at the map stormed off, towards the tunnel wall. Lucian now noticed that equipment had been set up next to the wall, where a patch of the limestone had been chipped away. Other surveyors were tapping on the wall or listening through cones held against the wall.

Suddenly, one of the women listening let a whoop of discovery, which was quickly suppressed and shushed by the others. Pointing to the spot, she marked it with a piece of chalk. One man who had been repairing equipment grabbed a hand drill and began drilling into the place marked by the woman.

The party began to chisel away at the stone. With a crash, the stone facade fell away from the wall to reveal an iron door set into a masonry wall. With crowbars, they forced the door open, a gust of dusty stale air spilling out. Men and women with lanterns entered the door and started handing objects out and setting them on the table.

The man in the suit went over to his chubby compatriot and clapped him on the back excitedly.

“See! It was here after all!”

The chubby man nodded, “I hate to admit it, but you were right this time. I congratulate you!”

“We should get a good reward for this lot.”

-

Lucian had been so captivated by the scene in front of him, he did not notice the figure appear behind him. Like an iron trap, a hand slammed over his mouth, another holding his neck. The hands were covered by soft black doeskin gloves. A conspiratory woman’s voice whispered into his ear.

“What do we have here? A little peeping Tom? ... Or a rat?”

Craning his head around against the firm, but not painful, restraint, Lucian looked up into the eyes of a tall, lithe woman. Her face was thin, with high cheekbones and dark gray eyes below dirty blonde hair pulled into a severe bun. She was dressed in a dark burgundy doublet over black riding breeches and black knee high riding boots. A saber and dagger hung from her belt.

Tutting softly at him, she released her grip on his mouth and held a finger up to her thin lips. Passing him off to unseen hands in the dark, she stepped forward into the firelight. Six shadows stepped into the light behind her revealing Imperial Justicars, pistols drawn. A snarling smile grew on her lips as she surveyed the scene.

It took a few moments for the surveyors to realize the blonde woman was there, so engrossed were they in their findings. One of the women was the first to see her firelight illuminated figure materialized out of the darkness of the tunnel. She gasped and the others looked up.

The eyes of the man in charge widened in surprise and horror.

“P-professor…. L-lady Soldaxia! W-what are y-you d-doing here?”

“I might ask you the same question, Dr. Le Page. You left without telling anyone where you were going. The Collegium has been worried sick about you.” Her voice dripped sugar and sarcasm.

“We t-tried! I swear! But everyone was busy!”

The chubby man chimed in, his voice a high pitched squeak, “We got new information and we wanted to move on it fast!”

“How come I do not believe you, Dr. Rollus?” She turned her attention to the table, her visage instantly switching from controlled fury to collegial curiosity. “What have you found, Dr. Le Page?”

“W-we were just s-starting to examine it, Professor!”

“Well, let’s see what you have.”

Lady Soldaxio approached the table. Dr. Le Page, Dr. Rollus, and the other surveyors eyed her cautiously, but as her head bent over the books and schematics, they relaxed, wanting to see what they had discovered for themselves. She flipped some of the pages of one of the books.

“Yes. This is very interesting. If I am not mistaken ... this work is authentic ... Great War era. It looks to be the technical specs and development log for some kind of machine. Was there anything else in there with these?”

Dr. Rollus pointed excitedly, his enthusiasm bubbling up in spite of the tension Lady Soldaxia’s arrival had caused.

“Yes! There were models of several different types of steam engines and a collection of weapons. More books and some personal effects. It looks like the room was used as a storage closet.”

“Most interesting. Bring all of the objects up to my study in the Collegium for further research. Thank you, Dr. Le Page, Dr. Rollus, for your hard work on behalf of the Imperium.”

Turning her back to the surveyors, Lady Soldaxia moved away from the table. Motioning for the Justicar holding Lucian to follow her, she marched back down the tunnel. Behind her, gunshots rang out down the tunnel, echoing into the distance.

-

Lady Soldaxia, Lucian in tow, made her way down the tunnels, escorted by several Justicars, each with a lantern. Turning left down a side tunnel, she stopped at a doorway. Taking out a ring of keys, she fished around until she found the right one, a heavy, slightly corroded iron key.

Unlocking the door, she stepped into a room, followed by Lucian and the Justicars. The room was a cellar, lined with barrels and casks of wine and liquor. Locking the door behind the party, she began winding her way through the cellar to the other end, until she reached a stairway going up.

Up the stairs and through another locked door, Lucian found himself at one end of a long hallway littered with statues and works of art, mostly covered with fine linen sheets. Walking down the hallway, Lucian marveled at the various objects lining the walls.

Stopping at a nondescript door, Lady Soldaxia again produced her key ring and unlocked the door. Motioning for Lucian to enter, one Justicar pushed him in, the other took position outside the door.

The door opened into what looked like a library, long with all ceilings. The walls were covered in heavily laden book shelves and display cases. One long central table was covered in open books, maps, diagrams, objects, half empty tea cups, and left over biscuits. A stout dark wood desk with a deep armchair faced the door. Lucian was directed to a chair opposite the desk.

Lady Soldaxia dismissed the Justicar and sat in the armchair across the desk from Lucian. She steepled her fingers in contemplation.

“What do we do with you? Hmmm? … What is your name?”

“Lucian, m’lady.”

“Lucian? What a noble name for such a dirty boy. And well spoken. How old are you?”

“Ten, by my reckoning, ma'am.”

“Ten? Hmmm… Well, I am Lady Soldaxia. I suppose some might describe me as a historian or adventurer. I would be flattered by either. My interest is in the history of the Imperium, specifically, its founding. Can you read, Lucian?”

Lucian nodded, silent and wide eyed. Lady Soldaxia stood up and began to pace, running her fingers over the spines of the books on the shelves. Her voice was rich and cultured, with the slightest hint of a honeyed drawl.

“Good. Do you know what is in these books? The history of the Imperium, not as it happened, but as it is remembered. This history is how the Emperors want you to remember it. Do you know why that is?”

Lucian, enraptured by his surroundings and her voice, shook his head.

“It is precisely because real history is ugly, dirty, petty.” The last three words were spat out. “It is full of betrayals and misdeeds, and the Emperor and Imperium are not always the victims. The reality is that running an empire is a dirty business and those running it sometimes need to do dastardly things. Things which do not make for very good history. That’s where I come in. I go looking for evidence, artifacts and writings, which do not shed a good light on the Emperor or the Imperium, and I make them go away.”

Suddenly, Lucian was confused. “But why dig up the past only to make it disappear?”

“You are a quick one… The simple answer is that if someone like me does not, then people might stumble upon it. Our history is not buried very deep. You have seen the ruins that surround New Walls?”

Lucian nodded.

“Well, such ruins surround every Imperial city. They are the ancient remains of great cities that preceded the ones we know today. It is not hard to find real history in those ruins and not all of it is good in the sight of the Emperor. It could be ruinous to the Imperium if it came to light.”

Lucian shifted uncomfortably, he was starting to wonder if this woman was some Emperor worshipping zealot. Sensing his discomfort, Lady Soldaxia called for tea and cakes to be brought in. Now sitting and sipping a cup of tea, she continued.

“Another part of my job is preserving real history. Even though the Emperor wants it destroyed, the fact of the matter is, we know very little about how the Imperium was formed or what these ruins used to be. I use all of these pieces of historical evidence to piece together the bits of history that are lost to us. Other than the legends about the Rift Wars, we know nothing about what came before the Great War.”

Lucian suddenly remembered that the artifacts found in the tunnel were to be brought here, to the lady’s study. And just as suddenly, Lucian remembered that all of those surveyors had been killed on her orders.

“So what happens the things they found today?”

“Well, they will be brought here, then we will study them, everything will be documented and recorded, and then we will decide if they are ‘worth’ saving or not. Myself and a few trusted colleagues, that is.”

“Colleagues, like the ones you had killed today?”

“They wanted to destroy the objects they found without studying them first. I could not let this happen”

“But the Justicars? They let you study these things?”

Lady Soldaxia’s mouth curled into a smirk.

“The Justicars are mostly uneducated swine, simple blunt tools of the Emperor. Many of them cannot even read. Especially the ones I hand pick to accompany me. For all they know, Dr. Le Page and his associates were going to smuggle the artifacts out of New Wall on the black market.”

“So what happens to me?”

“You are going to help me with my research. Your education about the real Imperium starts now.”