Novel Title: Twilight Between
Time Setting: VI16341
Genre: Fantasy
Minimum Word Goal: 90,000
Timespan: July–August
Locations: Odalrichsaal, Festungberg Gebiet; Steinadlerhorst, Flüsterstrom Gebiet; Möwestanger, Salzkliffe Gebiet, Zeig
Main Characters: Adler Hiedl, Fürst Torben Reiter, Emma Reiter
Background Information:
Located on the Weisdrucke Peninsula, Zeig was established as a monarchy in VI301 under König Odalrich I, who, according to legend, was born and raised in caves beneath the mountain called Bärhöhleberg by his cowardly father in the midst of savage fighting among the other chieftains on the peninsula, before emerging as chief of his people following his father’s death and convincing all the war-weary chieftains on the peninsula to accept him as their king or be annihilated by his fresh troops — a method known as Weisdrucke, from which the royal house, peninsula, and kingdom gained their name.
As most nations, it had its own religious system that was widely practised, but in the VI700s a new religion reached the kingdom, and took strong hold in the west, while being cooly received in the north.
In fact, the people of the north were quire determined to exterminate the new religion by killing its adherents. König Theoderich III, however, didn’t think that was justified, as the new religion wasn’t in any way hostile or warlike in its practises, and so, to avoid war, ceded about one third of his lands to the leader of the northern people, which created the kingdom of Deuschbren in VI775.
The people of the west, as the main adherents of the new religion, weren’t particularly glad to know their king had given up land to people who wanted to persecute adherents of the new religion, but that was not their only malcontent with the king either.
As many peoples in the early centuries, the people of Zeig engaged in slavery, but it was completely unregulated; people could arbitrarily enslave others for no reason whatsoever, and the treatment of these slaves was typically abhorrent.
Influenced by the teachings of the new religion, the peoples of the west believed there should be regulation of slavery, and improved treatment for the slaves, to which end they lobbied both König Theoderich III, and his successor, König Odalrich VII, who acquiesced when he was informed that the kingdoms which neighboured his own thought poorly of him for the state of slavery within his borders.
This resulted in the creation of one of the most unique penal systems in Ureonaiea, in which those guilty of crimes not severe enough to warrant a death penalty, were to be sentenced to slavery, either for the rest of their lives or, for lesser offences, a tenure of years.
He did not, however, create any regulations when it came to the treatment of slaves by their owners, which the people of the west had hoped for, so, after lobbying some more, only to have König Odalrich VII refuse to acquiesce, they seceded, taking around one third of the remaining territory under Zeig’s control to create the kingdom of Austößt in VI817.
This displeased König Odalrich VII’s brother, Walherich, who murdered his brother in VI820, as well as slaughtering much of the royal house before establishing himself as king and changing the name of the kingdom to Zeig, and also replacing its flag, as he didn’t believe the name of Weisdrucke had been chosen by the people, but had been applied to the kingdom by its neighbours.
Following his death — as well as that of his sickly son — one of the youngest sons of König Theoderich III, who had escaped the slaughter, successfully reestablished a more favourable line of the monarchy in VI838, although he didn’t, as expected, restore the old name or flag to the kingdom, as most everyone in and around Zeig had just gotten used to the new name and flag, although there are still some people — even if their numbers are waning significantly — who stubbornly hold to the old name and flag.
The matter of slavery remains still the biggest issue in Zeig, and has led to quite a few consequences for the kingdom, including its lack of trade treaties with its neighbouring kingdoms, as none of those kingdoms are inclined to do business with Zeig because of the way its slaves are treated.
Thus, trade with other kingdoms requires long treks, as most of the nations that don’t care about how Zeig’s slaves are treated are months’ — if not years’ — journeys away, meaning that Zeig is also not quite so prosperous as its neighbours.
Most of its neighbours would be willing to trade with Zeig if they would carry out a reform of how slaves are treated, and have even proposed solutions, the most well-known of which is called the Außtöst Munster, as it was devised and put forth by Außtöst as the conditions required for a trade treaty between the two kingdoms, and it has been widely accepted by others as the best solution.
It even has supporters within Zeig’s borders, most of whom don’t actually own slaves themselves — mostly because they’re not in businesses that need them — but there is also a group of slaveowners who have formed the Außtöst Munster Verbund, or AMV, and strive to implement the Außtöst Munster on their individual estates.
The membership of the AMV, however, is at less than 100 people, and only one of their members is of the nobility — that member, unfortunately, however, is not of the rank of Häuptling, which is the only noble rank that controls more territory than their own estates, or has any say when it comes to lawmaking — thus they haven’t been able to do much.
However, the health of the current monarch, König Baldrich IX, is failing, and many believe that his son, Kronprinz Theoderich, might be sympathetic to the cause, as he has spent a greater deal of time associating with the kingdoms that neighbour Zeig than any of his predecessors, but no one can really be sure.
Born the youngest of three sons and sixth of nine children to the Graf and Gräfin von Schönwiese, Adler had a rather unassuming start to his life. As the third son, he wasn’t heir to his father’s title, and since his father had the lowest noble title available in Zeig, he didn’t even live an overly privileged and prestigious life compared to other noblemen’s children.
Despite his father’s low status in the nobility, Adler had prestigious relatives, as his maternal grandfather was the Erzherzog von Wolfsieg, who was a highly esteemed horse breeder, and whose estate was located reasonably near to that of Adler’s father.
As a result, Adler spent a good amount of time at his grandfather’s estate, and was, of all his siblings and cousins, most attracted by the horses, soon becoming involved in his grandfather’s business, soaking up all the knowledge his grandfather could feed him like a sponge until, as an adolescent, he became his grandfather’s right-hand man.
To some people, his position was viewed as significant, as Adler’s grandfather and grandmother had seven daughters and no sons, and all their daughters had married noblemen.
Additionally, Adler’s grandfather had been the only son of his father, and his father’s only brother had been disowned from the family, while all the other possible relatives were married into the nobility.
As a result, Adler, his middle brother, and his male cousins who weren’t the firstborn sons of their parents were considered the primary candidates to receive the title of Erzherzog after their grandfather, as since only the title of Häuptling held any power in Zeig, it was considered foolish and ridiculous for a person who wasn’t a Häuptling to possess multiple noble titles.
Nonetheless, Adler was considered the least likely candidate because he was the youngest son of his grandfather’s daughter who’d married the farthest beneath her. Thus when Adler’s grandfather named him Erberzherzog at his eighteenth birthday party, quite a few people were shocked, including Adler, who’d expected to remain in an employed position to one of his cousins upon his grandfather’s death.
When he, and others, reflected on it, however, it made good sense, as he was the grandson who was most closely involved with his grandfather, and had the same intense passion for the main business of his grandfather’s estate.
Not everyone felt that such things were important, such as the Großherzog von Keilerangriff, who happened to be the father-in-law of Adler’s cousin, Theobald, whom many had expected would be chosen as Erberzherzog because of the fact that he was the second-oldest grandson.
The Großherzog von Keilerangriff was also something of a horseman — albeit not as intensely involved as Adler and his grandfather — so he saw Adler at horse shows often, and every single time he did, he would extol the virtues of his son-in-law, and rail agains the decision to make Adler the Erberzherzog, which annoyed Adler severely.
Nevertheless, Adler strove to ignore the Großherzog, venting his frustrations as needed to the horses, his grandfather, or his sweetheart Relinda, until one day — about a year after he’d been named Erberzherzog — when he didn’t check his temper fast enough and launched into an angry tirade in the Großherzog’s face.
Although it felt good on one hand, Adler also regretted it severely soon afterwards, and so tried to apologise many times over the course of the next year, but to no avail, until he was shocked one day by the arrival of the king’s soldiers, who placed him under arrest for the murder of the Großherzog von Keilerangriff.
Adler was convinced it was all a mistake until he learned how much evidence pointed to him being the murderer, which might’ve made him despair if there wasn’t also a lot of evidence that pointed to his innocence.
Unfortunately, the evidence was such that the jury was hung twice before the decision was made to send the case to the capital, Odalrichsaal, where König Baldrich IX and Kronprinz Theoderich joined the judge in hearing the case, with the trio agreeing in the end that both the prosecution and defence were on the cusp of victory, but neither one had enough evidence to seal the verdict in their favour.
Since murder was a capitally-punishable crime, the fact that the verdict was inconclusive was a problem, and one that König Baldrich IX and Kronprinz Theoderich spent much time thinking on before they presented a bill to the government which established that Adler would be sentenced to indefinite slavery until either the prosecution or the defence could provide the crucial piece of evidence they needed to secure a conclusive verdict.
The government passed the bill, and as a result, Adler has been sentenced to slavery, which will begin as soon as the next of the regularly-scheduled new slave sale takes place and he is sold to his first master.
Born the oldest of six sons and third of thirteen children, Torben had the unique distinction of being born on the same day that his grandfather, the Fürst von Steinadlerhorst, died; in fact, Torben was actually being cradled in his grandfather’s arms when his grandfather died of his lingering illness.
As a result, Torben was christened with both his name and the title of Erbfürst von Steinadlerhorst, while his father stepped into the role of Fürst, and his mother as Fürstin.
Since he was the Erbfürst, Torben was given a thorough and wide-ranging education on everything related to the business of the family estate so that he would be able to help his father in it, as well as to take it over from his father when he died.
Owing to their religious convictions, the Fürstenhaus von Steinadlerhorst faced some unique struggles, as even though they adhered to the new religion — which, by that time, was reasonably commonplace and not particularly new — they owned slaves, which put them at odds with many of the people who had the same religious beliefs as they did.
However, these religious convictions also prompted them to treat their slaves with dignity and do their best to educate their slaves in different jobs and other such things in an effort to prevent the slaves from reoffending once they were freed, as well as giving the slaves skills they could use to provide for themselves, and their families, which put them at odds with many of their fellow slave owners, who seemed to treat and view their slaves as lesser than their horses and other livestock.
Nonetheless, Torben and his father saw many rewards in their work, and found that their estate was more productive than those of other owners who were brutal to their slaves; indeed, some slaves enjoyed working for them so much they asked to be hired on as paid staff following their release.
Upon completing his compulsory schooling in Zeig, Torben chose to take some secondary education in nearby Außtöst, where he faced many questions and challenges about slavery — and his own family’s particular practises — from his classmates, which he was able to respond to because of the fact that most of the questions and challenges were more than familiar to him.
He even invited his classmates to come to his family’s estate in Zeig to see for themselves, and many took him up on the offer, including a young man by the name of Meinrad, who was quite impressed by what he saw, and told his family.
As a result, when heavy snows prevented Torben from being able to get home for the winter break, Meinrad invited Torben to his family estate where Meinrad’s father — a Vizekönig of Außtöst, making him equivalent to a Häuptling in Zeig — peppered Torben with questions, but not so incessantly that Torben was unable to notice Meinrad’s fetching younger sister Alena.
Meinrad’s whole family came to Torben’s family estate because of Torben’s visit, and Torben and Alena started falling in love. Their relationship wasn’t sanctioned by Alena’s father, however, until the AMV — which Torben and his father had never heard of, but were glad to join when they were told of it by Alena’s father — had vetted their estate and granted them membership.
Following their marriage, Torben and Alena started a family, which had reached nine children by the time Torben’s father died of injuries sustained in a horrible carriage accident when Torben was thirty.
Torben and Alena’s family was rounded out with three more children following his inheritance of the title of Fürst von Steinadlerhorst. The birth of their youngest, a daughter they named Emma, was difficult for Alena, so much so that she never had the strength to walk again, and nearly died.
Because of his wife’s weakness, Torben proceeded to carry his wife wherever she needed to go — be it elsewhere in the house, on the estate, or even to social gatherings — and was sternly vigilant about her health and wellbeing.
Unfortunately, his vigilance wasn’t enough to prevent Alena from taking ill when what was typically a common and highly survivable sickness swept through the house. Because of her weakened state Alena was unable to fight off the sickness and died.
Having loved his wife dearly, Torben was devastated, and so was two-year-old Emma, who clung to Torben over the ensuing days, weeks, months, and years.
Indeed, twelve years since, Torben’s closest and most affectionate relationship with any of his children has been the one he has with Emma. He does his best to not neglect his other children either — nor his growing number of grandchildren — but has to admit that much of the time he feels like he’s doing a lousy job, but, for some reason, none of his children will believe him whenever he says so.
Outside of the work on his estate, Torben’s time is largely consumed by working with the AMV to promote the ethical, humane treatment of slaves for the betterment of the entire kingdom.
Because of both the ailing health of König Baldrich IX and his own prestigious rank of Fürst — the second-highest noble rank in Zeig after Häuptling — which makes it easier for him to gain audiences with the monarchy, Torben hopes to do as much as he can to gain a favourable hearing from Kronprinz Theoderich, in the hopes that when the Kronprinz ascends to the throne, the much-yearned-for reforms will finally come to pass.
1does not correspond to 1634 AD.
Pronunciations:
Odalrichsaal: ohdahlrihkzahl
Festungberg: fehstungberg
Gebiet: gehbeet
Steinadlerhorst: staenahdlerhohrst
Flüsterstrom: fluesterstrawm
Möwestanger: muhvestahnger
Salzkliffe: zahltzklihffeh
Zeig: tsaeg
Hiedl: heedl
Fürst: fourst
Reiter: raeter
Weisdrucke: vaessdrookuh
König: kuhnihg
Odalrich: ohdahlrihk
Bärhöhleberg: barehullberg
Theoderich: taeawderick
Deuschbren: d’oyshbrehn
Ureonaiea: yuhrahnaeah
Außtöst: owstuhst
Walherich: vahlhehrick
Munster: muhnstir
Verbund: fehrboont
Häuptling: hoyptling
Baldrich: bahldrick
Kronprinz: krohnprihntz
Graf: grahf
Gräfin: greffihn
Von: fahn
Schönwiese: shuhnveess
Erzherzog: ayrtzhertzaug
Wolfsieg: vuhlfseeg
Erberzherzog: ehrbayertzhertzaug
Großherzog: grohsshertzaug
Keilerandgriff: kaelerahngrihff
Theobald: taeohbahld
Relinda: rehlihnda
Erbfürst: ehrbfourst
Fürstin: fourstihn
Fürstenhaus: fourstehnhowss
Meinrad: minerahd
Vizekönig: fihtzehkuhnihg
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