In spite of the union, Manticura did not have a unified army. In favour of their individual interests, each race maintained and trained its own army. The Humans had the largest army and the Tuyuns the smallest. Cross-race liaisons were also punishable by the law of the woman’s racial faction. However, interracial pairings between Scereans and Humans were known to be common occurrences before the passing of the law. As a result, pure blooded Scereans became a rare sight in modern Manticura.
4956 CE:
The World Union was formed, spearheaded by the countries of the North and West Continents, including the Arlands. Ceras split into North and South Ceras following the Cerasean Wars.
Internal conflict had been festering between the leaders within the Manticurean Union due to the Humans’ monopoly of major political decisions. This came to a head when the Tuyun and Scerean leaders staged a coup to remove the Human leader, Thomason Stil, from power. It resulted in a civil war, seeing the Humans backed by their staunch ally, the Cayanese.
Without an alliance, the other races lost the war. The new Manticurean Union only had Human and Cayanese representatives in the seats. Martial law was declared across Manticura.
Across the border, Fel and Cay had since been unified and the new country was called F’herak. F’herak was first a part of Ceras, and later South Ceras after the Cerasean Wars. The leader of the self-governing state began championing for independence after they helped the South Ceras forces win the Juntra Plains bordering the warring halves of the Cerasean Peninsula.
PROJECT NOTES #05:
THE MAKING OF MODERN MANTICURA
5042 CE:
The New Republic of F’herak split from South Ceras. F’herak extended an invitation to the politically unstable Manticura to join their “F’herakian Imperative”.
Seeing the advantage of unified governance based outside of the tenuous race relations, the Manticurean Union accepted the invitation and Manticura attained title as a state of F’herak.
5050 CE:
Barani’s birth as marked by the first sighting of her in Manticura.
5058 CE:
Ria’s birth as marked by her founding by Barani.
Manticura was granted self-governance with a largely-Human minor parliament headed by Ormal Din, a Cayanese F’herakian chosen by the F’herakian government. Ormal Din was a retired army general, and for the next seven years Manticura was governed by strict quasi-martial law.
5065 CE:
Ormal Din was assassinated in his own home.
His petrified form and those of his personal bodyguards were discovered by one of his maids on a Tuesday morning, 4th of Evernoon. Anten Demaria, the medusa who was believed to be the assassin, was apprehended in the slums of Dinya, one of the most deprived slums in Manticura at the time, in the exact spot where the Covalence Mall stands today. Anten’s actions were seen as an act of terrorism by the F’herakian government, causing friction between F’herak and Manticura. Stricter laws were passed, and suffocating regulations implemented. “Troublemakers”, most of them Human, were removed from the population before they could “disrupt the state’s fragile peace”.
Nenek began educating the girls on the values of patience and acceptance, and abstinence from using their gaze powers. Ria and Barani attended public school briefly; they were then home-schooled by a woman known only as Cikgu Ramlah.
Anten was put on trial for her crimes and later sentenced to death by firing squad. However, on the day of her execution, the chief executioner ordered her beheading. Leaked footage of the deed sent the state into an uproar as people took to the streets to protest the inhumanity, citing her assassination of what they described as a “cruel warlord” to be a kindly bestowed justice in contrast. (See article, “The Woman Who Sees” by Anonymous in what was then known as the TisCera Tribune.)
The Order, then an organization rebelling against F’herakian government, rose to power during this time, rallying the crowds in their push for Manticura’s independence.
5066 CE:
Tension grew in the Layeptic Region as South Ceras agreed to lend military support to Manticura should they enter war, and F’herak imposed a trade embargo on both states. Panicked exodus of F’herakian citizens from the country saw suffocating crowds at train and ferry stations.
The Layanen Station Massacre took place at 5.30 am on the 12th of Sol. A small band of gunmen fired machine-gun rounds into the crowd waiting for the first train to take them out of Manticura. Sixty were killed and more than twice that number injured. The Order denied any connection to the attack, calling it an independent act of terrorism.
F’herak declared a state of emergency, resulting in further panic at the stations.
At this point, the Union stepped in with the Layeptic Summit, during which both F’herak and Manticura borders were policed by the Union Peacekeeper Corps. Manticura was granted independence mid-5066 under the Layeptic Compact. Both countries agreed to cease hostilities. An official apology was given for Anten’s unfair treatment; through an agreement, her severed head was given to the new Manticurean government for proper burial.
5068 CE:
Ten-year-old Ria turned Kenanga to stone. Barani turned a few government officials to stone in Ria’s defense. The sisters fled to Nelroote.
Discovery of the Kenanga incident led to a renewed interest in medusas. However, with the tender political state of a newly-independent Manticura, the pressing need for industrial, commercial and residential developments; as well as the brewing tensions in the north and the west, made tracking down Ria and Barani a low priority.
5070 CE:
The North Coalition was formed following a gas attack in Rhesof, with the goal of seeing the world liberated from the extremism of the Eastern former empires.
Ten-year-old Lela Marudin left Nelroote for the surface with her two brothers, father and mother, following a period of difficult illness during which she took on her “Changer” form.
5072 CE:
In early ‘72, Esomiri North Coalition forces made a push east towards the Layeptic Region, where resources of common metals, oil and wood were in abundance. The threat saw the beginnings of a rift opening in the F’herakian parliamentary.
Avoiding the open sea route, their forces took F’herak by surprise via the desert that divided F’herak from Estagur. Manticura, F’herak, and North and South Ceras formed the Layeptic Alliance to counter the attack.
North Coalition forces arrived in Manticura. Henry Shuen, 18, and his friend, Usa Marudin, also 18, as well as a Scerean named Acra, 25, left to join the army.
5073 CE:
Usa and Acra died in battle in the same year.
F’herak saw a parliamentary split following party disagreements over peace treaties with the northern forces, resulting in the division of Upper and Lower F’herak.
5074 CE:
The Layeptic Alliance fought a two-and-half-year war with the invading Esomiri forces, but isolated from the main Alliance in the north; the Layeptic armies faced a slow decline as communication and supply lines were cut off in key areas, and planted agents ensured decreased support from the people.
The war veterans in Manticura later named the period of fighting as the “Two-Half ” or “Tuhav”.
Year of the infamous “Feleenese Retreat”, where significant numbers of Feleenese troops from the 89th and 151st Manticurean ground troops retreated across the Honour Strait into Lower F’herak. Henry Shuen was a sergeant in the 151st, one of the few who disobeyed the order to retreat.
Lower F’herak and North Ceras continued to resist invasion, while Upper F’herak, South Ceras and Manticura agreed to terms of surrender.
5074-78 CE:
Manticura’s period of occupation. During this period, Manticura experienced accelerated scientific advancement, as well as rapid development of urban and industrial infrastructure. The great number of Human immigrants from the North Coalition resulted in an increase of the already-significant Human population in Manticu
ra, altering social structures in the nation. Humans gained greater privileges than the other races, with the Feleenese receiving the worst treatment. The latter race faced continued suspicion in light of the “Feleenese Resistance” in both Upper and Lower F’herak, and the pockets of rebel groups working in Manticura itself to push out the invaders.
Ria began her collection of statues in the central chamber of the catacombs, disregarding race or uniform. Many of her victims were soldiers trying to escape capture when they were either unable to join up with, or were cut off from, the mass of retreating forces.
When Coalition patrols began disappearing in the Ne’rut forest, old files on the region were revisited, resulting in the discovery of the Kenanga incident that the young Manticurean government had kept classified from the larger population due to its sensitivity, being so close to the Ormal Din assassination.
The power of the medusa involved in the Kenanga incident was recognised in its sheer magnitude and stealth. Anten had been beheaded on the order of the F’herak parliament so that her head might be brought back for study on the effectiveness of her gaze even after death—thereby finding out if it was possible to utilise the power without the autonomy of the person it belonged to. Acquiring a medusa alive and in secret would minimise the chances of a political incident.
Kenanga’s obscurity meant that there were no contemporary reports on the incident, but Usman Kemat’s reports identified that there were, in fact, two medusas on Manticura, confirming the suspicions that Kenanga was the work of more than one individual. The development plan was a calculated move to have the medusas within the control of the government.
Covert operations were dispatched into the Ne’rut rainforest to scour the jungles for the medusas. Given the technological limitations of the time and Ria’s heightened ability to cover her tracks, her position and by extension her sister’s could not be triangulated. Ria grew faster and stronger with each new encounter, and between pushing back the waves of attack on two fronts from Lower F’herak and North Ceras, the growing Feleenese and Tuyun threats in Manticura, the occupying Coalition order could not devote resources in pursuit of persons whose existences were based upon a few unverified file reports.
The main Alliance continued their fight in the Northern countries of the North continent, pushing steadily through Rhes and Esom and into the Layeptic region.
In Manticura, the last remaining Coalition forces faced a defeat in Jankett New Town on the morning of the 14th of Grudan, where the Two-Half War Memorial stands today.
Ria returned to Nelroote on the 22nd, bringing the first real news of freedom with her in the form of Waro, who had been released from the Menkapa POW camp on the north coast.
The medusa case was again neglected as the national focus moved to economic and infrastructure rebuilding as well as parliamentary re-elections.
Manticura returned to its old system of a unified, multi-racial government, now simply called the Order. However, a single military was established and there were no racially individualised laws. Each race was allowed a collective that saw to their own race’s needs, but every decision made had to first be passed by the Cohesion Ministry.
Manticura’s education system saw a major reassessment. All schools, workplaces and housing estates were also to adhere to government passed race quotas.
5088 CE:
Eedric was born as Jonathan Eedric Shuen to Lela Marudin-Shuen and Henry Shuen.
5102 CE:
Lela and Henry became estranged due to irreconcilable differences and Henry’s affair with his personal assistant.
5106 CE:
Lela passed away from a disease that was unspecified by Eedric. Doctors’ records indicated it to be lung cancer. Lela’s health records also indicated a history of hypertension, clinical depression and borderline general anxiety disorder. These conditions are likely characteristics of her being placed high on the survivalist spectrum, however they were not clearly marked as such.
5116-17 CE:
Ria and Eedric met, and carried out a brief sexual relationship. Pregnancy tests on Ria have come back positive, possibly twins of unspecified gender. It is not known how the combined genetics of the father and mother will affect the offspring.
Project journal entry:
At this point, I am unsure as to how we should proceed with Ria’s rehabilitation and subsequent integration into the internal security defence unit of the country. My observations and the conversation that I had with her have led me to conclude that she is highly volatile and therefore a security liability. However, I do wonder at how much of a hand we have had in creating her in the first place. Hormonal changes may or may not aggravate her volatility. I personally feel that there might be a better chance of cultivating the necessary values in her offspring. On another note, the window for study and experimentation may now be confined to a significantly smaller time frame. Note to research team.
APPENDIX II
LIST OF TUYUNRI WORDS
Extracted from Almanac of Life: An Annotated Edition
by Prof. Manuet Juros (4914 CE)
A
/ah/
(an) : of
ak’er : ceremony
anir : animal
ahas : excrement ; shit
BC
/b’(uh)k/
bcur : day
bcur’in : “Day above” ; Tuyunri equivalent of “good day” or “hello”
bcis : night
bcis’in : “Night above” ; Tuyunri equivalent of “good evening”
bc’ne’ : today
bc’jot : not today ; understood as “tomorrow”
bc’jot(h) : not today ; understood as “yesterday”
D
/oo/
dal : tongue
dalla : fall
dallayari : waterfall
E
/eh/
et(he) : yes ; “so it is”
et(hor) : no ; “as such it is not”
(eis) : can
F
/ph/
fel : cat ; feline
fel’nees : Feleenese
G
/g’(uh)g/
g’urk : idiot ; unfitting
g’ukm : kin (not blood-related); belonging
g’jarukm : blood-kin ; relatives
g(nal) : give
g(thur) : harm gur : sand
gur(ma) : desert
H
(he) : so
(hor) : such
hur : flesh
hurnees : Humans
I
is-uk : uncle/father
– The only existing word in the Tuyunri lexicon that can be used to address an older man or the father of a child.
J
jar : blood
ja’tur : blood-sister
– (var.) tu’tur : earth-sister (women who share a very close relation-ship and are not blood related)
– (var.) ura’tur : heart-sister (also female lover/partner)
ja’tis : blood-brother (born of the same mother)
– (var.) tu’tis : earth-brother (see ja’tur and tu’tur)
– (var.) ura’tis : heart-brother (also male lover/partner)
jot : forward ; north
jot(h) : back ; south
jot(h)ur : death ; dead
L
lay : (pronounced lah’yi) sea
layari : water
layar’in : rain
layer : (pronounced, lah-yehr) sail
layeri : river
M
/heh/
ma : land
masi : big
maura : small
me : snake
meri : flow
metu’ra : inscribe ; carve ; (later) write
me-tura : snake-woman ; or in other words, medusa
N
nah : mother
nah uk’rh : aunt ; “not mother but could be”
na-uk : shortened form for “aunt”, usually used to address a significantly older woma
n
ne’ : to
nee : born ; child
– pl. neer
nee’is : alive ; living
nees : people ; a questioning gesture or intonation is also a way of saying “who”
nin : tall ; lofty
ni’in : high ; above
O
/r/
(o) : where
oa : place
R
/‘oo/
rebakara : celebration (likely a Sumean alteration)
r(o)h : short ; beneath ; low
roc : a species of four-legged reptile that can be domesticated. Has unique control of their body temperatures and a secondary system of adrenaline release that can be activated, making them particularly fast and active. Known to be very loyal; ferocity and loyalty are largely dependent on the way they have been cared for. Life span of 15 to 20 standard nees years.
– su(ma) roc : the favoured subspecies among the privileged. The need to provide a substantial sub-aquatic habitat for them makes them expensive to care for.
– gur(ma) roc : hardiest of the species. Thrives in (and prefers) dry living conditions. Most of the strays in Manticura are of this sub-species.
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