The Hierophant's Daughter

by M F Sullivan

  Detractors argue that the Lamb cannot be everywhere at once, and martyrdom is a disease which cannot be controlled

  CE 2150 / AL 105

  Senator [REDACTED] of Vermont is the first American politician to be outed as a martyr, sparking numerous gubernatorial debates about everything from the ability of martyrs to run for office to the number of terms they should be allowed

  For the first time in human history, a government recognizes the martyrs as a legitimate race: the United States of America

  The American Registry of Martyrs is created in AL 120, which results in several decades of backlash wherein the list is used for discrimination, rather than to curb it

  Martyrs are given the vote in AL 147, thanks in large part to the compassionate efforts of their human proponents

  CE 2240 / AL 195

  The Hierophant is formally elected president of the Russian Federation following the untimely death of his predecessor, [REDACTED]

  In a terrible shock to the Russian people, [REDACTED]’s cause of death is listed as suicide; the Hierophant nobly swears to guide the people through this time of crisis

  The Italian city of Venice is declared inhabitable due to rising sea levels

  CE 2310 / AL 265

  British and Canadian martyrs win personage

  Senator [REDACTED] is arrested for murder after it is discovered he has not been subsisting exclusively on donated blood, as he has led the people to believe

  While the United States has gone back and forth on the issue of martyr rights, the species has taken particular hold in Europe; China begins to demonstrate anxiety about its small martyr population

  The Holy Martyr Church gains alarming claim to Apostolic Succession following the revelation that Bishop [REDACTED] of Verona was martyred before his episcopal consecration; the bishop officially converts to the HMC soon after the public revelation

  The Roman Catholic Church responds with the blanket excommunication of all martyrs, thus voiding the false claim to succession; the Holy Martyr Church claims, as ever, to be victims of persecution

  CE 2400 / AL 355

  When the slaughter of the Hierophant’s second generation of children provokes dissent in Europe, China surreptitiously foments rebellion and funds the nascent Hunters

  The Hierophant survives his sixth recorded assassination attempt, provoking World War III: Britain, Canada, Turkey, and Russia are soon awarded the support of the United States, which is increasingly regarded as a martyr nation; China manages to win the support of Japan, India, and small portions of Europe

  CE 2401 / AL 356 – CE 2415 / AL 370

  Over the course of fifteen years, World War III stretches global resources past their breaking point

  Outside of densely populated countries, martyrs are at constant threat of hate crimes, which the Hierophant claims to be the result of war, religious bigotry, and racism

  Russian annexes Poland during the war in what the country claims to be defensive action

  High-tech drone warfare and the rapid speed at which information travels keeps the conflict limited to a series of skirmishes and intermittent bombings until Turkey joins Russia in an abrupt assault on Kazakhstan; it becomes apparent that the Hierophant’s real goal in the war is to gain land

  Desperate to end the conflict, the Chinese military makes the decision to drop an atomic bomb on the city of Moscow following a series of warnings to evacuate the city

  For reasons unknown, the warnings fail to reach the populace in time; even those martyrs not killed in the blast die from radiation poisoning

  Evidence later indicates a mass power outage gripped Moscow hours before the bomb was dropped

  The Hierophant, in Rome for an unannounced business trip, is unharmed

  Following the bombing, a vast swath of Russia is rendered uninhabitable; the Chinese government, having been provoked into a war crime, reluctantly admits defeat and pays reparations while firmly denying, now or ever, rights to martyrs in their country

  CE 2545 / AL 500

  After the war, the subject of martyrs and martyr rights becomes an important subject worldwide: in 50 years, 63 countries pass legislation either for or against their citizenship

  Every country in Europe recognizes martyr citizens

  Environmental repair of Russia begins in earnest

  CE 2650 / AL 605

  The Hierophant, on surviving yet another assassination attempt, appeals to the Pope; the official Catholic position soon becomes pro-martyr, an arguable contradiction of the Church’s respect for all life

  Despite amending their official position to assure their followers that martyrs deserve the dignity of life as much as any other living thing, the Catholic Church still believes members of the Holy Martyr Church to be heretical, and martyrs are still considered excommunicated upon their martyrdom

  A series of small wars are fought between anti-martyr and pro-martyr European states; this loosely connected series of conflicts earns the name “the European Civil War” and stretches until 705 AL

  CE 2770 / AL 725

  The Second European Union is established; due to human majority leadership, the motion to conglomerate the separate nations into one country fails to pass

  Nonetheless, the Hierophant is elected speaker of the Union, a position comparable to president of the United States

  CE 2845 / AL 800 – CE 3045 / AL 1000

  Russia, though considered once more habitable, is widely regarded as the most undesirable place in the planet, second only to the ultrahot island nation of Australia

  Using technology created to save Russia, the drowned city of Venice is raised from the sea

  The Hierophant turns his attention to the notion of a Martian colony

  Hunter activities grow more prominent throughout South America and the Middle East, while the martyr population of the United States is deliberately grown; a terror attack in Washington, DC, leads not only to a change of capital city, but to war

  American declares war on Afghanistan without sufficient proof that their citizens were involved in the attack; the European Union, now frequently shortened to Europa, provides military and fiscal support

  CE 3060 / AL 1015

  A series of wars with America rocks the Middle East while martyrs worldwide play the victim; every time a Hunter cell is disbanded, another pops up

  America is eventually urged by its own people to end the conflicts and pay reparations; devastated, the Middle East struggles to rebuild

  CE 3295 / AL 1250

  After an escalating series of violent acts by Hunter cells advocating against martyr rights, Pope [REDACTED] is assassinated; the Catholic world mourns, as do martyrs, who consider the Holy See to be a religious authority

  In the wake of the violence, the Vatican offers a stunning response: Cardinal [REDACTED] I is elected the first martyr Pope

  The schism this creates in the Church is unprecedented

  To celebrate this union of Catholics and martyrdom, Italy’s name is changed to Mephitoli

  CE 3305 / AL 1260

  After much struggle, the constitution of the Middle States is ratified; those states ravaged by the Hierophant band together in the fashion of Europa and form a home for displaced humans

  Supporters of the traditional Roman Catholic Church flood the new union’s boarders; Jerusalem is established as the new Holy See by the Council of Bathsheba in 1262

  While the Vatican declares a merger of the RCC and the HMC, the congregation in Jerusalem formally denies the apostolic succession of the martyr church and expands the doctrine of excommunication to all martyrs, as well as human attendants of the martyr church

  Millions of superficial Catholics, failing to understand the difference, continue attending their old churches and are, with varying degrees of awareness and concern, excommunicated

  CE 3411 / AL 1366

  After determining enough generations have passed since the merger of faiths, patriarchs call to order the Thirty-Third Ecumenica
l Council of the Catholic Church

  Following the meeting, informally called Vatican III, Pope [REDACTED] steps down, and martyr doctrine is seamlessly integrated into Church teachings

  The Hierophant is formally elected Pope ad vitam aeternam after the shortest conclave in history: 20 minutes

  CE 3445 / AL 1400

  Following Vatican III, Asian countries begin rejecting martyr (and even Lazarene) influence more violently than before

  By the year 3445, it is the official position of the Catholic Church that the Hierophant and his organization are the beings described in the Book of Revelations, heretofore considered symbolism: Jerusalem quietly calls its own Vatican III to establish the new position

  In the United States of America, violence against humans proves on the rise; the Hierophant makes many special trips to advise the president on how to handle such trying times

  Upon the release of a number of large-scale studies that indicate mankind’s technological development has been drastically impacted by needless wars with the Hierophant, a coalition is formed between Japan, China, India, and the Middle States to develop the first global mass-transit system

  Japanese Engineer, [REDACTED], names this transit system “The Light Rail”; in celebration of this achievement, the Land of the Rising Sun becomes known as the Empire of the Risen Sun

  In AL 1412, a terrorist attack which military intelligence claims to be from Mexican soil leads to the annexation of Mexico: the world knows better than to respond to the Hierophant’s attempts to provoke them into war, and Mexico’s pleas for assistance go unanswered

  CE 3495 / AL 1450

  With more than 50 percent of the Senate and 30 percent of the House seats now held by openly martyr politicians in the United States, the first martyr president is elected

  Two years later, the New Constitution is proposed, and the United States agrees to rejoin Britain due to “concerns” over expanding Eastern Hemisphere technology

  CE 3517 / AL 1472

  Through skillful tax maneuvering and no small amount of intimidation, the Hierophant acquires his dream castle of Kronborg, located in Elsinore, Denmark; the already martyr-heavy town becomes the political capital to the Vatican’s religious one, and martyrs flood in, giving way to a new social structure that will spread out across most of Europa

  New York’s name is changed to New Elsinore to celebrate this achievement

  CE 3560 / AL 1515

  Most US citizens who were upset about America’s rejoining have either been martyred, grown old, or died; the new generations raised with this reality accepts it as simple fact

  They also accept as simple fact the notion that, as an extension of the British Empire, the Hierophant has complete sovereignty over their domain

  Protests are launched when the term limits of American presidents are formally abolished; these same protests are soon squelched, and lifelong term limits for presidents become the norm for the next generation

  Accusations of poor working conditions on the part of some humans in the employ of martyrs, especially the hyper-wealthy variety found in the Denmark city of Elsinore, echo accusations of slavery both in the European courts and in American factories and farms

  Arguments about humans being murdered for food have long since become so rote that only a few countries, namely Japan, China, and a handful of African states, seem to care about the subject at all

  CE 3609 / AL 1564

  The Light Rail officially opens; one year later, the United States proposes unifications with Canada and Mexico, with the latter formally declared property of the United States

  Mexico retaliates by declaring (civil) war on the United States in 1570

  Turkey’s president is outed as a martyr after a suspicious centennial term; he declares allegiance to the Holy Martyr Church, and to the Hierophant

  After the death of US president [REDACTED] of Virginia, Holy Family member Trimalchio is elected president

  He humbly signs a document formalizing Church powers over the government of the United Front, and grants the Hierophant the authority to install future presidents, hereafter to be referred to as “governors”

  In a gesture almost certainly intended to be mocking, Trimalchio allows the measure to be submitted for a vote; the people pass it, even without the surreptitious influence of Hierophant-employed hackers over the electronic voting machines

  CE 3666 / AL 1621

  Under Trimalchio’s controversial reign, new measures are put into place walking back the crimes of murder, assault, and kidnapping for martyrs in the Front

  Many European countries follow suit, while increasing sentences for humans who commit the same crimes against martyrs

  Humans lose the right to vote on anything more than local measures around 1650

  Concerned about its citizens still flooding into America—lured by the universal basic income, which Trimalchio and the Hierophant work to establish in 1654—Japan begins to earnestly fund the terrorist organization known as the Hunters, and begins to engage in a series of sanctions against the Front, which inspires some countries to follow suit

  The Hierophant’s response to this is to encourage martyrs to vacation in or move to Japan, and to find a nice Japanese child to martyr

  A small wave of martyr immigration in Japan is swiftly and violently halted, which provides the Hierophant a fine excuse to start another series of conflicts

  Trimalchio isolates Asian and Mexican citizens into specialized neighborhoods, citing concerns of terrorism and spying; by 1658, proper concentration camps have been developed in Canadian Jurisdictions, Montana, and a few isolated spots in the Mexican desert

  Horrible rumors about the treatment and slaughter of humans circulate quickly in an age where DIOX cyborgans equipped with Internet access and usable reality-augmentation features have begun to hit the market

  By 1662, Japan and the martyrs are once more at war: the First Invasion of Japan leads to catastrophic loss of martyr life and the subsequent invasion of California

  CE 3711 / AL 1666

  The Hierophant martyrs an eight-year-old girl named Morgan in a small Mephitolian Jurisdiction; he changes her name, as is tradition

  The child, Dominia di Mephitoli, will grow up to become the single most formidable—and frightening—general that the world has ever seen

  CE 3731 / AL 1686

  By the age of 28, Dominia has become well known for her particular capacity for violence and strategic warfare; after joining the military at 20 and being sent to the Southwestern theater to engage invaders in California and Mexico and achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel, the plight of the navy at the hands of the Japanese becomes woefully apparent

  At the Hierophant’s request, Dominia is transferred across military branches, and is forced to endure a brief stint in the navy; such transfers are common in the long-lived species of martyrs, but Lieutenant Colonel Mephitoli is personally unhappy in the new role, as well as disgusted to see so many of her comrades die

  Believing a new, more serious strategy is needed than allowing the Japanese to play Battleship with them for the next twenty years, Dominia convinces her Father to stage a Second Invasion of Japan

  Under Mephitoli’s command, the operation proves so successful it leads to the Ruin of Tokyo, and her promotion to general; however, the deaths of many citizens means that Japan has formal evidence of war crimes

  Strictly speaking, the Front loses the war, and is forced to dismantle its camps, pay reparations, and extradite Governor Trimalchio for trial in Japan

  The Hierophant politely refuses this third demand, and Trimalchio will never leave the United Front again

  Throughout the rest of her Earthly life, until her promotion to governess of the Front, the General will be shipped between wars, with any peacetime filled with an on-again, off-again career in the military police

  CE 3845 / AL 1800

  The increasingly paranoid governor, convinced humans are planning to murder him and t
hat Japan is planning to invade just to capture him, has to be forced by the Hierophant to allow electric threshold technology in his country

  The electric barriers only do so much good; human citizens are still at constant risk, and human immigrants are in particular danger

  The Hunters are happy to oblige Trimalchio’s paranoid fantasies and begin a long-term campaign of ideological subversion in the Front

  Over the course of eighty years, multiple generations of Front citizens are warmed into dissent through subtle countercultural motifs worked into art, music, literature, and the platforms of those few human politicians still with money and security enough to run for office

  The Internet makes this process, once practiced by the Hierophant for the sake of martyrs, very easy

  CE 3905 / AL 1860

  In response to an increase in violence against martyrs, a booming martyr population in need of ready food, and evidence indicating willful conspiracies of ideological subversion, Trimalchio quietly reinstates his camp policy; all humans may potentially be encamped for any number of crimes, and most city-dwelling humans receiving universal basic income are relocated into organized neighborhoods to allow for ease of their control

  By 1875, the world is once more aware of what is happening in the Front, but the dangerous nation, having cut ties to every non-martyr country, refuses to yield in a folie à deux linked to the mental illness of its leader

  Most humans agree that the removal of Trimalchio is the only way to make any progress in diplomatic relations with the Front

  The Jurisdiction of Mexico, refusing to recognize his sovereignty, dismantles its camps and declares war on the United Front; it claims it has no need to secede, as it never accepted being made a Jurisdiction in the first place

  Those freed from the Mexican camps form the first basis of the South American Resistance Army

  Citizens all across the Front join secret local militias in support of SARA, which swiftly becomes associated with—and funded by—the Hunters

  CE 3929 / AL 1884

  UF governor and Holy Family member, Trimalchio of California, is assassinated by SARA extremists; the Hierophant becomes de facto governor until the war’s conclusion