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Author’s Note: This is more of a teaser than anything, since it’s all I have written of the book. I’m only posting this prologue right now to let everyone know that I am going to try, mind you try, to post this book chapter-by-chapter like I did the last one. The thing is, I have another series (this one six books long) in which I only have one book left to write, and I’m going to be posting that book chapter-by-chapter at the same time as this one. So long as my brain doesn’t overload. Anyway, Book 3 in this series is, technically, the final book. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to have a fourth book that will be more like an epilogue than a continuation of the series, but I’ll get into that more at the end of this book. Expect more installments probably by the end of next week at the latest!

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Prologue

From the Appendices to The History of Merata, a section on other important lands

Losaeria and The Isles of Irr

I am combining my descriptions of Losaeria and the Isles of Irr due to the rather close relationship these two regions have with one another. Not that the relationship is consensual. The Irrans have been figuratively raping the country of Losaeria for centuries, ever since they realized how beneficial windbreathing powers would be to their ever-growing industrialism. Living on three separate islands, it is virtually impossible for the Irrans to trade with one another without the assistance of ships. And it’s a little difficult to propel large ships between the islands—and Merata and Kircca, also major players in Irran trade—without wind. Not that the wind never blows in the Isles of Irr. In fact, the Sianaca Ocean is known for its horrific storms and hurricanes.

Unfortunately for the Irrans, these storms are seasonal. During the off-season, the winds hardly blow at all.

So one industrious Irran merchant discovered that, far cheaper and swifter than hiring dozens of men to row their enormous merchant ships, he could simply steal Losaerian windbreathers from their homes and force them to propel his ships. And so slavery began.

The entire culture of Losaeria now revolves around the Irran slave industry. Losaerians live in the Caepan Mountains, a land with very little flat ground or fields for farming. All of their cities, including high-tech farms constructed by scientists and run by specialists, are on the terraced sides of mountains.

Those considered the most intelligent, selected from their families by tests delivered at the ages of twelve and eighteen, live on the highest terraces. Intelligence has always been how the mountain-people of the north have determined their leaders. Instead of holding an election, there is a three-part competition held after the death of each previous Scientist—the ‘s’ is capitalized to indicate the man’s supposed superiority—to determine who is the smartest and most creative of all the Losaerians. This man or woman then rules until death.

Those not contributing to the overall economy of Losaeria by either farming or inventing typically live out their lives as average citizens around the middle of the mountain. These people typically have few worries when it comes to enslavement, as the Irrans are not daring enough to brave the upper regions of the Caepan Mountains.

Now, if someone in Losaeria dares to possess a brain of mere average intelligence, he or she is always consigned to the lowest terraces. The more impoverished cities and towns located around the bases of the mountains are always the most likely to suffer attacks from Irran slavers. This is where the majority of Losaerian immigrants come from in Merata—the lower regions. Irrans aren’t stupid enough to risk destroying their trade relationship with Merata by stealing people that country had agreed to shelter.

The only reason why Merata is not completely overrun with lesser Losaerians—whose intelligence still tends to far exceed that of the average Meratan—is due to the fact that the lowlanders also tend to be much poorer than their more gifted counterparts. Unfortunately, one can hardly travel from one country to the next without a decent amount of money, and the rate of exchange between Losaerian paper money and Meratan coin money is such that one must be a wealthy Losaerian to become a poor Meratan.

Irrans, conversely, have done nothing but prosper from the slave industry. Their ships run year-round, from the northernmost regions of Merata to the southernmost tip of Kircca. Their government, their citizenry, has remained—and always will remain—exactly the same as it was eons ago. An Emperor to rule over each island, wealthy merchants whose taxes help to fund the land’s cities and maintain their canals, and laborers to gather raw materials and create various goods for the merchants to sell. Unlike the Losaerians, who have always relied upon science and logic—thus their ‘only the strong, or in this case intelligent, survive’ attitude—the Irrans have always worshipped their ancestors and rely entirely on the spirits of the dead to protect them and help them prosper.

I hate to say it, but the dead people seem to be doing a much better job than science. Right now, anyway. I doubt it will be much longer before the Losaerians develop a weapon capable of completely obliterating the Isles of Irr with one blow.

That, I would love to see.