W_L

An interlude

The laws will have an important change compared to the historical points. At this point in my story, a lot of divergences will happen, but these are natural with what needs to happen

Over the next three years, Robert and I made several trips to Avalon located in Greenland. The discovery of the treasure trove of cores was by itself instrumental, but the equipment and notes that Merlin left behind were even more important. The two-hundred-thirty-three cores had been depleted over a thousand years by the facility supercomputer and twelve guardians, whose consciousness existed in one core and consumed a core every 60 years. Merlin had left very little room for error because the

Chapter 27 Major internal reactions are happening in this alternative version of English history, especially with the addition of Omegas in the mix. When reading Omegaverse stories, I've always wondered, how would the introduction of Omegas, essentially gay/bisexual men with the ability to have children with other men, affect a society? Then, I considered what would the big religious implications be for dominant belief systems, like Christianity. Due to how I set up my timeline, especially with the early encounter of Eli and John Knox, I had essentially killed Puritanism before it had a chance of gaining roots, wiping out a whole host of modern Protestant sects (many of whom have very negative fundamentalist foundations). In its place, an early version of Enlightenment Theism and idealism became central third faction within English faith factions. Nominally, both Protestants and this new upstart faction were allies against Catholicism, but they were natural foes as I have hinted at over the story. An important problem would put their difference into open view: Omega transitions. I am not a Trans person, but I do think it's worth exploring the issues of the issue in a fantasy context. Usually female and gay male writers of Omegaverse just leave the concept of Omegas without thinking deeper, but the transition of normal human males into Omegas raises a major species-wide issue on several fronts, including the ideas around faith. If Human beings can create a new gender without God, who defined only Male and Female, then it puts into the question the fundamental principle behind Judeo-Christianity itself. If man can essentially become God, then why have prayer, read books, or visit churches? Most importantly, why is society offering billions of dollars to an organization that offers wishful thinking, when other human beings can achieve the same thing with scientific knowledge and advanced technology. The reality of Omega transition is a scary proposition in a science fantasy setting, but in the real world, the idea of transgender people are just as scary, attacking the underlying concept behind belief systems that require absolute truths. I know I left the chapter off in a cliffhanger, but students of history know what I am hinting at. Heck, even the movie Elizabeth made this an important plot point for the fictional reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Yes, Eli has an heir and these compromises seem to offer a momentary peace between various factions of England, but fundamentally, there's a lot weaknesses in a noble-based system. This week's law of Power is the 45th law of Power, "Preach the need to change, but never reform too much at once”. It has two meanings for this chapter, considering the need for religious settlement due to the discovery of Omega conversion technology at Avalon for public use and the religious factionalism in English noble society due to the split on the ideals of what can and cannot be allowed, like creating a new human gender. Notes: 1. Greenland really is one of the lowest populated landmasses in the world with just barely 60K population. It was settled in 1721, but it never really grew. 2. The historical Acts that Parliament passed for the settlement of Civil and Religious society in England were the Acts of Uniformity and the Acts of Supremacy. Interestingly enough, the new Act of Supremacy that Elizabeth I had passed through parliament changed the title of "head" of the Church of England to Governor, which differed from Henry VIII original act. There was definitely some gender bias in making that conscious decision to change the title.

Violence is part of the ongoing zeitgeist of human civilization, while peace is considered the optimal ideal. In my stories, I view conflict less as the plot and more as a means by different elements and groups to achieve a goal. Minimizing the harm is desired by protagonist by only going after "active combatants", but as you guys may find out if you read on, I am open to the idea that minimizing harm may not be a good thing. There is such a thing as "passive combatants", i.e. civilians who will assist your foes and who will never be won over to your side due to various ideological or experience-based reasons. In modern fiction, especially Asian manga in China, South Korea, and Japan, there is a genre of protagonists who are willing to go far above what is reasonable in conflicts to achieve their goals due to the element of realistic conflict, where settlement may never be possible without great sacrifice. As such, these protagonists engage in things that would be considered "war crimes" under international law and Western value systems from subjugation into forced labor to genocide of entire nations in the name of victory. I am not condoning this kind of protagonist, but I do understand why they chose that route to achieve victory against foes. However, if you want to create this kind of protagonist, you need to set up a lot of elements prior to those actions, a causus belli so to speak. Far too often nowadays, the genre's protagonists are simply deranged without a valid cause, but others like Rimuru Tempest for example in the latter half of season 2, exemplify why committing war crimes against a foe is sometimes needed to safeguard your people.

That's why I couldn't make this an optional short story There were too many new twists, character intros, and major plot developments for future story

Thanks guys, this is why I like writing short stories to be companion pieces to a main narrative. A lot of side characters and interactions can be explored and expanded.

Thanks Chris

Upon the discovery of a creature's involvement in the disappearance of the Viking settlement, a state of alert was raised among the Royal Marines. Frances had urged that Robert and I return to the HMS Relentless, while her team continued to scout the area and attempt to find Avalon facility or hunt the creature that was connected to the mass deaths. However, before paranoia could take hold of all my soldiers, Robert raised an important point concerning the graves. "Do we even know why all t

Part II I hope readers were surprised with the various revelations and technological advances from the Avalon facility, including the introductions of battle androids with the consciousness of the teenage pages of Camelot's knights. For various readers, I love mechas and I wish they were used more in gay fiction, but alas, it's very hard to incorporate them into your storylines. Adding Mechas, my story is science fiction and science fantasy set at the end of the medieval era; can you imagine how these guys will perform on the battlefield? Gundam series is one of Japan's most famous anime/manga, which highlighted various aspects of war, heroism, sacrifice, and ideals. There are many variants of the concept, but I find the idea of mechas fighting for honor and chivalric ideals to be something charming. The revelations such as the use of a Neutron bomb, aka radiation bomb to kill organic life, and limiting his technology for use by himself and Omegas opens some interesting questions about Robert's past incarnation as Merlin, his actions aren't entirely flawless. In trying to resurrect his lover, who is now Eli, he had to do and face a lot of things. Robert is not his past self, but he is still the same person in terms of mindset and persona, you can't change a human soul. Note: We finally learn what method Eli is displacing matter into the future by, "Phantom Energy", negative kinetic energy. I am adding little tidbits about Matsudeira Takechiyo throughout these last chapters, since his conflict will affect a lot of other players in the big map of the world. Remember, Eli and friends are just facing off against Western Charter and Corporate Consortium renegades, there are still Chinese, Russian, and Indian factions in this story. As for the push for Omegas, why are they so important for the salvation of humanity? Why is this solution good for human beings? Notes: 1. I made several references in this story to Anime, but the one thing people should have noticed is that I openly quoted lines from Disney's 1994 Gargoyles series. To be honest, I was inspired by the show a lot as kid and it made me a lover of English myths and stories. It was the first cartoon show that I watched incorporating the science fantasy elements of magic and technology together. I was inspired by the airship of Cybertronics Corporation in Gargoyles to imagine the Sky Fortress of Papal/German alliance. 2. Despite its lack of technical prominence during WWII, in 1940 Italy did develop one of the world's first geothermal electric generators and developed functional binary cycle systems that are still modelled on today.

Aelfric Elias Tudor, my lord and lover, asked that I commission this secret journal for posterity to future generations. However, I believe Lord Eli desires to have Robert read these in our waning years for personal pleasure rather than posterity. My tales are those of infamy and shadowy work, not the story of gallant battles or righteous deeds, but Lord Eli and Robert find interest in them. At the age of 22, I left my lord Elias Tudor’s side, but I never abandoned my lord in my heart or so

17th law of Power: "Keep others in a suspended state of terror." 😛 I also use hints in my story and it's fun to give folks glimpses into my idea process with hints and fun little tidbits of story details. Worldbuilding is hard work, especially if you are trying to do something from the ground up.

It's an interesting theory that was once postulated, especially by spiritualists and New Age groups.

Thanks Chris

After Harry was born, I spent three long months greeting well-wishers and holding court in the Tower of London’s medieval hall. In the spring, I went to Cadbury Hill’s fair folk stronghold in Somerset, ostensibly to show Harry off to the fair folks there. Specifically, I wanted to take him to see Puck, Ambrose, and Edward. Puck, my close friend, had mobility issues due to what happened to him at Mary's hand, while my brother, Edward, was supposedly dead and could not show his face anywhere near

Interlude Search for Avalaon Part I This was supposed to be a short story, but I had to keep it in my main story as there are too many important facts that cannot be omitted if a reader didn't read this portion of the story. It's too integral to separate from the main plot. However, with that said, it is not directly connected with Eli's main story line of gaining power or fighting against the future factions. Thus, I created my story's first interlude chapter and before I knew it, the entire thing was over 10K words, so I had to make my first two-parter. For readers who know my interest, I am a huge fan of the historical mystery and adventure genre. Indiana Jones and Dan Brown may be pulp, but the stories are very cool. As such, I went about creating my own elaborate mystery with a blend of myth, history, foreign languages, and ancient script. Japanese timekeeping is actually counting backward versus forwards as Takechiyo mentioned in my story, the Japanese look at time based on the point of a melting candle, i.e. depletion rather than accumulation in western mindsets. Additionally, instead of using numbers for their ancient clocks, the Japanese imported the Chinese method of hourly measurement by using 12 Zodiac animal spread across two hour periods and split between Day time Zodiac versus Night time Zodiac. This clock was famously used in ancient during the Tang Dynasty, but it was abandoned in later Dynasties. However, Japan even during 16th Century, would still be using this kind of timekeeping system. It's a type of cultural knowledge that you may not know unless you're a big Otaku. Some other stuff to consider, I made several references in this chapter to things that will play important roles for a meta reference about why I am such a fan of this era in history. As a kid, I did not automatically fall in love with history, art, or culture, but there was a certain TV show from Disney that made me a huge fan of Medieval British history and the Science Fantasy genre that I am currently writing in. In Part II, the homage will be revealed, but you can already tell from certain words in this chapter where I drew my inspiration. References: 1. Edward Clinton was Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy during both Edward VI and Elizabeth I reigns. He was a capable naval commander and was credited with the seizure of the City of Boulogne in France under Henry VIII. I am not sure if he's related to a certain American President with a love for young ladies, but even so, it would be many generations removed from this British Royal Navy man. 2. Yes, Ultima Thule was the name of Greenland during the 15th and 16th centuries. It was also used to name imaginary locations on maps north or west of England throughout history. 3. As for Vatnahverfi, the disappearance of the Vikings from Greenland remains a major historical mystery today. Several fringe theories have alluded to lay lines and mystical portals over the years, along with conspiracy theories. 4. That tale about a fairy king and the construction of St. Michael's Church in Glastonbury is taken from the mythology of the town. It was a perfect concept that fit into my story. There are a lot of fairy stories around Western England, so I just incorporated them. Additionally, Glastonbury is the home of a lot of New Age groups, who are trying to find the Holy Grail, King Arthur, and so on. Using this place as the starting point of an Avalon search just feels right. 5. As for my use of Runes, I am not sure how many people are familiar with Norse Runes or deciphering the various codes from these symbolic alphabets. It's a literary connection for Jack Hume's bookloving nature, which his boyfriend Eric now Eli would know.

Can you make tea out of it?

Thanks Chris for reading Some complex stuff is developing, there's more things in the next chapter

I returned to London in September 1558 after the final round of a separate diplomatic negotiation between the intermediaries of myself and Catherine de Medici, the regent of France, was finalized. Her husband, Henry II, had died of shock upon hearing the disaster that befell the allied army and the capture of Francis, the dauphin and heir to his throne. Catherine as a result needed the return of her critically injured son, Francis, and her 15,000 troops along with various military equipment who

Chapter 26 The beginning of the reign: All Hail Aelfric Elias Tudor! Aelfric is an old English-German name with the combination of "Aelf" meaning "Elf, fair people, fair, wisdom", "Ric, meaning "ruler, leader". I chose an English name as a Courtesy title/name to deviate from the traditions of Western Europe, incorporating the Asian monarch titling concept. This kind of reform isn't well known in Western Europe, but later German and Russian monarch did make their version of "Caesar" in the form of Kaiser and Czar as their courtesy title/name of monarchs. As such, I am making an English equivalency of this concept. The dual meaning of Aelfric is interesting as well since it also claimed Fair Folk roots, basically like waving a Pride flag as a name 😛 Some other interesting notes: Omega issues are touched upon in this chapter. I have no forgotten that my main character is intersex and there's some sore subjects like pronouns and gender bias issues. In a universe, where binary gender spectrum is all that has ever existed, I wanted to make sure that these issues are explored and discussed. Something few Omegaverse stories touch on is the inherent issues of having a tri-gender human society, there are a lot of sociological problems with various people. Additionally, the inclusion of vaginal sex without erogenous response and the Omega's gestation period being around five months, the Omega gender is significantly different than females and males during reproduction. They need a partner to facilitate reproduction, but on the other hand, the gestation period being so short will allow Omegas to easily grow in terms of population distribution. Two new characters were added in this chapter: Don Antonio and Matsudeira Takechiyo, both will become important characters for future stories. Don Antonio was the son of a Portuguese prince, who had a claim to the Throne of Portugal, but in history due to various issues (including his Jewish mother) was declared illegitimate. Philip II, son Emperor Charles V of Holy Roman Empire and King of Spain, became King of Portugal as well, cementing Habsburg rule over Iberian peninsula for decades. He's an interesting character in history, someone whose parentage and bloodline was infamous. On the other hand, Matsudeira Takechiyo, in history will later rename himself to Tokugawa Ieyasu, is the third unifier of Japan, who would begin a shogunate that reigned for more than two hundred years until the 19th century. He is going by that name right now due to various issues, including his dislocation and sale into slavery to the Spanish/Portuguese, who had made contact with Japan at this point in history. As I alluded to, I am well-aware of Shogun, both the original miniseries and FX series currently airing. I like the idea of introducing Asian ideas into English history, just like the book/show are inserting Western concepts into Japanese culture. It's a juxtaposition and cultural relativity lesson from a modern Otaku. This week's law of power is 34th law, "Be royal in your own fashion. Act like a king to be treated like one", basically you need to establish yourself like royalty in order to be treated like one. People may think royal titles and names are useless, but it established the concept of presence. A leader is just a leader, if they want to be a king, they need the title equivalent to one. Eli had to take a title like Aelfric to both raise the status of the rulership and effectively command the realm. References: 1. Henry II did die on July 10th, 1559, followed a year later by his heir and eldest son Francis in 1560. This resulted in the regency of Catherine de Medici, who controlled France for much of the 16th century akin to a Dowager Queen for her remaining children. 2. Interesting fact about Portuguese Don Antonio, I had not realized that he was possibly the son of a Jewish mother until I started researching his background for this story. It raises a lot of unsettling questions about anti-semitism inherent in the lack of succession. There's some touchy subject matter here, but it's a fascinating angle that was worth exploring as the historical figure factored heavily later in English history during the English Armada attack on Spain. Of course, history will likely be different in my story 3. Matsudeira Takechiyo was held hostage by Imagawa Yoshimoto, when his family was defeated during a clan war. He later served Yoshimoto until Imagawa defeat at the hands of Oda Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama. The future shogun of Japan had a colorful life, but you should note that he only kept the name Matsudeira Takechiyo until he began serving Yoshimoto at age of 13, when Yoshimoto renamed him Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu. This meant in my story, he was sold into slavery by the Imagawa or Oda clans sometime before he turned 13 years old. Technical details like ancient Japanese rites of ascension and hostage customs were considered in my story.

The first time two male humpback whales have been captured performing homosexual acts in the wild. https://globalnews.ca/news/10323696/humpback-whale-sex-homosexual-behaviour-hawaii/ Interesting how the power dynamic works between the two males: Wonder if this was just a one-time thing between them (No strings) or if it's like a mating thing to invite the skinny down-on-his-luck Whale A to form a pod/family with a healthy jock Whale B or something. -------------- The first thing I thought when I read this news was recalling a scene from Star Trek IV when Captain Kirk asked why would aliens spend so much effort to talk to some humpback whales on Earth. 😛 I'm a gay nerd, what can I say?

1. Creating Chemical Compounds Inside an innocuous workshop in the middle of Bristol, England, a series of bottles containing the usual apothecary ingredients were displayed. However, the workshop above was merely a shell, among many other shops along the street. Below the street was an underground facility, where additional material was being created. Inside the room was a solitary industrial engineer. The first was a young woman who wore a white coat, and glasses and had her dark hai

This chapter was a combination of several military and technological advantages that I had hinted at over the last 24 chapters. Even so, if this were a long drawn-out war, Eli couldn't win with the resources available against the combined might of Europe along with most Latin America and parts of Asia offering their manpower and resources. Being an Otaku, Eli is familiar with Japanese military strategy: Strike hard, boldly, and with the best steel you have, so I adapted Japanese strategy to counter European strategy. This kind of tactic may seem risky to Western and even Chinese military strategists who favor method rather than bold action, but it won Russo-Japanese War for a reason. I took the concept and adapted it into this story. Calais would not be abandoned in this timeline as an English Continental possession, but logistically moving thousands of troops would be an issue immediately after winning the kingdom and having to face several military forces in Ireland and Scotland that outnumber your own. It's a gamble to send out the entire modern steel fleet. An offensive campaign was the best choice.

I placed Mary under house arrest in London, along with a garrison of 3,000 troops and the wooden-ship English fleet for support around the port. While William Cecil argued that I needed a coronation immediately to have legitimacy, I countered that two battlefields needed to be taken care of before a coronation could occur. In the north, 50,000 French and 10,000 Scottish troops, along with Mary’s loyalists that escaped from Northumberland, were regrouping for a counterattack. However, due to the

Chapter 25 Going to pause after this chapter as the mid-way point for a week, see you all on March 8th This chapter is the promised Calais Campaign of 1558. Interesting historical footnotes: Thomas Wentworth was in charge of Calais during Mary I's reign and William Grey was a stubborn and capable military commander during the defense of Calais, who would go on to serve Elizabeth well in Scottish campaigns later. As for this story, all the build up of military technology and equipment was leading to this kind of war. Essentially, the only way to defeat the combined militaries of the New Rome Papal State and German Empire was to borrow a military strategy that the Japanese used against Russia, Kantai Kessen. To win using this kind of strategy, you must be technically superior to your enemy, which Eli has achieved with naval and land forces. This kind of strategy won the Russo-Japanese war for Japan, which should have been impossible due to Russia's overwhelming manpower, resources, and capacity compared to Japan. However, in terms of naval technology and tactics, Japan had far better warships than Russia with higher caliber guns and better coordination between their navy and land forces. I also borrowed the failure of this strategy in World War II against the US as inspiration, because the US was able to break Japanese communication codes in the Pacific, allowing them to easily identify enemy fleet disposition and direction. That was how the US Fleet at the Battle of Midway ambushed the 4 Japanese carriers and sank them, forcing Japan to lose naval superiority after 1942. By combining superior communication equipment with the use of vacuum tube radios and an enemy who does not realize their communications are being monitored, Eli could defeat armies of fifty times larger sizes. As for the peace treaty at the end of this chapter, it is a temporary peace that was needed by both sides. Displaying a 15 kiloton attack against German army and semi-automatic rifles against Papal troops would be a frightening thing to see. While technically they have Sky Fortress and an air force that could do just as much damage, Eli is technically using better equipment than either of them due to Robert's ability. With reports of tracked tanks and other mid-20th century weapons appearing in English battlefields, this peace treaty may seem like a capitulation by Eli's opponents, but it was a necessary pause for them to adjust their strategies and plns. For Eli, the peace treaty was a breathing room for the nascent reign. A military success and territorial acquisition in France will win support from various people. It also buys time for massive nation-level industrialization to occur in England, Wales, and Ireland. Charles of Lorraine is trying to preserve his family's limited power after all the failures, so he may be an interesting frenemy in the future (Remember he's uncle to Mary Queen of Scots as well, so he has a desire to keep his niece in power, along with regaining influence in French court). In history, his detractors painted him as someone similar to later Cardinal Richelieu or Mazarin, so my idea of this character is in a similar light. He doesn't understand all the technical details about time travel or the power within the church hierarchy, but he is a master of politics and diplomacy, Eli and him will have more dealings in the future. FYI: William of Orange or in this case William of Nassau is introduced in this chapter. He's the father of the Dutch, so I hope Dutch readers will enjoy This week is the 28th Law of power, "Enter action with boldness", which teaches people to take action decisively and with courage, despite what may seem outlandish or impossible. Just as the historical lesson I based this military campaign in Calais on, sometimes being bold in action will surprise your opponents and cause confusion. Notes: 1. Interesting thing, Count William of Nassau-Siegen was the father of William of Orange, but in this timeline, William the younger did not inherit the title of Prince of Orange, so he doesn't get his famous title. Interestingly enough, English king William III was also called William of Orange. 2. We briefly saw a glimpse of Ferdinand of Bohemia, who was the brother of Charles V and should have inherited the Holy Roman Empire from him. He was a good military commander in history as I mentioned and a practical political mind compared to his brother. You may see his latin maxim being used by another character 3. The description of the 15-kiloton blast is taken from the observations of the atomic weapons test conducted by the US and Soviet Union, blast wind velocity at the center versus outlying area. Despite being several miles away, Hurricane-force winds would still be hitting the town as a result. I know not many people may care about this technical detail I used, but I liked the mechanics.