The Greatest Sin

Allasaria travelled to the next undersea kingdom. One down. She smiled to herself in her whale. This was going to be a whole new Pantheon. She had made a mistake before with allowing other Abstracts to join. This would be a Pantheon of Forces.

Arascus walked through Nanbasa with Kassandora. It was a sequestered city, organized for efficiency as if Maisara herself had designed it. It was a giant ring, built around a nature reserve. The only urban area in the whole world with such a design. The reserve was green fields and vivid trees, the sort that once existed in the lost areas of Western Kirinyaa before the Jungle had claimed then. Fer had gone to visit today, the reserve was holding a celebration for the birth of four lion cubs, after her stellar performance with EIE. There was speculation in the local gossip papers about whether it could force EIE to shut down the Nanbasa branch. That wouldn’t happen of course, but it was a good indication that she put on a good performance. Arascus and the other Divines in Kirinyaa had drank a bottle of Arikan Rum each in celebration as they watched that.

A massive port looked out onto the clear Eastern Arikan Ocean, that was a light blue, Olephia had gone off to paint it with the port today. Ships were docking and leaving, bringing supplies and Binturongs from Ausa. Then the ringed city was divided into sections. Further inland were the richer districts, closer to the port were the industrial and commercial zones, all celebrated by habitation blocks. Tall towers that housed people like ants. Like the skyscrapers in Ausa, but not as tall, and without the spiderweb of bridges connecting them.

Arascus and Kassandora walked up the steps to the Kirinyaan Parliament. It was a grand building, all fine red sandstone carved in intricate fashions, with swirling patterns. Pillars held the roof up over the front, with a grand staircase of more red sandstone leading up to it. The blue, red and green flags of Kirinyaa stood waving. Blue for the ocean, green for the Jungle and red for the blood in between them.

Arascus had a meeting with Mwai Ruku today, the Kirinyaan President. The big man in charge apparently, although from what he read about the government, Mwai was merely a figurehead, the whole state was a bureaucratic nightmare. With legislation needing to pass the parliament, then be voted on in the Kirinyaan High Court, before Mwai himself could sign it into action. The next president could revoke it immediately. It didn’t surprise Arascus this country was failing to the Jungle if it was structured like that.

An assistant met them. A tall dark man in a dark suit, a band of green over his elbow. Apparently it was used by supporters of the Reclamation War to identify themselves. Helenna had started the movement in a news presentation when she argued with some minor Epan station, it was a good move since the whole city wore green armbands. Support for the War hovered somewhere between 95 and 97% in Kirinyaa. Same as in Ausa then.

“It’s our pleasure that you’ve come to Parliament.” The man said as Kassandora stepped next to Arascus. They both towered over the fellow. Kassandora in her black HAUPT uniform, with skull-cap and all. Her hair was tied back into a tail today, very professional. Arascus’ was going to arrive soon from what he heard. He had suits enough though, Ausa had enough of its own tailors. He walked on with a short red cape trailing behind him as the assistant led them through the building.

Everyone stopped to look, everyone wore a green armband. The clerks, the assistants, even the politicians themselves. The building did make a good impression, it was obviously built with assistance from the White Pantheon, the doorways were more than large enough for several divines to walk through side-by-side, the corridors were more like halls that reached high. Paintings of past presidents and figures in Kirinyaan history hung on the walls.

And it was well-organised. Maisara then, must have helped build it. This city as a whole did have traces of her touch. A ring was optimal, but it wasn’t a human design. Without any official jurisdiction, it celebrated the working classes from the government simply by distance. There were talks of Kirinyaa of building tunnels underneath the animal reserve in the centre to ease transport, but nothing had ever come of those talks.

Mwai was sitting in his office. His ministers had already been prepared. Arascus did not know them, he had no reason to learn their names. Ministers in Kirinyaa changed as often as the seasons. They all sat in dark suits, with two chairs already prepared around a circular table for Arascus and Kassandora. They all looked more than happy to meet Arascus, although that was expected. The Reclamation War made this the first government in Kirinyaan history with an approval rating above 40%. It was now sitting at a safe 71%. That in itself was amazing, in the past, falling below half meant the fires of revolution started to stir. Falling below 40% meant someone’s head would roll.

“It’s good to see you, please, sit!” Mwai raised his arm and motioned for Arascus and Kassandora to sit. “It’s a great honour to host the two of you here.”

“The Epan countries don’t seem to think so.” Arascus said lightly as he tested the waters.

“We’re not in Epa though! The White Pantheon has such a problem now but they had nothing to say when the Jungle crept onto us!” Mwai said and the table guffawed with laughter. Two men raised glasses and drank to that. “So, what is this meeting about?” Mwai finally asked.

“Naturally, it will be about the Reclamation War.” Arascus said as Kassandora pulled out a binder of papers from the inside of her suit. “Kass.”

“One month from now, at the rate we’re going at, we’ll reclaim the lost Chasoi copper mine. We’ll then cut north to the open-pit mines in Kabatwa and scour them of the Jungle, both should be operating within three months of today.” The table clapped at that. Reclaiming land was one thing, that brought public support. Reclaiming lost mineral sites though, that was an entirely different matter. That brought the whole country from its knees and onto its feet. “Under our agreement, the Miner’s Union have negotiated to have access to Chasoi, the Kabatwa site though is yours.” Kassandora said. She stopped and Arascus took over.

“We’d rather inform you that you can hold an auction or nationalize it soon. Better to tell you what’s going to happen. I’m not one for surprises, even if they’re pleasant.” Mwai raised his glass as assistants poured two cups of whiskey for Arascus and Kassandora. It was good stuff.

“Excellent!” He said. “We’ll start working on our plans, do you want us to run them by you or no?” Arascus apologetically raised his hand and shook his head. He did want it ran by him, but only for the sake of his own curiosity. It wasn’t crucial, and these people needed a taste of Divines that weren’t the White Pantheon’s micromanagement.

“It’s your country, you decide what to do with them. I can help you plan, but I’m not here to interfere with how you manage yourselves.” Kassandora leaned back as Arascus laughed and continued to talk. “The tribesmen I’ve met are rather blunt, and I appreciate bluntness rather than word games, so I’ll say it how it is. This is your business.” Mwai raised a cup, the entire table did. One man spoke up.

“And here we were talking about what to do if you wanted to claim the land.” Arascus laughed the man’s worries away and took a drink with them. Kassandora intervened.

“I would like to bring up that the tribesmen deserve land. I did promise to help them, I won’t allow them economic sites but I’d rather they have something.” This was untrue entirely. Arascus and Kassandora had simply made this up to make themselves seem like benevolent saviours. To give the impression of what Divines should be. And to have land for themselves.

“Of course!” Mwai said. “Kirinyaa is expanding as a nation, we have more than enough land for everyone!” Arascus and Kassandora looked at each other. This was the signal for moving the conversation on. Now that they had made a pleasant atmosphere for them, they had to drop the bad news.

“In regards to that.” Arascus said and sighed. Kassandora took over.

“We have enough land, but we do not have enough people.” Kassandora said. “The Clerics field a hundred thousand true, but as efforts expand, we will have an exponential increase in our needs for bodies.” The mood dimmed only slightly.

“And that means?” Arascus sighed.

“We would like to propose something.” He said it heavily, as if it was hard for him to say. As if he didn’t want and need this more than everyone in this room. “Kirinyaa has an unemployment rate of eight percent right now, I can half that within the year.”

“You can?” Arascus nodded.

“There is an issue though.” Arascus said. “Because it won’t be good diplomatically for you.”

“How?” Mwai asked. He looked over to a man, Arascus recognised him from KTV. The minister of foreign affairs.

“We are in a bad position diplomatically already, with sanctions from Epa and the Union, we can’t get much worse.”

“I’m talking about Kirinyaan troops working the Binturongs.” Arascus said. “We need more men, several teams to take the South-Western angle. We need road layers. We say can it like this and talk about in roundabout measures, but the White Pantheon will call it the creation of an army. To an extent, they won’t be wrong.” Kassandora nodded to add to it. The mood did not drop an inch, Arascus knew how to work a room.

“Kirinyaa could do it. How many men do you need?” Mwai said.

“We come to you because of the legislature issue.” Kassandora said. “It would be the creation of an army.” She pulled out piece of paper and put it on the table. She and Arascus had spent the last night designing a hierarchy fit for the modern world. The advent of radios effectively allowed every modern soldier to receive orders. No longer was it needed to separate men into large armies, largely independent and commanding themselves, but rather into a centralized system led by one person.

By Kassandora.

“I have only one stipulation, which is that I lead it.” Kassandora said. “It would be easier to pass in legislature for you, since you wouldn’t have to deal with mortal self-interests, and it is largely needed because the Clerics and tribesmen…” Kassandora searched for a word. These were merely reasons to give the leaders of Kirinyaa an excuse in their minds to relieve themselves of the responsibility. “Well… they don’t have a high opinion of the government, but they do listen to me.”

“Would you give it up?” Mwai asked seriously. So the man wasn’t entirely stupid. His eyes scanned the paper. “This would be a country within a country, we would be creating a parallel society.”

“When the Reclamation War is done.” Kassandora said. “Or as its ending and once victory is secured, but not until then.” Mwai passed the form around. It went through the entire hierarchy, from team, to platoon, to a regiment, brigade, then division and Corps. And finally it ended at the top. General Kassandora.

No one in the room but the two Divines actually knew full hierarchy. There was one rung still higher. Supreme Commander Kassandora. With the ability to appoint and dismiss generals and create new armies. Nowhere in Kassandora’s manuscript did it mention that, but there was more than bureaucratic language that could be stretched to show that if they agreed to this, they effectively granted her that title.

“But you would not be secretive with this?” One of the men asked.

“Of course not.” Kassandora said. “We would continue as we are, but with this organisation. It would allow me to manage multiple fronts against the Jungle, but we’d still be holding news interviews and allowing journalists to record.” Journalists were an effective cover, they recorded seemingly everything, but actually, all that they showed was maps and Binturongs shooting and men training. The “transparency” they brought was an excellent curtain to hide what the theatre was actually performing.

“I see.” Mwai said.

“The other reason is I want to expand the Reclamation to other countries. Ausa wishes to start their own front.” Kassandora shrugged. “I’m am the Goddess of War, I don’t mean to insult, but I don’t trust that mortals will be able to manage a war better than me.” She said it coyly, as if joking and the table chuckled lightly.

“That is true.” One of the men said.

“We could force this through.” Mwai said slowly. “I don’t really see a reason to be against the formalization of an army for the Reclamation War.” He looked over to the table and they nodded. One man smoke up.

“I am glad to be honest.” He looked over to the two Divines. An old man with beady eyes. The hair gone from his dark head. “Not to offend-“ Arascus interrupted him.

“Do not worry, be as harsh as you wish to be, I’ve heard worse.” The man nodded in thanks and continued.

“It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to have our problems be solved entirely by Divines.” He said. “I’d rather this, with Kassandora managing it, but with our own people saving our own country. Then at least there’d be heroes to put in the history books that aren’t…” He looked to Arascus and Kassandora. “Well, you.” Arascus smiled and humbly waved the praise away.

“We’d prefer sooner than later.” Arascus said. “The earlier we do this, the fast we can get up to speed. Ausa is pressing on their front.” Ausa was not pressing anyone.

“It will take a few months at least.” Mwai said.

“What does it take to vote on legislature? Is it just a vote?” Kassandora asked, she talked fast now, sharp, like commanding troops. Arascus tapped her with his foot to cool her down. Politicians needed a gentler hand than troops. Mwai didn’t seem to be offended though and both Arascus and Kassandora already knew exactly what it took, and that was a proposition. The reason the government took so long to do anything was due to how long they took to discuss discussing it.

“Just a vote.” Mwai scanned the report again. “The High Court won’t find anything here to quarrel with, there’s no infringement of rights or anything like that, it’d be the parliament that takes issue.”

“But a vote does not have to be discussed extensively?” Kassandora asked.

“Not in theory.” Mwai replied.

“Can non-government people take part in the debate?”

“Yes.” Arascus contained his smile. They had taken the bait; hook, line and sinker.

“Then you can propose it and I will do the convincing, we can have this signed into law by the next week.”