Microstory 1250: Enobarbus Agnelli

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The planet of Durus was named such that it could survive the harshest of conditions. The survivors of the Deathfall in 2016 fairly quickly realized that they were on a rogue planet, meaning that it was no longer in orbit around a parent star. Yet even without a blue sky, its atmosphere remained, and it was somehow perfectly suitable for humans to live. It wasn’t until later that they learned it was a series of temporal anomalies that allowed organic life to survive on the surface, but the name was already there, and it would come to mean many things over the years. Governments rose and fell, but the flame of humanity on Durus was never snuffed out. There were good times and bad, and depending on who you ask, one regime could be both at the same time, if only it retrospect. After the phallocracy fell, and democracy slowly began to come to the towns, most of the people who hated where things were headed preferred the way things were when men ruled, and women served. Also known as Barbwire, for his sharp attitude, Enobarbus Agnelli did not like what was happening to his world now, but not because of any nostalgia for his childhood. He never believed women were inferior—or that they couldn’t be trusted, which was the line used by the former leadership as a canned response regarding the matter. He didn’t really even believe in inferiority, or at least didn’t use such terminology to justify his stance. He just wanted to go back to the way things were a long, long time ago. He didn’t hate the regular humans; the ones who didn’t have any time powers, but he certainly considered himself separate from them, and he was sick of people using the term regular to mean normal. To him, paramounts should be the default. During the Mage Protectorate, people with powers were revered, and the honor of having them was coveted. True, back then, most people had to earn the right, but just because Enobarbus was born with abilities didn’t mean he didn’t deserve them. The mages brought order to a planet defined by chaos, and he believed the only reason Earth wasn’t ruled by them was because the Earthan equivalents were far outnumbered by people with no powers at all, and no hope of receiving them. So he started a movement. There would still be a democracy, but it would be led by paramounts, like him. He wasn’t looking to become a dictator, but he was the one with the vision, so for now, he should be first in line. He failed in his mission before it even got started, and ended up being banished, not just from the planet, but the entire universe. He unwillingly joined a group of warriors fighting against a multiversal threat that didn’t have much to do with his former life, or his old plans. This was where he belonged, though. All that nonsense about paramount dominance fell far behind him, and is a mere footnote in the story of his life.