Shortly after Hogarth and Hilde returned to the timestream in 2021, Smith
was found missing. Many blamed the two of them for his disappearance, but
most credited them for it. They didn’t like living under Smith’s rule, and
they wanted to start fresh. Of course, it could not be that easy. Smith’s
power didn’t come from within. He only stayed on top because he made friends
with the right people. No one was a better friend to him than a man by the
name of Kosta Montero. Smith and Kosta didn’t agree with each other on every
idea in the beginning, but their differences quickly melted away. Kosta
became fiercely loyal to Smith, and even saved his life a time or two. He
was undeniably second-in-command, so when Smith was no longer around to lead
them, he figured he better step up. He used up a great deal of resources
looking for his former boss, though. It wasn’t like he had been waiting for
his chance to take the main seat, and the only reason he was trying to take
over now, was because he didn’t think anyone else would be capable of—or
even interested in—honoring Smith’s vision for a better Springfield.
Unfortunately for him, many of Smith’s other followers were not so loyal,
and one by one, they relented to opposing forces. A small war broke out,
which ultimately resulted in no victor. Councilwoman Hardt’s supporter, Mia
Padmore had a lot of people on her side, but by no means half. There were a
lot of other people who threw their hats in the ring, while some reluctant
natural leaders had their hats thrown for them. Hogarth, for one, had a
following that formed when she wasn’t even there. They wanted her to lead
them, for they believed she could use her technology to protect the town
without utilizing the Baby Barrier.
The violence wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but the whole population
could sense that it was about to get worse, so a group of families put a
stop to it. More specifically, the families of the special time children got
together, and sort of forced everyone into a new plan. They decided there
would be no more rulers. Law would revert back to how it was before the
Deathfall portal swallowed up the town. It was illegal to hurt people, or
steal from them, or otherwise cause harm to society. That was pretty simple,
and there wasn’t any reason to do things much differently. The Baby Barrier
would remain, until such time that a technological solution to keep the time
monsters away arose. Other than that, it was kind of every family for
itself. Everyone who wanted food from the community garden had to support
the garden, or some related endeavor, such as transporting water from
Watershed. Anyone who wanted any other resource would have to pay for it, in
some reasonable way. It was not chaos, but it was also not about constant
government oversight. People in a normal small town peacefully went about
their days without worrying whether things were going to work out on a grand
scale. They didn’t have to worry about survival. The source mage families
figured that was the kind of life they ought to be striving for, and letting
the maintenance of all that happen in the background. Everyone had a job,
and everyone had what they needed. Their initial plan worked out well in the
beginning, but it ran into some issues later on, as enforcing these policies
became difficult without a formal police contenginency. It continued to
evolve over the next decade, until the source mages felt old enough to form
something more substantial.
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