By the year 2048, there were over 4,000 people living on Durus. Some were in
Springfield, some were in Splitsville, and some were in the still new town of
Parade. There were pretty evenly divided too, which seemed to suggest to
people that there was some kind of population standard for a town. Maybe there
ought to be about a thousand to twelve hundred people together, and no more.
Of course, that wasn’t necessarily true. Everyone could have easily lived in
the same area, and any further space they needed, they could have found simply
by expanding outwards. Still, a lot of people alive in the middle of the
century remembered what it was like to be on Earth. The Springfield they could
remember was a small town, and most of them chose to move, or stay, there for
that reason. By building more towns, they were better simulating what life
should be like for them. They wanted to be able to live in one place, but
visit another, instead of just having everyone and everything within reach at
all times. It just made sense. So they founded a fourth town, which they
called Hardtland, in honor of their late leader, Councilwoman Hardt. Calling
it a town, however, was a bit of a misnomer. It was more of a rural sprawl, as
buildings were spread out, and only placed inside natural clearings in the
wooded area where it was located. This was a major operation, which required
the cooperation of a lot of people who were not even planning to move there
once it was finished, which they hoped would be within a year. They chose not
to expedite the process with temporal powers, like they did with Parade,
instead relying on dozens of independent construction crews. They now had
plenty of mages to protect them while they worked, and planning was so
detailed that they easily managed to complete the project according to
schedule. The first families officially moved into their new homes in the
summer of 2049, and town mages were temporarily assigned to keep guard. Now
that there was an entirely new border to protect, plans would have to be
adapted, so that enough mages were selected in the next Mage Games, but some
realized that it couldn’t stop there. This development also prompted an
overhaul of the whole system. Experts did some math, and realized they even
needed to be thinking further in the future than that. The next competition
would be held in a year, and the next one after that wouldn’t be for another
twenty. By the time that rolled around, the number of towns would likely
double. This was a truth they confirmed with two separate seers, who knew a
little about the future of the Durune population. If more people were going to
be selected as mages than ever before, the source mages would have to
reexamine their criteria for acceptance. More importantly, they decided they
needed to help people prepare for this time, so they weren’t only depending on
natural talent. They quickly threw together a training regimen, so hopefuls
would already have an idea of what would be expected of them when the contest
was held. Worried it wouldn’t be enough, this contest was also pushed back
three months. People would later say that it probably should have been delayed
a year, though, because of what happened.
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Current Schedule
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The Advancement of Mateo Matic
The team continues to struggle through the Third Rail. Enemies approach from all sides, and threaten them in all ways. Even the strongest bonds will be tested as an ominous future war places all of reality in jeopardy.
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Weekdays (microfiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all weekday stories.
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Saturdays (mezzofiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all Saturday stories.
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- About Me
My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Mateo Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Mateo, and add to the larger mythology.
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Microstory 1427: Hardtland
Labels:
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