One of the first paramounts to rise up after the Hokusai and the Deathspring
changed the whole system was a young woman named Andromeda. She was a
builder, who could configure building materials in complex and extremely
useful ways. She was one of the most powerful people Durus ever saw, save
the source mages and Jayde Kovak herself. Because of this, Andromeda
garnered a lot of favor amongst both the Earthan refugees, and the Duruen
natives. She would later turn Aljabara into a real city, with stable
buildings and roads, rather than the haphazard fustercluck it was before.
She built outposts as well, like the settlements that formed during the Mage
Protectorate. But even before she did all that for them, everyone loved her,
and listened to her, much like they did Ecrin, so when she came to some kind
of decision, it was tantamount to law. Some insisted on calling her Queen
Andromeda, but if they were going to do that, she in turn insisted they
address her as Your Badass. It was a play on words, and modeled upon certain
other honorifics, like Your Honor, or Your Highness. Despite his higher
standing in the Provisional Government, even Drumpf had to acquiesce to her
authority. But this authority was not taken, or earned, it was just given to
her. Because that was how this new transitional system worked. People
trusted whoever proved that they could be trusted, and when that person
started to fail them, they demanded the individual be removed from power.
For now, this would probably be okay, because of the whole
provisional part. But it was not necessarily a good dynamic in the
long-term. It could end up okay, like the Adhocracy that formed a
hundred and forty years ago. Or it could just lead to anarchy. They needed
something better; something more formal, and though it would take a very
long time to actually get there, progress towards this goal would start with
Andromeda. They held a meeting, where governmental officials pleaded for her
to help them with the reconstruction efforts, and she was happy to help, but
she had a list of demands.
While the people were busy trying to correct their history of misogyny, they
unwittingly fell into another trap of injustice. They treated the people who
had come here from Earth a couple years ago as second-class citizens,
forcing them to live separately in a refugee camp. The Durune weren’t openly
hostile, but they were preoccupied with their own problems, and didn’t want
to help these new people. Andromeda had to explain to them that they were
all part of the same community now, and if that truth were to be respected,
everyone would be able to contribute in their own way, including the
Earthans. The Provisional Government had to officially recognize the
Earthans as citizens. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be allowed to leave if
an opportunity came about to return to Earth, but it would allow them to
enjoy certain privileges, such as moving about the surface of the planet at
will. She also engineered a way for Poppet Drumpf to step down as provisor,
because she could easily see how toxic he was, and how he had not changed
from his past. He wouldn’t have done it on his own, so Andromeda had to ask
for help from a friend named Loa, whose time power it was to broadcast what
she was seeing to anywhere—or everywhere, as it were—in the world
simultaneously. He said some nasty things about his people, and they finally
understood that he really hadn’t learned from his past mistakes. It would be
a few more years until a round of elections came about, but for now, the
government was at least peaceful and stable, and would be allowed to
continue trying to make the world a better place. She wouldn’t do it
forever, but Andromeda did use her powers to construct homes and other
proper buildings, and would die a rare hero in most people’s eyes.
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