The Kingdom Under our Feet

The Kingdom Under our Feet is a mystery novel and utopia description, mostly taking place in Rathnir, written by Wardhe of Chatillon and completed on may 15th of 2022. It describes a vision the narrator had by holding an unwordly stone wich showed him the story of an ancient people from Jagdas called the Satek and how their great civilization had to run away to Rathnir and hide deep beneath the ground.

The book can be bought at The Wardhe's Trading Post in Lirgal or at the city's book store.

Prologue - A Vision That Came From a Stone
It was in a quiet night that I hearded a great sound coming from the sky above, like hundreds of thunderbolts setting ablaze the infinite extent before striking the ground. Or at least it was what I have thought, because when I went outside, there was no clue of this din, exept a huge trench in the dirt, with a roundly shaped artifact at it center, shining in the shadow like some sort of magic crystal. I approched and walked into the hole. Obviously, my whole body was filled by fear. I attentively fixed the artifact and did not know what to do, but after a moment I chose to catch this unworldly stone.

Actually, can I say that it was me who held the stone, or the stone that held me? Seeing that when I took it, my skin couldn't left it anymore, I can't say. Some strange images came to my mind. I saw an entire story, wich took place in a complete different world, and all this visions was so heavy to hold that it made me fall against the floor. All of this had been printed into the stone and had to come out to the first person who could see it. It was a message left into a bottle that came from no one knows where, probably from far beyond the stars.

The apple-size stone showed me it's story, and the fate of a people called the "Satek", a great cilization from another world wich ran away to our lands.

If you want to know, the stone was one of what the Satek named "vakyn palah", wich are the stones that the gods use to make their will come true. As a need of clarity, I will make a difference between all the vakyn palah and the one that came to me, that last one will be named with capital letters.

The Vakyn Palah disapeared the day after it had come. I don't know where it is now. Was it took by someone who have entered my home, and if yes by whom, or did it simply vanish? I have no answer to those questions, but it was the only key to find the Satek realm. Or at least to find them easily...

The book you are now reading, is a tale of what the stone showed me by the images that cross my mind. It is a mystery that haven't been told yet, but that the many people of this world should know.

I - A Dragon Stealing From the Gods
The gods are proud and selfish. They had always been. When they had started their creation, they chose to make it imperfect, so the life created will never be as egual to them. All had to be tortured by the temptation of shadow, full of the ignorance of what is, thereby they remain the pure and learned ones. Everything had to die, so they remain after all, watching the misery they created, waiting for the mortals to pray for what they need and, by this, recall them their position of perfect kings of the universe. After all, why being powerful, if no one sees you as such? How could you be superior without having someone below you?

Unluckily, here is what define the Creation : Pain for the mortals on a dirty heap of mud.

Weary of the disregard of the heavens to the earthly horror, a wize dragon went to see the gods and prayed them for the delivrance of all beings, by purifying the souls and washing the universe of the vices. The gods mocked him for being softened by the miserables, him who was lucky enough not to be human.

He have been banished from the heavens and it made him realize how vain were the divine beings. A thought came to his mind, he could initiate the universal cleaning by himself.

By his abylity to fly, thank to his majestic wings, it would be possible for him to return to the gods home and take what he needed, the source of the gods power, the magic stones they use to yield the reality to their wishes, the vakyn palah. One stone was created for each god, with what was left of the infinite dust that filled the primordial chaos before they had used it to create our universe.

The dragon wanted to start his work with his favorite people on the earth, the ones he often spent time with, the Satek. Which is actually why this story concern them. They were a welcoming and peaceful kind of people, the sort of persons that a wize dragon must take pleasure with. For the dragon's action, they recalled him "Adrastyn", meaning "the stone bringer dragon".

Adrastyn called all the Satek to came onto the town's center place, and began purifying their souls, gave them the universal knowledge, banished oldness from their bodies, freed them from the gods curse.

By misfortune, the gods arrived on the earth soon after he had began. They knew what was happening, and letting this heracy going would be the end of their authority. A battle started.

Adrastyn had formed a protection around the town of the newly perfect human being and fought with courage against the tyrans, but since he was alone to face them all, one stone to face all others, he was quikly vanquished. The gods nearly caught him, but an explosion had made him disapear, and the Vakyn Palah was propelled away, out of time and space.

The decision of the gods was final : the result of this treason, the pure Satek people, had to be annihilate. Hopefully for them, the Satek was now as learned as the divine beings was, and here is what they did : they sang the glory of the celestial kings in such a beautiful chant, that the gods, as proud as always, chose to let this well talented population live.

Peace was again, if this material existence can be called "peace". The Vakyn Palah remained lost, and the gods were more concerned about this matter than anything that could happen on the earth.

II - The History of the Satek People
The Satek took this name after what happened to them because of the dragon's interference. This word meant "exiled" in their language. The question, you may now ask, is why were they tracked down?

The answer to that precise question is the central subject of their history.

The Satek were pure and free of the physical ignorance, which permit them to develop their culture and sciences. All this restructuration of their kind based on reason made them the most technology advanced population in the world of what we name Jagdas, the second world.

On this subject, you must know that the gods wasn't satisfed of their previous work, the first world, called today as Paxia. A new world have been created with the memory and the lessons of the previous one. Life was inserted again in the dirt, and all could grow and born a second time.

But all of this order would come to an end, as the Satek became so technology advanced they learned to repulse death itself, and became immortal. All peoples wanted what the Satek had to offer. It was the start of chaos in Jagdas. Wars happened between kingdoms and empires to reduce the Satek into slavery and steal their knowledge. So much dead! The land was accursed by the amount of blood that irrigated the ground. Starvation was everywhere when no more crops could grow. When the gods finally saw what was happening, it was too late. It was decided that Jagdas would be destroyed.

You may remember that I wrote previously about the Satek flying to our world. As a matter of fact they did. The purified people were such talented crafter that they invented a machine to transport them through the worlds. The project came to their mind when whispers of a new world the gods were creating, to replace the previous one, were spreading. That new world is what we all know as Rathnir.

It was a miracle! The Satek knew how to survive the cataclysm. But, on the other hand, this made the situation even worst in Jagdas, as this machine was the only hope for all who lived to survive as well. The Satek left without taking anyone. It was, to them, as their wizdom expressed, a better decision than risking to fail the trip and die with all others.

When the Satek arrived on the vast lands of Rathnir, they thought it would be a new beginning for their kind, a virgin land to restart it all, and make an earthly heaven by the enlightenment of reason and knowledge.

All were quickly disillusioned, when it appeared that their fate here in Rathnir will be the same as in Jagdas. The primitive and nomadic tribes of Rathnir, which wasn't already regroup into societies, understood what this homeless people had to offer, and start to hunt them down. To speak the truth, the Satek were extremely powerful, thanks to all of the machines they had built. But even the most powerful army can't face an entire world.

What a misery! What a misery to see such a glorious and immortal kind of human beings hunted like some sort of hares. It was inacceptable neither to live as such, nor to kill all clans that came for them. The "exiled" must exil once again. They chose to go deep beneath the ground, hidden from the rest of the world. Their existence will remain a fragile memory in the population's mind and will become a tale in folklore or religions. I don't know where they belong, even if I saw different lanscapes in the vision, that may indicate where they can be found. I saw a huge mountain, but also a dense forest and a great surface of water on wich the moon was reflecting. It might be a clue to find the underground realm, but I can't garanty it.

They made their kingdom nearly impossible to reach by upholster the whole territory of an unbreakable material. If anyone would want to enter their home, he must find the gates.

III - The Secret Kingdom Under our Feet
To be honest, I don't know much of the Satek curent realm, since I mostly saw about what they had to endure, but I may be able to talk about some features of their way of living.

Of their town's planning and architecture :

The Satek aren't many, hence they only established one underground city in which they could all live. Every citizen has a house and property in the city. It is possible by the fact that they are immortal and pure, and so are not willing to have any sexual comportement neither making children, as it seems unnecessary to them.

All houses are the same, and are only made to be efficiant. The citizens can express their likes by the decoration of their houses and gardens. The properties are all conneted to pipe that cross every gardens and deliver fresh water all the time. The town planning is logical, as it is based on geometric forms, one in particular : the square. Since their city is located under the ground, and by that have no contact with the sunlight, the Satek like to play with light in the entire city, wich ressemble to a huge multicolor anthill.

Of their food wont :

Many different food sources wich can be produced underground have been developped. The principal dishes generally consist of mushrooms, kelp or fish, but also of some goods that we, the people of the surface, don't know. For exemple, a certain type of cheese, they produce with the juice of a perennial plant wich look and taste like a vegetal milk, but is only made for pleasure as it doesn't contain much nutriment.

Of their political organisation :

The political organisation of their society is quite complex. Every citizen possess a part of the sovereignty, and can express it when the complete population is consult, but generally by electing representants who will take decisions or by juging the possible disputes.

The citizens elect a list of ministers, the Cabinet, who will run the public policy. The delegates of neighborhood are elected to administrate their districts and to assemble as a parliament, called the Doubting House, that will vote the laws proposed by the Cabinet and control it's action. One member of the Cabinet, chosen by the Doubting House, will become the Supreme Commander, wich is more of a watcher with arbitrage fonctions as he preside the Cabinet reunions and take part in it's work but doesn't involve completely and can dissolve the Doubting House if necessary. He is usually seen as a symbol of unity, as we, people of the surface, do with our possible monarchs. He is still the head of state and is responsible of the surety and integrity of the territory, and by this, is in charge of the police and army – the army existing only if visitors might come. The last institution is probably the most difficult to understand, as it is more of an assembly of two different groups, and have no name to refer to. The first type of members are the magistrates, who are named by the Cabinet, and the second type of members, but majoritary, are drawn people who compose the Popular Council. Together, the magistrates and the Popular Council, advise the Cabinet about what policy should be done and how, but also juge the disputes that may happen between the citizens – the magistrates advising the drawn people on the right to decised what is more likely to be just.

The Satek society is only based on merit. No citizen can claim any superior right by his family origine. This oblige all citizens to contribute to the life of the city.

Of their cults :

Freedom of thought, speech and cult is absolute in the city. Every citizen can freely express his thoughts or faith.

Most of the Satek doesn't pray any god, as they complety disapprove the way the divine beings are, wich made them suffer more than any other people. However, most of the citizen often refer to an allegoric figure of Reason, and call it to guide their life.

Despite that, some within the Satek believe that Adrastyn, knowing he could not handle the battle against the gods, used the Vakyn Pallah to make himself immortal and faked his death, so the gods would left without knowing that he is still acting in secret for the poor, hidden somewhere he wont be found. This belief started a cult to the dragon of salvation. The followers pray him and build temples and monuments to his glory and, must of all, prepare for the war, that will end the gods reign, as they strongly think this war will happen one day.

But all of this are only speeches you will never be able to verify, unless you try yourself to find the secret kingdom under our feet...