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Prota 3
One with the People
The last king of Draka lived and reigned for fifty years until The Great Revolution. His queen had died while giving birth, and a few days later, so did their newborn. The king chose never to remarry, keeping his sacred vow to his beloved departed wife:
I choose you again and again,
until the seas dry or my forever ends.
It was a time of great divide amongst the people. Most of the citizens were suffering in poverty while the rest lived in great luxury. The monarchs at the time would pass down their industries to extended family members to run and own for generations. The king was opposed to this, but as a man of honor, he maintained these traditions. This system led to an increasingly wider gap between the rich and the poor.
One of the largest and most thriving industries was trade and shipping with foreign lands, led by Metaxis. He was the only industry owner known to be unrelated by blood to the royal family, who also happened to be the son of a dear friend to the king. This sparked outrage within the family since there was speculation that Metaxis would not follow their customary traditions by being raised outside of the aristocracy. However, the king had ultimate rule over his people, and although he knew many enemies would be made, he felt that Metaxis would succeed greatly.
Years passed, and Metaxis went on to make his industry the most successful and profitable for the monarchy. Jealousy and resentment grew amongst the other leaders towards Metaxis as he did not keep to the traditional monarchical practices. When he was a child, his mother had taught him, “To grow bountiful fruit, you must care for the seed first and the fruit last.” He believed that if he took good care of his people, they would take good care of his fleets. Metaxis would pay his workers almost double what any other industry owner paid theirs, and he also gave them two days off in a week to rest. He also kept his kindness towards workers in other industries. Metaxis amassed such great profits that the king let him keep a generous percentage in secret so that he could disperse it to those in need. He became known as one with the people.
The monarchy became aware of his outlandish philanthropy and claimed Metaxis had been stealing profits for himself. They were outraged with the king and his lack of investigation towards the matter, and so, they began to question the king’s sanity. However, the king was not bothered by this, as he knew it was all for the goodness of the people, and so did many of the king’s allies who had suspicion of his abnormally close relationship with Metaxis.
One fall morning, news had spread that the king had been slain by a giant black bear during the seasonal royal hunt. Controversy broke as the body was not displayed at the public funeral. The monarchy later announced that his body had been eaten by the bear, although rumors circulated that he had been swallowed whole by a giant bird or that he was kept alive and hidden in secrecy. The most popular conspiracy was that the king was murdered by treason and cremated.
The impending successor to the king was fiercely debated from both sides of the family. This difficult decision soon caused a revolt within the monarchy that sparked a cold civil war. The citizens suffered greatly as resources became scarce due to halted trade between the industries that ran the economy. The allies of the king quickly realized this problem and tried to make amends, but the other side refused.
While this divide went on for almost a year, the citizens were forming an underground coalition to overthrow the entire monarchy. The coalition successfully murdered the majority of the monarchy while keeping a few of the king’s allies alive, including Metaxis.
Their newfound liberty bred a new type of government, and all industries were remodeled through the guidance of Metaxis. As a gift, the people voted that the entire shipping industry be kept for Metaxis and his family to continue running. The business reigned prosperously for a bountiful of generations thereafter.