Characters: Sabeen, Margaret, Judith, Emily, Sharita, Jacob
World: Proportion
Rating: PG-13 for suggestions of adult themes.
Word Count: 1,112
Total Words: 12,766/20,000
Sabeen's Rising
In the Dark Times after the Culling and the Glowing Wars, the world was devastated. The population had surpassed nine billion by the year 2050 CE. By the end, there remained seven million people alive on the planet. Where there were twenty men, you would find one woman, and only a quarter of the women left were fertile. Technology had stalled and there was little way to test that without trial and error. The strongest, smartest men, often the most ruthless, claimed the women they could, fighting among themselves and culling even more of the population. Eventually things settled. Women were passed among settlements like cattle, mounted and ridden until a child was produced. They were beaten, chained and locked up, raped daily, hourly sometimes. Women who never produced an offspring would sometimes be killed, if they were lucky, or else they became slaves to the men’s sexual needs. It was worse for those women. If you had proved your fertility, there was a chance for better care, gentler hands, so that you would be undamaged. No one wanted to risk the population further by causing a fertile woman to die. These women were kept in community houses in many settlements. The more fertile women there were, the better the conditions for a woman, the fewer the odds that she would be the one picked to be raped when men came in, but still it was deplorable.
One young woman was a member of the many infertile prostitutes. This woman was named Sabeen. She was kept in the house of a strong man, the leader of the village that was founded there. Years of abuse led her to desperation. She had been educated once in computer science and virology. She was a world-renowned scientist, but now she found herself thrust into servitude. Her master was a particularly unkind man and she was particularly headstrong. The only thing keeping him from killing her was his sadistic desire to keep using her. She was resourceful, though, and brilliant. She was able to get loose from her restraints one evening and did not waste any time. She found a knife and slit the man’s throat before escaping. (In truth, she was aided by a man who had secretly fallen in love with her, but as love is discouraged in modern day, this version has been erased from record. However, rumors still abound among the heretical humanists of modern day. Some versions did say he left town with her, but most said that he was killed in the escape or captured and later executed.) Four other women were kept in the house, one of which was a breeder. She freed them and they ran with her. They did not have the skills and intelligence that she did, but they were strong and vowed to protect her. Two of them had served in the American military prior to the Wars.
Sabeen and her companions, Margaret, Judith, Emily, and Sharita, fled to a remote area. They found a town that had been devastated by the wars, but was relatively free of radiation. The men chasing them lost their trail. They were safe there for two decades while Sabeen and her companions researched and built. Finally, Sabeen had created a virus similar to the Culling, more stable, but equally deadly. This virus was rumored to target men more heavily, like the first Culling had been particularly potent against women. They were also building machinery and weapons, deadly weapons. They rode back in machines, fully armed, and stormed the capital that had arisen in this time. The leader sat in an abandoned mansion, a council of sorts with him when she stormed in. They were astonished that five women pulled off what they did, but of course they had the machinery. The four women, known later as the Horsemen, kept guard while Sabeen went in alone. When the men moved to kill her, she held up a vial in her hand and told them that if she fell and the virus was released, they would all die. It was likely that it would spread and wipe out what was left of humanity, at least most of the men. They were forced to listen to her.
Days stretched on as the Horsemen guarded her and she managed negotiations with the men. Finally they set out a plan that made both sides reasonably happy. Sabeen was firm on ensuring the safety of the female population. She created the convent system as we know it and organized a nunnery system for the women that were born infertile, but were pious and moral, undeserving of any punishment or abuse. Infertile women who were impious or criminal or criminal women that were born fertile, would be made prostitutes so the men would still have their sexual release, something the leader Jacob was insistent on. However, Sabeen ensured safety for them. Brothels would be set up, regulated by the Holy faction, to protect those women from undue harm.
Jacob and Sabeen set up the Level system, assigning levels and merit for those of high morality and character, as well as high intelligence, strength, and health. The higher the level, the more you would be allowed to Breed with a fertile woman. The intricacies of the lottery system would be set up in better detail over the years, as well as the more detailed Level system. The first Level system only had three Guilds (Holy, Royal, and Common) and ten Levels. The part that has remained was her firm edict that a woman would be the head of the Holy Guild, would be a check and balance for the Royal Guild. Most of the Holy Guild would be men, but the High Holy (the first of which was Sabeen) would be a protector of the women, keep them safely locked away inside their convents, nunneries, and brothels. The High Holy would stay out of the High Royal’s (the first of which was Jacob) business, though, regulating the women, children, and morality laws. However, if ever needed, the High Holy would be able to overrule the High Royal. To keep the Holy in check, the Royal had the Police in the Security Guild and the fear that they could overrun the sanctuaries and return the world to the Dark Times. However, to protect themselves, Sabeen established a Holy Militia of devout soldiers.
This treaty and the Holy Edicts led the capital into a new age, the basis of all our laws and moral edicts today. Sabeen and Jacob joined forces and united the rest of the world under a peaceful, organized rule.
Bless the High Holy Sabeen.
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