Gloaming scenery reigning over a progressive high-infrastructure zone of a metropolis.
Shardspire, a vibrant cityscape stretching over several dozen kilometers with huge, heavily structured walls surrounding it in all directions.
It is one of the major capitals in Stargrave.
The urban metropolis was sitting over a vast sea of still water, with no other human settlement visible on sight, several spots of lights could be seen across the ocean of undisturbed stillness, those were the battleships roaming the territory or merchants sailing into the wide, glassy seascape with travellers and products to be brought to another continent.
The city itself holds a diverse community with large buildings all over the place, beyond the gates where the island's premises ended were settlements way below the city level, A raft-built community where the people below the poverty line resided.
The houses on the outskirts were built several meters over the water, mainly with wood and straw, and with the support of the island base, the houses could be considered quite sturdy from normal to moderate waves...
"Philly, quit slacking before I cut your pay," a burly man with a white shirt stained all over the front and brown trousers shouted.
He had a bulky build with huge hairy arms and a protruding belly that arrived at his every destination before the rest of his body could.
The boy he scolded had black, messy hair, which was unkept and not washed for several days, clear brown eyes, about five feet three inches with a rather scrawny build but not too thin to be considered weak, small enough to portray his malnourished state.
His face was not much of a looker either but not to be called unsightly, more of an average placement, barely above average at most.
...
' My name is Philly, just Philly, short and simple, no family name or such, in fact, this was not even my real name, I picked it up from somewhere I can't remember because I was sick of people calling me boy or brat...
I was orphaned into this marginalized community ever since I was a kid, brought up by several people. I am now nineteen years old and currently working under Douglas Sanders in the port of the great shardspire, collecting sea reins left by the boats that had departed.'
"Yes, Boss," Philly responded as he fastened his work pace, which is likely to last only for a few minutes during Douglas's supervision.
'Living in a shunned society does have its perks, such as the neighbourhood being familiar with each other and sharing whatever we have left amongst ourselves, but the downside is that living and managing daily life is really hard.
Either we catch zether fish on the bay and sell them at a cheap price, or we work under a few people from inside the walls, like Mr. Douglas, who wants to get labour at a low cost...
Alas, things are not always as easy as they look. For starters, the people on the outskirts aren't even here of their own free will.
They are all pushed out of the growing economy due to the high prices of living expenses, the cost of rent for a single accommodation, not to mention food and other necessities, is an average of ten pence a week.
For clarification, pennies are the smallest coin and lowest in currency, followed by the denar, crown, and sovereign, respectively.
A hundred pennies is equivalent to a single denar, and a total of ten denar is the same as a crown, a thick plate of gold with the picture of a star depicted on the side.
The same for a crown to a sovereign, which is the largest piece of currency, a paper slip with a stamp of the ruling monarch embedded on it.
Earning money was clearly not an easy task, especially if you are not from a strong background or lack the skills needed to do any of the moderate to high-paying jobs.
But there is one occupation one could dream of having to uplift his status with no external help, more like a change in fate to be precise, and that is to become a Scion.
Stargrave have people of varying faith and traditions which would often led to the seperation of different continents and even being at wars at times to prove their point...but there has been an unchanging fact that has been passed down through the known history, a concise statement, a short proclamation that had been unchanged as it is in the beginning.
'THE GODS ARE DEAD BUT THEIR IDEALS REMAIN AND TWIST THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD, THE STARS ARE INTELLIGENT AND WATCH OVER YOU'.
These two sentences had been the only things unchanged since the fall of the gods, which was over a thousand years ago. No one knows of its origin, but the message it sent was quite clear...
Folk tales meant for children could also depict the brief history of this world.
In ancient times, ages ago before humanity faced the dark ages there was a time when the gods ruled over this world with harmony, where equality was among the people and justice prevailed in times of need, this was the golden time for the human civilization, the people lived according to the will and ideals of the gods...
But for some unknown reason, the gods died out in almost an instant, creating a huge power shift, and for the first time in their lives, the people were now free to have their own choice and live according to their desire, but they were not ready for such a great change to happen to them.
Chaos had descended upon the people, there was a power break, and humans were truly not good-willed by nature.
The destruction was so great that humanity could be facing extinction if this continued for a longer period, but divine intervention occurred. The stars spoke out to a handful of people, and the ideals of the dead gods were tested upon them to see if they were deemed worthy.
A few selected who passed the trial had powers bestowed upon them to restore order among the people, and with their help, peace returned at last. These people were called Scions.
Later on to this day the stars have intervened with the fate of the world and selected a few people at the age of twenty to go through a trial and tested if they were suited to be bestowed grace by any of the 47 dead gods, the stars are semi-sentient echoes of the dead gods, they act as a passive judge to see if a mortals could live in alignment with a god's forgotten ideals.
The chosen ones who could pass the trial have a symbol of the dead god engraved on some part of their body, they are called starbrand, a glowing sigil that grants core power based on their ideals, and they are the first step of being a scion.
Nevertheless, there was also a downside to it, although becoming a scion grants great power, being chosen by the stars was not an ideal option, because if you died during a celestial trial, you would also be dead in the real world.
The trials set by the stars were so difficult that the people from inside the walls would go through harsh training from a young age, just so they could survive; even with that, only about 5% of the initial aspirants returned.
This could also be because all trials given were different for each individual; they may be in groups based on, individual, or even put into another being, but one thing was certain: it would be very challenging.
With all that said, being selected by the stars was like a death sentence to us in the outer region. To this day, there have been a handful of selected, but none are said to survive the hellish trial.'
...
Pulling out black lustered rope from the sea, Philly heard a whistle ringing from a distance. With his consciousness roaming around all day, it was already the end of the day, and time for him to receive his pay.
The tip of the slipping sun could be seen as it falls into the horizon, slowly welcoming darkness into the infinite stretch of tranquil water.
Philly looked over to the dusky seascape with the thought of what might happen to him if he were to be chosen by the stars.
' But surely this couldn't happen right, after all the chances of being selected are so low even for the people inside the great wall,' Philly instinctively shrugged his shoulders and went back into the high boat and got in line to receive his daily pay
"Here are three pennies, you're lucky I didn't cut your pay considering how you worked today, plus you were late,"
Douglas was grumbling as he handed Philly his pay.
" Sorry boss, will do better from tomorrow onwards,"
Philly took a quick glance at the two brass copper coins before he slid them into his pocket, giving them a light pat before walking off.