The Chronicles of Deva is a narrative cycle of novels set in an alternative Britain in about 1915.
Following a civil war, North and South have separated and The Isles have split asunder.
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CAN THE ISLES EVER BE REUNITED?
DO OLD HATREDS RUN TOO DEEP?
The First Instalment of “PRISONER OF STATE” by Susan Ruth is available now:
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SMASHWORDS
The fact-checkers at Darkover and Snell are mystified by two forthcoming manuscripts presented to us for fact-checking: “Prisoner of State” and “Minister of State Security” by Susan Ruth. We at Darkover and Snell originally believed these to be serious – indeed academic, works on the all-important topic of state security, its governance and the apparatus needed to effect it.
These books are not what they appear.
Central to our concern is this: does the Regency of Mercia, the Northlands and Scotia exist?
We continue to be unsuccessful in contacting the reclusive researcher, Susan Ruth, on whose notebooks these works are said to be based. The last known sighting of Ms Ruth was at a dog show in Brisbane, Australia, where she was jotting down grooming tips for wolf hounds. This is not what we are accustomed to at Darkover and Snell.
A few days ago a parcel arrived containing a series of pages of one of Ms Ruth’s research notebooks. As you can imagine, hope ran high at Darkover and Snell. Alas, these extracts have no verifiable names, facts or data; they are bereft of geographical or historic exactitude: and we can find no living trace of the individuals or organisations mentioned therein. At Darkover and Snell we believe reality is just that – real, verifiable and testable. In Ms Ruth’s books facts become fantasy and reality vanishes into something else entirely.
The papers that have come into out possession are interesting as juvenilia, marginalia or “colour”. Susan Ruth has shown a preference for linguistic oddities, lists of names and groups of linked words; for folkloric visions and questionable beliefs. There are a handful of illustrations, and while some might be termed landscapes and others reveal buildings, they utterly lack cartographic specificity or geometrical validity.
Currently at Darkover and Snell we are unable to declare what these books are. They are not the rigid academic volumes we were led to believe they were. We have found no proof that The Regency of Mercia, the Northlands and Scotia exists anywhere, anytime.
Overheard conversation between the Minister of State Security and Doctor Allan Lawrence.
FS: Lawrence, who the devil is this dark-haired creature they’re saying is Xanthe?
AL: Let me look. (Laughs)
FS: I mean they’ve got so much else wrong, why not her hair colour?
AL: Mind you this could almost be Xanthe, couldn’t it?
FS: You mean Sunlight in her I’m not going to that horrid Octagonal Hall ever again. And no-one is going to make me way. Poor girl, she has a lot to put up with. and I’m the poor fool who has to make her.
AL: And how do you propose to do that?
FS: By guile and cunning, Lawrence.
It’s a pity she’s not a flight machine, then she would have come with a manual. Felix Skryker of Xanthe Chance.
RESTRICTED ACCESS
FOR Q’S EYES ONLY
RE: A POSSIBLE RIFT BETWEEN XANTHE CHANCE AND FELIX SKRYKER
FROM: AH
We finally have someone in place close to the lady in question. To penetrate the lady’s quarters is difficult and cannot be guaranteed at this stage. However, we hope the current operative will be capable of striking up a relationship with the young woman. The alternative is to gain access to the Minister himself. However, he has proved elusive to these sorts of approaches.
What is now clear and is widely rumoured is that there is a rift growing between Lady Xanthe and the Minister. Their earlier camaraderie appears threatened by the Minister’s insistence she be present on State occasions in Deva. The first of these took place three nights ago on the Light Solstice, Midsummer’s Eve. Coincidentally this was Lady Xanthe’s eighteenth birthday. The Minister ordained the lady appear properly attired and take her place on the dais in the Octagonal Hall. Reports from a number of sources say the lady all but refused, behaving in what appears to be a very childish manner.
The attached photogram reveals the lady in one of her sulks. She is not an easy creature and she is resistant of any control. Our operative stands ready to exploit this situation. For the present, we welcome this rift.
The sooner these two are separated for good, the better. See it done. Q
RESTRICTED ACCESS
FOR Q’S EYES ONLY
RE: FURTHER BACKGROUND ON XANTHE CHANCE
FROM: AH in DEVA
BACKGROUND REPORT ON XANTHE CHANCE
Xanthe Chance was made a Prisoner of State at birth and lived much of her life on the prison island of Hryggeskerry off the north coast of Scotia. At the age of ten she was enclosed in the prison itself and treated as harshly as any other political prisoner. She had no formal education, instead catching up assorted pieces of information from the scholars, researchers and dissidents who were confined in Hryggeskerry fortress. However she has a high-level natural ability at mathematics and was tutored by a man she called The Blind Mathematician. When Lady Xanthe was twelve (at the time of the Armistice), conditions worsened for her and she fell seriously ill with a brain fever.
Since the end of the Civil War she has lived in Deva as the personal ward of the Minister of State Security; her status as Prisoner of State remains unchanged. Recently there has been public speculation about a physical relationship between the two, but this remains unconfirmed. Currently she occupies a suite in the Ministry building, but some of her time is spent in various University facilities or in visiting the observation point along the Dislocation Barrier on what was the main road south. When she leaves the Ministry she is always under escort.
Lady Xanthe is reported to be developing a detailed mathematical model of the Barrier, with a view to its eventual removal; however, assessments by independent experts suggests that her methods are unorthodox and her proposals quite impractical. It must be noted though that the independent experts found the mathematical modelling impossible to follow and it may be that some assessments are biased due to lack of understanding. In fact, Dr Galan Grammaticus, the Master of Exeter College and no supporter of the Chance family, described the work as ground-breaking.
Lady Xanthe has attracted the attention of the OPV on several occasions. To some extent this is a consequence of her erratic personal behaviour, but it is mainly in connection with persistent suggestions that she is continuing to dabble in the forbidden (and heretical) work on automata which led to her family’s destruction. We have been unable to confirm or refute these rumours; but it is rumoured that Lady Xanthe controls a menagerie of automata whose origins are unclear (all attempts to obtain one for examination have failed).
Xanthe Chance is a Person of Interest for two reasons, both relevant to our plans. First, she is probably heiress to the great Chance fortune and properties – though her status as Prisoner of State creates serious doubt as to whether she could legally inherit, even if the status is revoked. Second, she is close to Felix Skryker; and, whether or not they have become romantically involved (see separate report: Felix Skryker), she represents a lever which may be used against him. If we can win her to our cause, she will therefore be a doubly valuable asset. However, she is related to the Regent Archbishop and may to some extent be under his protection too, so direct approaches must be carefully managed.
Note: Lady Xanthe’s erratic and unpredictable habits make it difficult to follow her or confirm her routines. However, they also provide opportunities for intervention, if this should become necessary, as she appears to be completely scornful of personal security. The difficulty there would be to prepare in advance for a situation where she is known to be alone and vulnerable.
Personal assessment: apparently considerable native intelligence, but little formal education. May have suffered significant psychological damage as a result of her earlier imprisonment, and shows considerable mental instability. Difficult to deal with as a person; emotionally cold, unapproachable. She will turn 18 on Midsummer’s Day. She is slim and slight and said to be growing into a beauty, though reportedly she shows none of the normal young woman’s interest in boys or relationships generally (again, possibly a consequence of long imprisonment). All attempts to befriend her have been repelled.
Wren was attacked and left for dead. We didn’t intercept the file.
The game’s afoot, people: now they know we know. And the game’s what I thought it was: Lady Xanthe. Find anyone who’s been chatting to strangers about Lady Xanthe.
We can’t afford to stay in the dark. At least let’s find out what the file was about.
Wren will pull through, Allan Lawrence got to her in time. Remember, this lot play hard. We’ll watch out for each other better.
MEMORANDUM TO Q
Re: THE DARK XANTHE
By: AH
We have new information about the so-called “Dark Xanthe”, the automaton supposedly created by the heretic Inigo Chance of his dead wife, the Muskovite, Arkady Yelenkova.
Enclosed:
1. A summary of what is known so far about the “Dark Xanthe”.
2. An artist’s rendition of this creature.
3. a statement by a reliable informant.
4. We have also recreated from the files of Doctor Allan Lawrence a scenario of what Xanthe Chance’s feelings are and Skryker’ likely response. This is an important breakthrough. If there is some sort of link between the automaton and Xanthe chance then we have another way of snaring her.
FILE Q/AH 2 RESTRICTED ACCESS. HIGHEST PRIORITY
THE DARK XANTHE
!. SUMMARY
When Xanthe Chance finally grew up there was much talk about her coldness and remoteness of manner. Many even said she was not real, but a very fine automata. Some went further. Xanthe Chance was the automaton Inigo Chance had created in exile to remind him of his dead wife, Arkady Yelenkova. Professor Chance had been exiled to Hryggeskerry for heresy. He narrowly escaped a death penalty. His crime was to presume too far on the powers of the Deity, Sol Invictus and attempt to create life. Specifically, he had built an array of automata for the Clocktower at Valerian College, fabulous creatures that appeared vibrant with life.
2. ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF THE DARK XANTHE AUTOMATON
3. TESTIMONY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF INIGO CHANCES FANTASTICAL CREATURES
Interview with Mistress Clover Ede.
This is the story as I heard it from a cleaner at the Ministry of State Security.
“Well, gentle master, my Nan’s mother was there, an’ I remember it as if I were there meself. They filled the Roman Amphitheatre wi’ folk Enemies of Inigo Chance, an’ just plain folk. An’ they dragged him an’ his poor wife into the arena. She were big with child, but did they give her a chair? No! So some woman got up and took her a little folding stool. You could see the Heresy Police didn’t like it, but the women there were gettin’ real argy-bargy. They had no row wi’ her. Just a bit of a thing she was, like Lady Xanthe.
An’ then it happened. They destroyed them Fantastical Creatures in front of the Perfessor’s eyes. Him being a Chance, he laughed at first. Then he got quiet. Because summat was destroyed that day. Summat was hacked to pieces and burnt. An’ the summats didn’t die easy. The Perfessor collapsed with his heart, and Arkady Yelenkova went into labour. An’ the mob turned on the Heresy Police. An’ blood ran red an’ redder.
Arkady’s baby died, and she, poor lady, went out of her mind with grief. She stood in her room as they’d wanted her to stand in that arena. Not a word did she say an’ not a sup to eat nor a sip to drink would she take. They took her to St Dymphna’s Asylum for Mind Sicknesses, which is really here before they moved to a new place an’ the Ministry came here. But she were too far gone. Just a doll, they said. On the fifth day she began to come out of it, an’ they thought she’d turned a corner.
An’ so she had, but not the corner they had in mind. She put on her wedding dress, combed out her long dark hair and set a wreath of roses in it, like a bride again. She went up to the Tower Room, up there in the Ministry Tower. She ran up all them stone steps like the wind and no-one could catch her.
There’s a winder up there, in that Tower Room. A winder they call the Chance winder. Two Chance heretics, Hieronymus Chance and Salamander Chance, cast themselves from that winder. An’ so did Arkady. She ran an’ she opened it an’ she stepped out smiling as if she were goin’ to her light o’ love.
An’ they say all the birds of Deva came in a huge flock to try to stop her falling. But she sang to them as she fell, her dress so fine about her like wings and her hair streaming behind her. An’ the birds sang with her. Them birds sang Arkady Yelenkova across the Borders of the World.
An’ there’s summat else, summat that’s on my mind. Lady Xanthe has that Chance winder in her mind, and has done since she came here. Such a wreck she was, barely alive. It’s kept locked and Lord Skryker hisself has the only key. Even so, he checks two or three times a day to see it’s still locked, he’s that worried about her. Cruel stuff people say, that she’s not real. That she’s the automaton that Perfessor Chance made of his dead wife. Well, I say he should have let the dead lie in peace, not meddle. It’s the lady has to deal with it now.
4. Reconstruction from Doctor Lawrence’s file entries and diary.
Xanthe whirled around to face him, eyes wild and desperate. “She’s in my mind. The Queen of Stars. The Dark Xanthe. She’s so clear she could be me. Is she me? And what are you? Inigo Chance stole something of me. If I’m not real, then what are you?”
This was Xanthe’s elusive, will-o’-the-wisp style of conversation, linked by often distant points. Then Skryker gasped as a vision of the Queen of Stars, the Dark Xanthe flooded his own mind. For he had seen her, this unearthly beauty.
Unbelievable lovely, but essentially inhuman; the Dark Xanthe was an automaton with long black hair, a long white dress and a wreath of roses and ivy on her head. She was crying, tears trickling down her rosy cheeks. With equal suddenness, his mind’s eye transformed the automaton was transformed into the real Xanthe, pale and resolute; wearing a white shift, her hair was cut short and she was bound to a stone pillar.
But Xanthe in the real world was frantic. “Where do I stop and she begin? If she’s destroyed, what will happen to me? Will I be dead? Or have I been dead all along and is it she that‘s alive?
CONCLUSION
This situation gives us another way of snaring the young woman in question. Her link with reality is tenuous. Skryker and Lawrence are the main supports in the life of a lonely girl.
I suggest we work to break down that support and separate them. Then we can take Xanthe chance more easily. She is closely guarded, but if she learns to mistrust she will be easily exploited.
MEMORANDUM TO Q
Re: Xanthe Chance
By: AH
Xanthe Chance is an enigma. Is the young woman dwelling in the Garden Tower at the Ministry of State Security really Xanthe Chance. Is a living young woman at all? Is she Inigo Chance’s masterpiece? A beautiful automaton that can pass for real.
BACKGROUND
Xanthe Chance was born 18 years ago on Midsummer’s Eve. Her parents are uncertain. Her father was from Chance family. Her mother has never been identified. Her place of birth is contested. The consensus is she was born on Hryggeskerry island, but equally she may have been in the White Tower in Lundun.
Xanthe Chance was made a Prisoner of State in the hour of her birth. Why is unclear. Earl Gresty, the then Prime Minister of The Isles. had an interest in her. What that interest is remains obscure. Gresty never mentioned Xanthe Chance in public.
Making someone a Prisoner of State is a rare occurrence. It overturns an individual’s rights before the law and imprisons them for life. The legislation underpinning POS status is ancient, yet it has never been revoked or updated. Draconian penalties for attempted escape remain in place. Traditionally POS status was a way to deal with those too close to power, but too important to despatch in a clandestine way. I refer you to the attached extracts of 36 Edw. III c. 15, 11 Leo IV c. 9.
Xanthe Chance was on Hryggeskerry within weeks of her birth. It is not known if mother was with her, or whether she cared for by foster parents. With the coming of the Civil War, the control of Hryggeskerry Prison passed into the hands of incompetents. The child was mistreated and abused and enclosed in the prison fortress itself.
Xanthe Chance fell ill in her twelfth year . A précis of the medical records is attached. Arrangements were made to evacuate her to Deva and to smuggle her through the Dislocation Barriers to the White Tower. This did not happen. The next news of her is 6 years ago when she sought sanctuary of Felix Skryker, Minister of State Security in Mercia.
Xanthe Chance has lived at the Ministry of State Security for the last six years. During her first year in Deva Skryker foiled several attempts on her life and contained her enemies
At Midsummer this year, after six years of enclosure, the Regent of Mercia, her great-uncle the Archbishop of Deva started to bring her into the public eye.
ANALYSIS
A child, Xanthe Chance, lived on Hryggeskerry. However, it is uncertain if she survived the brain fever in her twelfth year. It is uncertain who, or what, is living at the Ministry of State Security in Deva.
Possible reasons for the Prisoner of State status include:
1.The Chance family is all but played out. Halcyon Chance has no children. The five sons of his brother Germander are dead. Xanthe is said to be the daughter of Germander Chance and his unnamed third wife. She is heiress to the Chance Estate.
2. It is rumoured Xanthe Chance uncovered secrets of the automata created by her great-grandfather Inigo Chance. By the time she was seven people saw her with two remarkable automata, an owl and a mouse. There’s an energy system here and Xanthe Chance, young as she is, knows what it is. Knowledge of that energy is desirable
3.Heresy runs deep in the Chance family. Most recently Tom Chance, youngest son of Germander, and Yumie Sumitomo of the Jappan Archipelago, wrote a subversive paper arguing the Deity Sol Invictus is a star like any other in the sky and subject to processes of ageing and decay. Chance and Sumitomo were tried for heresy and exiled to Hryggeskerry. Xanthe Chance is suspected of having heretical beliefs.
These – wealth, secret knowledge, heresy – could account for the child being accorded POS status . There may be other reasons. The mother’s identity is unknown and the girl’s POS status may be linked to her.
As for the young woman in Deva, little is known. The creature appearing in the Octagonal Hall behaves like a doll. Some say she is Inigo Chance’s masterpiece: his dead wife, Arkady Yelenkova. brought back to life.
RECOMMENDATION
Xanthe Chance must be investigated. She is heiress of the Chance Estate. She has secrets the authorities must know. Further investigations are necessary, in Deva, on Hryggeskerry, here in Lundun. We need to know her mother’s identity.
What are you waiting for? Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty. Bring me certainty.
This is the first verified photogram we’ve had in months, sir. The girl is kept very close. A full report will be on your desk soon.
Oh, very pretty! Childrens’ games? Is this what I employ you for?
Get me something on the Chance girl. I want a report on my desk within the hour. Get it done!
DEVAWORLD 