Chapter 1: Changes
Personal System Calendar: Year 00012, Day 2, Month I: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6857, 2nd day of the 1st Month
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A House Full of Life
August Finn's two-story house had never known a quiet day. From the moment the sun crept over the eastern ridgeline until well past the hour when most households had banked their fires and retired for the night, there were always children running through the halls, voices calling from room to room, and the steady hum of a large household in motion.
Hela and Greez Peerce, now four and five years old respectively, had long since outgrown their status as the youngest members of the household. That distinction now belonged to little Jomi Ross, the two-year-old child of Jonathan Ross and his second wife, Michelle Mitch-Ross. Jomi was Angeline's half-sibling, the product of Jonathan's second marriage after the loss of his first wife, and the two older Peerce children had taken to the role of elder siblings with all the enthusiasm and occasional chaos one might expect from children barely past toddlerhood themselves.
The house had finally undergone the expansion that August and the others had been postponing for far too long. What had started as a comfortable dwelling for a small family had become impossibly cramped as more and more people found their way into the Finn household, drawn not by blood ties but by bonds forged through shared hardship and survival. Twenty-three people living under one roof, even a large roof, was simply unsustainable.
The catalyst for finally completing the expansion had been the news that Adam Peerce's wives, Hiraya and Adarna, were both expecting. August had looked around the already overcrowded main hall, done the mental arithmetic, and realized that they were running out of time before the house became genuinely unlivable.
The solution had been elegant in its simplicity. Rather than attempt to expand the original structure outward in all directions, they had constructed an entirely new longhouse running parallel to the first, leaving a substantial gap between the two buildings to preserve the garden that had occupied the space behind the original house for generations. An enclosed floating bridge connected the two structures at the second-floor level, allowing residents to move between the buildings even during the harshest winter weather without stepping outside.
The garden itself was a thing of beauty and practicality both. Measuring approximately ninety-six square meters in total, it had been lovingly maintained for and expanded for over two centuries of use. August knew it had been passed down through his family from ancestors whose names he no longer remembered, though the exact date of its creation was lost to time. The garden produced fruits and vegetables year-round, a small miracle made possible by the unique microclimate of the Great Forest and the careful tending of generations of Finn family members.
They had deliberately left the sides of the property open, with no walls enclosing the space between the two longhouses. Partly this was for practical reasons — it made accessing the garden far easier — but partly it was in anticipation of future growth. If the household continued to expand, and there was every reason to believe it would, they might need to build additional extensions on either side.
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The Longhouse Design
The original longhouse had survived the Beast Dominion Wars that had partially destroyed the village three years prior and even before that during the night the village was raided and massacred. It was largely because of its location, as it was deeper within the settlement, that it had been kept out of the worst of the fighting the battle had seen.
Over the years since its original construction, the structure had undergone significant expansion to accommodate the growing household. What had begun as a single-story dwelling measuring one hundred and twenty feet in length, thirty feet in width, and approximately fifteen feet tall had evolved into a two-story structure standing twenty-seven feet tall, with the central smoke turret reaching an impressive thirty-two feet at its peak.
The expansion had been undertaken by August and his first companions in three carefully planned stages during the second year after the massacre, driven by the urgent need to house the influx of survivors who had joined August's household. The phased approach had allowed them to continue living in the structure even as construction progressed around them.
Above the central hall was a mezzanine that connected the rooms of the second floor and overlooked the space beneath where the open hearth burned day and night. Above it rose an additional five-foot smoke turret that functioned as a chimney, drawing smoke upward and away from the living spaces below.
Hidden beneath the original longhouse lay a reinforced root cellar that had been expanded over the years to span the entire length of the structure. It now measured one hundred twenty feet long, thirty feet wide, and extended fifteen feet into the earth, providing approximately 54,000 cubic feet of space. This crucial area served dual purposes throughout the year. During the colder months, it provided ample storage for preserved food, keeping root vegetables, fermented foods, and other provisions cool and dry. During the most intense days of summer, however, the cellar became a refuge from the oppressive heat above ground. Fifteen feet below the surface, the temperature remained constant at around 10-13°C, offering natural cooling that made the space ideal for daytime work, sleeping during heat waves, and gathering when the summer sun made the above-ground rooms unbearable. Sections of the cellar could be partitioned as needed, some dedicated to food storage year-round while others transformed into temporary living spaces during summer's peak.
The second longhouse featured an identical root cellar beneath it, also measuring one hundred twenty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet deep. This provided the household with a combined 108,000 cubic feet of underground space, more than sufficient for the needs of twenty-three residents plus storage for trade goods, seed reserves, and emergency provisions.
The available living space within each longhouse was generous for a family of four. For twenty-three people, even with both structures, it required careful management.
The first floor of the original longhouse maintained the original three-sector division, though the purposes of some spaces had evolved:
The Main Hall occupied approximately forty percent of the available space, roughly sixty-seven square meters. This central area housed the hearth, the literal and figurative heart of the home. During the bitter winter months, most of the household still gathered here to sleep, clustering near the fire for essential warmth and maintaining the ancient tradition of communal winter living. During milder seasons, the hall served primarily as the gathering space for meals and evening conversation.
The Bedroom section had been returned to its original two rooms from the previous cramped design of four distinct chambers, occupying roughly thirty percent of the space at fifty square meters total. August and Angeline occupied the master bedroom where his parents had once slept. Red and Theresa Peerce had occupied the second bedroom and turned it into their own private chamber. Unlike the shared quarters on the second floor previously before the upgrade. Each first-floor bedroom contained a single double bed and a crib for children, offering greater personal space and privacy.
The Kitchen and Dining Area took up the remaining thirty percent, roughly fifty square meters. This multipurpose space served as a dining area, food preparation workspace, pantry, and larder all at once. It was perpetually busy, with someone always cooking, preserving food, or preparing for the next meal. Directly beneath this section lay the entrance to the root cellar, accessible via a cleverly concealed trapdoor near the back wall.
The structure also featured a small front porch at the main entrance and an outdoor privy attached to the rear of the house near the garden.
A sturdy staircase was strategically placed on the right side of the main hall that led to the second floor hall, just outside the ground-floor bedrooms. It connected the two levels and served as the vital artery between floors.
The second floor maintained the original divisions of rooms, though the purposes of some spaces had also evolved:
The second floor, added during the phased expansion, had been thoughtfully divided into eight distinct chambers arranged along the square mezzanine walkway that acted as the second floor hallway.
The four rooms that occupied the right wing were designated for their male residents, but two of the rooms were now merged into one room, making them three. Of course, they had been bunk beds before, but now they decided, since the expansion of the new longhouse, to make them single bed spaces. One of those rooms that was merged was being occupied by Sibus. He needed the space due to having to create blueprints for the village's architectural and other engineering designs.
The other two rooms were occupied by Andy and Marcus. The four rooms on the left were previously accommodated by the single women, but it was no longer the case because most of them, except for Donna, had partners already. Similar to the men's rooms, one of them was merged to house another couple, or was it a triple: Adam and his two wives, Adarna and Hiraya. They occupied this larger room because both women were pregnant and would need the space for cribs soon. The other two rooms meanwhile were being occupied by the siblings Griz and Hela. The remaining room was occupied by Donna for now. There were large windows in each room that admitted precious light and allowed for ventilation during warmer months.
The construction materials were obviously exceptional. The salvaged roofing from the original structure had proven to be in excellent condition, with tar-coated wooden shingles showing minimal wear and massive timber trusses exhibiting no signs of rot or structural weakness. The walls were insulated with daub, the time-tested mixture of mud, clay, and straw that provided excellent thermal protection. The supporting columns and floor joists were reinforced with additional structural elements to safely bear the weight of the second story.
The new longhouse mirrored the original in almost every respect. It had its own hearth, its own bedrooms, its own kitchen and dining area, and its own expansive root cellar beneath. During most of the year, though, only the original hearth in the first longhouse was kept fully burning. The second hearth was lit primarily when the household had visitors or during the deepest cold of winter and during the cold nights when both fires were necessary to keep everyone warm.
The rooms were of course occupied. The first floor bedrooms were occupied by Jonathan and his wife Michelle, and still with them, their child Jomi. The second room was shared by Erik and Isabel. The second floor rooms followed the same pattern, of course, except that the left side was made entirely of two large rooms. One was for Betty and Milo, then Bren and Nina. The other empty rooms were left alone for now but would most probably be used by their children in the future. Other than that, the second longhouse was similarly built.
As mentioned before, these two longhouses were connected by an enclosed bridge or walkway connecting the two upper floors of the adjacent houses, and it had the same architectural design, insulation, and materials used as the two houses. It also had a roof obviously, and windows on both sides of the walkway evenly spaced so they could watch the garden below. It was located on the right side of the house. It was supported by a massive pillar that formed an M shape, with two entrances below it.
Now, with the expansion complete, the household no longer felt cramped. Several residents had moved into the newer structure to make better use of the space, though the original hearth remained the primary gathering place for meals and evening conversation. Old habits died hard, and the hearth where August had grown up, where his parents had told stories and where he had learned what it meant to survive in the Great Forest, would always hold a special place in the household's collective memory.
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The Finn Household
Despite the space and despite the years that had passed, August had never pushed anyone to leave. These people had become his family in every way that mattered, even if they shared no ties of blood. After losing his parents, his sister, and every other member of his birth family in the massacre that had nearly destroyed the original Maya Village, these twenty-three people had become his second family. The older members of the household had served as their mentors, guides, and surrogate parents. The younger members had become his brothers and sisters in all but name.
He would support them if they ever decided to build their own homes and start their own households. But he would never force it. The Finn house had room enough for all of them, and in truth, August had no desire to live alone in a house that had seen so much life and laughter in recent years.
The current roster of the Finn household was as follows:
August Finn himself, Team One Leader and Supreme Military Commander of Maya Village's defense forces. Angeline Ross-Finn, his wife as of the previous year, and a member of Team One. Erik Rubbard, Team One Sub-Leader and one of August's oldest friends. Isabel Peerce-Rubbard, Erik's wife and a Team One member. Bren Anglewood and his wife Nina Simone-Anglewood, both valued members of the community. Milo Stone, Team One's berserker specialist, whose marriage to Betty Snow-Stone had surprised no one. Adam Peerce, Red's oldest son and a Team One member, along with his two wives Hiraya and Adarna, both former slaves who had found freedom and purpose in Maya Village.
Red Peerce, the Village Chief, and his wife Theresa Peerce, the village healer and head of the support group. Their children Griz and Hela. Jonathan Ross, Angeline's father and Team Three Commander, he was married to Michelle Mitch-Ross, Jonathan's second wife and a master embroiderer whose work was becoming known even outside the village. And little Jomi Ross, the newest addition.
Then there were the others who had found their way into the household over the years: Andy Shoor, a former mercenary and merchant who now managed the village's merchant operations. Donna Campbell, a former slave who had become an essential part of the community's support network. Retired Captain Cornick Sandeval, a former associate of the Corvus mercenary company who had redeemed himself through years of loyal service. Sibus Dino, the genius engineer and tinkerer whose inventions had improved life in the village in countless small and big ways. Marcus Fernando, who handled accounting for Maya's Traveling Mercantile operations.
Marriages had changed the household considerably over the past few years. August and Angeline. Erik and Isabel. Milo and Betty. Bren and Nina. Adam with both Hiraya and Adarna, a marriage arrangement that had raised some eyebrows initially but which had proven to be stable and loving. Uncle Red and Aunt Theresa seemed content with their four children (Adam, Isabel, Griz and Hela) and had no apparent interest in expanding their family further. Jonathan and Michelle had only recently welcomed Jomi into the world.
That left the household's bachelors: Uncle Andy, Dino, Marcus, and Sandeval. Donna had apparently found a partner, though she had yet to introduce him to the household. August suspected that day would come soon enough. As for the four remaining unmarried men, their situations were complicated in ways that August did not fully understand and did not press them about.
The household still gathered at the original hearth for meals and evening conversation. It was tradition, and tradition mattered in a place like Maya Village where so much had been lost and so much had been rebuilt from nothing.
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A Village Transformed
The village itself had transformed dramatically over the past three years. What had once been a small, struggling settlement was now a thriving community that genuinely felt like a proper village. Houses dotted the landscape from Zone One, Two and Three in organized and natural clusters. Workshops and communal buildings had sprung up near the central square at Zone Two. The roads were well-maintained and clearly marked. The defensive fortifications, while still necessary, no longer felt like the only thing standing between the residents and annihilation.
The population had grown carefully and deliberately. Every family that arrived underwent a thorough vetting process that evaluated not just their skills and health, but their temperament and their ability to integrate into a community that was fundamentally unlike any other settlement in the empire. Maya Village was a place where humans, beastfolk, and intelligent beasts lived and worked side by side. Not everyone could adapt to that reality.
Those who could not accept the presence of the beasts or who showed uneasiness around the beastfolk were politely but firmly turned away, regardless of their other qualifications. The village needed skilled labor and capable hands, but it would not sacrifice its hard-won peace and harmony for the sake of numbers alone.
Those who were redirected to other settlements such as the Millhaven Territory, City of Gremory and even as far as the Empire's own settlements, were given proper introductions, accommodations, and even assistance finding work elsewhere. The village was not heartless. It simply knew what it needed to survive and what it could not compromise on.
The empire's garrison had settled into a comfortable routine. The five hundred personnel rotated between the fort inside the village and the military outpost within the territory's borders, conducting regular patrols and maintaining a visible presence that deterred the few bandits and raiders who had found the new village as a potential new zone for their crimes and might otherwise have seen Maya Village as an easy target.
Relations with the empire had improved dramatically since the early days. The rocky start was behind them. The empire had invested heavily in the village's infrastructure, particularly the road network that now connected Maya to the outside world. In return, the village paid its taxes not in coin but in beast materials: hides, bones, reagents, and other valuable resources that the Great Forest of Lonelywood provided in abundance.
The arrangement worked well for both parties. The village had access to materials that most settlements could only dream of, and the empire received a steady supply of rare goods that fetched high prices in the imperial markets.
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The Beasts Among Them
The political situation among the beasts of the Great Forest had shifted considerably in the wake of the war against the Shadowfen aggressors. Ozythalos, the previous Arbiter Guardian Beast, had been gravely injured during the final battle and had stepped down from his position. In his place, the beasts had selected a new leader: Osteo Tyranus, known more commonly as Rex, the Armored Tyrant or Bone Tyrant. Rex was a formidable creature by any measure, and his ascension to the role of Arbiter Guardian Beast signaled a new era in the forest's governance.
Aetherwing, the Patriarch Mighty Peregrine Eagle and August's own guardian beast, had also risen in status. He had been named the Forest Guardian Beast of the northern territory of Lonelywood, a position that carried significant authority and responsibility within the forest's complex social hierarchy. He was now no longer just a mere Beast Lord under the Forest Beast Laws but a Forest Guardian Beast plus his original role as August's Guardian Beast, a title that placed him among the most powerful creatures in the entire region.
Despite his elevated status, Aetherwing still made his home in Maya Village. He lived there with his mate and the second clutch of eggs they were currently tending. Their first clutch, now fully grown, had established their own territories on the nearby mountain cliffs, close enough that they could visit regularly but far enough that they had room to establish their own lives.
Rexy, meanwhile, had taken up residence in a den near the Finn household. To call it a shed would have been a grotesque understatement. The structure was large enough to comfortably house a creature of Rexy's considerable size, and it had been reinforced and expanded several times over the years as Rexy grew from a cute young wolf into an alpha leading an entire pack of Grimfang wolves.
She was still affectionate with those she trusted, but she was also a leader now, with all the responsibilities that entailed.
Kirpy, Bren's bonded beast and one of Aetherwing's offspring from the first clutch, was now training his own juvenile children in the arts of flight and hunting. It was a strange and wonderful thing to watch the generational cycles of the beasts playing out within the village itself.
Maya Village had become something truly unique: a place where humans, beastfolk from both the Kotoko and the new beast folk Lokoroko clans, and intelligent beasts coexisted in something approaching genuine harmony. It was a sight that would have been unthinkable anywhere else in the known world. Perhaps one species and another might coexist peacefully, but all three at once? That was something special.
It meant the village had become more than just a settlement. It had become a haven for those who shared a common vision of a better, more inclusive world.
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The Fragility of Peace
But peace, as August had learned many times over, was a fragile thing.
Nothing in this world lasted in the way you expected it to. The harmony they had built, the careful balance they had maintained, could not remain undisturbed forever. There were forces beyond the forest's borders that would inevitably intrude upon the life they had created here.
August could feel it in his bones, a familiar tension that had nothing to do with the weather or the season. Something was coming. He did not know what form it would take or when it would arrive, but he knew with the certainty of long experience that their brief respite was drawing to a close.
The question was not whether the peace would be broken.
The question was only how, and whether they would be ready when it happened.