The Game Called Revolution, - [ebook reader 8 inch .txt] 📗

and she found it exceedingly difficult to make the final strike which would end him. Why?

Her thoughts went back to a moment ago. Was living to be an executioner really the right course her life should take? Shouldn’t humans be better than that?

It was at that moment in which she realized the answer, why she had been destined to arrive at this point in this situation.

“No,” she finally said. “I will let the people of Paris decide your fate.”

She sheathed her rapier and walked past him, into the rain. He called after her. “What are you doing? I took everything from you! You should stab me a thousand times over and still not be satisfied!”

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. “If you want to die so badly, I’m sure it can be arranged. But know this: The true power of the human spirit is in living when all you want is death.” She realized the irony of her statement, but she didn’t care. Whether or not it was what God had had in mind for this moment, at least it was what she believed.

With that, she left. The crowd parted to let her through.

13

 

 

 

 

The London Thames

“French Revolution Comes to Surprising End”

by Robert Westerfield

 

As many of you know, I have been gone for several months. I was in France observing the country’s civil unrest. I have now returned home to London, and for the next several issues I will be sharing my experiences with you.

There are many stories about what happened during France’s revolution, but one especially demands to be told to this publication’s readers. And as I made a promise, I will tell you that story right now. It is the story of Jeanne de Fleur.

de Fleur, a noblewoman, served King Louis XVI for many years as a soldier. Sadly, that ended when both the king and his wife, France’s queen Marie Antoinette, were beheaded during an uprising. Miss de Fleur was heartbroken at the loss of those she served so faithfully. Not only that, but her brother was also killed that same day. As a result, she left to live in solitude for six months.

Then one fateful day this reporter sought her out, and she told me her story. It was terrible; she had absolutely nothing to live for. She was simply living.

I left her shack in the wilds, not knowing if telling her story would help her. I sincerely doubted I would ever see her again.

However, that all changed on May 3. de Fleur reappeared and, with a small band of allies, entered Paris and overthrew France’s de facto ruler, Maximilien Robespierre. I happened to be in the city at the time, and had the most remarkable experience of seeing this firsthand.

When it was over, de Fleur had Robespierre on his knees begging her to finish what she had started. Despite the crowd inciting her to do it, though, she flatly refused. “If you want to die so badly, I’m sure it can be arranged. But know this: The true power of the human spirit is in living when all you want is death,” she said as she left the area.

I tried to get a word with her, but was unable to make it through the large crowd, and I do not know where she went. The only trace I found was a purple eye patch which had been dropped on the ground nearby. Mademoiselle de Fleur was known to have worn such an eye patch.

Here is a woman who had everything taken from her, with nothing to live for, yet somehow managed to come back and fight for what she believed in. Not only that, but she declined the opportunity to kill the man who had destroyed her life. Jeanne de Fleur has shown everyone the power of the human spirit.

EPILOGUE

 

 

 

 

Robespierre sat helpless in his prisoner’s clothes, with his arms shackled and his head secured in the guillotine at the Place de Revolution. A large crowd was gathered to watch the spectacle. He didn’t need anyone to point out the irony.

Napoléon Bonaparte, that traitorous wretch who had stepped in and taken control after his arrest, stood in front of him. Bonaparte now wore a more ornate blue and white outfit to signify his newfound authority over France. “Maximilien Robespierre, you have been found guilty of treason and mass murder by a tribunal of your peers. You will now be put to death by beheading.”

“You think you’ll do any better than me, you turncoat?” Robespierre spat.

“That is not the issue here,” he replied curtly. To the man working the guillotine, he said, “Do it.”

The man pulled the lever, but nothing happened. He tried again and again, with the same result. “It’s stuck.”

“The people demand his death,” Napoléon said impatiently. “If you won’t get it done, I’ll find someone who will.”

Suddenly, a voice behind Robespierre said, “Perhaps I can help you with that.”

Napoléon looked at whoever had said that with annoyance. “What do you want?”

Someone (presumably the mysterious speaker) put a hand on Robespierre’s shoulder. “I just want to repay a debt to meine friend here.”

 

 

On conclut l'histoire.

 

 

 

COMMENTARY

 

 

Part I

The idea for The Game Called Revolution first came to me in the summer of 2010. I was just starting to become interested in the science fiction subgenre of steampunk, and I thought a steampunk version of the French Revolution would be awesome. However, most steampunk stories seem to take place in a Victorian setting, and I wasn’t sure if readers would accept a setting that is a century earlier and in a different country. Fortunately, though, I pitched the idea on an internet forum and found encouragement from other readers there. So, I boldly went ahead with the story.

 

When I first came up for the idea of this story, the only image I had in my head was Marie Antoinette with some sort of cybernetic eye (although even that was pretty awesome, I thought). As I researched the events of the French Revolution and fleshed out the story, my poor cyborg queen ended up being merely human, but I still wanted a strong female lead with some sort of eye patch. I think women characters with eye patches are really cool.

 

So, I ended up with the character of Jeanne de Fleur as my protagonist. And of course, she had her eye patch. I really wanted her to come off as being elegant, cool and sophisticated, so I made her nobility. It was only later that I got the idea to have her be a descendant of Joan of Arc.

 

Since this was supposed to be a steampunk story, there had to be airships. But as it takes place much earlier than other steampunk stories, I decided on there only being two airships at this point in (alternate) history. Not only that, but those two airships are so prohibitively expensive that they drove France into ruin (and, in fact, were prone to crashing).

 

 

Part II

Farahilde Johanna is a fictional character. Marie Antoinette had no such sister. In fact, she didn’t have any siblings who were younger than herself. Still, I thought it would be cool if she had a kick-ass little sister who would fight for her, if not necessarily for the right reasons. She’s partly inspired by a certain verbally abusive German-speaking anime character who shall remain nameless.

When I wrote Part I, it stayed relatively faithful to history (airships and alchemic monsters notwithstanding), but things seem to be really diverging with part two. Events that historically happened years apart are occurring here in a span of months. The reason? Simple. I didn’t want the characters sitting around waiting for things to happen in their proper order. That’s just not how things are done on the Infini Calendar.

Originally the Austrian fort was just a fort. But a mere fort wasn’t big enough for the chase Jeanne was supposed to give Farahilde. Thus, the bulk of that part of the story went underground to Farahilde’s twisted interpretation of French society.

Of course, it would be boring if Jeanne took a straightforward path to her enemy. That’s where the traps come in. They’re mostly traps from movies, so I decided to add a little self-awareness to the story and have Jeanne be chased by a giant boulder. Farahilde must think the French people are really nuts!

 

Also introduced in Part II is the mysterious—and oh-so-dangerous—weapon called electricity, which the black airship uses to menace the French worms (Farahilde’s words, not mine) who dare venture into the Austrian Netherlands. The idea of electricity as an ominous and unnatural power source pops up in other steampunk stories, so of course I had to add it here. This is, after all, a world in which steam power has advanced over all other energy sources. So, if something else comes along that is not only unfamiliar, but can kill you in horrible ways, you’d naturally want to avoid it, right? Never mind the fact that steam itself is none too pleasant if it touches you—at least it’s familiar to this world.

 

 

Part III

Ah, here it is: Part III. I decided early on that this would be where the story takes on a dark vibe (just like a certain sci-fi sequel released in 1980). I have to admit, I never before tortured any of my characters to the extent that occurs starting in this section.

This provided interesting challenges, as I had to make sure that I really sell the suffering of my hero. The reader has to believe that her world is really falling apart, and her reaction to her misery needs to be appropriate.

First up on the road to her own personal hell is Jeanne d’Arc. I believe it was when I was still writing Part II that two questions demanded my attention.

Jeanne d’Arc isn’t known to have ever worn an eye patch, so how could her descendants inherit the God’s Eye from her? Just how did she escape from being burned alive by the English?

In order to answer these questions, I decided on the flashback sequence. But a mere flashback just wasn’t that interesting, so I came up with the idea to bring the book’s main protagonist along for the ride (as the “ghost”). By having Jeanne de Fleur experience the memories of her ancestor, I could provide exposition and character development at the same time.

It didn’t take me long to settle on the idea that the God’s Eye was incomplete and Jeanne d’Arc had a much more powerful precursor to it. However, I still needed to figure out what form it would take and what function it would serve. As you know—since you read the story—it ultimately became the God’s Body, and for her disobedience Jeanne d’Arc was cursed with the God’s Eye.

I wanted to make sure the Heavenly figures weren’t portrayed as evil or malicious. Archangel Michael is just carrying out the orders given to him by God, who in turn is doing what He’s done many times: choosing humans for exceptionally difficult missions for the greater good. I didn’t mean this section to be an attack on Christianity by any means.

Conversely, I didn’t want Jeanne d’Arc to come off as petulant or anti-Christian. When I thought about what it would have been like had she rejected her gruesome fate, I had to keep in mind that she was ultimately just a young girl chosen to bear an unthinkable burden. It’s only natural the strain might be too much for one so young.