Disclaimer: I do not—in any way, shape or form—own the characters in this story. They belong to Andrew Hussie, the creator of Homestuck. Otherwise this would be on fictionpress, not fanfiction.

Quick Note (please read): Yeah, yeah I am aware that I am beginning yet another fic when I can't even hold up my others, but I'm really serious about this one and plan to edit the whole thing with my own characters once it's completed in hopes that I will be able to publish this sometime next year. This will be updated weekly, meaning that chapter two is expected to be posted next Thursday, August 28th (yes, chapter one is to be posted later on today).I do have a table of contents with each chapter planned out, and there are expected to be twenty-two in total (including the prologue that you're about to read). My geographical notes are located at the bottom of this story and they are totally optional for you to read. Last thing: the story is told in third person omniscient (if you can't tell by the end and are unsure still). Hope you enjoy; and feel free to relay any criticism you may have of this story—I am always open to hearing any opinion whatsoever (^^)!

Prologue

There were three lands. Well, two lands separated by a large lake and two cities, one forest town. The lands altogether were known as the county of Filindia and were a part of the country of England, north-east to London. However, this took place before London existed, the two Kingdoms being established in 628 A.D.

When looking down on the land from a bird's point of view, the two Kingdoms are completely separated by Lake Doombreak, which is practically split in itself due to the estranged weather cast. More specifically, half the lake is sparkling beneath a blue sky while the other half fogged-over under a gray sky, and ridiculously humid. The right half of Lake Doombreak is the mirthful side, and is closest to the Kingdom of Taraunus.

Unlike its name, the Kingdom of Taraunus was a rather happy place with an unruly Queen that managed to keep everything in order. Her subjects were very loyal and her closest knights the epitome of. Even the citizens adored her, and the peasants appreciated her more than they did any of the previous rulers. However, the skies had not always been as clear as they are now, and the royals had suspected it was because of the mage a band of guards had discovered living in a stone cottage in the lush forest behind the wood-smiths lot one day in 1200 A.D.

Although the woman had put up a good fight, the militia group had managed to trap her along the shoreline of Lake Doombreak; where she met her immediate end by them. She was denied a proper burial, even if she was the "last mage," and instead was left there to float atop the surface of the dark waters of Lake Doombreak. After that unfortunate event, the gray clouds had moved on elsewhere, and the population rate broke record, reaching higher than ever before for the Kingdom of Tartaunus. However, the soil mysteriously a lot less futile. Fish business boomed and there was also a dramatic increase of butchery.

On the left side of Lake Doombreak lay Hopeland Kingdom, the Kingdom that used to be "the place to be" with the largest population England had ever known—until the Last Mage was exterminated that fateful day in 1200 A.D. The gray sky that had left Tartaunus' side had taken up residence in Hopeland Kingdom, and hasn't left since. It rains twice or thrice every week and floods the streets (especially the peasants' mud roads outside the main town) four times a month. The disease rate had risen to quite a fleet in 1207 A.D., and every desperate peasant had either saved up all the fare money they could manage to ride the ferry over to the Kingdom of Tartaunus, or died sick. The land became very poor and food so scarce that it was a wonder how some farmers still managed to prosper in Hopeland with their crop fields drenched all the time. The only food businesses that prospered the most were, again, the fish mongers and any baker. Butchers had to hunt elsewhere, which even then was too pricey for the constant travel expense as well as the fee to hunt on Tartaunus since they paid tax in Hopeland. They would hunt in Brinkman—the forest land attached to Hopeland on a high slope on the non-peasant driven side of the main town—since most of the animals of Hopeland had migrated there, but the female residents banished there all harbored a deep hate for man and often more than not, chased them all the way back downslope to the Hopeland borderline of the large forest.

Needless to say, "Hopeland" Kingdom was not a very hopeful place. Well, at least the doctors had hope for their business there.

Now back to Brinkman. Technically, the land is still a part of Hopeland Kingdom, but the royals like to treat it as a separate territory. This is so because all of the residents there—excluding one household and one particular person that will become important later—are females that used to be a part of Hopeland, but were "banished" to Brinkman for either pulling off or participating in an unacceptable crime not exactly worthy of execution. They are forbidden to ever step foot past the borderlines of Brinkman (yes, this included taking the ferry to Tartaunus) and should one be caught doing so, she would be publicly executed (the most common death for them is any kind of stoning).

The year 1200 A.D. may have changed the lands greatly now, but it was nothing compared to the domino-effect tragedy of 1218 A.D. for the county of Filindia.

This is their story.

Modern Geography to Take Note of: As you can see, I did *not* use places that actually exist in England. Instead, I replaced real existing places and gave them my own names to give the setting more of an "alternate dimension" sort of feel since whatever events happened during the actual time in those places have been written over with this story. Here's a little key for your convenience:

Filindia = Essex (yes, this is a real county in England).

Hopeland = Maldon (Brinkman is simple on the slope mentioned to have been there in medieval times.)

Tartaunus = Colchester

Here's where the geographical history has been stretched a little: instead of a bunch of rivers (which I learned were there and Colchester is farther from Maldon than you think), Lake Doombreak is going to replace them as well as the Suffix territory that is seen in this medieval map of Colchester: However, we're not actually going to follow that map; it was simply a reference for your convenience.