Rise of Spades

by The Wayward Orphans

No one ever suspected that the small, unimpressive province would flourish. Oh how foolish were the past dynasties, as they tried to domineer the small duckling. As the Jones came to rule, the decks are forced to let a new player join their suits. Spades will not back down into what it once was, but will the heir to the throne be able to carry through with the dynasties plans?

1. Chapter 1

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Spades was never a weak kingdom. Even from its beginnings, the kingdom always persevered throughout the deadliest of famines, driest of droughts, largest of raging storms that any other kingdom has ever seen.

They always fought to the bitter end to keep their kingdom alive, prosperous or not, but living, breathing, believing and caring for a lands that most would abandon without a second thought. For this, their faith, diligence, love, and strength, they were recognized as a forced to be reckoned with. Unconcerned of their unimpressive military power, but rather focused on the will of the people themselves.

The little power the small province held compared to their neighbors, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs, mattered not. The people held enough knowledge and skill, to grow and harvest fruitful quantities to support the seedling province, exporting to all three kingdoms without hesitation.

However, when kingdoms tried to push the people into exporting more, in order to feed their own growing populations, Spade would refuse without hesitation as well. Not needing any imports from the others, having been accustomed to relying on their own for living, they had no fear of death. They worried not for the three neighbors holding back exports, and the three had not noticed right away.

Even so, soon, the three allies saw that there was to be no point in pushing the strong willed kingdom and so, they recognized that they must ally themselves with the small kingdom if they were to help their ever growing food shortages.

However, that realization had come too late. Spades had gained another family to rule, and these sovereign rulers had had enough of the others trying to push them. Over time they had grown tired of ruling over minuscule land that provided for them, but not enough to become a greater power. With the new figure heads in place, with most of their citizens behind them (believing in the promises of better lives for the next generation), Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs were not prepared for the new major power to join their deck of cards.

Not even the Joker himself would be prepared for the bloodbath that was to become the Rise of Spades