Disclaimer: Anything that you might recognize in this story probably not
mine. I either based it on Tamora Pierce, or else unconsciously based it on
something I read. If you recognize anything as yours please accept my
sincerest apologies, and if it bother's you, inform me through review.
Thirty-three generations ago, Chief je des Grethel conquered approximately 2/3 of what is now present day Banded. His wife soon gave birth to a son who ruled after je des Grethel the 1st, as did this son's son. But there the male line met problems. Je des Grethel the 3rd, known simply as the Old Lord, had no son. His wife gave him eight daughters, all within one day, and then, quite understandably, passed on. Plenty of women died in childbed, and they had only one child to deliver. To live through eight was basically impossible. The je des Grethel girls, commonly referred to as The Eight, were named as follows: Elmindreyda, Aminda, Minzhara, Mindred, Carmin, Geminessia, Minyezabet, and Taraminastar. These names are pronounced respectively as El-min-drey-da, A-min-da (like Amanda, but minus the "A"), Min-zar-a, Min-dread, Car-min, Gem-in-e-ssia, Min-yez-a-bet, and Tara-min- as-tar (as-tar, not a-star). The Old Lord had sworn to have no wives but the women who had born his children, so The Eight were raised to be the Ruler's of Banded. Separately, they were called different things, but collectively they were simply referred to as the Ladies Min. Or in the beginning, the Babies Min, then the Girls Min, and then finally the Min Heirs. When The Eight were seventeen years old, their father choked on a fishbone, and died in his own hall. The commoners were daily thankful that The Eight got along well. There were no bloody skirmishes for supremacy. Each sister just quietly took over one area of government. For five years the Hold, as it was then called, blossomed under the Mins' rule. (Remember that this was thirty generations ago. If there was a king in Corus, no one had ever heard of him. The people looked to the Chiefs, or in this case the Ladies, of each Hold for protection and government.) The Eight gave many contributions to civilization. They were among the few of that time that wrote their laws down, so that laws couldn't be changed to suit a ruler's whim. They made everyone equal in the eye of the law, men and woman both. The Eight started official courts throughout their lands, and each month the courts were required to report to the Ladies. Often one Min or another would travel to a far off village to review the case, and perhaps make a fairer verdict. In Banded, every child was required to go to school until the age of fourteen, and the money needed to educate these commoners was paid for by the Mins. If a boy or girl wished to learn a special trade, they could go to the Min founded school for that trade. The schools were open to all, very inexpensive with many possible scholarships, and located at the new Banded University. I could go on for a great while about the greatness of The Eight. However, you would get bored, and I wouldn't have anyone to tortur.I mean, tell my story to. For five years, The Eight ruled in peace and prosperity. For five years. Then, the Hold that inhabited the other 1/3 of present day Banded (remember, je des Grethel the 1st conquered 2/3 of present day Banded) attacked. They hoped to take the Hold of the Min's as their own. The Eight coordinated the defense. Then one of them, Minyezabet, was taken captive by the enemy. Minyezabet was a pretty thing, all of the Ladies Min were. The Chief of the Enemy took her as a concubine, and got her with child. His people knew, and they rejoiced at the fact that the Chief was to soon have an heir, never mind that it's mother was a Grethel wench. Among the Enemy, the first child born was heir, be it boy or girl. Let's just forget about the fact that most firstborn daughters were somehow stillborn. When she was three months into her pregnancy, her sisters were able to rescue her. Three weeks later the enemy was fully defeated. Minyez did not resent her unborn child, despite the fact that she loathed the child's father, and her sisters picked up her attitude. When Minyezabet died in child bed, her sister's took the child, and raised the girl with love. They named the babe Min, after her birth mother and her loving Aunts. When Min turned 17, the Majority among her people, her Aunts retired and passed the kingdom onto her, some of them acting as advisors, and some taking up quiet lives as teachers, or historians. One of The Eight, craving adventure, touched up her fighting skills, and then became head of the Banded Guard (basically the police force). People still joke about Carmin the 1st, under whose command the Banded Guard never got to break up even a drunken brawl, because there were none. After Min had reigned for six years, her father, Chief of the Enemy, kicked the bucket, and the last 1/3 of Banded came peacefully under her rule. The Fief was passed onto Min's daughter, and after that onto Min's daughter's daughter. Now and then, sisters would share the rule of the fief, or sometimes even cousins. But usually, the first daughter ruled after her mother, unless she abdicated, or her mother specified heirdom to another female relative. Min named her daughter's after her Aunts and Mother, and it soon grew to be a tradition that the lady who ruled Banded name her daughters after The Eight. However, no one except for the Lady of Banded could name her children after one of The Eight, so names that could be shortened to Min were the sign of a possible heir. The people of Banded also replaced the title of "Lady". The ruling female was the "Min". Close friends and family would call her by her real name, or a nickname, but to the rest of the world she was Min. However, when a Min retired, her heir would become the Min, and she would take up the name, or nickname, she had born as a child. So time passed, and daughter after daughter inherited the fief. Three generations after the first Min, a new magical talent came to everyone who dwelled within the bounds of Banded. The aptitude was with the elements. No one was affected by the heat of the summer sun. The wells never ran dry, in fact many more appeared. The earth yielded three times as much produce as it had previously, and the stone was soft when a chisel was applied to it, hard before and after. These were the talents of Fire, Water, and Earth. For air, the wind was always in the right direction for their ships, and there were few sandstorms. Also, learning new languages was incredibly easy. Everyone was gifted with this much talent in all elements. But many people were gifted in a little more in one or two areas. Some could stick there hands in fire, with no discomfort. A little more power and they could make a fire give off no heat, or burn with no fuel. Water people could purify water, then walk on water, then summon water. Earth could make the fields amazingly fertile, then bend stone, and then walk through it. And finally, Air. First, you could control the winds. Then, you could bend the air to make someone invisible. Even more power and you could levitate. The feats listed next required so much ability that only twelve people had ever been capable. Four of them were living when our story takes place. These people could send their voice to anywhere and here the person's reply. And they could send material objects, like casks of wine or other trading items, from where they were to where another Airfriend of this power was. The last ability was only discovered recently because until then, no two mages of this power had ever been alive at the same time. Throughout the world, a few "friend's of the element's", as anyone with even a touch of elemental power was called, were scattered. But they were very few, and most of them had such a small "friendship" with their element that they were unaware of it. Nowhere on the planet was there such a large gathering of Friend's of the elements as in Banded.
Thirty-three generations ago, Chief je des Grethel conquered approximately 2/3 of what is now present day Banded. His wife soon gave birth to a son who ruled after je des Grethel the 1st, as did this son's son. But there the male line met problems. Je des Grethel the 3rd, known simply as the Old Lord, had no son. His wife gave him eight daughters, all within one day, and then, quite understandably, passed on. Plenty of women died in childbed, and they had only one child to deliver. To live through eight was basically impossible. The je des Grethel girls, commonly referred to as The Eight, were named as follows: Elmindreyda, Aminda, Minzhara, Mindred, Carmin, Geminessia, Minyezabet, and Taraminastar. These names are pronounced respectively as El-min-drey-da, A-min-da (like Amanda, but minus the "A"), Min-zar-a, Min-dread, Car-min, Gem-in-e-ssia, Min-yez-a-bet, and Tara-min- as-tar (as-tar, not a-star). The Old Lord had sworn to have no wives but the women who had born his children, so The Eight were raised to be the Ruler's of Banded. Separately, they were called different things, but collectively they were simply referred to as the Ladies Min. Or in the beginning, the Babies Min, then the Girls Min, and then finally the Min Heirs. When The Eight were seventeen years old, their father choked on a fishbone, and died in his own hall. The commoners were daily thankful that The Eight got along well. There were no bloody skirmishes for supremacy. Each sister just quietly took over one area of government. For five years the Hold, as it was then called, blossomed under the Mins' rule. (Remember that this was thirty generations ago. If there was a king in Corus, no one had ever heard of him. The people looked to the Chiefs, or in this case the Ladies, of each Hold for protection and government.) The Eight gave many contributions to civilization. They were among the few of that time that wrote their laws down, so that laws couldn't be changed to suit a ruler's whim. They made everyone equal in the eye of the law, men and woman both. The Eight started official courts throughout their lands, and each month the courts were required to report to the Ladies. Often one Min or another would travel to a far off village to review the case, and perhaps make a fairer verdict. In Banded, every child was required to go to school until the age of fourteen, and the money needed to educate these commoners was paid for by the Mins. If a boy or girl wished to learn a special trade, they could go to the Min founded school for that trade. The schools were open to all, very inexpensive with many possible scholarships, and located at the new Banded University. I could go on for a great while about the greatness of The Eight. However, you would get bored, and I wouldn't have anyone to tortur.I mean, tell my story to. For five years, The Eight ruled in peace and prosperity. For five years. Then, the Hold that inhabited the other 1/3 of present day Banded (remember, je des Grethel the 1st conquered 2/3 of present day Banded) attacked. They hoped to take the Hold of the Min's as their own. The Eight coordinated the defense. Then one of them, Minyezabet, was taken captive by the enemy. Minyezabet was a pretty thing, all of the Ladies Min were. The Chief of the Enemy took her as a concubine, and got her with child. His people knew, and they rejoiced at the fact that the Chief was to soon have an heir, never mind that it's mother was a Grethel wench. Among the Enemy, the first child born was heir, be it boy or girl. Let's just forget about the fact that most firstborn daughters were somehow stillborn. When she was three months into her pregnancy, her sisters were able to rescue her. Three weeks later the enemy was fully defeated. Minyez did not resent her unborn child, despite the fact that she loathed the child's father, and her sisters picked up her attitude. When Minyezabet died in child bed, her sister's took the child, and raised the girl with love. They named the babe Min, after her birth mother and her loving Aunts. When Min turned 17, the Majority among her people, her Aunts retired and passed the kingdom onto her, some of them acting as advisors, and some taking up quiet lives as teachers, or historians. One of The Eight, craving adventure, touched up her fighting skills, and then became head of the Banded Guard (basically the police force). People still joke about Carmin the 1st, under whose command the Banded Guard never got to break up even a drunken brawl, because there were none. After Min had reigned for six years, her father, Chief of the Enemy, kicked the bucket, and the last 1/3 of Banded came peacefully under her rule. The Fief was passed onto Min's daughter, and after that onto Min's daughter's daughter. Now and then, sisters would share the rule of the fief, or sometimes even cousins. But usually, the first daughter ruled after her mother, unless she abdicated, or her mother specified heirdom to another female relative. Min named her daughter's after her Aunts and Mother, and it soon grew to be a tradition that the lady who ruled Banded name her daughters after The Eight. However, no one except for the Lady of Banded could name her children after one of The Eight, so names that could be shortened to Min were the sign of a possible heir. The people of Banded also replaced the title of "Lady". The ruling female was the "Min". Close friends and family would call her by her real name, or a nickname, but to the rest of the world she was Min. However, when a Min retired, her heir would become the Min, and she would take up the name, or nickname, she had born as a child. So time passed, and daughter after daughter inherited the fief. Three generations after the first Min, a new magical talent came to everyone who dwelled within the bounds of Banded. The aptitude was with the elements. No one was affected by the heat of the summer sun. The wells never ran dry, in fact many more appeared. The earth yielded three times as much produce as it had previously, and the stone was soft when a chisel was applied to it, hard before and after. These were the talents of Fire, Water, and Earth. For air, the wind was always in the right direction for their ships, and there were few sandstorms. Also, learning new languages was incredibly easy. Everyone was gifted with this much talent in all elements. But many people were gifted in a little more in one or two areas. Some could stick there hands in fire, with no discomfort. A little more power and they could make a fire give off no heat, or burn with no fuel. Water people could purify water, then walk on water, then summon water. Earth could make the fields amazingly fertile, then bend stone, and then walk through it. And finally, Air. First, you could control the winds. Then, you could bend the air to make someone invisible. Even more power and you could levitate. The feats listed next required so much ability that only twelve people had ever been capable. Four of them were living when our story takes place. These people could send their voice to anywhere and here the person's reply. And they could send material objects, like casks of wine or other trading items, from where they were to where another Airfriend of this power was. The last ability was only discovered recently because until then, no two mages of this power had ever been alive at the same time. Throughout the world, a few "friend's of the element's", as anyone with even a touch of elemental power was called, were scattered. But they were very few, and most of them had such a small "friendship" with their element that they were unaware of it. Nowhere on the planet was there such a large gathering of Friend's of the elements as in Banded.