Not far off the coast of Turkey is the most eastern of the Greek islands, Rhodes. Lying at the north-eastern tip of this strategically-placed island is the eponymous fortress-port of Rhodes. In 1988, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, designated the ancient city as a World Heritage Site, recognising it as a landmark of exceptional cultural and historic significance.
This opened an equally significant can of worms. Set at a crossroads between Europe, the Levant, Anatolia and Africa, Rhodes had first been a metropolis of Ancient Greece throughout the golden age of that entity. Then Rome, again in its golden age, took Rhodes, yet when Rome fell and the empire broke into the West and the East, the Holy Roman and the Byzantine Empires, Rhodes passed to the latter, but was frequently attacked, even conquered by Arabs and Turks, even the Genoese.
Eventually, through conquest, it fell into the hands of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospitaller. They were to hold it for two-hundred and fifteen years before the island once more fell to conquest, this time to the Ottoman Empire of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. It would be a decade short of four centuries before the island once more changed hands, in 1912 as the Italians seized many islands in the eastern Aegean. Here things become rather more fuzzy, as Italy signed a treaty with Greece, promising all those islands, save for Rhodes, which would become an autonomous state. Then during the Second World War, after the Italian Armistace, the island was occupied by Germany, before passing back into the hands of the Greeks after the war.
Suddenly a goldmine of tourist money, and with Greece and Turkey, neither blameless, at one-another's throats, especially since the coup-invasion in Cyprus, a significant risk came of another Greco-Turkish war. It took a significant amount of negotiating, including Britain, a major Mediterranean power, controlling Gibraltar and Cyprus before an intermediate solution was found to preventing an inter-NATO conflict.
The Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, now in the form of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta were to take administrative control of an autonomous state. The negotiations were sealed in 1993, and the first custodian?
The final decision was made a few months later, where, behind great spells and enchantments of concealment in the Domum Magicae in the Vatican, the Council of Mages sat. In one fell stroke, they would exile one of their own who had proven somewhat unpopular to the non-magical world, as well as many miles away, and take control of a base for operations into Asia. The name of the Custos Castri? The seventeen-year old Hadrian Potter.
January 2nd 1994, Fortress Rhodes, Rhodes.
Hadrian Potter, for that was the name that he was blessed with, written on the papers at the orphanage he was abandoned at, sat at his desk and pondered. Dawn was barely rising over the city, and his duties, the first day of them, had yet to begin. He was a skilled battle mage, an adventurer, archaeologist and student of some repute. He was also an orphan. He had faint flashes of a vanished past, but after a great deal of study and spellcraft, he found his memories were sealed, only leaking through hints of that past. His records at the orphanage began on the second of November 1981, twelve years and two months ago.
He wanted his past. All else he set his mind to seek, he took with ease. But not his past. The strange thing was, he had never ventured to mainland Britain, a part of him utterly terrified that he was not wanted. Sighing, he pulled a goblet across the desk and flicked open the top of a jug with his thumb, pouring half a goblet. Probably not the best way to start a morning, but he felt in necessary.
Having arrived only the previous day, he'd settled into a simple set of rooms in one of the wings of the Grandmaster's Palace, the citadel known locally as the Kastello. Today, his work would begin on the heritage of the island and the city. Dressing quickly, he left his rooms and made his way to one of the balconies overlooking the city. A brief smile appeared on Harry's face as he saw the people awakening, market stalls being wheeled out and the city coming to life.
Glancing at his watch, Harry realised that he had a few hours until work began, so he decided to slip into the city. Maybe even get something local to eat. A brief grimace as he concentrated on utilising the minimal metamorphmagus powers he had, he quickly lengthened his hair and turned it brown, pulling it into a ponytail. Dressed in typical tourist garb, he could blend in without too much difficulty.
With a bellyful of sea bream, which he'd bought off a fishing boat at the quayside, roasted over charcoals, Harry returned to the Kastello, changing into a dark-blue suit, red tie and white shirt, ready to receive his guests at a large table in the grand hall of the fortress. Waiting, stood beside the seat at the head of the table until the last of his guests arrived and were seated.
Harry lifted a briefcase onto the table and flipped it open.
"Good morning gentlemen. What you see before you are Franklins, hundred-dollar bills. The fortress has lacked a certain amount of maintenance and care, which is to be rectified with significant investment. I have brought you here, structural engineers, archaeologists, artillery experts, glaziers, potters, stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, for initial discussion and work, starting with a budget of twelve million dollars." Harry stated, for the thirty-three by thirty-three inch case had had sixty stacks of bills, five by twelve, and a good eight or nine inches deep. "You have all received an initial payment of one-thousand dollars plus travel and costs for staying because you are the best in your fields. While I will doubtless speak to you individually, all I want initially is surveys of the fortress and the surrounding heritage areas of the city. I want to know the condition of the structures. I already have some work known to need doing urgently. Any questions?"
"None sir." came the reply from the corner of the table occupied by the structural surveyors and engineers.
"Then you may go." Harry stated, dismissing them. Then he turned to the archaeologists. "Gentlemen, your job is to work alongside those working on the structures. All artefacts discovered to be bagged, tagged and placed in the custody of the Kastello for study, conservation and display. Credit will be assigned to the team and to the archaeologists who discovered them. Questions?"
There were none and the archaeologists were dismissed.
"Those of you who are artisans, the glaziers, potters, stonemasons, carpenters, gunfounders, bellfounders and weavers, please give me your requirements for facilities in which to work, and any other requirements for me to review. The bellfounders I ask to inspect all major bells in the city and send me their surveys, for further action should any need recasting." Harry continued; "For the gunfounders, I already have a list of weapons to be cast, including samples of metal to be examined to get the right alloys. I must note that the weapons should be fully capable for display firing. We are looking at bombards, mortars, culverins and cannon, of which we already have examples either to be used for making patterns of or using to form moulds."
He took a sip of water to clear his throat.
"Blacksmiths, as I am expected to maintain a small garrison of ceremonial guardsman and be self-sufficient, I will need maintenance and production of arms and armour, typical of the time of the Hospitaller occupation of this city." Harry nodded to them; "The rest of you, carpenters, glaziers, potters, stonemasons and weavers are to be concerned with the buildings, the outfitting inside and out with furniture, windows, roofing and suchlike."
Harry knew the costs and needs of old fortresses, as his previous assignment after returning from two terms at the University of Cairo studying Egyptology had been the acquisition and restoration of the three great forts of Malta, Ricasoli, St. Elmo and St. Angelo. However, their capabilities as operating bases and as P.R opportunities were extensive. His day, indeed it was likely his year, was not over soon.
Rubbing a hand across the bridge of his nose, Harry flicked through his diary. The first day of his command of the fortress-port and he'd dealt with the surveying for conservation and restoration of the fabric of the fortress, plus outfitting it with furniture. He had met with the local police chief and assured him of the support of the Order and laid the groundwork for further cooperation.
Next, coming off an otherwise-empty container ship transiting to the Sovereign Base Area on Cyprus were some patrol boats to augment the seaborne security of the island, specifically the fastest, most powerful gunboats available. Brave-class, and their derivative Søløvens and Type 153s. The ten craft would be of significant use.
Harry stood up, walking over to the corner of his room and opening a chest. One of several, each containing a number of historical artefacts. This one contained swords, blades he had acquired through his travels, blades of great historical and magical significance.
The first his hand came upon were the blades of Beowulf, the reforged Naegling, and then a rare and ancient sword named Hrunting, that had but once failed the hand who hefted it in battle, then the Hrothsvarth, and a greatsword, a blade of cold metal like milkglass forged around the hilt of the sword that was destroyed slaying the mother of Grendel, known as Ice, the Jotunsvarth. Then, passing over the furies of Aengus, the Honjo, pausing over the Dyrnwyn, twin swords of Teutonic make, the Mistilteinn, the Frankish Almace, the battle blade Dáinsleif, the answerer - Fragarach and twin swords of Chinese make, before he drew forth Skofnung, another blade of Norse make, a horcrux or phylactery of types, but containing twelve whole souls.
Each sword was of significant historical and, in some cases, magical significance, the subject of his study. The knowledge in these swords, the enchantments and the processes of creating them were a mystery he wished to unlock. Harry placed Skofnung on a cloth of silk, taking it over to his desk, where he surrounded it with iron nails, placing a horseshoe around the tip and the pommel to contain any magic going awry as he documented the sword.
The study of the spells and the science of the metal that formed these weapons was fascinating, something Harry might one day put into writing. But above all, he wanted to create a weapon of such incredible craftsmanship and spellwrighting as to become a legend. All his knowledge of magic, all of his knowledge of the science of steel into one masterwork.
It would likely take months of work, around his other duties, but Harry began immediately, simply with the design and writing down what materials he'd need. The core, designed to flex would be two bars of high-carbon steel twisted about one-another to form a spring in the centre of a double-fuller. The metal of the fullers would be a softer shock-absorbant steel, and ultra-high carbon edges with high trace quantities of the elements of boron and chromium. Then he would etch and polish the blade to reveal any patterning before coating the whole blade in sulphides to protect it thoroughly from corrosion and give it a gold tint.
That was just the metal side of the sword. He had other designs for the enchantments. On a shelf behind him, he had a few odd objects, each containing a restless soul, including two sent to him by an associate in Britain, the soul of the Viking of Stamford Bridge, the berserker who had held the crossing over the Derwent until slain, as well as the soul of Eyestein Orre who led a failed relief counter-attack at the selfsame battle.
Six bars of metal in the blade, into each he intended to seal the soul of a restless warrior before forging the blade together. Then when the blade, quenched, was drawn, blazing from the quenching oil, Harry intended on sealing those flames in the steel in such a way that the wielder could summon them, and then enhance their power.
All in all, he had no idea how long such works of enchantment would take. He was stepping into new territory. Combining soul magic, a hint of necromancy, elemental magic, and his knowledge of curses, potions and poisons... His first attempt at a magnum opus. At the same time, he still had extensive duties.