The Chain: Gloria's Day

Gloria's Day

October 3rd, 2175, C.E. That's how it would've been expressed under the old ways, but the old ways were only practiced in a few dark and backward pockets of the world by the time that date actually came. It was known to the people in most of the world as the 11th of Libra, and the year was reckoned to be 271 by the calendar of the times. Of course, most people merely looked at the date on their screens and timepieces, and they didn't call it that. They called it Gloria's Day.

It was still reckoned October 3rd when Queen Gloria was born on that date, two centuries before. It was one of the biggest holidays on the calendar, right up there with Halloween, Bob's Day, Prophet's Day- which was only nine days later, on the 20th of Libra- the equinoxes and solstices, the three-day festival in Aries commemorating the writing of the Book of the Law, and Marshall's Day, which immediately preceded it. The month of Aries was the big party season, what with so many holidays in such a brief span of time; it was the season of renewal and rebirth, as it had always been. But it was Queen Gloria's birthday that meant the most to people. Things were dated as they were by her religion, but the Prophet was a vague and disturbing figure to many still- he was best used as an excuse to party. Queen Gloria was still the most beloved figure in the world, as it had been with her reign that the old ways had ended, and the world had finally moved on. She had established the People's Commonwealth of Terra, she had been the one to coin that name. Now, the Commonwealth was most of the world, and there were only a few stubborn, backward places still ruled by greed, corruption and superstition, that still used old calendars, outmoded technology, that still lived lives driven by needless competition and fear. Those places were decreasing steadily, though, as even those people saw, once exposed to it, that the way of the Commonwealth was best. As powerful as the old superstitions were, the fears they fed on could rarely stand up for long to the reality of life in Terra. The cities of Terra were beautiful, the people healthy and free. Not a person in Terra went hungry, and there were gardens, full of food and flowers, everywhere. In colder climates, they were often in greenhouses, but there were a lot of those in any given city- New York, Boston, London, Paris, Beijing, Stockholm, Tokyo. Plants native to these places were grown everywhere outside when possible, as well, and Cannabis Indica was the most common plant one might see. That grew everywhere! In warmer places, like the capitol, Austin, the green places outside were even more lush with tomato bushes and fruit trees, with every kind of plant that's good for eating, for seeing, for vaporizing (smoking had been obsolete for many years), for making wine and liquor. The people were encouraged to have their own gardens, as well, and no one was what they called, in the bad, old days, 'homeless.' Those who chose to be rootless, to wander around the world- and many did- were never shy of something to eat, somewhere to sleep, whether they chose indoors or out, or a way to get to their next destination. The public transit system the Queen's Right Hand, Prime Minister Marshall, had established, now spanned the globe- magnetic trains everywhere they could go, ships where they could not, and the exploration of space had finally become a meaningful world project. People were now excited about the next mission to Mars- the terraforming project was beginning soon. It was a world largely administered by a priesthood of science, and the current Queen, Tamara, merely followed the guidelines left by Queen Gloria, as her predecessors had done. Medicine was a priesthood, and no one lacked the care they needed to be healthy, either. Progress in medicine, in technologies geared to aid human life and to clean up the damage done by the corrupt rulers of the bad, old days, was moving quickly. There had been virtually no progress in the technologies of war, however, in over a century. The formerly frayed relationship between the Earth and her people was healing, as the planet itself was. Money was reduced to a means of trading nonessentials; the banking cabals that had made slaves of so many once were destroyed.

That had been done by Queen Gloria's Left Hand, Lady Therion, back in the revolutionary days. People regarded her with some fear, even in memory- she made them nervous, as the Prophet did. Some thought her an incarnation of the Prophet, as they shared so many of the same tricks, and the same cruel sense of humour. One of her other names had been Napalm, which was a substance that caused great burning. Queen Gloria herself gave her Left Hand that name. While everyone remembered Prime Minister Marshall as a benevolent leader, a kind woman, a peacemaker, her sister remained a difficult and controversial figure. Lady Therion had destroyed the banking cabals, but she'd done it with great cruelty and fury. It was said she killed them in terrible ways, and even most of the films about it didn't like to explore that subject much. Most people wrote it off as an effect of the times. They had lived in a very different world from the one they left behind them- a hard, dangerous, cruel world, a world of conflict, slavery and terror. Perhaps it took such cruelty as Lady Therion showed her enemies to clear the way for the better world that came in her wake. There had been a lot of opposition to remove, and it had been very well entrenched. There were songs about it, some written by Lady Therion herself, and they were still sung on Marshall's Day, every Spring. People were still able to hear the lady sing them herself, to watch her perform them, in the old recordings. One line in particular explained it well: 'At her Right Hand is mercy, with discipline and taste, but her Left Hand is a fist of nails.' On Marshall's Day, the schoolchildren were always eager to hear the story of how Lady Therion had taken Vatican City, or to watch another film about it. Many films had been made of this event, many actresses had portrayed her with her razorwire scourge, her diamond gloves, her clown makeup, her soldiers in purple, her weapons of terror. There were many games in all formats based on this event as well- there were games based on many of the things she did. Lady Therion, or Darth Napalm, translated well to gaming- she'd been like something out of a comic book to begin with. The gentle people of this time could forgive her for her harshness, though, and even celebrate it- her rivers of blood and the broken bodies left behind her had been the fertiliser of their beautiful world, after all. But Queen Gloria? She was just loved, unreservedly and purely. Lady Therion had written of her in song, as well, and those songs were sung on 11th Libra the world over. Most thought the best lines about Queen Gloria were also those believed to be the first Lady Therion ever wrote about her: