Nobles, rogues and steampowered life

Chapter one

"Can you come over here for a moment, love?" Albert walked over to his mother. "What do you want to talk about, mother?" "I want to discuss the fact that you still haven't been able to find a partner yet. You are twenty-one now, you have to get bund or you will bring shame upon this family."

"I am truly sorry mother, but none of the ladies have appealed to me yet. I wish to find a lady that is not only pretty but also has some intelligence to offer. A lady that can amuse me with her company."

"Son, since you are twenty-one already you cannot be picky. You cannot wait much longer or none of the ladies will see you fit to be the father of their children! Don't you see how hard this is on your mother? I don't want to force you rogue," she said this word with lots of disgust, "but if you don't bund before you turn twenty-two you leave your father and I no choice. You know that we love you, we really don't want to lose you forever. We don't want you to turn into one of those beasts." She carefully dried her eyes with a pearly white handkerchief with lacy edges.

To most people it would sound like she really cared about him, but Albert knew better. All his mother cared about was the status of their family. He allways did his best to please her. He studied hard and got great grades. His manners were perfect. He dressed according to the latest fashion and always looked impeckeble. The only thing he still had to achieve was creating a perfect family, just like the one he had grown up in.

He went out for a walk. It was wednessday which meant it was market day. He decided to go and see if he could find a nice gift to bring to the party next friday.

As he got to the market he saw more and more people. It was really crowded and everyone walked really slow, staring at all the wares and enjoying the warm sunny weather. He could easily pick out the nobles. They were easy to spot by their clothes. Allways made of the best materials and allways impractical. But it was not just their clothes, there was something about their overall look. They always seem to smile but the arrogance is clear in their eyes.

The lower folk on the other hand often wore clothes that were defenitely cheaper, most of the time patched up many times.

Ofcourse there was also a middle class. It was a lot harder to seperate them from the nobles. Their clothes were often good quality and they had the same arrogant looks in their eyes. You had to really look at the details to seperate them.

The clothes were too difficult for Albert, but he could clearly see the difference in movement and behaviour. The movements of the nobles were -like his- more refined than those of the middle class. The people from the middle class made bigger and faster moves than the nobles, they also talked louder. They overdid the showing off of their wealth. They were too obvious, too plain.

It was interesting to see all those people so close together and yet so far apart. You only talked to people of your class, unless someone from a class higher than yours asks you something.

As Albert walked he couldn't help but secretly look at all the noble women. He didn't want to get kicked out of town. He didn't know how to survive, even if he would find food, there was still the trouble of the huge insects. They normally didn't feed on humans -that's why they didn't come to the towns, they fidn't have any reason for it- but if you came to close they would most likely attack you.

Then again, even if he would find food and survive the huge insects, there were still the rogues. He only heard negative things about them. Bad humans, the outcasts of society. Barbaric and filthy, strong and dangerous. He had heard some of his friends talk about wether they would be able to survive out there or not. After quite the discussing of muscles and huntingskills they came to the conclusion that as long as you are smart enough, you would be able to survive. You'd only have to outsmart the rogues which, according to them, should not be too difficult.