Iris was born to her single mother Lola, who was a dancer for a Red Spark brothel located in the center of 'Crystal City'. A very large alliance fleet of ships hooked together, creating a sprawled out slum like town, with a famous red light district. Lola was only fifteen when she gave birth to Iris. Her father could have been one of a dozen men, including the grubby club owner Kye Sparks. They lived in the barracks above the club, along with the 32 other 'dancers' and 9 other illegitimate kids, with fathers unknown. So for the first seven years of Iris's life, she was raised by her young mother, and all the other adults that worked in the club. Iris was free to roam 'crystal city', and do as she pleased. Discipline and structure was practically non existent, except for the few hours of school she had a week.
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Iris was seven when her mother joined the Leviathan cult, thus leaving her dancing days behind her. Lola had been drawn in by the promise of salvation, and a easier life. So she and Iris moved onto the Leviathan ship, were the cult leader had started up his commune decades ago. The followers were like sheep, and the leaders like handsomely dressed wolves. Her mother was setup to marry Lance Whitt, a 'general' of the Leviathan cult, and younger brother to the leader, Elroy Whitt. Lola was to be his third wife, and as rule she needed to be a virgin. So Iris was now identified as Lola's little sister rather then daughter. Everyone knew the truth but with a few chants and prayers from the 'Messiah' Elroy, it was done and accepted as fact.
Iris had a mind of her own, and thus ended up in trouble almost everyday. The cult was full of abnormal rules, and cruel unjust punishments for braking them. No running, no singing, no reading, no electronics, no games, no dancing, no laughing, no questions, you must whisper only, never stay idle always work, pray five times a day, bow on your knees to Lord Elroy, wear only the uniform given to you, eat only two meals a day, do not drink unblessed water, fasting every Tuesday, no lying, do not eat red foods, no personal possessions... Punishments for her misbehavior ranged from extra chores, to public beatings, to being locked in the dungeon without food or water for days at a time.. And the worst of all punishments was being sent to lord Elroy basement. Torture was a good word for what took place in Elroy's basement. Her mother who had once been caring and loving, turned a blind eye to the blatant abuse that Iris and most of the young children suffered, sometimes even participating in it herself, when requested by Lord Elroy.
It was 10 month later when her mother gave birth to Iris's little half brother Jasper. Iris was cast aside completely, sent to live in the bottom of the ship with the fifteen other parentless children the cult had gathered off the many places they passed by in the ocean. And the bottom of the ship was also where the old and dying lived. Iris made friends with two of the other kids. Two boys named Glen, and Vaughn. They also had issues following rules, and like her didn't believe in the cults ideals. Glen was eleven and the oldest of there trio. He was the first one to suggest running away. It was a joke at first, but as the weeks past the joke sounded like a good idea. Anytime they got the chance they began planning. It became a kind of distraction from the hell life around them, but they never actually set a date for running away. They knew that surviving on their own would be impossible.
Two years went by and she had learned to follow the rules when people were watching, she got in trouble much less, but was still a complete nonbeliever. She was only nine and a half, but she had had to grow up rather quickly. Independent, stubborn, and ready to survive. One day she was caught eating radishes with Glen, and Vaughn on the trader cargo ship that came by once every six months. Red foods were against the rules, and so each of them was sent one by one to get their punishment. Typically five smacks of a cane on your hands was all you'd get for such an infraction. Iris knelt by the door of Elroy's basement, and watched as Glen was taken down stairs, only to return 15 minuets later being carried out bloody and beaten. Vaughn was next to go in, and Iris could hear him scream. Scared was an understatement as she knelt there waiting for her turn, with the unconscious Glen next to her. Vaughn walked out cradling a broken arm, his face mashed with snot, tears, and blood from the giant gash on his forehead. All of his fingernails were gone, and his eyes looked souless, as he sat down next to Glen who was slowly coming too. Iris refused to move from the spot she was sitting in, and had to be dragged into the room.
Elroy stood wiping the blood off his hands, as the door closed behind her, and she was left in hell.
"Well hello again, my dear girl. I'm afraid I have tired out my arms after teaching those boys their lessons. Now Irissena as you know, red is the color of demons, and as you have been told before, eating, drinking, or wearing red is to accept the demons into yourself. You need to be cleansed, and the gods have enlightened me in how to do so." Lord Elroy said to her in a sickeningly sweet way, as he smiled at her. He stood close to her and gently brushed the stray hairs out of her face, only to then grab and drag Iris by her hair to the dirty mattress in the corner of the room. What followed was savage and brutal, and no amount of screaming, or clawing stopped him. Two hours later she was carried out of the room and had to sit next to Glen and Vaughn as they were all lectured and yelled at for another hour by a 'general' of the cult.
Glen spent a week in the clinic area, recovering from three broken ribs, a fractured wrist, a concussion, second degree burns on his arms, and twenty deep laceration on his back. Vaughn needed nineteen stitches to close the gash on his forehead, and his arm was put in a makeshift cast, his hand wrapped in bandages. Iris never talked about what happened to her down there, her friends wondered why she had been down there for so long and had only gotten away with a bunch of bruise, and a cut on her lip. But they stopped trying to asked her once she glared at them. Iris had vowed to herself that she would never let what happen to her in the basement happen again. She wanted Elroy dead, and to be away from this god forsaken ship. She told her mother what happened in hopes that she would save her and take her away from this place. But Lola slapped her in the face, and called her a lair. Lola even went to her husband to report Irissena as a rule breaker, again.
Luckly Elroy was out preaching somewhere in the ocean trying to gain more followers. So Iris's punishment for '
lying' was carried out by Elroy's wife, Yolanda, who was the second in command. Iris's hair was buzzed off publicly, as the whole commune gathered to watch, and then she was flogged and sent to the dungeon to stay for three days without food or water. Betrayal and anger with a twinge of abandonment was all Iris could feel as she laid on the cold metal floor of the cell. A ratty blanket and smelly bucket was all that decorated the unheated place. Well into the middle of the night Vaughn came to slid her some food under the crack of the door.
"We're leaving tomorrow night, when Glen gets out of the clinic bay. Iris...just stick it out till then, and will come get you." He said with pity in his voice.
"You and Glen better not forget me. Ok?" She said to him. Sliding his bandaged pinky finger under the door, they made a promise. The next night came, and all was silent. Till Glen showed up, and picked the lock to get Iris out. Vaughn stood behind holding three packs, and a lantern. They ran for the little transport boat. They detached it from the ship, hopped on and were out of there as fast as they could go. Vaughn and Glen had stolen enough supplies off the Leviathan, to last about two month at sea, finding one of those floating villages was the best bet.
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Life on the boat was hard, but free. The three of them survived together. Stealing what they needed, and cheating people out of their food and water. They later joined up with a gang of orphaned teens who called themselves the urchins. All seemed good to Iris compared to the last few years of her life. This was her new family. Free and happy none of them regretted leaving the cult ship.
She was thirteen when she and the Urchin gang, stole from a man they really shouldn't of. It had been a lone empty boat they'd come across, and so they took everything they could carry from it. Two days later, their two boats that made up the Urchin's home was raided by pirates bent on revenge and getting there property back. The men plundered their boats, and killed four of her friends, including Glen. Turns out the man they stole from had been apart of a large well known gang of pirates. They took Iris, Nadia, Zeek and Vaughn to sell them at the slave market. Nadia blamed Iris for the death of her brother Micky, and the three others, as it had been Iris's idea to loot the lone boat. Vaughn had been shot and wasn't looking to good, so the pirates tossed him into the ocean without a second thought, as Iris and Nadia screamed for them to stop.
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Thirteen years old, and Iris was locked in the dungeon of a pirate ship on her way to be sold at the slave market. Glen was dead, and most likely so was Vaughn. She had no one. The grief of her friends murders turned to anger and guilt. She wanted revenge, and she knew were to start. The pirate gang who held her captive needed to be punished. But what could a thirteen year old girl do. About a week later the pirate shipped docked at the market to sell off their booty, and the seven prisoners in their dungeon. Iris, Nadia, and Zeek were dragged off to the slave auction area.
"Ladies and Gentleman. You are here to be sold, if you fresh meat aka unbranded, please step forward. My men over here will escort you to the pen where we will sort you. As for the rest of you...you know the drill. Say your prayers to whatever gods you follow. The first auction of the day starts in a hour get going." The Slave trader named Perkins shouted over them as he stood up high on a platform. Zeek dragged Iris and Nadia with him to the unbranded group of slaves-to-be.
Zeek had grown up in and around the slave markets before he ran off with the Urchins so he knew a thing or to about how it was run. For the week they had been in the pirate ship dungeon, he had explained to them how it all worked and what they were in for. They, along with about twenty others were escorted to the pen. Where they would stay for a month long waiting period, as the Slave Directors sorted everyone out by aptitude, in demand skills, strengths, weaknesses, and obedience level. The waiting period was also set in place so people had time to buy back their family members out of slavery before they were officially branded as slaves, and sold. Brothel owners, people looking for arranged marriages, and people who'd rather have indentured servants also came around during the waiting period. Basically Iris, Zeek, and Nadia had a month to get out of here before the slave
mark was branded onto the back of their necks, and they were auctioned off to god knows who.
Four days into their stay in the pen, Zeek finagled himself out of becoming a slave by showing off his bilingual skills, and landing a nine year servant contract with a trader ship, to be an interpreter. There was nothing he could do for Iris or Nadia so he just left. Two weeks later the owner of the Red Sparks brothel showed up looking to purchase some new girls. Iris remembered him from when she was a little girl, when her mother worked for him. Kye Sparks was older and more bald then he once was, but he was still the ever greedy scumbag she remembered. Kye had offered all the woman in the pen a chance to work for him as dancer at his club, as long as they had clean teeth and where between the ages of thirteen and thirty.
"I only have five spots, first come first serve, though beauty and youth do get priority...ha" He said loudly to the women. Iris tried to warn Nadia that he didn't really want dancers, and that his club as he called it, was really a brothel. But Nadia was desperate to not become a slave, and at the last minute took Kye up on his offer to work for him. And then Nadia was basically herded out of the pen along with four other woman. Leaving Iris completely alone, with a very bleak future.
Two more weeks came and went, and the day of the auction finally came. Everyone was taken out of the pen one by one to step up on stage in front of the crowed of buyers and onlookers. Irissena had to be dragged onto the stage, as she refused to budge from her spot in line when they called her up.
"As you can see this one has spirit, and for those of you that like to brake in new slaves, this one is most likely to be a fun challenge. It is also quite a beauty if you look pass the dirt. It will need quite a bit of discipline, but its a fast learner. I will start the bidding now." Shouted Perkins brightly to the crowed. All Iris could do was glare at anyone who made a bid. Apparently Iris's freedom was worth, two malnourished pigs, a jar of dirt, orange seeds, a sheet of paper, and a sack of whale blubber.
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She was brought below to officially be traded to the man that won her. They pinned her down and took the branding iron out of the fire. Another man pulled her hair out of the way, and they stuck the iron to the back of her neck. The cloth in her mouth barely muffled her screams, as her fleshed burned away to leave a bright red slave mark. She passed out from the pain, and woke up with a bandaged neck in a dark windowless room. Every once in a while a sad looking old man would open the door to offer her some fish jerky and water, the marks on his neck revealed that he was a slave to. It seemed like days had gone by, but the Sad old man finally unchained her from the wall in the dark room and took her out to the deck of the ship, were a party seemed to be going on.
"Tomlin. My son, you have been needing a slave of your own for quite some time now, so here is your birthday present, she cost me quite a bit so try no to brake her, like your brother Willem did with his, ok?" A fat older man said lazily to a boy who only looked a year or two older then Iris. He had a handsome face, and polite smile. Unfortunately the other young man standing beside had a evil looking grin when he spotted Iris.
On bored a huge whaling ship called 'The Commander'. She was now a personal slave to a sixteen year old guy named Tomlin. The ship was owned by the Yin family, who were well known in the cities and shanty towns for being the best of the best when it came to hunting whales, and other monsters of the sea. The captain's name was Ozwell, and he ran the ship with his two sons, his wife, his three brothers, their families, some cousins, and a half a dozen slaves. Tomlin was the youngest son of the captains, and Willem was the oldest. It would take Iris over three months to learn that defiance, disobedience, disrespect and fighting back were not going to help anything, and would only get you beaten or starved.
Once she had learned to keep her head down, mouth shut, and do what she was told, her life became much easier. She spent her days cleaning, cooking, and carving whale bone till her fingers bled. Rowena a slave woman had taken Iris under her wing, teaching her the ins and outs, how things were done. Tomlin was a saint compared to his older brother Willem who was a sadistic psychopath. Sometimes she actually felt lucky that Tomlin was her master and that the others on bored weren't. Iris still had to do as she was told, but punishment and reward were all up to Tomlin, who was more interested in cultivating his orange trees then anything else. Willem had taken a sick liking to Iris since her first day on the ship. The other slaves told Iris stories about Willem's last slave girl who Willem mentally broke down to the point that she jumped ship during the middle of a storm. Anytime she ended up alone with Willem, he would pin her down, pull her hair, threaten her with his knife, twist her arm, kick her to the gowned, and describe in detail what he wanted to do to her.
Iris of course wanted to escape, but it was basically impossible. Two years of her life passed by this way, all the while with Willem escalating his abuse, until he finally took it to far, and raped her. She was left alone bleeding and broken on the metal floor of the slave barracks. Anger was the only thing inside her head, and so she stole Captain Ozwell's prized metal dagger out of his room, and in the middle of the night snuck into Willem's room and slit his throat. Apparently she had been screaming when she did it, because as soon as she dropped the blade on the floor, two of the crew pulled her off Willem's body, and locked her in a cell. A few minutes later Willem's mother came charging in, hammer in hand, screaming bloody murder, as she proceeded to brake six of Iris's fingers until the Captain dragged the woman out, and locked the cell again.
The pain of her freshly broken fingers was shadowed slightly by the realization that they were probably going to kill her in the most painful way possible. Hours later, two of the crew men dragged her out of the cell and onto the deck to stand in front of the captain, who punched her so hard in the face she fell to her knees, seeing stars.
"This piece of shit killed my son. Willem! She will pay for this, with her own pathetic life. First lets give her some Dragoth Poison, a pain worse then death. And if she survives the poison, we will reach the 'crystal city' in five days time, and just sell the little bitch to the snuff theater. None of you are allowed to touch her till we reach the city, or I say otherwise." He said venomously to his people, who gathered for revenge. His wife smiled at the mention of Dragoth poison. It caused you to be in so much pain, many begged for death, and most did die before it wore out of their system.
Holding her down they poured the vial down her throat, and made her swallow. Seconds later the burning in her veins began, and she doubled over in so much pain she couldn't even scream. They pulled her by the hair, dragging her all the way back to the tiny wet cell. Every touch, every movement, every breath was excruciating. And if she looked like she wasn't suffering enough, someone would kick her as hard as they could, or toss freezing water over her. She just laid there sweating, and shaking on the floor. It took three days for the poison to leave her body, and even then her nerves where worn out, and she felt hollow. A terrible fever set in that lasted a whole day and night. Once the fever broke, she laid silently in the cell waiting to die. Rowena would secretly come around once in a while to give Iris something to drink, but other then that her only visitors where the angry vengeful family members of the scum she killed.
The next day she could feel the ship dock onto 'crystal city'. She had been born here, and now it seemed like she would die here too, at only 15 years old. They were going to sell her to the Snuff Theater. A place you hear horror stories about. Located in the darker parts of the famous red-light district, Snuff theater was a place where slaves were tortured and killed for show.
Rowena and another slave called Graham came into the cell, and untied Iris.
"You did the world a favor sweetie, Willem was a devil. Now put these clothes on and follow Graham off the ship...once your in 'crystal city', you need to find a place to hide for a few days." Rowena said tossing some of Tomlin's old clothes at her. Iris was surprised but she dress quickly blocking out the pain of her broken fingers and bruise body. Graham pulled out a small knife, and cut Iris's long brown hair into a very short boy style. And then with a brief hug from Rowena Iris was off, following quietly behind Graham and he led her off the ship without anyone seeing. Graham handed her a small bag, that held an orange, some fish jerky, a bone knife, small jar of whale blubber, and a flask of water. He gave her a nod, and then she ran off into the city.
---
The first thing that came to her mind as a place to hide was the Red Sparks club, where her friend Nadia was still most likely working. Iris ran, keeping to the dark passages, and roofs. She kept the collar pulled up tight around the back of her neck so no one would notice the slave mark burned into her skin. It was surreal seeing
Nadia again. Nadia was happy to help, and thus Irissena was introduced to the rest of the ladies, as Nadia's cousin Eric. She spent the next two weeks doing on jobs for the ladies of the club, like mending clothes, and fetching things. The rest of her time was spent entertaining all the fatherless children running about, and telling Nadia happy lies about her adventures at sea. Unfortunately Kye Sparks returned from his month long excursion to find new girls, and threw Iris out on the spot. With basically nothing to her name except the clothes on her back and a bag, she was kind of doomed. She made her way to the docks hoping to find someone going to Three Trees, that would let her hitch a ride. And that when she saw it. The great white ship 'Musaeum'.
---
Musaeum was a large ship, one of the biggest out there. It was known to be home to the greatest library on the ocean, outside the kingdom of Nair of course. The Ship floated around Azmier looking for papers, books, scrolls, and old artifacts from before the the big wave. The Scholars, as people called them, lived on the ship, spending their lives learning all they could, restoring old books, and recording the histories, data, information, and new stories they came across. They also trained people in becoming teachers, to spread the knowledge. It was rumored that they even prayed to a new goddess, who they call Pallas, and the Musaeum was run more like temple or academy then a ship.
As soon as she saw the ship anchored about a mile away from the docks, she wanted on. The bad news was they only took new people on bored if they could pay in advance for their room, bored, water, and food. Sometimes people were personally brought in by a Scholar who, thought them bright enough to learn, and become a teacher or scholar themselves. The only option Iris could come up with was to stow away. So she took off her clothes, stuffed them in her bag, dived into the ocean, and swam for the ship. It took her a while, but she made it, and was even lucky enough to spot an open porthole. She climbed the anchor rope up the side, and slid in through the porthole. She quickly put on her soaking wet clothes, and looked around the room she was in. She hid in the cargo hold of the ship for almost four days till she was found.
By some miracle they didn't throw her off the ship, and instead decided to let her stay until they docked at Nair in six months. The whole upper deck of the ship was set up as a huge garden, where they grew onions, potatoes, carrots, green beans, garlic, gourds, radishes, chili peppers, strawberries, a lemon tree, and an array of herbs. Iris even offered up her orange tree seeds, as thanks for not tossing her into the ocean. The whole ship was set up to be self sustaining. They taught her how to weave baskets and blankets. She even discovered that she was a blue-blood after getting a paper cut. Six months came and went, and the leaders of the Scholars decided to let her stay, as she had proven herself to be very intelligent, and they found her blue-blood and subsequent abilities fascinating.
As the years past she spent her time reading and learning all she could. Living on the Musaeum, was like a little utopia in the harsh world of Azmier. Iris was even granted an official mentor, to teach her more about the stars, and old languages. His name was Scholar Reeves, a jolly old man with red hair. The ships library took up the whole second floor of the six level ship. It even had books from before the big wave. Many were written in the old languages, and had colorful illustrations. The whole case of spell books, hummed with energy. And the smell of ink and paper became Iris's favorite thing. Iris spent many hours watching the Scholars restore the thousands of waterlogged, and illegible smeared ink books they collected from around the world. At first she had not wanted anything to do with the Pallas religion that was practiced by the Scholars, but over time she slowly took to it, and became a diligent believer.
She was eighteen years old when Scholar Reeves and the high council who operated the Musaeum, decided it was high time for Iris to set off on her own to teach others. It was something all apprentices did at some point, as a kind of missionary work. Spreading the knowledge and teaching people the basics of reading and writing was the thing to do. One was not officially a Scholar, until they spent ten years on bored the Musaeam in hard study. But that was what she was striving for, to be a Scholar. The Musaeam was the only place she ever truly felt safe and happy. They dropped her off in a small shanty village called Meguri. at on of the makeshift free school in one of the floating shanty villages.
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