What did Caspian Sea?

Caspian, Lord of... a tiny place never talked about.

Death isn't a man's best friend, but it isn't his worst enemy either. Disease is worse than death for instance. The trick is knowing when it is willing to cooperate with you and when it is against you.

But I am no master of death, shall never be and, most importantly, don't want to be. My story is about avoiding death as long as possible, definitely not making deals with it. But before you get too bored by my ramblings, I will explain my world of life and death to you.

I, sir, am writing this in Xinia, a province in Sond. Well, I say province, but a part of a tiny and minuscule village shouldn't even be called a suburb, but that's minor details.

I am lord of Xinia, which grants me a small amount of the peasant population and a large amount of the farmland which sits just inside of Sond's walls, a design to keep bandits from stealing crops. The only part of farming land that I don't own is the chief's gardens which is, unsurprisingly, owned by the chief.

To be fair with you I shouldn't be the lord of anything. My father should have taken it, then when he died my elder brother should have taken the title, and if he somehow died then maybe I would take the title, but at 80, not 17.

Unfortunately, fate is cruel, my father, David Draydon Weissenhorn, died unexpectedly, leaving his husband and my other father, Frederick Samuel Weissenhorn with the title.

For some stupid and messed reason, it was around this time that The Burning happened, a time when people attack other villages as they see fit and set fire to as much as possible, which is usually brought on by disputes. Every village has adapted to these attacks by building rooms made of an indestructible material.

My elder brother, bless his soul, went out and selflessly got people inside in time to avoid being killed, but in the process was burnt and became hideously disfigured as a result.

This was the last straw for my father, who had always cherished my elder brother. He became so distraught and distracted that he upturned his seat at Sond's council and gave it to me, and thus with idiotic luck I became Lord of Xinia.

As you probably noticed, both my parents are men. As I have come to understand, where I am sending these notes to, a place by the name of 'Australia' which in my opinion is an odd name, but my country can't be one to judge, they don't even allow same-sex marriage. I laugh at that. Here heterosexual relationships are an offense that can only be punished with death. This is because of the fact that the religion of my village, and indeed my country, is Algadrian, which revolves around the idea that God made men and women able to procreate as a test to see if humans would be able to control their lust, meaning any heterosexual relationship are damned to hell. Instead our country has a network of surrogates, who are kind and give their lives to ensure that the population doesn't decrease.

Another difference to our neighbour Australia's structure is that, apart from Sond, every other village is made up of women. The main reason for this is the because our country is a direct result of the ancient Greek race known as the Amazons being pushed out of their homes by the Greeks, Romans and Persians and forced to find another home. After crossing across the Middle East and setting sail on rafts and scouring the Indian Ocean, as it is known, for months, they happened upon this island chain that are connected at low tide. Their ideals were passed down until Sond was eventually formed, as a haven from the unfairness women had over men.

But in my opinion our biggest difference from Australia is that until recently, Caucasians were treated as slaves, to the point where my father was the first person, who was a slave family's offspring, to be given the title of lord. This made our family, the Weissenhorn's, a symbol of rebellion and hope for the peasants, which is also fueled by our family giving any profit made after our tax and self-spending back to the general population, which has made Xinia one of the richest areas for the lower classes to live in.

As I said earlier, because of The Burning, our country has adapted by making seemingly indescribable rooms. We have found that, because of the land on's pressure below and above ground, the very air forms crystals which is apparently beyond science in the rest of the world. Even breathing out can find a shower of beautiful, yet somewhat transparent, gems tumbling to the floor. This readily available source of material, that the rest of the world refers to as 'diamonds', means that we are able to build intricate but strong structures with ease.

Our current chief goes by the name of Romano Giovanni Romanov, who is 17 and is being constantly pestered by his advisors to find a partner, and apparently I would be suitable. There are two problems with that however, one is that we are best friends and do not see each other as anything more than that.

The other reason is that, though I have hidden it, I am straight, the single most dangerous thing to be around here. While other sexualities are accepted because in God's eye they still have not given in fully to the lust of heterosexuality, straight people don't get given that privilege.

Don't get me wrong, people of different sexualities get a horrible time at some points, the majority of people are willing to accept them into the community. That view changes however when it comes to the straight community.

Like many things in my life, I have hidden my sexuality, no one knows about it, if they did I would no doubt be killed. Fortunately for me I spend a lot of my time in the forest surrounding Sond, which has been under constant assault by past Burnings, yet it still holds strong.

Since I can remember, I have been exploring and mapping the forest. I am on good terms with most of the animal and plant life, as well as knowing the best entrances and exits from Sond should they be needed.

Basically my life is wonderful. I could not be happier. Sure I have to hide my true self, but I have fun doing it. Romano, or Rom as he prefers, and a girl called Tara Diffande, are the greatest people I know. They treat me like anyone would treat their sibling, so we are always having a laugh. My four biological siblings are all very nice and polite to me, probably because of my rank, but either way I am happy.

Now this isn't a romance story, or a sci-fi story, but after reading old scripts and collections captured from ships that strayed into our waters, I have realized that it probably sounds like one of them.

This is simply my story, call it what you will, and autobiography, my memoirs, whatever, this is the story of the Lord of Xinia, who ruled from 1517-1518 After Split, Lord Caspian Anton Weissenhorn.