The Atkoi War, Volume 3: Slave Girl of Nenuphar by Sparrowhawk Henry

Author:Sparrowhawk, Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Greyhound Press
Published: 2014-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

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5: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

Memnon Quat: Earth type planet, fourth planet of Memnon in the Petwen Province, 335 light years from Nenuphar. Discovered 2399 and settled from Petwen. Population 350 million humans, (estimated: the exact figure has been declared a state secret). Political status: since 2835, it has been the personal fiefdom of the Emperors. Fewer than one hundred thousand of the inhabitants are free citizens, the vast majority being held in feudal serfdom.

New Galactic Encyclopaedia (Infopress: Nenuphar)

Jemima Firth was seventeen when her mother sold her to the Emperor’s factor.

It was not that Elaine Firth did not love her daughter; far from it. But she knew that Jemima would be far better looked after by her new master than if she had remained on Memnon and married a local man. Life was hard on Memnon Quat for any poor family, let alone a widowed mother of two children. Arthur Firth had died a year earlier, having laboured all his life on their tiny farm.

Two centuries earlier, all the land for miles around had belonged to the Firth family, and the nearby village had been a thriving little town. It had been in the time of Arthur’s great grandfather that the Firth lands, along with all other fixed property on the planet, were forfeited to the crown. Now the Firths were merely tenants on a tiny portion of their original estate.

Memnon Quat, which meant Memnon Four and was usually called simply Memnon, had now been under direct feudal rule for almost one hundred and sixty years. Life was not easy for its people. They were in fact serfs, little better than chattels of the Emperor, unable to own property outright or even to move from one district to another without the permission of their local baron. They were obliged to pay a poll tax. Most could work only in agriculture, or certain specified occupations.

Their mistake, or rather the mistake of their ancestors, had been to lend support to the losing side in the last of the civil wars which had divided the Empire. Felix Prendergast, Duke of Memnon and Iturbide, had quite possibly had a better claim to the throne than his second cousin and rival, Konrad; but Konrad had greater support in the Navy, and that had proved decisive. It was Konrad who had ascended the throne. Felix himself and many of his supporters had fled to independent worlds and had mostly escaped the new Emperor’s justice, despite determined attempts to extradite them. Those less fortunate had faced summary trials and execution. In several cases, whole planetary populations were punished with enormous fines. Memnon’s punishment was the severest of all, because its popular support of Felix had been both widespread and enthusiastic.

All land and fixed property was seized. Memnon’s people were stripped of their citizenship and liberty. Legally, they were reduced to serfdom. Much of the land was sold to Konrad’s loyal supporters. In a stroke, Konrad had punished his enemies, rewarded his friends, created a new source of income and paid off many of his debts.

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