This page provides information on the characters, places and culture that appear in Pyres in the Long Night, which is a short prequel story in PJ Nwosu’s Red Kingdom series.

Characters

Diem Lakein

An ex soldier who fought the Cold War, Diem grew up in Open Port West and worked at his uncle’s forge prior to being conscripted into the military. After the war, he applied for a job at Investigation House in the capital of City of Pillars and now works as an investigator.

Thora

A lowly slave of the dust-caste rank who lives in the capital of City of Pillars, and is bound to serve at Investigation House. She is expected to undertake chores, yet she dreams of becoming a real investigator.

High Investigator

The High Investigator is in charge of Investigation House in City of Pillars.

Sun-Chancellor

An important nobleman who works at the palace in politics.

Leon Grassin

The caretaker of City of Pillar’s greatest Gold House.

Gold House Scholar-Assistant

A man who assists in running the Gold House, managing organisation, administration, resources and compliance with Purge House demands.

Roles and jobs

Investigators

Operating out of Investigation House, which is located in the capital City of Pillars, investigators are responsible for investigating crimes, making arrests and ensuring justice is meted out across the land in line with the Red Reform laws. Investigators are often sent into rural areas to investigate crimes. Mostly investigators are Moon-Caste citizens, though some Sun-Nobles also work within the investigator ranks.

Scholar-Assistants

Trained in numbers, writing and administration, Scholar-Assistants are aids to those in power. They come from the Moon-Caste rank.

Purge Officers

Operating out of Purge House, which is located in the capital City of Pillars, Purge Officers ensure that the citizens across the Red Kingdom obey the Red Reform laws in all aspects of their lives. Often, the punishment for deviation is death by pyre burning. Purge Officers are like soldiers of the Red Reform. They come from the Moon-Caste rank.

Red Hunters

Another word for Purge Officers, as used by the lower castes.

Crimson Warriors

Crimson Warriors are the elite warriors who run Purge House in the capital City of Pillars. They must sacrifice much to be raised to this high rank, including the loss of their tongue. Mostly, these warriors are Sun-Nobles, though it is possible to be from the Moon-Caste rank also.

Dust-Hunters

Warriors who are tasked with tracking down and recapturing runaway Dust-Caste slaves. These warriors are from the Moon-Caste status group.

Gold Women

Women who work at the many Gold Houses, or entertainment establishments, across the Red Kingdom. It is stated in the Red Reform that gold women must always be masked and painted gold in public to ensure citizens know their profession. These women are from the Dust-Caste group.

Practitioners of the Crooked Beat

A dangerous job outlawed in the Red Reform laws and hunted down by Purge House, practitioners of the crooked beat are women who have the ability to touch the crooked beat. Although almost wiped out of major cities like City of Pillars, practitioners still gather and work in more rural and isolated communities. They offer curse-work and services to citizens who can pay the price, though often also work as mid-wives, medicine women and apothecaries as well.

Politic Men

Those Sun-Nobles who work in politics at the Red Palace.

Places

Red Kingdom

After the original name of the land was stolen by the burning Eleventh Daughter during her sacrifice, the land was renamed The Red Kingdom.

City of Pillars

The capital city of the Red Kingdom, and where all the Red Palace and all of the State Organ Houses are located for centralised governance.

Open Port West

A small open trading port in the West of the Red Kingdom. Trade is mostly outlawed by the Red Reform laws in order for the kingdom to be self-sufficient and not succumb to outside influence. However some limited trade of luxury items for Sun-Nobles and other goods is sanctioned by the Red Palace, though it is only allowed to occur in the few open ports that exist, like Open Port West.

Ruling Structure

Red Palace

Where the Red King and his Red Family reside, including his five prince sons. The palace is located in City of Pillars. It has always been the strongest force in the kingdom, though lately, with the shift of power toward Purge House, the Red Palace’s control over the land is waning.

Investigation House

One of the State Organ Houses, responsible for investigating crimes and ensuring justice in line with Red Reform laws across the land. Located in City of Pillars.

Purge House

One of the State Organ Houses, and the most powerful one at that, Purge House is responsible for punishing citizens who do not live in line with the Red Reform laws. They hunt practitioners of the crooked beat, burn forbidden books and set nightly pyres in the great plaza of City of Pillars.

Corvee Tithe

One day in every ten that all Moon-Caste citizens must report to their closest Polity House for labour. This may include road or tower building, field work, construction or menial labour. Citizens performing their corvee tithe must mark their eyes with oil so other citizens can know their business. Sun-Nobles are exempt from performing the corvee tithe. As are Dust-Caste slaves.

Caste System

Dust-Caste

Slaves. This caste is hereditary. There are both private and state-owned slaves.

Moon-Caste

Free citizens.

Sun-Nobles

The Red Kingdom’s elite and powerful clans.

Superstition, Beliefs and History

The Crooked Beat

Forbidden by the Red Reform laws, the crooked beat is a mysterious and little understood power that manifests in many women across the Red Kingdom.

Truth of Death

Truth of Death is a book written during the Hundred Year Fall by a priest of the old gods whose name has been stolen. He wrote the book after rejecting all gods, and is now known as the Philosopher. His book of teaching about life and death became the bedrock for the Red Reform laws, and it is the only remaining unburned book. The words ‘What’s dead is dead and all shall die‘ are taken from the original Truth of Death book and uttered by everyone across the Red Kingdom. In some rural parts of the kingdom there are variations to the way these words are used and also their meaning to the citizens.

Death giants

During the Hundred Year Fall, death giants suddenly rose from the sea with the first occurrence of an inverted moon. The death giants walked over the land, killing citizens beneath their feet. After the sacrifice of the Eleven Daughters, the death giants returned to the sea and are now only witnessed on hollow nights when the inverted moon rises. They no longer venture onto land. In more rural and superstitious parts of the kingdom, they are worshipped as gods.

The Eleven Daughters

At the end of the Hundred Year Fall, when death giants roamed the land for one hundred years, the eldest daughter of the king visited a church-tower in Moontown to pray. An accident occurred and a passing death giant wreaked enough destruction that the tower was set alight and the eldest daughter of the king burned. Her father was filled with grief and raised a pyramid tomb where she had died. Soon though, citizens noticed that the death giants no longer walked on the land surrounding the pyramid. The king the sacrificed each of his eleven daughters by burning and built pyramid tombs for them across the land. The sacrifices ensured that the death giants returned to the sea and never again stepped foot on land.

The Eleventh Daughter

The youngest daughter of the king, the Eleventh Daughter, was the final sacrifice by burning. As she died she cursed the kingdom using the mysterious crooked beat. She stole all the names. Her own. Her sisters. The names of gods and towns and citizens. These lost names are called relic-names. Purge House and the Red Reform forbid any citizens to speak of the Eleventh Daughter, but in rural areas she is worshipped as a god.

Pyramid Tombs

Thirteen desert-glass pyramid tombs are spread across the Red Kingdom, protecting the land from death giants and keeping the monsters off the shore. These pyramids belong to the eleven Daughters, though the Eleventh Daughter’s remains were split in two and places in Death City and Bird Fortress. The king of that time is entombed in a great pyramid in City of Pillars. He died of grief. Or so the legends say.

The Red Reform laws

Here are a list of some Red Reform laws:

• Citizens must obey Purge House in all matters of morality. Purge trials will be conducted to judge obedience to Red Reform laws. Citizens guilty of immoral behaviour will be punished by Purge House in accordance with their crime

• Red Kingdom citizens are formed strictly of the following castes: Sun-Nobles, Moon-Caste free men and women, Dust-Caste slave workers.

• Citizens of the Red Kingdom must attend all summons to witness the great pyres burn, in order to learn the lessons Purge House teaches.

• Citizens are forbidden from securing the services of a practitioner of the crooked beat. Punishment is death by pyre burning for both client and practitioner.

• Moon-caste men and women are free. As such, they must pay a quarterly tax tithe to the Red Palace for this privilege. Tax amounts—to be paid in metal-wealth, salt-wealth, grain-wealth, handicrafts etc.—are set by each region or city’s Polity House. Once collated across the Red Kingdom, the tithe must be submitted to the Red Palace.

• All Moon-Caste citizens must contribute one free labour day in every ten to the state under the corvee tithe law. On their assigned corvee tithe day, each Moon-Caste citizen within the Red Kingdom must report to their local Polity House for labour instruction. Absence will result in thirty lashes.