A cast of charactors

The Masters

There are seven Masters in the world, all receiving their power by an unknown selection process, and they are widely scattered across the Continents. They live very long lives, some few reaching 500 years.  They are not immortal, however, they do age, but very slowly.  It is not known if they can live beyond the normal five Centuries.  They are usually killed by a rival rather than dying of natural causes. 

Their power begins to manifest itself around middle age.  It is not known why one man is becomes a Master and another does not. 

Masters have substantial control over their personal time/space.  As their power is depleted, they can slow time to rest.  To the casual observer, they seem to disappear when they slow time, and this makes them invulnerable to attacks by anyone other than another Master.

While not true mind readers, they are excellent empaths, making it difficult to surprise them.

They usually perceive other Masters as threats, and as soon as one is discovered, they begin plotting the assignation of their rivals.  In rare instances Masters have been captured and co-opted, in which case their powers and abilities greatly strengthen their captor.

The wives

Women of power are drawn to the Master.  They sense his power and submit themselves to his lead because they are able to sense his desires.  This sensing is intangible, however, and the wives themselves are unable to answer why they are drawn to him

The wives are not naturally submissive, but find in their rapport with the Master that they do desire to submit to him, and seek out ways to prove that submission.  This conflicts them greatly, however, because it is so foreign to their nature.

Virtue expands their ability to magnify the Masters power, though what most people consider virtue would not necessarily agree with their definition of it.

Because of the empathy in the family, the wives tend to draw close to each other, and they are very affectionate among themselves.  This curiously is a bar to lesbian relationships, however.  Their desire is for their husband, though they often find themselves collaborating rather than competing with each other during sexual activity because they are so in tune with each other.

They may live as long as the Master lives.  At his death, they are no longer able to renew, and they begin to rapidly age again.  The majority of wives grow weary of life after a few Centuries, and leave the family, and because of the artificial lengthening of their days, they age very rapidly and die. 

One wife in this tale chose to leave the family after two Centuries of marriage.  She went from a physical age of 30 to a physical age of 100 in five months, and died of natural causes.

Power

The Master is the source of power, and wives magnify that power.  The process is involuntary, and doesn’t require the wives participation

Each wife brings a measure of natural ability to the marriage.  With some exceptions, meek women usually do not have great ability.  Strong women who have the ability to be submissive tend to be the most able.  The submission apparently has to be voluntary for the power to be magnified

There is an optimum number of wives. The exact figure is difficult to calculate, but at around eight wives, the power begins to diminish rapidly.  This is where many Masters have erred in thinking that it is the number of women they hold in thrall that gives them power.

The magnification requires a “covenant” between the Master and wife.  That covenant need not be expressed, but in this family the covenant is entered into with a formal marriage ceremony and exchange of vows.

The scrolls

It is not known who originally wrote the scrolls, some are pressed into thin copper sheets, some on parchment, and the two most difficult scrolls to read are pressed onto gold like sheets of metal.  However, they all have the same round flowing script, and all contain drawings made with an unbroken line.

The histories of the Masters are written on vellum of an unknown animal while the instructions in virtue are written on the copper and gold scrolls.  The nobler the scroll, the nobler the material is on which it is written.

Only a master has the power to animate and understand a scroll, and some scrolls are much harder to animate and understand than others. 

The Master in this tale begins his study of the scrolls by simply opening one and letting his eyes follow the script.  If all goes well, the lines and script become alive, and he becomes absorbed in the “words”.

He is able to separate a part of his mind to transcribe the scrolls into English, his native tongue.  But the scrolls often contain ideas that are impossible to comprehend by mere words, so the translations are still a mystery to those who read them, and the illustrations do not animate.

The two golden scrolls are the most unfathomable of the scrolls.  The Master of this tale would go into reverie for days after attempting to read them, and he was unaware of what he had read in them.  But each reading changed him in deep and profound ways.

Other Masters have apparently given up on the study of the scrolls because of the difficulty and time they took.  As a result, they had an incomplete understanding of the power they were given, and most descended into cruelty and oppression and began treating the Messenger with contempt.  Thus they sowed the seeds of their own destruction by their ignorance

Renewal

Masters are able to renew wives.  That is, they can roll back the aging process.  In some cases, Masters with little knowledge renewed their wives unawares since it is a very intensely sexual act

Wives may renew husbands by the same process, but must be aware of the process to perform it, though some renewals have occurred because of the desire they had for their husband.

It has happened in the ancient past where a Master has restored a wife back to puberty, but when she bore children, they were hideously deformed and had very brief lives.  The master wrote that the wife was never again in her right mind.  In this tale, the Master never restores his wives to earlier than around 30 years old, and never restores the eggs in the ovaries.  He does restore ovulation, however, but children are not engendered by the restoration.

There are also reported instances of non-wives being healed by the Master, but they were not physically renewed.  This is usually a rare event with most Masters, because it depletes power.  In this tale, Eric restores Fiammetta, who was is the widow of a deceased Master and even though she was never a wife of his.

With increasing age, renewal needs to be performed more frequently, and aging happens very quickly if they are not renewed.

The Melach

Melach is the Semitic word for angel or messenger.  I have used it to convey the type of individuals they are.  The real word for them is unpronounceable with the human tongue.  In this tale, the mysterious aide, Reu, is a heavily bearded man who wears a dark suit and a Sikh like turban.  His is immaculately groomed.  The only change in his attire is the color of the turban and the jewel in the turban clasp.  The reason for the change in color is known only to him.

It is believed that every Master has a Melach to advise him.  Malech seldom volunteer information, but they will answer direct questions. Malech are in continual contact with the other Melach of the Masters. and in this tale, informs the Master of an impending attack by another Master. As a Master descends into depravity, they begin to treat the Melach with increasing disrespect.  A Melach never betrays a Master, but with the disrespect, the Melach may withhold key information when consulted.

A Cast of Characters:

Reu:	A Melach.  Supernatural beings that attached themselves to the Masters as counselors and guides.
Master Eric Bissell:	Husband, father and Master.  This is his story.
Mrs. Leah Dunaway-Bissell:	Eric’s first and original wife.  The only wife who knew Eric before he became a Master
Mistress Joanne Pare-Bissell:	Eric’s second wife
Mistress Gloria Jester-Bissell:	Eric’s third wife
Nathan Jester-Bissell:	Eric’s adopted son and Gloria’s son from a previous marriage.
Mistress Tammy Olmstead-Bissell:	Eric’s fourth wife
Arial Bissell:	Twin daughter of Eric and Tammy
Jenna Bissell:	Twin daughter of Eric and Tammy
Mistress Cathy Schutz-Bissell:	Eric’s fifth wife.  Former friend that became a family bond servant, then a concubine, then wife.
Mistress Esther Warner-Bissell	Eric’s sixth wife.  Former friend that became a family bond servant, then a concubine, then wife
Mistress Bessie Rickman-Bissell:	Eric’s seventh wife.  Chose to leave the family and live a normal life
Mistress Nicole Beeson-Bissell:	Eric’s eighth wife:  Became the seventh wife after Bessie’s departure
Kay Popp	Family cook.
Vicki Simonton	Major Domo of the family’s extensive properties
Brandi Stoltzfus	Warriorette extraordinaire, Eric’s aide-de-camp, valet, and personal assistant.
Betty Royster	Eric’s personal secretary
Regina Folse	Butler
Carlos Stclair	CEO of Eric’s holding company
Marie Singley	The head housekeeper
Jose’ Montoya	Head Gardener
Clarence Offutt	Chauffer and houseman of the Bissell Estate
Fiammetta	Wife of Corrado Piazza, widow of Master Fanucci.  Eric renews her out of respect for her former Master, but does not take her to wife.
Corrado Piazza	Former consigliore of Master Fanucci, husband of Fiammetta.  Betrayed him to Master Dragov
Master Egidio Fanucci (deceased)	Deceased Master, believed by Eric to be the Master he replaced.  Fiammetta’s first husband.
Mater Dragov	Thoroughly corrupt Master who assassinated Master Fanucci.  Unique in that he only has one wife.
Master Samatar	Master who Corrado Piazza tried to betray Master Eric.  Eric discerned Piazza’s treachery, and captured Samatar when he attacked.  Master Samatar is a kind man with a love for Somalia, and returns to Somalia when Eric frees him.