Chapter 3 of The World Set Free by H. G. Wells Chapter 3 The Ending of War Section 1 On the mountainside above the town of Brissago and commanding two long stretches of Lake Magiore looking eastward to Belenzona and southward to Luino there is a shelf of grass meadows which is very beautiful in springtime with a great multitude of wild flowers more particularly is this so in early June when the slender Asphodel Saint Bruno's lily with its spike of white blossom is in flower to the westward of this delightful shelf there is a deep and densely wooded trench a great gulf of blue some mile or so in width out of which arise great precipices very high and wild above the Asphodel fields the mountains climb in rocky slopes to solitudes of stone and sunlight that carve round and join the wall of cliffs in one common skyline this desolate and austere background contrasts very vividly with the glowing serenity of the great lake below with the spacious view of fertile hills and roads and villages and islands to the south and east and with the hotly golden rice flats of the Val Magia to the north and because it was a remote and insignificant place far away out of the crowding tragedies of that year of disaster away from burning cities and starving multitudes bracing and tranquilizing and hidden it was here that there gathered the conference of rulers that was to arrest if possible before it was too late the debacle of civilization here brought together by the indefatigable energy of that impassioned humanitarian Leblanc the French ambassador at Washington the chief of powers of the world were to meet in a last desperate conference to save humanity Leblanc was one of those ingenious men whose lot would have been insignificant in any period of security but who have been caught up to an immortal role in history by the sudden simplification of human affairs through some tragical crisis to the measure of their simplicity such a man was Abraham Lincoln and such was Garibaldi and Leblanc with his transparent childish innocence his entire self-forgetfulness came into this confusion of distrust and intricate disaster with an invincible appeal for the manifest sanities of the situation his voice, when he spoke, was full of remonstrance he was a little bald, spectacle man inspired by that intellectual idealism which has been one of the peculiar gifts of France to humanity he was possessed of one clear persuasion that war must end that the only way to end war was to have but one government for mankind he brushed aside all other considerations at the very outbreak of the war so soon as two capitals of the belligerence had been wrecked he went to the president in the White House with his proposal he made it as if it was a matter of course he was fortunate to be in Washington and in touch with that gigantic childishness which was the characteristic of the American imagination for the Americans also were among the simple peoples by whom the world was saved he won over the American president and the American government to his general ideas at any rate they supported him sufficiently he gave him a standing with the more skeptical European governments and with this backing he set to work it seemed the most fantastic of enterprises to bring together all the rulers of the world and unify them he wrote innumerable letters he sent messages he went on desperate journeys he enlisted whatever support he could find no one was too humble for an ally or too obstinate for his advances through the terrible autumn of the last wars this persistent little visionary in spectacles must have seemed rather like a hopeful canary twittering during a thunderstorm and no accumulation of disasters daunted his conviction that they could be ended for the whole world was flaring then into a monstrous phase of destruction power after power about the armed globe sought to anticipate attack by aggression they went to war in a delirium of panic in order to use their bombs first China and Japan had assailed Russia and destroyed Moscow the United States had attacked Japan India was in an anarchistic revolt with Delhi a pit of fire spouting death and flame the redoubtable king of the Balkans was mobilizing he must have seen plain at last to everyone in those days that the world was slipping headlong to anarchy by the spring of 1959 from nearly 200 centers and every week added to their number roared the unquenchable crimson conflagrations of the atomic bombs the flimsy fabric of the world's credit had vanished industry was completely disorganized in every city every thickly populated area was starving or trembling on the verge of starvation most of the capital cities of the world were burning millions of people had already perished and over great areas government was at an end humanity had been compared by one contemporary writer to a sleeper who handles matches in his sleep and wakes to find himself in flames for many months it was an open question whether there was to be found throughout all the race the will and intelligence to face these new conditions and make even an attempt to arrest the downfall of the social order for a time the war spirit defeated every effort to rally the forces of preservation and construction Leblanc seemed to be protesting against earthquakes and is likely to find a spirit of reason in the crater of Etna even though the shattered official governments now clamored for peace bands of irreconcilables and invincible patriots usurpers, adventurers and political desperados were everywhere in possession of the simple apparatus for the disengagement of atomic energy and the initiation of new centers of destruction the stuff exercised an irresistible fascination upon a certain type of mind why should anyone give in when he can still destroy his enemies? surrender? while there is still a chance of blowing them to dust? the power of destruction which had once been the ultimate privilege of government was now the only power left in the world and it was everywhere there were a few thoughtful men during that phase of blazing waste who did not pass through such moods of despair as Barnet describes and declare with him this is the end and all the while Leblanc was going to and fro with glittering glasses and an inexhaustible persuasiveness urging the manifest reasonableness of his view upon ears that ceased presently to be inattentive never at any time did he betray a doubt that all this chaotic conflict would end no nurse during a nursery uproar was ever so certain of the inevitable ultimate peace from being treated as an amiable dreamer he came by insensible degrees to be regarded as an extravagant possibility then he began to seem even practicable the people who listened to him in 1958 with a smiling impatience were eager before 1959 was four months old to know just exactly what he thought might be done he answered with the patience of a philosopher and the lucidity of a Frenchman he began to receive responses of a more and more helpful type he came across the Atlantic to Italy and there he gathered in the promises for this congress he chose those high meadows above Bersaigo for the reasons we have stated we must get away, he said from old associations he set to work requisitioning material for his conference with an assurance that was justified by the replies with a slight incredulity the conference which was to begin a new order in the world gathered itself together Leblanc summoned it without arrogance he controlled it by virtue of an infinite humility men appeared upon those upland slopes with the apparatus for wireless telegraphy others followed with tents and provisions a little cable was flung down to a convenient point upon the Locarno road below Leblanc arrived sedulously directing every detail that would affect the tone of the assembly he might have been a courier in advance rather than the originator of the gathering and then there arrived some by the cable, most by airplane a few in other fashions the men who had been called together to confer upon the state of the world it was to be a conference without a name nine monarchs, the presidents of four republics a number of ministers and ambassadors powerful journalists and such like prominent and influential men took part in it there were even scientific men and that world famous old man, Holston came with the others to contribute his amateur statecraft to the desperate problem of the age only Leblanc would have dared so to summon figureheads and powers and intelligence or have had the courage to hope for their agreement section two and one at least of those who were called to this conference of governments came to it on foot this was King Egbert the young king of the most venerable kingdom in Europe he was a rebel and had always been a deliberate choice of rebel against the magnificence of his position he affected long pedestrian tours and a disposition to sleep in the open air he came now over the pass of Saint Maria Maggiore and by boat up the lake to Bressago thence he walked up the mountain a pleasant path set with oaks and sweet chestnut for provision on the walk for he did not want to hurry he carried with him a pocket full of bread and cheese a certain small retinue that was necessary to his comfort and dignity upon occasions of state he sent on by the cable car and with him walked his private secretary fearman of man who had thrown up the professorship of world politics in the London School of Sociology Economics and Political Science to take up these duties fearman was a man of strong rather than rapid thought he had anticipated great influence in this new position and after some years he was still only beginning to apprehend how largely his function was to listen originally he had been something of a thinker upon international politics an authority upon tariffs and strategy and a valued contributor to various of the higher organs of public opinion but the atomic bombs had taken him by surprise and he had still to recover completely from his pre-atomic opinions and the silencing effect of those sustained explosives the king's freedom from the trammels of etiquette was very complete in theory and he abounded in theory his manners were purely democratic it was by a sheer habit an inadvertency that he permitted fearman who had discovered a rucksack in a small shop in the town below to carry both bottles of beer the king had never, as a matter of fact carried anything for himself in his life and he had never noted that he did not do so we will have nobody with us he said at all we will be perfectly simple so fearman carried the beer as they walked up it was the king who made the pace rather than fearman they talked of the conference before them and fearman with a certain want of assurance that would have surprised him in himself in the days of his professorship sought to define the policy of his companion in its broader form, sir said fearman I admit a certain plausibility in the project of Leblancs but I feel that although it may be advisable to set up some sort of general control for international affairs a sort of hage court with extended powers that is no reason whatever for losing sight of the principles of national and imperial autonomy fearman said the king I am going to set my brother king's a good example fearman intimated a curiosity that veiled a dread by chucking all that nonsense said the king he quickened his pace as fearman who was already a little out of breath betrayed a disposition to reply I am going to chuck all that nonsense said the king as fearman prepared to speak I am going to fly my royalty and empire on the table and declare it once I don't mean to haggle it's haggling about rights has been the devil in human affairs for always I am going to stop this nonsense fearman halted abruptly but sir he cried the king stopped six yards ahead of him and looked back at his advisers perspiring visage do you really think fearman that I am here as as an infernal politician to put my crown and my flag and my claims and so forth in the way of peace that little Frenchman is right you know he is right as well as I do those things are over we, we kings and rulers and representatives have been at the very heart of the mischief of course we imply separation and of course separation means the threat of war and of course the threat of war means the accumulation of more and more atomic bombs the old games up but I say we mustn't stand here you know the world waits don't you think the old games up fearman fearman adjusted a strap passed a hand over his wet forehead and followed earnestly I admit sir he said to a receding back that there has to be some sort of hegemony some sort of amphicytonic console there's got to be one simple government for all the world said the king over his shoulder but as for a reckless unqualified abandonment sir bang cried the king fearman made no answer to this interruption but a faint shadow of annoyance passed across his heated features yesterday said the king by way of explanation the Japanese very nearly got San Francisco I hadn't heard sir the Americans ran the Japanese airplane down into the sea and there the bomb got busted under the sea sir yes submarine volcano the steam is inside of the California coast it was as near as that and with things like this happening you want me to go up this hill and haggle consider the effect of that on my imperial cousin and all the others he will haggle sir not a bit of it said the king but sir Leblanc won't let him fearman halted abruptly and gave a vicious pull at the offending strap sir he will listen to his advisors he said in a tone that in some subtle way seemed to implicate his master with the trouble of the knapsack the king considered him we will go just a little higher he said I want to find this unoccupied village they spoke of and then we will drink that beer it can't be far we will drink the beer and throw away the bottles and then fearman I shall ask you to look at things in a more generous light because you know you must he turned about and for some time the only sound they made was the noise of their boots upon the loose stones of the way and the irregular breathing of fearman at length as it seemed to fearman or quite soon as it seemed to the king the gradient of the path diminished the way widened out and they found themselves in a very beautiful place indeed it was one of those upland clusters of sheds and houses that are still to be found in the mountains of north Italy buildings that were used only in the high summer in which it was accustomed to leave locked up and deserted through all the winter and spring and up to the middle of June the buildings were of a soft tone grey stone buried in rich green grass shadowed by chestnut trees and lit by an extraordinary blaze of yellow broom never had the king seen broom so glorious he shouted at the light of it for it seemed to give out more sunlight even than it received he sat down impulsively on a likeness stone tugged out his bread and cheese and bade fearman thrust the beer into the shaded weeds to cool the things people miss fearman he said who go up into the air and ships fearman looked around him with an ungenial eye you see it at its best sir he said before the peasants come here again and make it filthy it would be beautiful anyhow said the king superficially sir said fearman but it stands for a social order that is vast vanishing away indeed judging by the grass between the stones and in the huts I am inclined to doubt if it is in use even now I suppose said the king that they would come up immediately the hay on this flower meadow is cut it would be those slow creamy colored beasts I expect one sees on the roads below and swarthy girls with red handkerchiefs over their black hair it is wonderful to think how long that beautiful old life lasts in the roman times and long ages before ever the rumor of the romans had come into these parts men drove their cattle up into the places as the summer came on how haunted is this place there have been quarrels here hopes children have played here and lived to be old cronies and old gaffers and died and so it has gone on for thousands of lives lovers innumerable lovers have caressed amidst this golden broom he meditated over a busy mouthful of bread and cheese we ought to have brought a tankard for that beer he said fearman produced a folding aluminum cup and the king was pleased to drink I wish sir said fearman suddenly I could induce you at least to delay your decision it's no good talking fearman said the king my minds is clear as daylight sire protested fearman with his voice full of bread and cheese and genuine emotion have you no respect for your kingship the king paused before he answered with unwanted gravity it's just because I have fearman that I won't be a puppet in this game of international politics he regarded his companion for a moment and then remarked kingship what do you know of kingship fearman yes cried the king to his astonished counselor for the first time in my life I am going to be a king I am going to lead and lead by my own authority for a dozen generations my family has been a set of dummies in the hands of their advisors advisors now I am going to be a real king and I am going to to abolish dispose of finish the crown to which I have been a slave but what a world of paralyzing shams this roaring stuff has ended the rigid old world is in the melting pot again and I who seem to be no more than the stuffing inside a regal robe I am a king among kings I have to play my part at the head of things and put an end to blood and fire and idiot disorder what sir protested fearman this man Leblanc is right the whole world has got to be a republic one and indivisible you know that and my duty is to make that easy a king should lead his people you want me to stick on their backs like some old man of the sea today must be a sacrament of kings our trust for mankind is done with an ended we must part our robes among them we must part our kingship among them and say to them all now the king and everyone must rule the world have you no sense of the magnificence of this occasion you want me fearman you want me to go up there and hangle like a damn little solicitor for some price some compensation some qualification fearman shrugged his shoulders and assumed an expression of despair meanwhile he conveyed one must eat for a time neither spoke and the king ate and turned over in his mind the phrases of speech he intended to make to the conference by virtue of the antiquity of his crown he was to preside and he intended to make his presidency memorable reassured of his eloquence he considered the despondent and sulky fearman for a space fearman he said you have idealed kingship it has been my dream sir said fearman sorrowfully to serve at the levers fearman said the king you are pleased to be unjust said fearman deeply hurt I am pleased to be getting out of it said the king oh fearman he went on have you no thought for me will you never realize that I am not only flesh and blood but imagination with its rights I am a king in revolt against that fetter they put upon my head I am a king awake my reverend grandparents never in all their august lives had a waking moment they loved the job that you your advisors gave them they never had a doubt of it it was like giving a doll to a woman who ought to have a child they delighted in processions and opening things and being read addresses to and visiting triplets and non-agenarians and all that sort of thing incredibly they used to keep albums of cuttings from all the illustrated paper showing them at it and if the press cutting partials grew thin they were worried it was all that ever worried them but there is something atavistic in me I hark back to unconstitutional monarchs they christened me too retrogressively I think I wanted to get things done I was bored I could have fallen into vice most intelligent and energetic princes do but the palace precautions were unusually thorough I was brought up in the purest court the world has ever seen alertly pure so I read books firmin and went about asking questions the thing was bound to happen to one of us sooner or later perhaps two very likely I am not vicious I don't think I am he reflected no he said firmin cleared his throat I don't think you are sir he said you prefer he stopped short he had been going to say talking he substituted ideas that world of royalty the king went on in a little while no one will understand it anymore it will become a riddle among other things it was a world of perpetual best clothes everything was in its best clothes for us and usually wearing bunting with a cinema watching to see we took it properly if you are a king firmin and you go and look at a regiment it instantly stops whenever it is doing changes into full uniform presents arms when my august parents went in a train the coal in the tender used to be whitened it did firmin and if coal had been white instead of black I have no doubt the authorities would have blackened it that was the spirit of our treatment people were always walking about with their faces to us one never saw anything in profile one got an impression of a world that was continually focused on ourselves and when I began to poke my little questions into the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop and all the rest of them about what I should see if people turn round the general effect I produced was that I wasn't by any means displaying the royal tact they had expected of me he meditated for a time and yet there is something in the kingship, Firmin it stiffened up my august little grandfather it gave my grandmother a kind of awkward dignity even when she was cross and she was very often cross they both had a profound sense of responsibility my poor father's health was wretched during his brief career nobody outside the circle knows just how he screwed himself up to things people expect it he used to say of this tiresome duty or that most of the things they made him do were silly it was part of a bad tradition but there was nothing silly in the way he said about them the spirit of kingship is a fine thing Firmin, I feel it in my bones I did not know what I might not be if I were not a king I could die for my people Firmin no, don't say you could die for me because I know better don't think I forget my kingship Firmin don't imagine that I am a king, a kingly king by right divine the fact that I am also a chattering young man makes not the slightest difference to that but the proper textbook for kings Firmin is none of the court memoirs and wealth politic books you would have had me read it is the old phrases golden bow have you read that Firmin Firmin had those were the authentic kings in the end they were cut up and a bit given to everybody they sprinkled the nations with kingship Firmin turned himself round and faced his royal master what do you intend to do sir he asked if you will not listen to me what do you propose to do this afternoon the king flicked crumbs from his coat manifestly war has to stop forever Firmin manifestly this can only be done by putting all the world under one government our crowns and flags are in the way manifestly they must go yes sir interrupted Firmin but what government I don't see what government you get by a universal abdication well said the king with his hands about his knees we shall be the government the conference exclaimed Firmin who else asked the king simply it's perfectly simple he added to Firmin's tremendous silence but cried Firmin you must have sanctions will there be no form of election for example why should there be asked the king with intelligent curiosity the consent of the governed Firmin we are just going to lay down our differences and take over government without any election at all without any sanction the government will show their consent and silence if any effective opposition arises we shall ask it to come in and help the truth sanction of kingship is the grip upon the scepter we aren't going to worry people to vote for us I'm certain the mass of men does not want to be bothered with such things we'll contrive a way for anyone interested to join in that's quite enough in the way of democracy perhaps later when things don't matter we shall govern all right Firmin government only becomes difficult when the lawyers get hold of it and since these troubles began the lawyers are shy indeed come to think of it I wonder where all the lawyers are where are they a lot of course were bagged some of the worst ones when they blew up my legislature you never knew the late lord chancellor necessities bury rights and create them lawyers live on dead rights disinterred we've done with that way of living we don't have more law than a code can cover and beyond that government will be free before the sun sets today firmin trust me we shall have made our abdications all of us whether the world republic supreme and indivisible I wonder what my august grandmother would have made of it all my rights and then we shall go on governing what else is there to do all over the world we shall declare that there is no longer mine or thine but ours china the united states two thirds of europe will certainly fall in and obey we will have to do so what else can they do their official rulers are here with us they won't be able to get together any sort of idea of not obeying us then we shall declare that every sort of property is held in trust for the republic but sir cried firmin suddenly enlightened has this been arranged already my dear firmin do you think we have come here all of us to talk at large the talking has been done for half a century talking and writing we are here to set the new thing the simple obvious necessary thing going he stood up firmin forgetting the habits of the score of years remained seated well he said it last and I have known nothing the king smiled cheerfully he liked these walks with firmin section three that conference upon the brisago meadows was one of the most heterogeneous collections of prominent people that has ever met together prince of the tallies and powers stripped and shadowed until all their pride and mystery were gone met in a marvelous new humility here were kings and emperors were lakes of flaming destruction statesmen whose countries had become chaos scared politicians and financial potentates here were leaders of thought and learned investigators dragged reluctantly to the control of affairs altogether there were 93 of them Leblanc's conception of the head men of the world they had all come to the realization of the simple truths that the indefatigable Leblanc had hammered into them and drawing his resources from the king of Italy he had provisioned his conference with the generous simplicity quite in accordance with the rest of his character and so at last was able to make his astonishing and entirely rational appeal he had appointed king Egbert the president he believed in this young man that he completely dominated him and he spoke himself as a secretary might speak from the president's left hand and evidently did not realize himself that he was telling them all exactly what they had to do he imagined he was merely recapitulating the obvious features of the situation for their convenience he was dressed in ill fitting white silk clothes a dingy little packet of notes as he spoke they put him out he explained that he had never spoken from notes before but that this occasion was exceptional and then king Egbert spoke as he was expected to speak and Leblanc's spectacles moistened at that flow of generous sentiment most amnably and lightly expressed we haven't to stand on ceremony said the king we have to govern the world we have always pretended to govern the world and here is our opportunity of course whispered Leblanc nodding his head rapidly of course the world has been smashed up and we have to put it on its wheels again said king Egbert and it is the simple common sense of this crisis for all to help and none to seek advantage is that our tone or not the gathering was too old and seasoned and miscellaneous for any great displays of enthusiasm but that was its tone and with an astonishment that somehow became exhilarating it began to resign repudiate and declare its intentions fearman, taking notes behind his master heard everything that had been foretold among the yellow broom come true with a queer feeling that he was dreaming he assisted at the proclamation of the world state and saw the message taken out to the wireless operators to be throbbed all around the habitable globe and next said king Egbert with a cheerful excitement in his voice we have to get every atom of Carolinum and all the plant for making it into our control fearman was not alone in his incredulity not a man there who is not a very amiable reasonable benevolent creature at bottom some had been born to power and some had happened upon it some had struggled to get it not clearly knowing what it was and what it implied but none was irreconcilably set upon its retention at the price of cosmic disaster their minds had been prepared by circumstances and sedulously cultivated by Leblanc and now they took the broad obvious road along which king Egbert was leading them with a mingled conviction of strangeness and necessity things went very smoothly the king of Italy explained the arrangements that had been made for the protection of the camp from any fantastic attack a couple of thousand of aeroplanes each carrying a sharpshooter guarded them and there was an excellent system of relays and at night all the sky would be searched by scores of lights and the admirable Leblanc gave luminous reasons for their camping just where they were and going on with their administrative duties forthwith he knew of this place because he had happened upon it when holiday making with madame Leblanc twenty years and more ago there is very simple fair at present he explained on account of the disturbed state of the countries about us but we have excellent fresh milk good red wine beef bread, salad and lemons in a few days I hoped to place things in the hands of a more efficient caterer the members of the new world government dined at three long tables on trestles and down the middle of these tables Leblanc, in spite of the barrenness of his menu had contrived to have a great multitude of beautiful roses there was a similar accommodation for the secretaries and attendants at a lower level down the mountain the assembly dined as it had debated in the open air and over the dark crags to the west the glowing june sunset shown upon the banquet there was no precedency now among the 93 and king Egbert found himself between a pleasant little japanese stranger in spectacles and his cousin of central europe and opposite a great bengali leader and the president of the united states of america beyond the japanese was holston the old chemist and leblanc was a little way down the other side the king was cheerfully talkative and abounded in ideas he fell presently into an amiable controversy with the american who seemed to feel a lack of impressiveness in the occasion it was ever the transatlantic tendency do no doubt to the necessity of handling public questions in a bulky and striking manner to over emphasize and over accentuate and the president was touched by his national failing he suggested now that there should be a new era starting from that day as the first day of the first year the king demerred from this day forth sir man enters upon his heritage said the american man said the king is always entering upon his heritage you americans have a peculiar weakness for anniversaries if you will forgive me saying so yes i accuse you of a lust for dramatic effect everything is happening always but you want to say this or this is the real instant in time and subordinate all the others to it the american said something about an epoch making day but surely said the king you don't want us to condemn all humanity to a worldwide annual fourth of july forever and ever more on account of this harmless necessary day of declarations no conceivable day could ever deserve that ah you do not know as i do the devastations of the memorable my poor grandparents were rubricated the worst of these huge celebrations is that they break up the dignified succession of one's contemporary emotions they interrupt they set back suddenly out come the flags and fireworks and it's sheer destruction of the proper thing that ought to be going on sufficient onto the day is the celebration thereof let the dead past bury it's dead you see in regard to the calendar i am for democracy and you are for aristocracy all things i hold are august and i have a right to be lived through on their merits no day should be sacrificed on the grave of departed events what do you think of it for the noble yes all days should be noble exactly my position said the king and felt pleased at what he had been saying and then since the american pressed his idea the king contrived to shift the talk to the question of celebrating the epoch they were making to the question of the probabilities that lay ahead here everyone became diffident they could see the world unified and at peace but what detail was to follow from that unification they seemed indisposed to discuss this diffidence struck the king as remarkable he plunged upon the possibilities of science all the huge expenditure that had hitherto gone into unproductive naval and military preparations must now he declared place research upon new footing where one man worked we will have a thousand he appealed to holston we have only begun to peep into these possibilities he said you at any rate have the vaults of the treasure house they are unfathomable smiled holston man man said the american with a manifest resolve to justify and reinstate himself after the flickering contradictions of the king man i say is only beginning to enter upon his heritage tell us some of the things you believe we shall presently learn give us an idea of the things we may presently do said the king to holston holston opened out the visas science the king cried presently is the new king of the world our view said the president is that sovereignty resides with the people no said the king is being more subtle than that unless erythmetical neither my family nor your emancipated people it is something that floats about us and above us and through us it is that common impersonal will and sense of necessity of which science is the best understood and most typical aspect it is the mind of the race it is that which brought us here which has bowed us all through its demands he paused and glanced down the table at leblanc and then reopened at his former antagonist there is a disposition said the king to regard this gathering as if it were actually doing what it appears to be doing as if we 90 odd men of our own free will and wisdom were unifying the world there is a temptation to consider ourselves exceptionally fine fellows and masterful men and all the rest of it we are not I doubt if we should average out as anything abler than any other casually selected body of 90 odd men we are no creators we are consequences we are salvagers or salvages the thing today is not ourselves but the wind of conviction that has blown us hither the American had to confess he could hardly agree with the king's estimate of their average holster perhaps and one or two others might lift us a little the king conceded but the rest of us his eyes flitted once more towards leblanc look at leblanc he's just a simple soul there are hundreds and thousands like him I admit a certain dexterity a certain lucidity but there is not a country town in france where there is not a leblanc or so to be found about two o'clock in its principal cafe it's just that he isn't complicated or supermanish or any of those things that has made all he has done impossible but in happier times don't you think willhelm he would have remained just what his father was a successful epicier very clean very accurate very honest and on holidays he would have gone out with madame leblanc and her knitting in a punt with a jar of something gentle and fished very nearly and successfully for gudgeon the president and the japanese prince in spectacles protested together if I do him an injustice said the king it is only because I want to elucidate my argument I want to make it clear how small are men in days and how great is man in comparison so it was king ebburt talked at brisago after they had proclaimed the unity of the world every evening after that the assembly dined together and talked at their ease and grew accustomed to each other and sharpened each other's ideas and every day they worked together and really for a time believed they were inventing a new government for the world they discussed a constitution but there were matters needing attention too urgently to wait for any constitution they attended to these incidentally the constitution it was that waited it was presently found convenient to keep the constitution waiting indefinitely as king ebburt had foreseen and meanwhile with an increasing self confidence that council went on governing on this first evening of all the council's gatherings after king ebburt had talked for a long time and drunken and praised very abundantly the simple red wine of the country that leblanc had procured for them he fathered about him a group of congenial spirits and fell into a discourse upon simplicity praising it above all things and declaring that the ultimate aim of art philosophy and science alike was to simplify he instanced himself as a devotee to simplicity and leblanc he instanced as a crowning instance of the splendor of this quality upon that they all agreed when it last the company about the tables broke up the king found himself bringing over with a peculiar affection and admiration for leblanc he made his way to him and drew him aside and broached what he declared was a small matter there was, he said a certain order in his gift that unlike all the other orders and decorations in the world had never been corrupted he was reserved for elderly men of supreme distinction the acuteness of whose gifts was already touched to melanis and it had included the greatest names of every age so far as the advisers of his family had been to ascertain them at present the king admitted these matters of stars and badges were rather obscured by more urgent affairs for his own part he had never set any value upon them at all but a time might come when they would be at last interesting and in short, he wished to confer the order of merit upon leblanc his sole motive in doing so he added was his strong desire to signalize his personal esteem he laid his hand upon the frenchman shoulder as he said these things with an almost brotherly affection leblanc received this proposal with the modest confusion he greatly enhanced the king's opinion of his admirable simplicity he pointed out that eager as he was to snatch at the proffered distinction he might at the present stage appear invidious and he therefore suggested that the conferring of it should be postponed until it could be made the crown and conclusion of his services the king was unable to shake this resolution and the two men parted with expressions of mutual esteem the king then summoned firman in order to make a short note of a number of things that he had said during the day but after about 20 minutes work the sweet sleepiness of the mountain air overcame him and he dismissed firman and went to bed and fell asleep at once extreme satisfaction he had an active agreeable day section 5 the establishment of the new order that was thus so humanly begun was if one measures it by the standard of any proceeding age a rapid progress the fighting spirit of the world was exhausted only here or there did fierceness linger for long decades the combative side in human affairs had been monstrously exaggerated by the accidents of political separation this now became luminously plain an enormous proportion of the force that sustained armaments had been nothing more aggressive than the fear of war and war like neighbors it is doubtful if any large section of the men actually enlisted for fighting ever at any time really hungered and thirsted for bloodshed and danger that kind of appetite was probably never very strong in the species after the savage stage was passed the army was a profession in which killing had become a disagreeable possibility rather than an eventful certainty if one reads the old newspapers and periodicals of that time which did so much to keep militarism alive one finds very little about glory and adventure in a constant harping on the disagreeableness of invasion and subjugation in one word militarism was funk the belligerent resolution of the armed Europe of the 20th century was the resolution of a fiercely frightened sheep to plunge and now that its weapons were exploding in its hands Europe was only too eager to drop them and abandoned this fancied refuge of violence for a time the whole world had been shocked into frankness nearly all the clever people who had hitherto sustained the ancient belligerent separations had now been brought to realize the need for simplicity of attitude and openness of mind and in this atmosphere of moral renaissance there was little attempt to get negotiable advantages out of resistance to the new order human beings are foolish enough to doubt but few have stopped to haggle in a firescape the council had its way with them the band of patriots who seized the laboratories outside Osaka and tried to rouse Japan to revolt against inclusion in the Republic of Mankind found they had miscalculated the national pride and met the swift vengeance of their own countrymen that fight in the arsenal was a vivid incident in this closing chapter of the history of war to the last the patriots were undecided whether in the event of a defeat they would explode their supply of atomic bombs or not they were fighting with swords outside the iridium doors and the moderates of their number were at bay and on the verge of destruction only ten indeed remained unwounded when the republicans burst into the rescue Chapter 3 of The World Set Free Chapter 3 The Ending of War Section 6 One single monarch held out against the general acquiescence in the new republic in the new republic in the new republic in the new republic in the new republic in the new republic in the new republic the republic the general acquiescence in the new rule and that was the strange survival of medievalism the slavic fox the king of the Balkans he debated and delayed his submissions he showed an extraordinary combination of cunning and temerity in his evasion of the repeated summonses from Brissago he affected ill health and a great preoccupation of the official mistress for a semi-barbaric court was arranged on the best romantic models his tactics were ably seconded by Dr. Pestović his chief minister failing to establish his claims to complete independence King Ferdinand Charles annoyed the conference by a proposal to be treated as a protected state finally he professed an unconvincing submission and put a mass of obstacles in the way of the transfer of his national officials to the new government in these things he was enthusiastically supported by his subjects still for the most part an illiterate peasantry passionately if confusedly patriotic and so far with no practical knowledge of the effect of atomic bombs more particularly he retained control of all the Balkan airplanes for once the extreme naivete of Leblanc seems to have been mitigated by duplicity he went on with the general pacification of the world as if the Balkan submission was made in absolute good faith but he announced the disbandment of the force of airplanes that hitherto guarded the council at Brissago upon the approaching 15th of July but instead he doubled the number upon duty on that eventful day and made various arrangements for their disposition he consulted certain experts and when he took King Egbert into his confidence there was something in his neat and explicit foresight that brought back to that ex monarch's mind his half-forgotten fantasy of Leblanc as a fisherman under a green umbrella about five o'clock in the morning of the 17th of July one of the elder sentinels of the Brissago fleet which was soaring unobtrusively over the lower end of the lake of Grada cited and hailed a strange airplane that was flying westward and failing to get a satisfactory reply set its wireless apparatus talking and gave chase a swarm of consorts appeared very promptly over the westward mountains and before the unknown airplane had sighted Como it had a dozen eager attendants closing upon it its driver seems to have hesitated dropped down among the mountains and then turned southward in flight only to find an intercepting biplane sweeping across his bows then he went round into the eye of the rising sun and passed within a hundred yards of his original pursuer the sharpshooter therein opened fire at once and showed an intelligent grasp of the situation by disabling the passenger first the man at the wheel heard his companion cry out behind him but he was too intent on getting away to waste even a glance behind twice after that he must have heard shots he let his engine go he crouched down and for 20 minutes he must have steered in the continual expectation of a bullet it never came and when it last he glanced around three planes were close upon him and his companion thrice hit lay dead across the bombs his followers manifestly did not mean either to upset or shoot him but inexorably they drove him down, down at last he was curving and flying a hundred yards or less over the level fields of rice and maize ahead of him and dark against the morning sunrise was a village with a very tall and slender campanile and a line of cable bearing metal standards that he could not clear he stopped his engine abruptly and dropped flat he may have hoped to get at the bombs when he came down but his pitiless pursuers drove right over him and shot him as he fell three other aeroplanes curved down and came to rest the grass close by the smashed machine their passengers descended and ran holding their light rifles in their hands towards the debris and the two dead men the coffin shaped box that had occupied the center of the machine had broken and three black objects each with two handles like the ears of a pitcher lay peacefully amidst the litter these objects were so tremendously important in the eyes of their captors that they disregarded the two dead men who lay bloody and broken amidst the wreckage as they might have disregarded dead frogs by a country pathway by God cried the first here they are and unbroken said the second I've never seen the things before said the first bigger than I thought said the second the third comer arrived he stared for a moment at the bombs and then turned his eyes to the dead man with a crushed chest who lay in a muddy place among the green stems under the center of the machine one can take no risks he said with a faint suggestion of apology the other two now turned to the victims we must signal said the first man a shadow passed between them and the sun and they looked up to see the airplane that had fired the last shot shall we signal came a megaphone hail three bombs they answered together where do they come from asked the megaphone the three sharpshooters looked at each other and then moved towards the dead men one of them had an idea signal that first he said while we look they were joined by their aviators for the search and all six men began a hunt that was necessarily brutal in its haste for some indication of identity they examined the men's pockets their bloodstained clothes the machine the framework they turned the bodies over and flung them aside there was not a tattoo mark everything was elaborately free of any indication of its origin we can't find out they called it last not a sign not a sign I'm coming down said the man overhead section seven the slavic fox stood upon a metal balcony in his picturesque art nouveau palace that gave upon the precipice that overhung his bright little capital and beside him stood Pestovic grizzled and cunning and now full of an ill suppressed excitement behind them the window opened into a large room richly decorated in aluminum and crimson and enamel across which the king as he glanced ever and again over his shoulder with the gesture of inquiry could see through the two open doors of a little azure walled antechamber the wireless operator in the turret working at his incessant transcription two pompously uniformed messengers waited listlessly in this apartment the room was furnished with a greatly dignity and had in the middle of it a big green beige covered table with the massive white metal ink pots an antiquated sandbox is natural to a new but romantic monarchy it was the king's council chamber and about it now in attitudes of suspended intrigue stood the half dozen ministers who constituted his cabinet they had been summoned for twelve o'clock but still at half past twelve the king loitered in the balcony and seemed to be waiting for some news that did not come the king and his minister had talked at first in whispers they had fallen silent for they found little now to express except a vague anxiety away there on the mountainside there were the white metal roofs of the long farm buildings beneath which the bomb factory and the bombs were hidden the chemist who had made all of these for the king had died suddenly after the declaration of risago nobody knew of that store of mischief now but the king and his advisor and three heavily faithful attendants the aviators who waited now in the midday blaze carrying machines and their passenger bomb throwers in the exercising grounds of the motorcyclist barracks below were still in ignorance of the position of the ammunition they were presently to take up it was time they started if the scheme was to work as pestevich had planned it it was a magnificent plan it aimed at no less than the empire of the world the government of idealists and professors away there at bersago was to be blown to fragments and then east west north and south those airplanes would go swarming over a world that had disarmed itself to proclaim ferdinand charles the new seizer the master lord of the earth it was a magnificent plan but the tension of this waiting for news of the success of the first blow was considerable the slavic fox was full of pallid fairness he had a remarkably long nose a thick short mustache and small blue eyes that were a little too near together to be pleasant it was his habit to worry his mustache with short nervous tugs whenever his restless mind troubled him and now this motion was becoming so incessant that it irked pestevich beyond the limits of endurance i will go said the minister and see what the trouble is with the wireless it will give us nothing good or bad left to himself the king could worry his mustache without stint he lent his elbows forward on the balcony with both of his long white hands to the work so that he looked like a pale dog gnawing a bone suppose they caught his men what should he do suppose they caught his men the clocks on the light gold capped belfrees of the town below presently intimated the half hour after midday of course he and pestevich had thought it out even if they had caught those men they were pledged to secrecy probably they would be killed in the catching one could deny anyhow deny and deny and then he became aware of half a dozen little shining specks very high in the blue pestevich came out to him presently the government messages sire have all dropped into cipher he said i have sent a man look interrupted the king and pointed upward with a long lean finger pestevich followed that indication and then glanced for one questioning moment at the white face before him we have to face it out sire for some moments they watched the steep spirals of descending messengers and then they began a hasty consultation they decided that to be holding a council upon the details of an ultimate surrender to bursago was an innocent looking as the king could well be doing and so when it last the ex king egg bird whom the council had sent as its envoy arrived upon the scene he discovered the king almost he posed at the head of his councilors in the midst of his court the door upon the wireless operators was shut the ex king from bursago came like a draught through the curtains an attendance that gave a wide margin to king ferdinand state and the familiar confidence of his manner belied a certain hardness in his eye fearman trotted behind him and no one else was with him and as ferdinand charles rose to greet him there came into the heart of the balkan king again that same chilly feeling that he had felt upon the balcony and it passed at the careless gestures of his guest for surely anyone might out with this foolish talker who for a mere idea at the command of a little french rationalist in spectacles had thrown away the most ancient crown in all the world one must deny deny and then slowly and quite tiresomely he realized that there was nothing to deny his visitor with an amiable ease went on talking about everything in debate between himself and bursago except could it be that they had been delayed could it be that they had to drop for repairs and were still uncaptured could it be that even now while this fool babbled while they were over there among the mountains heaving their deadly charge over the side of the airplane strange hopes began to lift the tale of the slavic fox again what was the man saying one must talk to him anyhow one knew at any moment the little brass door behind him might open with the news of bursago blown to atoms then it would be a delightful relief to the present tension to arrest this chatter forthwith he might be killed perhaps what the king was repeating his observation they have a ridiculous fantasy that your confidence is based on the possession of atomic bombs King Ferdinand Charles pulled himself together he protested oh, quite so said the X king quite so what grounds the X king permitted himself a gesture and the ghost of a chuckle why the devil should he chuckle practically none he said of course with these things one has to be so careful and then again for an instant something like the faintest shadow of derision gleamed out of the envoy's eyes and recalled that chilly feeling to the king ferdinand's spine some kindred depression had come to pestevich who had been watching the drawn intensity of fearman's face with the help of his master who, he feared might protest too much a search cried the king an embargo on our airplanes only a temporary expedient said the X king eggbert while the search is going on the king appealed to his council the people will never permit it sire said a bustling little man you'll have to make him said the X king genially addressing all the councilors king ferdinand glanced at the closed brass door through which no news would come when would you want to have this search the X king was radiant we couldn't possibly do it until the day after tomorrow he said just the capital where else would you ask the X king still more cheerfully for my own part said the X king confidentially I think the whole business ridiculous who would be such a fool as to hide atomic bombs nobody, certain hanging if he's caught certain and almost certain blowing up if he isn't but nowadays I have to take orders like the rest of the world and here I am the king thought he had never met such detestable geniality he glanced at Pestovich who nodded almost imperceptibly it was well anyhow to have a fool to deal with they might have sent a diplomatist of course said the king I recognize the overpowering force and a kind of logic in these orders from Brissago who you would said the X king with an air of relief and so let us arrange they arranged with a certain informality no bulk in aeroplane was to adventure into the air until the search was concluded and meanwhile the fleets of the world government would soar and circle in the sky the towns were to be play carded with officers of reward who would help in the discovery of atomic bombs you will sign that said the X king why to show that we aren't in any way hostile to you Pestovich nodded yes to his master and then you see said the X king in that easy way of his we'll have a lot of men here borrow help from your police and run through all your things and then everything will be over meanwhile if I may be your guest when presently Pestovich was alone with the king again he found him in a state of jangling emotions his spirit was tossing like a wind whipped sea one moment he was exalted and full of contempt for that ass and his search the next he was down in a pit of dread they will find them Pestovich and then he'll hang us hang us the king put his long nose into his counselor's face that grinning brute wants to hang us he said and hang us he will if we give him a shadow of a chance but all their modern state civilization do you think there's any pity in that crew of godless vivisecting pigs? cried this last king of romance do you think Pestovich they understand anything of a high ambition or a splendid dream do you think that our gallant and sublime adventure has any appeal to them here am I the last and greatest and most romantic of the Caesars and do you think they will miss the chance of hanging me like a dog if they can killing me like a rat in a hole in that renegade he was once an anointed king I hate that sort of eye that laughs and keeps hard said the king I won't sit here and be caught like a fascinated rabbit said the king in conclusion we must shift those bombs risk it said Pestovich leave them alone no said the king shift them near the frontier even while they watch us here they will always watch us here now we can buy an airplane abroad and pick them up the king was in a feverish irritable mood all that evening but he made his plans nevertheless with infinite cunning they must get the bombs away there must be a couple of atomic hay lorries the bombs could be hidden under the hay Pestovich went and came instructing trusty servants planning and re-planning the king and the ex-king talked very pleasantly of a number of subjects all while at the back of King Ferdinand Charles mine fretted the mystery of his vanished airplane there came no news of its capture and no news of its success at any moment all that power at the back of his visitor might crumble away and vanish it was past midnight when the king in a cloak and slouch hat that might equally have served a small farmer or any respectable middle class man slipped out from an inconspicuous service gate on the eastward side of his palace into the thickly wooded gardens that sloped in a series of terraces down to the town Pestovich and his guard valet Peter both rapped about in a similar disguise came out among the laurels that bordered the pathway and joined them it was a clear warm night but the stars seemed unusually little and remote because of the airplanes each trailing a searchlight that drove hither and thither across the blue one great beam seemed to rest on the king for a moment as he came out of the palace then instantly and reassuringly it had swept away but while they were still in the palace gardens another found them and looked at them they see us cried the king they make nothing of us said Pestovich the king glanced up and met a calm round eye of light that seemed to wink at him and vanish leaving him blinded the three men went on their way near the little gate in the garden railings that Pestovich had caused to be unlocked the king paused under the shadow of a flex and looked back at the place it was very high and narrow a 20th century rendering of medievalism medievalism in stone and bronze and sham stone and opaque glass against the sky it splashed a confusion of pinnacles high up in the eastward wing where the windows of the apartments of the X King Egbert one of them was brightly lit now and against the light a little black figure stood very still and looked out upon the night the king snarled he little knows how he slipped through his fingers said Pestovich and as he spoke they saw the X King stretch out his arms slowly like one who yawns knuckle his eyes and turn inward no doubt to his bed down through the ancient winding back streets of his capital hurried the king and at an appointed corner a shabby atomic automobile waited for the three it was a hackney carriage of the lowest grade with dented metal panels and deflated cushions the driver was one of the ordinary drivers of the capital but beside him sat the young secretary of Pestovich who knew the way to the farm where the bombs were hidden the automobile made its way through the narrow streets of the old town which were still lit and uneasy for the fleet of airships overhead had kept the cafes open and people abroad over the great new bridge and so by straggling out skirts to the city and all through his capital the king who hoped to outdo Caesar sat back and was very still and no one spoke and as they got out into the dark country they became aware of the searchlights wandering over the countryside like the uneasy ghosts of giants the king sat forward and looked at these flittering whitenesses and every now and then peered up to see the flying ships overhead I don't like them said the king presently one of these patches of moonlight came to rest about them and seemed to be following their automobile the king drew back the things are confoundedly noiseless said the king it's like being stalked by lean white cats he peered again that fellow was watching us he said and then suddenly he gave way to panic Pestovich Pestovich clutching his minister's arm they are watching us I'm not going through with us they are watching us I'm going back Pestovich remonstrated tell him to go back said the king and tried to open the window for a few moments there was a grim struggle in the automobile a gripping of wrists and a blow I can't go through with it but they'll hang us said Pestovich not if we were to give up now not if we were to surrender the bombs it is you who brought me into this at last Pestovich compromised there was an inn perhaps half a mile from the farm they could alight there and the king could get brandy and rest his nerves for a time and if he still thought fit to go back he could go back he said Pestovich the light has gone on again the king peered up I believe he's following us without a light said the king in the little old dirty inn the king hung doubtful for a time and was for going back and throwing himself on the mercy of the council if there is a council said Pestovich by this time your bombs may have settled it so these infernal airplanes would go they may not know yet but Pestovich why couldn't you do all this without me Pestovich made no answer for a moment I was for leaving the bombs in their place he said it last and went to the window about their conveyance shown a circle of bright light Pestovich had a brilliant idea I will send my secretary out to make a kind of dispute with the driver something that will make them watch up above there meanwhile you and I and Peter will go out by the back way and up by the hedges to the farm it was worthy of his subtle reputation and it answered passing well in ten minutes they were tumbling over the wall of the farmyard wet, muddy and breathless but unobserved but as they ran toward the barns the king gave vent to something between a groan and a curse and all about them shown the light and passed but had it passed at once or lingered for just a second they didn't see us said Peter I don't think they saw us said the king and stared as the light went swooping up the mountainside hung for a second about a hay-rick and then came pouring back in the barn cried the king he bruised his shin against something and then all three men were inside the huge steel-girded barn in which stood the two motor hay lorries that were to take the bombs away Kurt and Abel the two brothers of Peter had brought the lorries thither in daylight they had the upper half of the loads of hay thrown off ready to cover the bombs so soon as the king should show the hiding place there's a sort of pit here said the king don't light another lantern this key of mine releases a ring for a time scarcely a word was spoken in the darkness of the barn there was a sound of a slab being lifted and then a feet descending a ladder into a pit a heavy breathing as Kurt came struggling up with the first of the hidden bombs we shall do it yet said the king and then he gasped cursed that light why in the name of heaven didn't we shut the barn door for the great door stood wide open and all the empty lifeless yard outside and the door and six feet of the floor of the barn were in the blue glare firing searchlight shut the door Peter said Pestovich no cried the king too late as Peter went forward into the light don't show yourself cried the king Kurt made a step forward and plucked his brother back for a time all five men stood still it seemed that light would never go and then abruptly it was turned off leaving them blinded now said the king uneasily now shut the door not completely cried Pestovich leave a chink for us to go out by it was hot work shifting those bombs and the king worked for a time like a common man Kurt and Abel carried the great things up and Peter brought them to the carts and the king and Pestovich helped him to place them among the hay they made as little noise as they could shhh cried the king what's that but Kurt and Abel did not hear and came blundering up the ladder with the last of the load shhh Peter ran forward to them with a whispered remonstrance now they were still the barn door opened a little wider and against the dim blue light outside they saw the black shape of a man anyone here he asked speaking with an Italian accent the king broke into a cold perspiration then Pestovich answered only a poor farmer loading hay he said and picked up a huge hay fork and went forward softly you load your hay at a very bad time and in a very bad light he opened the door peering in have you no electric light here then suddenly he turned on an electric torch and as he did so Pestovich sprang forward get out of my barn he cried and drove the fork full at the intruder's chest he had a vague idea that he might stab the man backward and instantly there was a sound of feet running across the yard bombs cried the man upon the ground struggling with the prongs in his hand and as Pestovich staggered forward into view with the force of his own thrust he was shot through the body by one of the two newcomers the man on the ground was hurt badly but plucky bombs he repeated and struggled up to a kneeling and held his electric torch full upon the face of the king shoot them! he cried coughing and spitting blood so that the halo of light around the king's head danced about for a moment in that shivering circle of light the two men saw the king kneeling up in the cart and Peter on the barn floor beside him the old fox looked at them sideways, snared a white-faced evil thing and then with a faltering suicidal heroism he lent forward over the bomb before him they fired together and shot him through the head the upper part of his face seemed to vanish shoot them! cried the man who had been stabbed, shoot them all! and then his light went out and he rolled over with the groan at the feet of his comrades but each carried a light of his own and in another moment everything in the barn was visible again they shot Peter even as he held up his hands in sign of surrender Curt and Abel at the head of the ladder hesitated for a moment and then plunged backwards into the pit if we don't kill them said one of the sharpshooters they'll blow us to rags they've gone down that hatchway come! here they are, hands up I say hold your light while I shoot section 8 it was still quite dark when his valet and fearman came together and told the X king Egbert that the business was settled he started up into a sitting position on the side of his bed did he go out? asked the X king he is dead! said fearman he was shot the X king reflected that's about the best thing that could have happened he said where are the bombs? in that farmhouse on the opposite hillside? why? the place is in sight let us go, I'll dress is there anyone in that place fearman to get us a cup of coffee? through the hungry twilight of the dawn the X king's automobile brought him to the farmhouse where the last rebel king was lying among his bombs the rim of the sky flashed the east grew bright and the sun was just rising over the hills when king Egbert reached the farmyard there he found the halories drawn out from the barn with the dreadful bomb still packed upon them a couple of score of aviators held the yard a few peasants stood in a little group and stared ignorant as yet of what had happened against the stone wall of the farmyard five bodies were lying neatly side to side and Pestovich had an expression of surprise on his face and the king was chiefly identifiable by his long white hands and his blonde mustache the wounded aeronaut had been carried down to the inn and after the X king had given directions in what manner the bombs were to be taken to the new special laboratories above Zurich where they could be unpacked in an atmosphere of chlorine he turned to those five still shapes their five pairs of feet stuck out with a curious stiff unanimity what else was there to do he said an answer to some internal protest I wonder, Furman if there are any more of them bombs, sir asked Furman no, such kings the pitiful folly of it said the X king following his thoughts Furman, as an X professor of international politics I think it falls to you to bury them there, no don't put them near the well people will have to drink from that well bury them over there some way off in the field End of Chapter 3


Well, that's it every time, but when you sit here in Magic HQ, you're either casting resin on a day or you're putting the screws in boxes or shipping them around the world or answering customer services, or dealing with all those rascal people on the internet. And sometimes you forget why we do what we do, and when you guys and girls all come here for a day and play our game and get excited about it and share your enthusiasm, it really lifts us, it really reminds us how wonderful what we get to do is. So thank you for coming, it's great for us when we wake up, it's a sunny morning, everyone's going to want to do it. We're going on Monday, we'll be buzzing because just seeing all the people enjoying it, that's kind of my lint. So thank you. So the hardest thing is getting all the way to that 2003 point army. So one of the things we've put in the big red book and I think we'll do it forever and will be a big throats for us is playing at less than a thousand points. It's a bit like this is test match cricket, and actually we've then invented one of the internationals and realised that's still quite long, only for the last hour of those is any good. So then it's invented in 2020 and actually we've tried in Van Gogh but it's a bit different between big red. So anyway, ambush is coming and so hopefully next year will be the year that we introduce lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of new people to keep them warm. Right, fantastic game, beautiful game, people are going to love it, some children love more than others. And so we ambushed out to be in Germany, we're going to have a slow grow league and we're just going to try and get people to come in and join us and stop that. Well I'd love to play your games but there's no one in my town that plays it. I think just by lowering that starting point could be a great way. I'd like to have twice as many people at Clash next year and twice as many people at England to join us. Obviously have much will be on the app for people to download, six armies, they'll be all plastic, so they're super cheap, we can't even realise it but it's quite paining. So just plastic's quite good. And forget I don't know what you're on with your heart. Sorry sir, halflings. Halflings, ogres, I think I'm jumping out of racking. Epistles, how many is that? You've got to buy a dozen ogres. Yeah, I took ogres twice as much. Good, there we are. So all plastic, chariots, goblins. Goblins. Goblins. No one cares about goblins. So what I'm going to talk to you quite a bit about now is a real treat. Ah, tree menders. Yeah, you can see where it's going. And whoever comes up with the best pun between now and the end so expecting heckling can take a tree home with them. So there is the best pun tree. What a treat. What a treat. There you are. I want to use that one. Right, now this is A because I'm a lot of genius. Or B, it takes me two years out of lipstick launch. But I've been playing games for about 30 years. And we started sculpting the inside of this spaceship about two and a half years ago. You know, I just felt a bit, didn't quite feel like we had an audience for it. Because our audience, all games were D&D. You know, we knew two great ones for D&D. But there was a little tree behind the back of one of the things, that's it. And then I played a game at the end of lockdown, paying all the stuff up. And jarring it, the trees down there wouldn't stand up on the wooden bases and I flopped them all, so I ruined them all then. Which was a little beautiful for me, that's the point. Rules? Yeah, well... And so, I never tried to play. It was in my excuse while the Dwarf Army didn't move for four hours. I couldn't get them through the words, because the words were blocking them. So then, I haven't really thought about it.  Right, the other thing is, I'm with Jean Williams, so I don't have a plastic tree for it. It's alright, it's in the graveyard set. Every graveyard has a tree, we end up, so it's fine, it goes in. Number one, selling items by a factor of four, in terrain grade two, a plastic tree. Going to Tallins in the summer, and all of them kings.  Paged them all up and put them on the little neoprene and then, hey, here's one with some lichen on it in the infreem fields, and here's one in a kind of white world, all black and purple and weird areas. Well, that's interesting, isn't it? Kind of a tree that took a ten seconds to scut. It's a number one selling item by a factor of two, so you've got no creativity in that kind of thing. And then I came back and we started all playing firefighter, firefighter kicking you out, and I looked at the gaming table, and I guess what I saw. That's what we play, sci-fi buckles. Because we're playing in Kent, obviously. And then that join with the plastic tree, and then that join with that little sculptor hand at the end of this. I don't know why. So I've never played in the main district or Yorkshire, so now we're going to play all gaming tables and look like your army looks. What it looks like is somewhere, well, not great. Obviously, back to us, give me some play on that. Yeah, well, come on, what are we doing? There's been thousands on our armies. We've been loads of time, we've built them together. And then we go and play on blinking railway trees, made out of wire, and some nasty lichen is hurried. So we're over, we're done with it. So that's a moment of genius. After that came an awful lot of pain. Because firstly, I had it on my head and I couldn't explain it to anybody. But what I wanted was cool-looking trees that were in three pieces, totally indigenible, so you could make a million different variants of them. So anyway, it took all ages to show the things, but eventually we got here. The things I think are really important with trees are that, one, they're not cool, and they're not too much work. I want to buy my army. I want to paint my army and individualize the trees. I want to get them, I want to do them, I want to make them look nice. Three hours. Okay, let's see what we do. You get base pieces. Base pieces are flat on the bottom and half, this is dipped. So I think it's concave. It's concave. Flat with concave, thank you. Middles are convex. Convex on the bottom. Concave on the top. And toppers are convex on the bottom. And have detail on the top. Which is good. One tree is enough. It's getting a little boring, isn't it? So then we find, what happened here? There's another base. How do we know it's a base? Flat on the bottom. And now, a couple of different top ones. I've got two trees. That's terrific. But there we go. So you're going to get a theme of different heights. Because this can go straight into the end. So you can start getting a bit of variety, but not too much work. Don't want to be curious. And then, because we get with the mushroom thing, we've got a mushroom tree. That's the same base. It's one of the base over there. It's on the Deadzone table. Mr. Deadzone, show us that right. Yes, let's go now. I've got a couple of different parts. There's a good part. So it's got a base. It's got a middle. And it's got a different topper. And then we can put this topper. And go... And then, when you pin those up, exactly the same, we now don't adjust. We're going to tie them differently. So I thought it turned out like this. We've got a new winner. He's here so far, don't get away yet. Someone's moved out to the front. And so, from those five, six pieces, because that was a little base there, just there, playing around, you're going to have these little bases. That goes in here. And then we thought, that's not clear. Let's also do a jungle thing. Now you're really crunchy now. Now we're both the end. So what we've done, the kind of base, a couple of middles, there's two middles here, and then that's the top. So that you can avenge. And by the way, because we've all got the universal fitting, if you want to run down the mushroom theme and the jungle theme, that's cool you can get away. But if you want to have the completely insane something out of our theme, here you go. You know what he's going for.  So that, that's just cool, is our new sci-fi Odyssey trees. The way you paint them up, we'll make them entirely different. Alongside that, there's going to be another one or two tools like the toppers, because the topper is something that really makes it kind of wow, pop and sexy. So at that funding, we're going to have another three toppers. And each one of those toppers will come with just a mini base. So you can just mix and match, mix and match, you get scattered. And even a topper, is this size, it's going to be, we've got some big dangly bits. Don't go there. And so that's a different top and we've got another three, don't go. So you can get it by that point. Some mathematician can tell me how many places you get to do the hatch funds. That's your sci-fi trees. We'll give you lots of little bits and scatter any space on the tool that we have left. We'll just report it a little on a teeny topper or theme that you can just put on your basis so you can see what you're doing. Cool and funky stuff, but crudely, and it's cool. The first thing is, we are not going to present this for firefight. Don't say. We're going to present it to all those other people who may play quite a popular sci-fi game who also use really crappy trees and should know better. I'm going to put it out as a system agnostic for infinity, for Legion 440k, 430k, because we want lots of people to suddenly bump into our games and then, funnily enough, we'll forget to click some button and we'll send them rules for firefight. I've run down the mountain family tree. Yay! Now I'm getting just enthusiasm. So, there we go. There's a couple of other things that come with it. So we will have a beautifully modelled over there. Two maps. The left-hand side is the void. Wild and wacky and crazy. The right-hand side is a sci-fi one. It comes in three sizes. Six by four. Four by four. And whatever ridiculous proportions 430k is currently playable. I don't know what it is, but I know it's got a weird size. It comes in that, just in case we miss the subtle hint that the trees are for them. There's a game in time. Slides, if you're aware, build it. Two other things is we're going to get the neoprene map. The goat will be saying the void game goes on it. And this is the game. There you go, it looks beautiful. And then when you actually go in the water, it's back to the woods. There it goes. So, there'll be some add-ons. They're not going to be there if you don't want them. If you've got your own maps, no problem. The trees are in one box, that's a crate for the trees. You're going to make those. So you can have a bigger area in the woods. So, we haven't cut them yet. There's also one other thing that I haven't played a lot of Deadzone. Love it. Build all the ruins. A load of bits of stuff from the Exynostic for the Kickstarter and then build lots of the stuff that's in everyone's day today with the robble and putting other stuff on it. I spent hundreds of hours doing something with one simple piece of plastic what you've done for me. So, we've started just some great scatter terrain. So, we're going to join them all together. You'll see them all, but they're all just nice big lumps of terrain, spray, dry brush down in the gaming table where you go. In case they miss the subtle hints by giving them a gaming table the size they came with and the fact that it's those guys that are playing with those trees we also have some building templates because apparently in other games it's quite important to know if you're in or inside or outside a building. There's someone built a building today. There's someone on there, perfect. It's a building. By the way, anything said normally you go right back to building a template. Very easy.  There's your template. There's no arguments again about how you do it. A little sit here. If you pick up a corner piece you can then mark out the back of it. It's really super clear how your buildings go together. It's quite a useful firefighter. Very useful for other games. So I do this and these back corners are sharp on the back corner so now that's where it is. I'll use a full piece here on the back corner where does the corner end where does it go to so it actually has game mechanics in it for those purposes and for normal people it just looks really nice. So there we are. So that's going to be a separate crate of F5 scatter contemporary scatter something that's going to be themed like our stuff something that's going to be themed like monasteries I don't know those kind of things and again that's going to be an add-on with the sci-fi crate. So we're going to wreck a little gig store. Don't expect anything like that. So we're wrecking up on Kickstarter a couple of weeks. We're going to whack it up. We'll need to do it while we're driving for a good sluggish time afterwards while we're getting on with making the tooling. It's going to be ferocious tooling costs so that's why it's Kickstarter because you just need that up front with that one set. Both your support will be greatly appreciated but even more you can go and roll it under the noses of all those other people and maybe just need an introduction to the wonderful world of what we're doing. Shouts of passes, credits, share it. What's the next thing? Will you do a clock crate? Yeah, we're going to do like single crates double crates with two trees so if you're going to like major on the trees I think we've then got Johnny on the arm we've got a pledge with there's a whole wargamer I want everything as a gamer and then the next one up is a club pledge and then I think there's a retail as well. So we're going to actually and the whole point will be that one, two, many many many but because we're going to be printing those mats we've actually gone to the Chinese suppliers and look, we don't know if we're going to need a lot of this size, a lot of that size but basically it's two stage price as you're printing silk, you get them made pre you give the things together and you cut them up at a good price so you can buy in bulk so if a club wants six, you know, there might be six mats three of each variety ten boxes of stuff four hundred quid I don't forget the exact numbers but it's kind of that order value too but for a club, for a store to literally just do everything there's the 151 for your whole gaming table pick one of those, pick three of these off you go and then we'll have obviously add on the goods and some of those other things where you can have a room in the city together with this and now it's kind of geared towards the hateful to game players and you've been playing on places of cardboard for a while it's a tiny tool to be dealt damn everything works so yeah, definitely clubs ones and, you know, clubs and tournaments, tournament organising I think is the top tournament club gamer at home just give me a box like in that one good, well that's sales pitch over so we'll do that I know you've had a good time I'm thinking about the DDS you've got a leak back there we've about done that a few of you got into the secret room that's kind of an exciting thing who have got that, what do we think good, very good do you know what was the highest score we got on the level one and we've had a bar in broad which is our first and you may well see that at some point in the future as well as on the shelf games that's coming out any idea when Romney I have but I'm just not going to say sorry I am the one with discretion I knew it because it's too exciting it's actually so exciting I'm going to mention England I'm so impressed I am disciplined there's no problem thank you if I've missed a few things go to blackjacknegicesvideo.com they asked today he's going to learn a good scoops and learn reveals as long as I just would be a bit making up the space I'm going to show you that one I have a big section of Dungeons & Dragons on there which is going to be making a big comeback that's going to be good fun design for finally talk about it online talk about ambush get the two players there in the new year do one of those it's going to be good fun we're going to start looking at some taster sets obviously we've got Armada coming out on the app subscribe on to that we'll get the full rules so if you've never bought the rules you'll just get them dropped straight in so you can have a little look have a little play I'm more excited to keep that going I've got a new I'll see them in the shoes they've got an interactive interactive terrain coming for that in the next year so volcanoes and forts isn't that right lots of stuff do you want to talk about the app? yeah that's a big question yeah we've got the mid game the second we print them there's a few areas in them and they're out of date that's what happens but you know what, it's fine then we get an easy army who builds his army lists in his background in the background and puts them up and we work with him to get the books but of course it's a bit of a coordination getting out for the third party and increasing and we've realised if we needed to have it now so we can be constantly working on it constantly keeping up to date and so a chap came along who's Elliot who built the W and he was really good and he'd come out because he was a game himself and he built it not only he'd built the army lists but he'd also done match hammer if this unit taxed that what's the likely outcome which is important to people so let's try this there we are then there's a few other things and then we've built the tournament organisation that's there we also have a living rule book in each one of these for every single game that's currently in the app so if you've ever tried Deadzone you have the entire two of the books not the three rules the three rules are in the three bit if you've got all the books all of our games and whenever you date them so when the Clash of Kings book comes out you go to Beth and so it's one of those things that when people get there they realise that if you'd never want to give us any more money for paper you don't have to why is that good for magic how much money is coming in so I can kind of spend it and secondly I don't have to print a book and send it all around the world to you if that's not important to you now I think I'll still be printing books for a fair few years to come but I don't need to and if you live in Chile I can't send it to you because it just won't get there and there's different portion of the cost shipping that book to you of course there's going to be a huge chunk of it free in front of the subscription and if you don't feel like subscribing no problem, you'll still have two army lists for every gaming system there'll still be all three rules to get you started so it'll be a whole section for all the ambush units in ambush you'll go up, you'll get it you'll get the QR code the QR code will take you straight to the rule book and you'll have to play, annotate to the army lists so you can actually put your army lists together with exactly what's in there to get you started and everything else tons and tons, if you go to a toilet or a subscription you'll still be able to use your army lists from the thing so please go have a look it is entirely free all of it until the end of January January 31st, 2023 so please there's codes there's one in your newsletter there's codes everywhere, you can find them NL, Jan 31 look on your newsletter so everything's out you can stick with the subscription just some people who haven't gone in it does have your credit card if you've done it the other way but you can go back five minutes later and cancel and it won't ever charge you and you can decide if you buy in January we will send out a reminder saying at the end of this month your credit card will be charged please cancel now and of course you'll forget but you'll just contact that customer service and they'll give you a refund so there's no drama but do go have a look and please go ahead and zone January 31 for a book now's your chance, you can have a read background in there, all the force lists you can build some army lists you can open that kickstarter too that you did four and a half years ago and put some models out and do them together and actually play so that's the app anything black, any great guy please do have it we think it's going to be a great way of just giving the game developing are you going to multi-language it because I see you've got lots of different languages yeah we will at some point at the moment we've got a full-time guy in France, thank you for that reminder I forgot about that we are putting Dead Zone into French on Monday so they've got their own little campaign so if you want to French for Dead Zone you might look out for it online on Monday so I think when we've got a few more games I don't know if we're going to internationalize all of it, we might just like, here's the digital rulebook it gives the entirety of the opportunity but we'll see there's a whole load of work that goes into the that living rulebook if you type in that word every occurrence of that word anywhere in the rulebook if you try to like line of sight in the Dead Zone rulebook here's all sections that we'll come up with it's that kind of stuff that's just a little bit of grafting there that Ellie has done that means that, you know, if you're mid-game and you just really want to know it's a lot quicker to just look it up here to go through this but the answer is almost certainly yes but we've no plans for that good questions, we're going to have a few and then we'll let you all head off home and go do your final looks this is our Chamber of Public I think for an open day that's true I'll get you to paint it which reads for Armada but I'm hoping that we'll see try them two years, one day which is possible 100% I think it's the most exciting thing we've ever done you used to go on your desk yeah, go on it's all right this is a bit like inside looking behind the curtain so this was a good story behind this is when you're making a shit game you know, open seas and you have an army that lives in the water what do you think the most obvious thing to do is squids this was the hardest one to get Matt to agree to 10 years for Matt to agree so you've got Trader Realms coming and the Bissell Dwarfs and in the middle of the year there's a new book coming covering these two armies with interactive terrain so volcanoes and falls and fortifications and what else nope, that's enough yes, add 10 some different ways of playing so it's going to be a massive I think it's going to be great for everyone that got it and painted it just reading bigger rates and getting back out again we're going to have a big push on the get everybody going and getting excited to try and bring the whole mother wave for people later keep the game boring the firefight we'll be getting a Clash of Kings style book and is there going to be any fancy new stuff in it yes and no so we need more players we need more people to play just lots more not a few more like ten times more how are we going to do that new armies don't have to do that get those and get excited about it we've got five, six armies and they're beautiful so can I say this yeah so it's going to have like 1.5 stuff just to make it smoother but we're going to go full pull tank pull we're going to add six to nine vehicles aside and so it certainly becomes a curse-esque where you have to have you in the tree to protect your tanks from guys coming up throwing pigs into their exit breathing piles so but really brigades of three regiments of three tanks anti-aircraft, anti-tank guns getting into position play the tracks off still since they're plowing away at the machine gun for the next couple of turns couple of reasons no other game that's a sci-fi war game does that they are firefighter with a couple of tanks and every time any other game mentioning their names adds tanks you get about three months and they nerf it because they rip so I think everyone's playing tanks so let's just give them tanks it will look fantastic our plastic tank kits are remarkable they're easy, they're actually really cheap we will do a high three for the price of two kind of box and we will give you a resin upgrade to make it a slightly different variant to make it a command variant to make it a blade of armor to light so all that gobbins that makes them really cool and interesting and unique so you can do your army building on your tanks so the raw switches have to do that easy I'll have to say it was so wrong that we haven't used any of that you cannot understand it was really easy and no one was worried about it in the slightest I think it's really enjoyable this is what happened when Matt let me talk to people he said I used to go to the kickstart so I just wrote it and put it in the kickstart then I said to do retail and stopped me doing that so now I just do the open play so yeah, there we go I think that would be really good fun we've got the plastics and I think that's the way who doesn't want to play that game who doesn't want to just go like we are having and keep people it's still going to be a 2 hour game it's not going to make it into a 6 hour apocalypse game we've got other plans for that so it's going to be it's going to be how do I go from 1000 to 2000 points this way still on a 6x4 just get them so they just I think people will be tough but I'll see but I know what to do you know this is why he wasn't live free it's too loud does that help? I think it's a beautiful game I think it's just a game to see that 1.5 polish to tap paper just to knock off the rough edges they said why should we go talk about armies and I said you know what it's not and what's beautiful about this game it's chunky now we do have a 255 tournament on there 29th of November down in September if anybody's interested that's a point you don't need a lot perfect, there we are so we're ready for another one if you haven't given it so do a great deal about aliens because we dedicate the app all events have a little section in the app now if you email it for some models such as the room by Dan Buster's and are there any plans to add varying pieces for the Dan Buster specifically the only one on the side is the Sentinel but obviously in the game you can have them as a unit 3 are there any plans to add varying heads or arms or this is a very worried look over there I think the question is how do we kind of complete out the Kings of War armies I think that's one of those ones and that's one of the reasons why we've see what we are going back to some of the armies we've done like the Elgars I'm going let's just get them really up to where we are now I like the Elgars and that was a hard one because the Elgars weren't bad even the PVC they were pretty decent models when you glued them together and got them on the army they were blinking good so it had to be a lot gooder not proper English to me to be so I don't know if you've seen has everyone seen the new overs today the new sprues they all just comes together doesn't it almost seamless they're gorgeous and we've got a new tool makers Luigi's been sculpting this level for ages and what's been happening between Luigi Scultz and the end product is he's been getting a great tooling process and that's obviously heartbreaking it's also one of the things why you don't press the big red button and it says tool everything bigger you get the goblins I think were remarkable they looked lovely and they came through the tooling process at 98% of them the best goblins on the market but there's other figures that have come out I just don't like the lack of detail down here I just don't like that you know it's not where I want to be so you don't want to go through 10 more so let's just go getting back to your question they varied the river guard very nearly made it into plastic in the early part of next year but they didn't because they actually pushed their way in front but we are making a very concerted effort over the next three years to both backfill units and create new units that push old boring inherited units out so there's nothing you push out trying around because it's our army but you know if you take the twilight kin and we are not going to do cool heavy army looking six foot elves because those nice arms out there they've been done, it's been done if you scratched it and scratched it so we're going to say what's twilight kin mother