THE LYING KING

1923

It was exactly 2 years after the war ended in 1921. The great war now referred to as the war of the lastmen because of all the g******e, many species were gone. All the Walefolk the Lionmen and the Hyenamen and many different rare species of Mers were extinct now. The great war had lasted for 51 years it began in 1870. It was widely known and sacred that the scribes; all whalefolk living in the citadel called the Temple; are nonviolent, and their temple is sacred because it had been blessed by Mammy-Wata, everyone knew the WhaleFolk cannot survive on land when switched; for longer than a few hours; a full day /or night approximately 12 hours is sure death. They were the original Were, actually considered Merfolk since they lived in water, but they devoted their life to the preservation of the unity of Man and Were. This is why Mamy Wata gave her blessing for them to live on land with the promise that anywhere they called home, would be sacred, and safe for MANKIND, and so no one could shift on their sacred homeland, which had become the citadel some years later. Since Mers worshiped a female Goddess, they didn't call themselves men. From Whalefolk all mammals; land walking and seabound mammals; had evolved, all other Mers lived in the water and couldn't speak on land because of their gills. Only Whalefolk and their offspring could go back and forth but they had denounced their animal instinct and made a Vow to Mammywata to never shift of swim again, they had other Rules too, that no one ever complained about. They could read and write but they couldn't speak in the temple. Even though other Merfolk couldn't speak on land Whalefolk had the ability and chose not to use it and wrote instead out of acknowledgment that the Were folk were allowed to read but could not write. They loved and respected the Weres and chose solidarity with them, versus dominion over them. They were peaceful beings that lived to be over 100 years old in the wild but couldn't live on land longer than around 85 at the longest. They kept an up to date history of everything happening in the kingdom big and small births deaths shops opening shops closing sales record and deeds of property and the inhabitants, records of debt , banishment, imprisonment and anything in between. They made it a habit to be overly thorough and this is what made them and their documentation of the war and everything before a threat to the current Royal family. The King was concerned with good reason that he may be usurped if people knew the truth about why he started the war and killed the Hyena King and he didn't want to run the risk of people sympathizing with hyenas and harboring or aiding them in escape or survival. He wanted or maybe even needed the truth buried or people would only fear him, and his ebony heart wanted the love the hyena king had he wanted the respect hyenamen had in the kingdom and he convinced himself the only way to have it was to take it by killing them and their history ruining public perception of the hyenamen. This fact would die with him and his generation...or so he hoped, and died believing.