Plot

[DENVER]

PLOT (v.) to devise the sequence of events BRIEFING Originally, the academy was on an island just beyond the coast of present day Washington state. It was a bit of land found by a Dutch settler in 1674. He and his grandson, along with a crew for the ship and twenty others who begged for passage anywhere he was sailing, established the island by accident. They gave it the name Barmhartigheid Island which translated to Mercy Island. The settler, Basilius, meant for it to be a safe place. His final request of the settlers on the island was to establish an academie where gifted individuals could find peace and safety in the world. His request was granted, but it wasn't any more than a building bearing the name of Basilius Academie until Silas Owen, in 1870, began recruiting gifted youth. Discontentment among the human settlers lead to departures, and news of their remote island spread fast. The Dutch government assumed active ownership of the island. At first they were a silent power, but within a few decades, they deported the gifted population to a patch of land north of Rugby, North Dakota, on the boarder between Canada and the soon-to-be United States. The town was given the name Mercer. Silas was given money to recreate the school they had on the island. He did so, restoring the name of Basilius Academie. In 1889, a deal was made in secret-- the United States allowed the Dutch government to maintain some control, in conjunction with the U.S. government, of their gifted pet project. North Dakota became a state. Now, the once safe asylum is more of a mandatory segregation for the gifted population of the world. SETTING We're going to base Mercer's weather on Rugby, North Dakota. Wikipedia says, "This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Rugby has a humid continental climate." Feel free to google the current weather, or decide for yourself what weather works for your topic. TECHNOLOGY For the most part, it's modern. If you can have it offline, you could have it on the site. However, any characters with abilities related to technology can have moderately more advanced and unique technology at their disposal. HISTORY There once was a Dutch man. People called him Basilius, or more commonly, Basil. He was a kindly fellow with enough money to enable him to have a fresh start in a new country. While he loved his home in the Netherlands, he was... different. Soon, the birth of his only daughter's son proved to him that the difference was hereditary. By the year of his grandson's birth, that difference was becoming more dangerous than ever before. It was 1688. Underground, there was a movement-- a witch hunt of sorts-- to seek out anyone who possessed abilities that defied human understanding of scientific laws. It was worth noting that Basil was not the most intelligent of patrons that set sail for America. He was, at heart, a farmer's son who shunned education to work on his family's fields as many young men were then. At the time, that had seemed like the wiser move for his future, opposed to sitting in a classroom while work was done by others. He had to prove to his father that he could do the job alone. He was even stronger, even braver than his elder brother. He deserved the farm, not Schyler. As years passed, Basil was overlooked by his father as simply a foolish teenager. Schyler got the farm instead. With the rage of youth not yet quelled by wisdom, Basil took the decision as a personal slight and left the farm without a second thought. He always meant to start a farm for himself that would rival his brother's. Unfortunately, the world was tougher than he imagined. Getting enough money to buy food was a full day's work. Years passed in a dull, monotonous fashion. Before long, he was twenty-five and on the verge of marrying a woman he'd known no more than four months. He called upon his brother to attend the wedding, as if the previous years of silence could be erased. What met him was news of a terrible fire that had destroyed his family farm and taken the life of his brother. Basil was quick to decide to restore the farm with his new wife. They'd start their family on the land of his family, in honor of their lives. It was harder work than he'd anticipated. Harder than he'd ever experienced to craft a home from the charred remains of his boyhood home, and to begin to restore the vegetation that once inhabited the familiar soil. In time, life again became routine. His wife bore one child - a beautiful baby girl - before their marriage fell apart. She left the then-five-year-old daughter with him and ran away in the middle of the night, into the arms of a more prosperous lover who had stolen her heart. So, Basil raised his daughter, maintained his farm, and lived on. All the while, he felt different. He could touch a plant and see instant growth, but to touch the plant would soon exhaust him. At thirty-two years old, Basil realized he had a strange power over the very Earth he tread. In secret he harnessed this skill and soon found that it enabled him to monopolize the farming in his small village. The only upset to his routine life was when his daughter, at fifteen, found a husband and left his farm. Basil had acquired a fair amount of money by then, but it was clear it wouldn't bring him happiness now that he was alone. Basil was forty-seven when his grandson was born in 1688. The loving parents named him Markos and they dotted on him from day one. Basil made it a priority to visit his daughter's new family once a month. Meanwhile, favor in the village was turning against him. Jealousy seemed to be a tangible thing then, and as he grew older and weaker, it seemed less safe to remain in the village. Three years passed before the first signs of aggression left him shaken. An entire field of crops was destroyed while he slept. After that night, he started planning his escape. It would be two more years -- a fitting decision, since his daughter had been five when she was left with him -- before he would kidnap his grandson and set sail for America. The crew landed on an island. Though the residents wouldn't know it until generations later, they were off the coast of America, near Washington. Basil and his grandson learned to keep the colony thriving. Basil kept the gardens growing and his grandson, a novice pyro, provided warmth and protection by manipulating fire. Basil, as he grew older and more frail, made one final request-- create an academie for gifted individuals who would someday seek the island as refuge. The colony survived without Basil, but not without a fair number of casualties. The Basilius Academie was created in his honor in 1740. It served as a permanent house for the remaining residents for over thirty years. In 1770, a lone ship carrying seventy surviving passengers and crew found their island. They had supplies to build several more structures on the island. The first gifted student to seek asylum at the old Basilius Academie, no more than a building bearing the name of academie, was Silas Owen in 1870. Silas was a teenager then, but he devoted his life to turning it into a real school where they could help gifted youth. He left the name intact, staying true to it's Dutch roots, but advertised the gifted academy to those who most needed a place to stay. In time the old residents grew hateful of the gifted youth. But fear necessitated that those who wanted the gifted students gone instead had to leave themselves, rather than risking the ire of the inhuman things that had taken their island. Their chatter got the Dutch government involved in the island. Decades later in February of 1889, the gifted population was deported to what is modern day North Dakota. They were able to create their own town: Mercer. In November, deals were made and North Dakota became a state. Citizens of Mercer were granted dual citizenship, whether they knew it or not, when they became associated with the town. This tradition continues today, allowing both governments legal authority over the inhabitants of Mercer. Today, Mercer is more modern than what originally existed, but the foundation is the same. The two governments still own the land jointly, and the safe asylum has turned into a mandatory asylum to segregate the gifted population. Records are kept and tests are run on the Mercer citizenry, both gifted and non-gifted, in the name of global prosperity and safety. It didn't take long for the Keller Institute to form. In fact, it was 1905 when a trainer began the first experiment. His first subject died, but he'd gotten the attention of a few government officials. They supported him in secret and helped him get funding for the Keller Institute. Now the Keller Institute stands primarily as a secretive source of chaos in the town. UPDATES This site is brand new so there are no updates to our plot yet.

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