Shiloh
Foreword

Copyright© 2005 Ernest Bywater & R. Michael Lowe aka The Scot

In 2005 Lazlo Zalezac published a story titled The Portal: Doorway To Adventure and started the Damsels in Distress (DiD) Universe. It’s with his permission this story was developed using the DiD universe. Both The Scot and Ernest Bywater pay tribute and give thanks to the creator of this unique idea as well as his willingness for it to be used by other writers. It’s with his approval this book reveals some of the history and purpose of the universe as well as to further define and explain the rules which govern its existence. These refinements and explanations were never intended to diminish his original efforts, and we all feel they don’t.

DiD Background Information

The DiD universe consists of four planets: Cassandra, Crossroads, Earth, and Chaos. Some have speculated Crossroads is a space station in orbit around Cassandra or Chaos, but this is irrelevant to the story. The three planets of Earth, Chaos, and Cassandra are linked via portals and all of the people are supposed to pass through Crossroads to reach any other destination. At the start of this story no evidence had been found as to who had originally set up the system or built the first portal, but some Earth families had been using their portals for many generations.

The portals have some very special features unique to them. First, no matter how long you’re away from Earth only fifteen minutes passes at your point of origin. Second, only those healthy enough to suit the control system are allowed to use it. Third, weapons and most metals are unable to pass between the planets while approved humans, plants, seeds, and other animals can pass through the portals without a problem. Fourth, a ring with a sapphire stone is needed to activate the portal.

The key component in the DiD universe is the planet Cassandra. Their history wasn’t clear as to what happened, or when, but at a time in the planet’s past a war wiped out much of its population. Even worse, a side effect of the war caused the fertility and sex drive of the males to begin a steady decline. The situation soon reached the point where any male children produced are nearly always sterile. Without outside intervention the Cassandran people will soon be extinct, and it is the obvious purpose of the creators of the system to try to prevent this outcome happening.

Earth humans are sexually and genetically compatible with the women of Cassandra and they can impregnate them. The resulting child, male or female, is fertile and is without any of the genetic problems found in the Cassandran males. The females who want an opportunity to have a normal child by an Earth human enter a lottery. If they’re chosen they go to Crossroads for a basic education of the system and are then sent to the planet Chaos.

The people of Chaos are human in appearance but are stuck in a society like the European Middle Ages on Earth. It’s a dirty, smelly, and violent place with little law other than the rule of ’Might makes right.’ There seems to be something which draws the vilest of the local men to want to own the women from Cassandra. Whatever attracts these men to the women isn’t sex because any sex with the women results in a severe burning pain on the man’s penis which lingers for days.

Men from Earth are known as ’Heroes’ and their role is to rescue the Cassandran ’Damsels’ then return them to Crossroads. There the two stay together until she’s pregnant. When the pregnancy is verified both are quickly returned to their home worlds. Many Heroes not only rescue and impregnate the women as they also seek out others to become Heroes.

By word of mouth the pool of Heroes slowly increases, which also enables more Damsels to be sent from Cassandra and thus expand the system and the number of births. The reasons men join this group varies, but they’re generally in three categories: men who fight for the rightness of saving a world, men who enjoy the challenge and adventure of ancient combat, and men who consider the right to impregnate the rescued Damsel as a sufficient reason to risk their lives on Chaos.

On Crossroads there are ’Caretakers’ assigned to each Hero. Her role is a combination of mistress, researcher, intelligence officer, and mission planner. ’Companions’ are another member of the group, though less than half of the Heroes use them. The Companions are also Earth humans and they can be either male or female. The Companions are the functional equivalent of squires who help prepare meals while traveling, care for the horses, and perform the general camp duties. Companions are forbidden to fight, except to defend themselves and / or those in their party.

There are many more aspects and rules involved, but these will be revealed as the story develops. The purpose of this ’Foreword’ is not to tell everything but to explain enough of the background so the reader is not lost from the very beginning of the story, thus they can enjoy the story from the start.

There are many other stories by several authors that are set in the DiD Universe and they can be read at storiesonline.net while some are also available at bookapy.com as e-books.


Time: Many of the characters in the story are ex-military who are used to using the military style 24 hour clock. To stay in character the 24 hour clock is used when dealing with those characters. For those who don’t know it the 24 hour clock has 12 o’clock midnight as 00:00 hours; two digits for hours followed by two for the minutes. Noon is 12:00 or twelve hundred hours and 1:00 p.m. is 13:00 or thirteen hundred hours. Add 12 hours to whatever the hour is for the rest of the afternoon and evening, while minutes are given their actual number as two digits.


Author’s Note: The first twenty-six chapters of this story were written by The Scot between 2005 and 2011. When he was no longer able to continue writing, due to health issues, the story was taken over by Ernest Bywater in early 2012 with The Scot’s full approval. The story was reviewed and revised by Ernest to change it from the past tense to the present tense as well as a few corrections and extensions were made to the early part of the story. The rest of the story was written by Ernest. Effort was made to keep the flavor of the story the same in both parts, but a slight difference in style may be evident in places.

Improving health allowed The Scot to be involved in the review and editing of the final version, along with some additions he wanted to make. For over a year both writers cooperated in the editing to create the finished story>. All corrections and revisions since then are by Ernest.

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