“The "door to nowhere" has proven to be a safety hazard, but for me this project is an endless source of inspiration. With the proper application of energies, I believe I can transform the door frame into a window of sorts, one that will allow a traveler to cover the distance from my workshop to some distant, arbitrary point in a single step. Currently the step leads to a sheer drop, straight down into the courtyard, but in time it will bridge gaps that will boggle the mind. Such work is many years away, to be sure, but if I survive the plague I'm sure to succeed.”
–Piero, Natural Philosopher and Inventor.
****
“Things are bad. Could this city get any worse?”
“Indeed, I believe so.”
Corvo Attano, Lord Protector, ex-assassin, rubbed his temples as he listened to the bantering of the guards outside of the tactician’s room in Dunwall Tower. Ever since the coronation of Empress Emily Kaldwin and the restoration of the Kaldwin blood line, Dunwall had barely improved at all. The rat plague which had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Dunwall’s citizens had been cured, but the carnivorous rats themselves still remained. The plague itself was cured only to be replaced by a famine- brought on when the neighboring Isles had instigated a blockade to see if the disease would eat the capital inside out.
Civil stability hadn't been helped by the assassination of Empress Jessamine, and the abduction of her only heir. Corvo later learned that the plague had been brought on by rats imported by the Royal Spymaster, who had intended to use the plague to 'thin out' the lower class citizens. When the Empress suspected this, he killed her and seized power merely to save his own worthless skin- allowing Corvo to take the fall for her death. Corvo later broke out of prison, and met 'The Loyalists': A group of nobles and men of standing who had their own grudges against the Spymaster- who had taken the title of Lord Regent. Corvo's hands ran red with the blood of those who tried to obscure the truth to save themselves.
Despite everything Corvo had done: all the intrigues, all the assassinations, all the unclean aristocratic blood he had spilled, the city was still on a downward slide into chaos. Everyone had held on to the delusion that having a ten year old girl on the throne would somehow make everything better, but it didn't. It seemed that the city was pursuing ever more creative means of self-destruction.
Shortly after the foppish aristocrats realized that they had ‘restored’ a ten year old girl to the throne, many suddenly pounced on the idea to seize power for themselves; banding together against the throne in the ruse of wanting to form a Republic.
Corvo himself hadn’t helped garner support for the throne. The Abbey of the Everyman: the dominant religion in the Isle of Gristol, and commanders of the religious militant faction known as 'The Overseers'. The Abbey quickly discovered that the restored Lord Protector bore the mark of the Outsider on the back of his hand: the Outsider, the deity whom the Abbey considered to be the unholiest of influences upon men. The Abbey demanded to have Corvo executed as a heretic. Needless to say, Emily refused them, and in doing so she lost her religious support.
Financial support for the Imperial cause was also unsteady. With the death of Treavor Pendleton, the mighty economic base that had once fueled The Loyalists was now in the hands of Celia Pendleton, who couldn't see the reason in spending money on anything but herself. Corvo had been forced to broker an arrangement with Slackjaw, the boss of the ‘Bottle Street Gang’: a disturbingly well-organised group of thugs that made a fortune from launching home invasions on rich bureaucrats and selling watered down whiskey at high prices. Slackjaw was a criminal, but he was honest in his own way, and he always kept his word.
It was a motley group that still supported the child Empress. A handful of the City Watch’s more prestigious units could still remember fighting for the first empress, and stood firm as a statement of honor. The others merely followed out of fear of the Lord Protector, who was widely known for, as Admiral Havelock used to put it, “Projecting lethal force in a controlled manner against previously inaccessible targets.”
Corvo sat back with an exhausted sigh, watching with mild disinterest as the strategists seated around the same table as him moved pieces around on a map of the city; determining how to best use a handful of soldiers to defend half a city against the other half- which have greater numbers, more funds, and more support. The ex-assassin leaned back in his chair, and stared into the soulless gaze of his old mask, sometimes he thought about donning it again, to help give the Imperial cause a fighting chance, but he knew that young Emily would be lost without him, so he refrained.
Corvo had an unwelcome flashback to his days as an assassin: The Boyle Mansion, a mask party where he mingled with the guests before he pretended to seduce, and then summarily abduct the hostess. He recalled a rather grim conversation between two of the guests.
“You should see this as an opportunity.”
“To… What? Learn a trade? Join the city watch?”
“Your house built its fortune in crises, you can do so again.”
“Land is worthless now. My buildings are full of corpses and rats. Where’s the fortune there?”
“If you want to be beaten, go right ahead. Let your family starve. Sell your wife into prostitution, I’m sure I could get you a good price.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“There’s the old Byron spirit. Things are changing too fast to give up just yet. First that nasty mess with the Empress. Now the High Overseer’s gone, Parliament is shifting. The whole city’s turning upside-down.”
“If we only had a good war to get into.”
“There you are. Although at this stage I don’t know who we could beat.”
“But don’t you see? We don’t need to win a war, only lose it. Everything’s revalued, and we let the conquerors worry about the problems…”
Corvo gave a humourless snort at the memory.
“Well, here’s your war.” He thought bitterly, “Now all of us are going to lose, and the rats and crows will be the conquerors.”