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From Clark Kent’s personal journal: September 29, 1996
Something else I found in my reading – on Old Krypton the houses fostered children to one another and adoptions within the branches of the houses or even between houses was not uncommon. According to Kela, it’s still occasionally done on New Krypton. I’m still trying to figure out what Moro meant about Ching being a member of the House of El. But I have an idea. Apparently the father is required to publicly acknowledge their offspring before they are listed as being members of the house. Without that acknowledgement the child is illegitimate – without a house. Such children are relegated to becoming retainers or sent off to be trained by a guild to become a craftsman. Ching became a warrior.
Today we arrive on new Krypton. Ching, Trey, and Zara have reviewed the greeting procedures with me. I am to greet the entire council and be inducted into the council. Then we are to proceed to the estate where I am to meet the retainers and workers for the House of El. It all seems very medieval. Zara has also told me that Nor was right about a few things. She and I do need to produce an heir to protect both houses. Lois won’t like that. I miss her so much. I hope things are okay at home. “Lord Kal-El,” Zara said quietly as they made their way to the shuttle that would take them to the main settlement. “Last night, Lord Nor was correct in that you do need to sire a male heir for the House of El, preferably out of the House of Ra.”
“I thought we’d made an agreement concerning that,” Clark reminded her.
“Yes, that we would not become intimate. But Lady Elesa does have a solution,” Zara said softly. “You need only contribute the seed.”
“Artificial insemination?”
Zara nodded. “No one need know.”
“What does Ching think about it?”
“What should he think? You are my husband. He knows this is the only way. This is how it must be.” She sighed. “You should also know that Nor will attempt to use your lack of knowledge about us against you. That you didn’t have enough interest in your own home world to learn anything about us.”
“Zara, I learned everything that was available to me. I studied the holographic images my father made and encoded into the navigation globe. There was nothing else to study,” Clark told her. “I didn’t want Nor to know that everything else had gone missing. I don’t want to give him any more ammunition than he already has.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When I was found as an infant, my dad hid the ship so no one would be able to trace it back to me. Sometime after he hid it, it was found and apparently passed from one research group to another until I found it and was able to get it back,” Clark said.
“There were no memory modules, no educator?”
Clark shook his head. “If there were, they’re lost now. Even if I’d known they existed, I wouldn’t have had any idea where to start looking for them. Chances are, whoever does have them doesn’t understood what they have or how to access the information.”
He adjusted the blue and gold brocade jacket Moro and Kela had picked out for him that morning. It was fancier than one he’d worn to dinner with a short satin cape in blue and a broad cummerbund with more than enough room to hide the sheath for a ceremonial dagger, which they insisted he wear. The jacket was a little tight across the shoulders but he’d already determined that if he didn’t move too much, it was unlikely anyone would notice.
Zara was dressed in a burgundy red and gold tunic with a burgundy cape. Her tunic and cape were longer than his, reaching to mid-calf instead of mid-thigh. On Earth and on the ship Zara had worn her hair down. Today it was tucked under a red and gold turban-like headdress.
“We’re almost there,” Zara commented, turning their attention back to the rising ground below. Moments later the bright globe settled down on the center of a broad plaza in front of a stone building. The broad stairs to the building’s entrance was crowded with onlookers. In the front of the group stood a group of men of various ages dressed in ornate robes in a rainbow of colors. Sprinkled among them were older men wearing gray robes with hoods. Clark spotted Trey and Jen Mai among the gray robes. Zara gave Clark and encouraging smile. “Everyone’s here.”
“Yeah, to see the bumpkin raised on Earth,” Clark murmured.
“You underestimate yourself, and them,” Zara said. “The majority of the houses are currently allied with the House of Ra and were openly supportive of our expedition to locate you. We need the house of El under the rule of a member of the House of El. We need you to solidify our position in opposition to Nor and his madness.”
Clark took a deep breath and held out his arm to Zara as they stepped out of the globe onto plaza. Ching had arranged for an armed honor guard who now stood at attention on either side of the gold colored pathway that appeared in front of the shuttle opening. As Clark and Zara stepped forward, Ching and the first guardsman fell in behind them and followed them to the steps and the rest of the lords and councilors.
When Clark and Zara were three paces from the steps, he stopped, turned his palms outward, bowed and gave the greeting: “Kindred in the bonds, I greet thee thrice.”
“As we greet thee, Lord Kal of the House of El.”
As on the ship, the retainers and onlookers dropped to their knees and then touched their noses to the ground in a show of subservience. This time however, Ching and the honor guard remained standing along with the elders, although Zara was on her knees like the retainers. Clark had to bite back his response to the sight of noses touching the ground.
“Come Lord Kal,” Trey said, gesturing Clark to accompany him and the other elders into the building. The inside of the building bore a strong resemblance to the inside of the mother ship – ornate, even opulent. Trey stopped to stand beside the tall doors to the inner chamber and gestured to Clark to stand with him. The other gray-robed councilors filed past, each one nodding their respect to Trey as they entered the council chamber.
Zara took Trey’s arm and he led her into the room. Clark followed several paces behind them and Ching and the guardsman with him closed the doors behind him.
The chamber was dimly lit and it took a moment for Clark’s eyes to adjust. The room had twelve walls and the vaulted ceiling disappeared into darkness broken by tiny sparks of light in unfamiliar patterns. After a moment Clark realized the patterns no doubt represented the night sky as seen from Krypton. He also realized that each of the twelve walls was engraved with the seal of one of the Great Houses. The S sigil of the House of El was over the door.
At the center of the room was a table with twelve sides with an ornate chair on each side. Trey led Zara to one of the chairs then moved to sit in his own chair.
One of the other men, an older man with gray hair and a gray beard stood up. Clark recognized him from the hologram Zara had shown him on the ship – Lord Van-Us, the most senior member of the council. “Lord Kal of the House of El, as you and Lady Zara of the House of Ra have publicly proclaimed your willingness to take on the responsibilities and obligations of your stations, the council of Elders greets you and welcomes you into our midst as an equal among equals.”
A servant that Clark hadn’t noticed before approached him carrying a gray robe like the ones the other councilors were already wearing. The man helped Clark into the robe, tying the simple belt around his waist.
Van-Us spoke again. “In this place, we set aside the petty concerns of our Houses and families. In this place, we are not El or Et, or Us. In this place we are Kryptonians. Kal son of Jor, son of Syg, do you accept this office and its obligation to put the good of the people above your own?”
“I accept,” Clark said.
“Then take your seat at the table of your equals,” Lord Van ordered.
Clark sat down in the empty chair as instructed.
“There is still the matter of the appointment of the bythguhr,” Lord Kem-Et reminded them. He resembled his nephew Nor in coloring as well as in the apparently perpetual sneer on his face beneath his grizzled beard.
“The public acceptance of his station and responsibilities has already decided that issue,” Trey announced. “As the joined mate of Lady Zara, Lord Kal will take on that responsibility as well.”
“An untried, untested boy child raised on a primitive planet?” Kem-Et complained. “Have we fallen so far that we place our defense in the hands of a child instead of an experienced man?”
“Lord Kem,” Zara interrupted him. “You are aware of the tests the council devised that were carried out by myself and Lieutenant Ching, are you not?”
Kem nodded, glowering at her.
“Are you now saying those tests were inadequate? That Lord Kal failed to complete the tasks given him, including defeating an Andelon assassin known to be in the employ of the House of Et?” Zara went on.
“Tez was following to orders of Lor, not the head of the House,” Lord Kem explained. “Lor has been disavowed by the House of Et. There need be no more discussion of that matter.”
“Lord Kem, the matter of Lord Kal being appointed bythguhr to stand in place of the head of the House of Ra is also closed,” Lord Van stated.
“And is the accusation that they have no intention of creating an heir together also a subject that will not be discussed?” Kem spat.
Zara reached over and took Clark’s hand. “You have been misinformed,” she announced. “My husband and I have every intention of creating an heir together. And I assure you, we will not need your nephew standing in our bedchamber watching us do it.”
Excerpted from ‘A Year on New Krypton’ by Clark Kent © 1998
On Old Krypton, the head of the council was generally the oldest or most experienced member of the twelve. The role of bythguhr, or king – actually more on the order of commander and chief of the planetary defense forces – was by appointment of the council. The bythguhr served at the pleasure of the council.
The last bythguhr of Krypton was General Dur Zod. He was reputed to be a brilliant military man who was convicted of treason and sentenced to eternal exile when he and the council disagreed on the proper way to proceed when it was confirmed that Krypton was going to be destroyed. Zod had proposed the invasion and colonization of one of Krypton’s inhabited neighbors. The council, led first by Lord Gor-El and then his brother Jor-El, had opposed this solution and ordered Zod to find an appropriate uninhabited planet for colonization. When Zod refused to obey the council’s orders his title was stripped from him. When he continued to seek support for his campaign to conquer and enslave a neighboring world, he was tried, convicted and exiled for treason – not for his actions against another world but for defying the council.
On New Krypton, head of council is still generally the oldest and most experienced councilor – currently that is Lord Van-Us – but the role of bythguhr for the colony now appears to be a hereditary one and falls to the head of the House of Ra. However, the House of Ra has only a female heir who is not allowed to be sworn in as bythguhr. New Kryptonian noble women are not permitted to be in military service and the role of bythguhr is primarily a military one. As her husband, that role will fall to Kal-El, son of Jor-El and nephew to Gor-El.
Ching, Moro, Kela, and most of the retainers that accompanied the mother ship preceded Lord Kal and Lady Zara to the planet. I was allowed to accompany his lordship and ladyship on the shuttle to get the full effect of their arrival. Earth is blue and white. New Krypton also has blue and white, but there is more brown than green, almost more brown than blue. It’s a different world – an alien world. It’s going to take some getting used to.
As the shuttle approached the planet I could see more details – the geometric patterns of roads and fields, the rivers and streams meandering through the lands to the seas. There were small towns along the river beneath us and the forests in the uplands. As the shuttle dropped even lower, I could make out the grid pattern of the main city, Nehro, and the central plaza where we were instructed to land.
Lord Kal seemed at least as nervous as I was. He kept shifting from one foot to the other, adjusting his tunic and cape, playing with the haft of the dagger Ching insisted he wear. I am nervous because I will be the first off-worlder to openly visit this planet, as well as being the first Earther to visit another inhabited world. For Kal-El, he is seeing the world his people fled to for survival and meeting the entire council of elders for the first time. Everything on the mother ship, all the studying and preparation was for this moment. The moment the council acknowledges him and grants permission for him to do the job Lady Zara brought him here to do – govern their people.
Lieutenant Ching and an honor guard were already in position when the shuttle settled onto the plaza. Lord Kal and Lady Zara stepped out of the shuttle onto a gold colored carpet. Just as the retainers on the mother ship did when Lord Trey and Lord Jen greeted Lord Kal, the observers and retainers went down on their knees, noses to the stone paving of the plaza. But there was a difference this time. Lord Kal didn’t seem too surprised at the reaction and Ching and the honor guard also remained standing. Ching seemed tense and I found myself wondering what he was afraid might happen.
I remained behind with the pilot. As a foreigner, I am not allowed to observe the inner workings of the council. But the pilot and I were allowed to watch the initial greeting. It was easy to spot the councilors and lords in the crowd even before the retainers began to kow-tow. The councilors were dressed in simple gray robes with hoods and the remaining lords who were not councilors resembled peacocks – rainbow colors chased with gold and silver. Even Lord Nor had shed his usual padded vest and thigh-high boots in favor of a brown tunic embroidered with lavender and silver – the colors of his family crest.
Lord Kal was dressed in blue and gold brocade with a short blue cape almost the same color as the blue of the Superman suit. Zara was in a high-collared tunic in burgundy and gold, with a burgundy cape and a gold and red head-dress. Her skirt had a wide flare and the hem was at mid-calf. Lord Kal’s tunic ended at mid-thigh.
For myself, I am still dressed as a retainer for the House of El – black suit with blue trim only with a matching black tunic this time. No embroidery or other decoration. Very simple, very utilitarian, very boring, but then servants are meant to be invisible.
The council session was short and the trip to the estate belonging to the House of El didn’t take very long thanks to the shuttle. From the air the estate resembled a small village sitting outside a large manor house. The surrounding area was covered in neatly cultivated fields with a river running close by. Further up the valley was a second, larger village where the copper and zinc hard rock miners lived with their families. It all looked peaceful and archaic from the air. Like flying over an old Southern plantation.
This manor and village were going to be home for the duration. However long that takes.“The villagers are waiting to greet you,” Zara explained as the shuttle landed in front of the manor house. The village square was crowded with people of all ages dressed in muted hues of blue, brown, and black. There were a surprising number of people waiting for him.
“I thought you said only a thousand or so people escaped before Krypton died?” Clark asked. He knew the answer, having looked it up on the ship but he was curious as to her explanation, given what she had told him before they left Earth.
“A little more than a thousand people from the various houses were able to flee to this world,” Ching said with a sigh. “The number should have been higher, but the last ship of survivors didn’t make it. That was the ship the elders had assumed you and your parents were on until Lord Zor and Lord Trey revealed that you had been sent elsewhere.”
“I meant, if there were only a thousand survivors, why are there so many people here?” Clark clarified.
“As I’m sure you discovered, the survivors evacuated to an existing mining colony,” Zara explained. “It was the only place available to us in the time we had. We have been unable to find another more suitable planet to move to, assuming we had the ability to move the entire population, which we do not.”
“So, all those people belong to the estate?” Clark asked.
“A little less than half, actually,” Ching said. “The various guilds have also sent representatives to meet you. Lord Zor always maintained good relations with the craft guilds.”
“And now they want to see if the new lord has the same attitude?”
“Exactly,” Ching said.
Excerpted from ‘A Year on New Krypton’ by Clark Kent © 1998
Over five hundred people had shown up in at the estate to greet Lord Kal. That was more than five percent of the population of the entire colony. All there to see the new head of the House of El.
The crowd was quiet as the shuttle set down and Lady Zara and Lord Kal stepped out onto the square in front of the manor house. Just as with the retainers in the capitol city the crowd dropped to the ground except for Lord Kal’s personal guard. This time, he reached out to Lady Zara, lifting her to her feet to stand beside him.
“This is my estate, correct?” Lord Kal asked Lady Zara. “These people are my employees and I can give them orders so long as it doesn’t conflict with the Laws of Humanity?”
“Yes, milord. These are your people,” Zara answered. Kal-El nodded as he looked around at the backs and tops of heads around him.
“Good people please stand,” he announced. His voice carried well even without superpowers and the people clambered to their feet in obvious confusion and consternation. He went to the steps of the manor house so he could be seen. “As you know, I am newly arrived on this world and I admit I am not fully conversant with your customs. However, there is one custom I wish to change right now. The Krypton my father told me about was a world inhabited by intelligent and free people. Intelligent and free people do not grind their noses into the ground for any person. From this time forth, I expect to be greeted by people willing to look me in the face.”
“Milord Kal-El,” one of the older men began. “You do not wish us to give you the honors due your rank?”
“Giving me the honors due my rank doesn’t mean that you need to demean yourselves,” Lord Kal told them. “I would feel more honored to have your respect. There is no honor or respect in groveling. And I promise to not to demand it of you.”
“Milord, do you wish us offer our fealty to you?” one of the women asked. She seemed worried.
Kal-El smiled. “I would be honored to accept your fealty… to the House of El and to New Krypton.”They came up to Clark in groups of three and four, families usually – father, mother and two or three children. Several groups were made up of young singles who introduced themselves as work teams. Clark promised himself to ask Kela what that meant. The first few who came up seemed at a loss as to what they should do. He had told them not to grovel, but the oath of fealty was normally done while kneeling with the nobleman’s hand on their head in a form of blessing.
Their solution was to bow their heads, hands clasped together at chest level. Clark wracked his brain for his own response. Nothing in his reading had discussed a Kryptonian fealty ceremony. Finally, he simply placed his right hand on their shoulder.
“… I pledge my fealty to thee and the House of El,” was the repeated promise from the workers.
“As I pledge my loyalty and protection and that of the House of El to you,” Clark said to each one as they came up.
About halfway through the procession the workers’ tunics became more ornate – the guildsmen were finally coming forward. The greeting changed. “We greet thee, House of El.”
“And I greet you. May we work together for the prosperity of all of New Krypton,” Clark replied. The response seemed to please the guildsmen.
“Please visit the guild houses at any time,” the senior guildsman told him when the rest of the guildsmen had given their greeting. “I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we look forward to talking with the new master of the house.”
“I am definitely looking forward to speaking with you, and learning from you.”
From Clark Kent’s personal journal: September 29, 1996
It’s been a long day. It’s strange that the sun doesn’t move in the sky, but one of the problems with living here is that the planet is tide-locked. One side always faces its sun and one side is always in darkness.
I thought Zara was going to have kittens when I told the people of the estate that I didn’t want them grinding their noses into the ground anymore. The older people, the ones who no doubt remember Krypton, didn’t seem to have a problem with the changes. The younger ones, my age and younger, were just confused.
I couldn’t read Ching at all.
Apparently the guilds control the manufacturing, agriculture, mining, anything else requiring craftsmanship. Ching told me that my uncle Zor had maintained good relations with the various guilds during his tenure as head of house. I figure I should do no less.
Officially the guilds are independent of the noble houses – they are the middle class, if that’s even a concept that translates here. In practical terms, how the economics of this place fits together is something I need to figure out. But I already know that the guilds hold an important piece in that puzzle.
Zara will be spending the night and most of the day tomorrow at her own estate so she can handle the business matters she had to neglect while she was on Earth. Then, I expect we will be talking to Lady Elesa on what steps we need to take to get Zara pregnant with my child.
I’m very tired. Kela has prepared a bath and Ching is working on my itinerary for tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll get used to a sun that doesn’t move in the sky. A world where night and day are only markings on a clock.
