Merrick

Slavius grew up in Laboria. He came from a long heritage of bellock miners. His race had been taken captive by the Laborians many years ago. At the age of seven he was forced to mine bellock ore with the other young men of his race. The work was grueling and the laborians cracked their electric whips to maintain the unnatural pace. Many young men died from the abuse while the laborians reaped the fruit of their labor.

The mine in which Slavius worked, burrowed several miles into the side of mountain. Bellock ore was taken out of the mine by through a production chain. In this way men deeper in the tunnel passed the ore to men closer the entrance. Only the men near the entrance of the tunnel saw sunlight. Laborians believed that if their slaves could see sunlight, they would feel happy and plot rebellion. Their theory turned out to be accurate and their slaves despaired. What set Slavius apart from all the other men of his race was his dissatisfaction, the mother of change. Other young men had despaired at the hopelessness of their situation, but not Slavius. He dreamed of life not tinted by slavery. As Slavius grew older and stronger those dreams fermented into plans. He drew up plans to build an escape shaft of the mine. Slavius pleaded with the other men to help him build the escape shaft at night when the Laborians left them in the mine and sealed off the entrance.

So every night after the Laborians sealed the men off in the mine, the men lifted their picks and shovels to build the escape shaft. It was a long arduous task, but within a year they finished their escape shaft. Slavius knew that it wouldn’t be good enough to simply flee the mine because when the laborians discovered what happened they would overrun them and bring them back to the mine. Fortunately the Laborian task masters were infinitely corruptible. Slavius successfully bribed the guards into selling them sticks of dynamite. The miners placed the sticks of dynamite throughout the mine and wired them together.

The day came for the rebellion. Slavius ordered everyone into the escape shaft. When the laborians unsealed the entrance to the mine that morning they were surprised to not see the miners at the entrance of the tunnel. It was common for miners stationed deep in the mine to wait at the entranced with the hope of seeing sunlight. The Laborians were suspicious so five battalions of the army were dispatched into the mine. When the army was inside the mine, Slavius ignited the dynamite and the Laborian army was crushed underneath the mountain. Unfortunately some of the miners were trapped inside by an unpredicted cave in. Among the trapped miners was Slavius’ own brother. Slavius wanted to stay and dig the men out, but there was no time.

They escaped to the sea and overpowered the guards of a Laborian submarine by sheer numbers. They fled to bottom of the ocean and built a kingdom on the ocean floor called Submaria after the submarine that brought them there. Slavius became King of Submaria and he changed his name to Merrick, Ruler of the Sea. Merrick determined that he would never let the Submarians become enslaved again. Merrick knew not whether his brother was still alive, but he vowed that he would someday return to Laboria and rescue him and the other miners.