The Temple of the Exploding Head

JOSEPHUS, LORD OF A-RAM is a character in the upcoming LoE Book VI: Sands of the Solar Empire.

The House of A-Ram is a House Minor from the Calvert city of St. Edmonds. His family was once part of a larger Calvert line known as the House of Aramterwillager from the old city of Dee. When the Sisterhood of Light decided to wipe Dee off the face of Kana because of continued lawlessness and decadence in 00221ax, the House split into three minor houses, the House of Aram fleeing to the seaside city of St. Edmonds in the hope of getting back into the Sisterhood’s good graces. The Sisters, never very high on Calverts in the first place, mis-handled the House of Aram’s patent, recording them legally as the House of A-Ram, which they afterwards refused to change, so the name stuck. The A-Rams made their trade as fishermen, renting several boats and trawling the bountiful Sea of Elder. Not rich by any means, they made a decent income fishing and lived in a four-story townhouse several blocks from the docks.

The House would have a rather sordid history with the Sisterhood of Light, always trying to please and impress them and always falling short. Clovis of A-Ram, who had become a noted chef in the region, once accidentally gave food poisoning to a Sister who had come to sample his dishes. Another A-Ram patriarch, Arlie, put a Sister into traction while attempting to pull off a bang-bang move playing brandtball. Silly things like that tend to stick in the Sisters’ minds, and they have a long memory. They eventually slapped the dreaded Programmability tag of Venta-Nomi on the House of A-Ram, meaning they are “Untouchable”.

Josephus was the youngest of seven children of the current A-Ram line. Tiny, slope-shouldered and badly near-sighted, Josephus (or simply A-Ram as he liked to be called) was a frail and sea-sick young lad, unable to go out with his father on the boats. He stayed ashore with his mother and sisters. His older brother, Ephelrood, gave him no peace for it and often bullied him. Despite his various shortcomings, A-Ram had a good mind and a quiet sort of tenacity about him. He was usually near the top of his class.

One day, A-Ram discovered a junked out sub-orbital craft in the canning house near the docks. He spent the summer rebuilding the craft and taught himself how to fly it. He discovered he had a joy and love of flying and hoped to one day join the Fleet as a helmsman. Unfortunately, his Vena-Nomi status prevented his entry to the Fleet. Undeterred, he won an essay-writing competition and earned himself a position in Fleet HQ’s mailroom, a place he stayed for fifteen years.

He got out of the mailroom by taking a position nobody else wanted, becoming the personal adjutant to Admiral Derlith of Cone, a notorious crabhead and yeller. Though often berated in public by the Admiral, A-Ram thrived. He never forgot his love of flying and often snuck into the simulators to fly as many types of ships as he could.

A-Ram had an intense fear/fascination with a serial murderer who terrorized the Calvert region known as the Fiend of Calvert, and was convinced he’d once heard the bump, bump, bump of the Fiend’s footsteps as he ran across their townhouse roof.

A-Ram could not know that the tall man in the mask and HRN coat would soon change his life, forever.

copyright 2012, Ren Garcia and Fantasio