X: eXecutions

X was difficult to come up with. After all, how many words start with X? Since there aren’t any xylophones or x-rays in Across the Stars, I had to settle for something that began with the sound “X”: Executions. Yes, there are executions in Across the Stars, yet none of them were deserved.

This really goes back to “Unjust.” A good many of King Jorrid’s unjust actions consisted of executing Emarotians under false charges. It is Anthony’s part of the story that deals with this subject. “So many Emarotians had been executed on false charges, some on no charges at all, most without a trial and none with a trial by jury. Sometimes children were put to death. All of Emarot lived in terror, but many, Anthony included, were angry as well. Who would not be, as one’s countrymen were executed one after the other?” Don’t worry, there’s nothing graphic about these executions, nothing beyond hearing a gunshot. But they happen. And they are very important. It is these executions that stir up the Emarotians to revolution. Who wouldn’t want to fight against someone who executed innocents?

I had a hard time thinking of cruel things for King Jorrid to do. I just have a hard time thinking of mean things for characters to do, even for my bad guys. So these executions, high taxes, and the closing of Emoria’s port are really the extent of the cruelties described in the story. This isn’t all King Jorrid does, but it is all I could think of to enumerate in the story. Even if this was all King Jorrid did, they would still have good reason for revolt.