The betrayals we suffered after The War caught us by surprise. Even most of those in Charles’ family did not see them coming. Perhaps we should have. We knew they did not like us. Even those nominally on Charles’ side were uncomfortable with the…side effects of the Peloran Treatments. They simply did not like the idea of anybody being better than they were, at anything. But we should have foreseen what the real hardliners would do. Somehow.
The Norman branch of my family helped to conquer England long ago, after a disagreement over who would be the new king. There were very few of us of course, and many locals. Like the original Norsemen in Normandy, we intermarried with the Anglo-Saxons, and from that patronage absorbed the stories of King Arthur and Merlin into our blood. That they were famous for defending England against invaders was not lost on us.
Even the Peloran Treatments don’t guarantee good health, don’t make us immune to abuse. Not exercising, or eating poisonous junk will still mess you up. The treatments simply give us a leg up on anyone who doesn’t take them. The Chinese and the Russians outlawed the “dangerous alien treatments” for instance. Of course they developed their own versions of the treatments. Not as effective, but a quantum leap compared to “natural” humans.
The Russians and Chinese colonized the planets and moons of Alpha Centauri B. Between the two polities, they basically control the entire system. Only a handful of colonies are from nations not affiliated with those two powerhouses, and none of them have official ties with the Western Alliance. Unofficial ties are a completely different matter of course. Even Russian and Chinese colonists love Alliance trade goods after all, especially the proscribed stuff.
The modern Normans first formed as a people when Norse mercenaries colonized Normandy. They promised to protect the coasts from other Norse raiders, and intermarried with the local French. As time went by, the Normans married into even the royal families of both England and France. This is one branch of my family. The blood of the Norse, the French, and even the English flows through us there. It is perhaps no surprise that we can have lively debates.
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