The phrase ‘Nevrond First’ was one Vlad had come to dread over the last few decades. It sounded fine in theory. But what men like Twoforths meant by such things rarely involved caring for the actual citizens of Nevrond. It was an empty utterance: a means of snuffing out dissent while appealing to the primordial hive mind of society that remembered, once upon a time, when the dark was ancient and deep that humans survived by banding together to keep the campfires burning throughout the night.
