The Council of Willis was established by Lord Embryo, fulfilling the vision outlined in Cerebrum’s Holy Nodial Parchments. Since its inception, under guidance from the several Vizier’s, it has lead to the democratic rule of the entire land of Myelin. As intermediary for the Emperor, Embryo was responsible for bringing the word of Cerebrum to the people of Myelin, and responsible for maintaining the myriad of branches in the Council.
Embryo rewrote and extended Cerebrum’s Holy Nodial Parchment and the formulation of these scriptures ushered the beginning of the Mesencephalon age. In 51MB (Midbrain), on the East of Myelin, several states of Colliculi seceded from the region of Tectum. This resulted in a bloody civil war between the newly formed Confederate States of Colliculi and the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA). The war lasted for two years, until The Council of Willis stepped in to aid the Ventral Tegmental Area with well equipped forces. The coalition between The Circle of Willis and the Ventral Tegmental Area, resulted in the formulation of the Superior Colliculi, which through attrition, eventually crushed the later titled Inferior Colliculi forces.
Sylvius, the leader of the Inferior Colliculi, surrendered to Lamina II, leader of the Superior Colliculi forces, after the death of his father Lamina I was the catalyst for the Circle forces to aid the Ventral Tegmental Area. Lamina II was appointed to the Council of Willis as minister for power.
It was later exposed that Embryo went against the word of Cerebrum by aiding VTA forces in the Tectum Civil War. Embryo was shamed and Lamina II was appointed to Grand Vizier to the Emperor of the Cortex by unanimous council vote.
Because of Embryo’s loyalty to Lamina II and the Superior Colliculi, he remained in the Council of Willis as Grand Seer of Willis and continued to write the second set of scriptures from Cerebrum.
The Eastern regions of Myelin – the ones furthest away from the Circle of Willis – started to lose faith in the Council of Willis due to this corruption and Sylvius, now in hiding from Superior Colliculi forces, started to create a rebellion movement called the Red Nucleus from his hidden Cerebral Aqueduct. Eventually he was captured by Tectum spies, and sentenced to execution by stoning in 33MB.
In 13MB, Embryo grew sick, and eventually died of Tuberculosis. He completed his three Nodial Scriptures, and formulated the doctrine of Cerebrum, serving as the general teachings of Cerebrum. The third scripture, written as Grand Seer, served as a detailed teaching of the ways of life Cerebrum envisioned in The Holy Nodial Parchments. The Mesencephalon age ended soon after when Lord Lamina II invested more into the Ministry of Power, to combat the rising rebellion of the Red Nucleus.
It wasn’t until the beginning of the Prosencephalon Era, that students were able to fully understand the Scriptures written by Embryo. After working very closely with Embryo, Lamina II fell ill to Tuberculosis and died suddenly in 3FB. Stria Medullares, who was the Minister for Power under Lamina II, was voted succeeding Vizier to the Emperor. Under his rule, he ordered a more ruthless assault on regions suspected of funding Red Nucleus rebels. He ordered his Superior Colliculi forces to slay everyone in the region of Epithalamus. He joined them in battle, leading his army as they pillaged, killed and raped their way through the battle.
During Stria’s absence, Lamina III – Assistant to the Minister of Sphericity- urged the Council to make a vote of no confidence in their current Vizier, due to his emphasis on power, rather than uniting the lands. They yielded and instated Tenia Thalami (Minister for Sphericity) as Vizier. On Stria’s return, he was told by Councilmen that Lamina III lead a vote of no confidence over Stria’s leadership, and because he was demoted to Minister of Power, ordered the imprisonment of Lamina III. However, Lamina III killed Stria in his sleep, before he could put through the order, and Lamina III was promoted to Minister of Power in 21FB, the first person to be promoted across Ministries.
However, Stria’s damage could not be undone, and several Eastern regions in the land of Myelin, began to join together in rebellion of the Council. Tenia Thalami ventured to these Eastern regions in an effort to generate peace, however he was killed in 45FB by Red Nucleus insurgents. Acting Vizier, Zona Incerta, assumed the role of Vizier in 46FB and focused on a balance of Power and Sphericity, rather than the peaceful negotiations of Tenia Thalami. Lamina III was upset by the decision, believing the council had become corrupt, so Zona Incerta promoted him to Grand Seer of Willis to keep peace amongst the Council.
This period marked the Battle of Metathalamus – where insurgent Red Nuclei forces resisted Superior Colliculi forces and denied them entry to their battlements. In Anterior, the insurgents defended the Medial area because of their heavily fortified base, and their elevated battlements. Superior Colliculi forces attacked from the Lateral area and eventually wore down their attack. The Battle For Anterior ended with Superior Colliculi attacking the Red Nuclei forces from behind their battlements. They were quickly outnumbered and killed.
The Battle For Tuberal was easily won by the Superior Colliculi forces, lead by Zona Incerta, who attacked both the weak Lateral and Medial defenses. However, as Superior Colliculi soliders closed in on the region of Metathalamus, the Battle For Posterior ended in victory for The Red Nucleus due to the success of their guerilla tactics. When news of the Superior Colliculi’s failure in the Battle For Posterior spread throughout the Western Region of Myelin, Harbenula Nuclei, Minister For Power at the time, committed ritualistic suicide by cutting off pieces of his flesh to feed the hungry and weary soldiers that won the previous two battles.
Having been shamed, Zona Incerta stole the uncompleted scripture he wrote after witnessing a vision from Cerebrum focusing on spiritualistic powers and went into hiding in a cathedrial in the land of Ranvier, the most royal of lands, and the most religious and began to study the scriptures religiously. He learned the ways of harnessing Grey Matter, axons flowing through the body of those only with the purest souls, and how to use this to become more powerful. He completed his scripture, and taught everything he knew to an apprentice, named Substantia Nigra. He named those who could harness the power of White Matter as Nodes of Ranvier, and sent Substantia Nigra to give the completed scriptures to the Council of Willis. Zona Incerta became the first Node of Ranvier. Before he died, he built a monument to Cerebrum, and before its completion, he gouged his own eyes out so that the monument could be seen by Cerebrum only.
In the scriptures, Nigra finds out that Zona Incerta trained another apprentice before him, named Corona Radiata, whom he muses was his greatest accomplishment and success. Because of this Zona Incerta sent the Node of Ranvier to Metathalamus to take the rebel area of Posterior. Nigra grew angry and jealous that he was not the first choice and set out to kill his master Zona Incerta, and his favourite apprentice, Corona Radiata.
He returns to Ranvier where he sees a blind Zona Incerta, who senses his presence. He explains that he ceased training early with Nigra because he needed to inform the Council of his intentions to take Posterior. Substantia Nigra tries harnessing his White Matter, but it turns Black as the night. Zona Incerta senses this but is overwhelmed by Nigra’s power due to his weakened state from building a monument and starvation. He is killed in 72FB.
Since this time, Globus Palladis had taken over as Vizier of the Cortex. After reading about Zona Incerta’s discovery, he sent Substantia Nigra, with the Superior Colliculi forces to Metathalamus to assist Corona Radiata. This marked the beginning of The Battle Of Striatum. The Superior Colliculi forces were well outnumbered as the Red Nuclei rebellion had grown in numbers due to its growing influence on the Eastern side of Myelin. The Superior Colliculi forces were losing quickly in a long, bloody battle. Substantia Nigra aided the soldiers to the best of his ability, until their army was eventually defeated after 6 brutal days of battle. Meanwhile, news spread about Corona Radiata’s surrender at Posterior, and Substantia Nigra lost his faith in The Council of Willis. He relinquished his alliance and faith with the Superior Colliculi, and the Council of Willis and began to assist Red Nuclei forces with the location of future Superior Colliculi battle advantage points. It was not too long before the Superior Colliculi forces were completely wiped out. Corona Radiata escaped from battle and fled back to the Circle of Willis to deliver the message. It was around this time, that Cerebellum was born (73FB).
Red Nuclei forces were starting to go on the offensive, and claimed many cities on the far Western side of the Circle of Willis, causing the Circle of regions to dissociate. It wasn’t until the execution of Globus Pallidus, Lamina III and the other leaders of the Circle of Willis in 83FB that The Circle of Willis lost its power over the land of Myelin, and one small region remained which was now referred to as Willis. Substantia Nigra, now the leader of the Red Nuclei, entered the Council of Willis and single handedly tortured, mutilated and executed Globus Pallidus in front of the Then Circle of Willis. Lamina III tried to flee to Ranvier but was shot upon his escape several days later.
Red Nuclei forces pushed the Willis supporters out, and were willing to kill any dissenters. Corona Radiata protected the Willis rebellion, and would constantly go from city to city to protect travelers who came under attack from Red Nuclei forces. He trained the children who lived in Willis, to build up an army of supporters. And eventually their numbers grew once the knowledge of their intentions spread throughout the land. His army would regularly visit neighbouring cities that were once a part of the Circle of Willis and defend them from Red Nuclei forces. Their support grew in numbers, due to the increasing oppression of citizens by Red Nuclei forces and figures of power.
After raiding several villages nearby, and destroying Government monuments and buildings, Corona Radiata noticed one of the soldiers writing a diary. Since most of the history of the Circle of Willis was destroyed by Red Nuclei forces as a part of their censorship laws, most information of the history of Myelin had been preserved in Ranvier, which was untouched by Red Nuclei forces. However, this soldier was writing out ways to create order amongst the regions, and create a new Circle of Willis. Corona Radiata was much impressed with the work the soldier had written, and invited him to Ranvier (which was only a place that those of high stature could ever go) to read over the history. Once there, they engaged over political and moral debates. Since most people born since the oppression of Willis by the Red Nuclei army were not given names, Corona Radiata named the soldier Cerebellum, due to his likeness to the views and moral ideologies of Cerebrum. He promoted Cerebellum to General of his armies, and began to train him secretly in Ranvier, teaching him the techniques that Zona Incerta had taught him previously. Making him an Apprentice Node of Ranvier.
After 10 years, 93FB, when the Willis Rebellion grew in numbers, Cerebellum and Corona Radiata would go out together and take even larger regions with their army, and started to have an influence on the land of Myelin. This prompted Substantia Nigra to join his army in defense of the region of Tentorium. This marked the battle of Tentorium, which resulted in a one on one battle between Corona Radiata and Substantia Nigra, after both groups of soldiers were completely wiped out. Corona Radiata had told Cerebellum that he was far too young to aid him in battle and needed to protect the region of Ranvier and the people of Willis and preserve the history of Myelin. Though Cerebellum did not originally accept this, he finally gave in and stayed back.
The battle between Corona Radiata and Substantia Nigra was bloody and fierce and lasted three days. Both fighters were exhausted. However, Corona Radiata soon succumbed to his exhaustion and was defeated. Substantia Nigra had extracted his revenge on Zona Incerta by defeating his rival. However, the battle had a huge toll on his influence, as it took him several months to recover from the battle, and Red Nuclei forces were losing power due to the soldiers under Cerebellum’s command.
Cerebellum officially became a Node of Ranvier, the ultimate protector of Myelin. The rebellion began to gain strong influences from the land of Myelin and many regions joined their cause. This resulted in the formulation of the People’s Sociocracy of the Circle of Willis in 113FB. Regions started to build up a strong economy free from censorship and oppression. Cerebellum became President and formed his own Council from notable scholars and philosophers whom he freely let access the archives in Ranvier. He appointed the young scholar, Fornix, as Minister for Defense, young philosopher Corpus as Chancellor, and young philosopher Pons as treasurer.
One of these scholars was named Medulla Oblongata, who was only 9 years old. Fascinated by the history of how the scriptures of the Circle of Willis came to be, he caught the attention of Cerebellum upon presentation of political ideology proposals to the council. Because of his very young age, Medulla Oblongata was often ostracized by his peers, despite his unparalleled wisdom. Cerebellum came under the impression that he was a member of the ancient Royal Lord Embryo bloodline, which was still thought to exist according to the Nodial scriptures. Cerebellum immediately took Medulla Oblongata under his wing, and trained him as his apprentice Node of Ranvier.
During his training, Cerebellum noticed that whilst Medulla was harnessing his matter to source his power, he had problems controlling it, and would often let the matter get the better of him. As he aged, and his training became more physical, it was soon found, due to a deep wound caused by training, that Black Matter flowed through his veins, and not White Matter, meaning that he was plagued with a heart of evil. At first, Cerebellum was going to kill his apprentice, but his contribution to the broadening of the People’s Sociocracy in battles was invaluable. The soldiers he lead into battle would constantly return victorious. Cerebellum eventually concluded that it was the jealousy that Substantia Nigra had for Corona Radiata as the true Node of Ranvier that caused him to follow the black matter and revolt against the Circle of Willis. So, to keep the Black Matter dormant in his system, he promoted Medulla Oblongata to Node of Ranvier under the new order of the council, giving him full control of the Node Army, at age 21.
He bravely lead the army into battle against the Red Nuclei, and helped them claim regions they were not able to conquer previously, such as Tentorium, and Posterior. The Circle started to claim its status over the entire region of Myelin, as the Red Nucleus began to lose influence. However, in the Battle of Basal Ganglia, Medulla Oblongata came face to face with the Red Nuclei leader, Substantia Nigra, who was replicating more powerful techniques that Medulla Oblongata had learned. After being defeated in battle, Medulla Oblongata fled to the caves of Cuneus, where he meditated for a number of years. It was there, he found an ancient scripture that was omitted from the Ranvier archives about the original Circle of Willis’ unsupported and publically shamed decision to step in and take sides in the ancient civil war.
Medulla Oblongata took the scripture back to Ranvier and categorized it, and in doing so, studied Zona Incerta’s manipulation of matter scriptures, in an effort to make himself more powerful. In doing so, he learned of the shaming of an un-named student as Node of Ranvier due to his Black Matter content. Realising that he too had black matter pumping through his veins, he ventured to Striatum to find out methods make himself more powerful to defeat Substantia Nigra and the Red Nucleus army and bring peace to the land of Myelin.
He became so obsessed with the scriptures he found, that he craved more power, and learned to embrace his Black Matter emotions, such as anger and hatred and jealousy to make himself more powerful – something that White Matter people are not able to do (leading to the general assumption they are always going to be weaker).
After being away for 15 years, Medulla Oblongata requested for more training sessions with Cerebellum. While they sparred, Cerebellum noticed a large power increase and asked how he managed to increase his power. Medulla Oblongata lied and told him that it was from battling numerous foes and spreading the word of the Circle to those throughout Myelin, and meditation. Medulla Oblongata continued to lead his soldiers into battle and eventually the stranglehold that Red Nucleus had on the land of Myelin had started to subside with the capture of Substantia Nigra at the hands of the Node Army.
Substantia Nigra was imprisoned at Precuneus. However, upon his capture, Medulla Oblongata noticed that Substantia Nigra was the un-named student that was shamed for harnessing black matter. Medulla Oblongata secretly paid frequent visits to Substantia Nigra to learn how to harness Black Matter to its full potential. In return, Substantia Nigra asked Medulla Oblongata to smuggle cryptic messages out to Anonymous Red Nucleus members. When Substantia Nigra taught Medulla Oblongata everything he knew, he asked him to spare his life, to which he ignored and proceeded to torture him and disembowel him.
Cerebellum found out about Medulla Oblongata’s regular visits, and he questioned him about it. To which Medulla Oblongata asked about how he can completely wipe out the East Myelin and thus the Red Nucleus supporters by genocide. Cerebellum was against this, and there was a large fissure in the friendship between the two. Medulla explained to Cerebellum that learning all the new powers from Substantia Nigra has made him stronger than Cerebellum and anyone from the Red Nucleus Army.
Medulla Oblongata lead the Node Army through many bloody battles and eventually controlled most of the Eastern side of Myelin. The most notable of these battles, was the Battle of Meninges Forest where, against the wishes of Cerebellum, Medulla Oblongata burned most of the forest down to outflank the Red Nuclei soldiers training in the hidden barracks there. In the process, he killed most of his own army, who had been losing due to the Red Nuclei’s guerilla tactics. President Cerebellum was so enraged about this that he removed the title of Node of Ranvier from Medulla Oblongata and appointed Brodmann as his replacement. On Medulla’s return to the Circle of Willis, he was greeted by Brodmann who told him that he was no longer the Node of Ranvier. Medulla Oblongata became enraged and killed him – making Brodmann the shortest official serving Node Of Ranvier in existence, 2 days.
With news of Brodmann’s death getting to Cerebellum, he immediately issued a warrant for Medulla Oblongata’s arrest, due to war crimes. The entire region of Myelin heard of Medulla Oblongata’s rogue status and the Eastern Myelin areas and the crumbling Red Nucleus army offered their support to Medulla Oblongata. Medulla Oblongata accepted their proposal and formed his own army called the Olivary Body. This was unbeknown at the time to Cerebellum.
After 10 years, settlements were being over run in the East, and soon the entire Eastern region of Myelin was under the authority of the Red Nucleus (which was now known as the Olivary Body). Cerebellum and the rest of the Council feared that Medulla Oblongata had joined the rebels.
One day, Medulla Oblongata walked directly into the Council of Willis chambers during debate, and attacked each of the members. Cerebellum, Fornix, Corpus and Pons came down and engaged him in a duel. However, most of the council members were not trained in the art of matter manipulation, and were easily beaten by Medulla Oblongata. Cerebellum and Fornix battled Medulla, but Medulla’s manipulation of Black Matter was far too strong for the two. In the battle, the Council chamber was destroyed and most of the region around the area was severely damaged. In order to protect the residents in the area, Fornix and Cerebellum lead Medulla Oblongata to the remaining area of the Meninges Forest, where they battled. Eventually Fornix was defeated, and Cerebellum was too weak to beat Medulla Oblongata. With his last ounce of strength, Cerebellum aimed to separate the East and West regions of Myelin for good, to end all wars, by manipulating the black matter to create a large gap between the two – called the Lateral Fissure – where between the two areas, there was space called The Subarachnoid Space. In doing this, Medulla Oblongata stayed on the East side, while Cerebellum stayed on the West. No one would be able to cross the Chiasm to get to either side. Fornix then created a protective Sheath called The Myelin Sheath to protect the citizens of the West if anyone ever did cross the Chiasm. As soon as this occurred, the land of Myelin entered a new Age.
In 1HB, Cerebellum began to rebuild society and train a Node of Ranvier. He selected Cerebellar Vermis and commenced training him. The council decided that it was in their best interest to return to their Empire style of Government – to create a greater religion influenced land. Cerebellum appointed himself Grand Vizier to the Emperor of the Cortex, with Fornix as Grand Seer and Corpus as Supreme Prophet. Pons became the Minister for Sphericity and Cerebellar Vermis became the Minister for Power. However, the Circle of Willis was crippled with a poor economy due to trading between East and West being cut off. The region struggled for 25 years with a weak economy.
Meanwhile, Medulla Oblongata created the Medullary Pyramids in Metathalamus, which became a source of his power. The people who lived on the East were heavily oppressed, but were economically strong, due to their reliance on technology. From the power source by the Pyramids, Medulla Oblongata was able to travel to the West side of Myelin by one of Four Ventricles. Originally these were created as waypoints by the Superior Colliculi to mount a fast counterattack at Metathalamus. However, the fourth ventricle lead to Subarachnoid Space. Medulla Oblongata searched for the remaining three ventricles.
Cerebellum prayed to Cerebrum for a economic breakthrough. And because of their newly founded return to belief, they were rewarded with a mining economy. The Circle of Willis were then able to trade between neutral cities. Though this was barely significant, but allowed them to last 20 years. With an increasing reliance on hygiene, people in the Circle of Willis were able to live far longer than ever, with people who were able to harness White Power more effectively living the longest due to the force behind the matter protecting internal organs from deteriorating with age.
Cerebellar Vermis became a Node of Ranvier and began to train an apprentice, so that he could focus on his Council place. After 25 years, he began to train a young soldier by the name of Axon Hillock, who was picked from a young Nodial army barracks. Axon Hillock had a unique ability to harness his power to create electrical jolts.
During this time, on the Eastern side of Myelin, Medulla Oblongata was trying to find a Ventricle to pass over to the West side of Myelin. In his journey, he came across a nomad by the name of Kurtosis, who was obsessed with the booming of technology, and studied a way to cross the Lateral Fissure by way of creating an Optic Chiasm with a certain technological device he called The Golgi Apparatus. He explained to Medulla Oblongata that if he crossed this way, he would be able to keep his power, instead of transforming into liquid to pass through the ventricle. For him to pass through with the Golgi Apparatus, he must have one built on each side, like a transporter. Medulla Oblongata had a mission for Kurtosis, and allowed him to pass through the Third Ventricle to generate economy for the Western side of Myelin by sharing the technology there as a front for creating a Golgi Apparatus.
Kurtosis created ANOVA corporation on the outskirts of the Circle of Willis, and shared great technological advancements with their Neutral regions in the area. Cerebellum found out about this and stated that technological advancements would create trouble within the region. Kurtosis agreed to keep the technology out of the Circle of Willis regions, but said he would help the Circle generate a stronger economy by trading to various Neutral cities.
The Circle of Willis became extremely prosperous and Kurtosis was regularly regarded as the Messiah and the Saviour amongst the citizens. He was rewarded with a place on the Council.
As Kurtosis started becoming trusted amongst the Circle. Medulla Oblongata had found the First and Second Ventricle. Because he can only pass through them once only, he figured he could pass through the first, check and see if Kurtosis was fulfilling his mission, and exit via the second ventricle. He decided to commence work on the Golgi Apparatus just in case something went wrong and he was stuck in the West of Myelin without power.
After 20 years, Axon Hillock became a Node of Ranvier. Kurtosis had started to create the Golgi Apparatus. Medulla Oblongata passed through the first Ventricle and mated with a female in one of the Neutral cities, impregnating her. He then visited ANOVA corp to witness Kurtosis’ progress. He then returned to Metathalamus through the second ventricle.
Zacheus and Matthias were born in 91HB.This is the start of Book One in the Lord of the Willis Trilogy entitled: The Dark Prince. Coming Soon.
