Dory's Short Stories

Selim the Grim (The Absolute Sultan) Long before he became feared as the Grim , Selim I was a prince forged in tension, suspicion, and ambition. He was born into the vast and glittering machinery of the Ottoman Empire , a state already immense, already powerful, yet constantly threatened from rivals abroad and from sons within. Selim was not the favored heir. His father, Bayezid II , preferred peace to conquest and diplomacy to bloodshed. Among Selim’s brothers, especially the charismatic Ahmed, there were those considered more suitable for rule, more agreeable, and more pliable. Selim was neither. Appointed governor of Trabzon on the empire’s distant Black Sea frontier, he grew into a hardened commander. There, he fought not only external enemies but learned a harsher lesson: survival within the Ottoman dynasty was not inherited, it was seized. News from the capital carried whispers of succession. Selim listened..and prepared.  By the early 16th century, the Ottoman cou...

The Man the Forest Could Not Take The winter of 1794 came down hard on the frontier colder, meaner, and more deliberate than any living memory. The forests beyond the scattered settlements of the American wilderness stretched endlessly, a cathedral of black trees and white silence where survival was not a skill, but a defiance.  And in that wilderness walked Elias Crowe. He was a large man in the way iron is large not soft, not excessive, but forged. His shoulders were broad beneath a worn buckskin coat, his beard thick with frost, his hands scarred into permanence. He carried a long rifle across his back, a hatchet at his hip, and the quiet reputation of a man who had outlived too many things.  Elias did not wander the woods. He endured them. He had come north alone, tracking something, though whether it was fur, fortune, or the simple need to outrun the past, no one in the settlements could say. He spoke little, traded fairly, and disappeared as soon as the ground froze...

The Era of Good Feelings In the years following the War of 1812, the United States entered what newspapers, politicians, and hopeful citizens alike called the Era of Good Feelings . It was a time most closely associated with the presidency of James Monroe, whose calm demeanor and national tours seemed to soothe a country long accustomed to division. Political parties weakened and the economy boomed. Sectional disputes, though not gone, softened beneath the optimism of expansion. Roads stretched westward, towns rose along rivers, and commerce flourished with a confidence that felt, to many, like destiny fulfilled. It was an age of beginnings: the beginning of industry, of unity, of belief. No one fought over race, or gender, or sexuality, everyone knew their place and all put themselves first as Americans and excluded those they thought were not or cannot be one. The Market Revolution was at its height, and the identity of an American identity and culture was being formed. And like all ...

 Political Wars Year: 2040 The world has fractured beyond repair. Years of extreme political polarization have erupted into global conflict. The traditional concept of politically diverse different nations have dissolved, replaced by an ideological state. Countries now openly declare allegiance to either Global Liberalism or Global Conservatism, shaping their entire societies around these ideologies. The Liberal States: The United States, Canada, Western Europe, and parts of Oceania have declared themselves "Liberal Republics." They pass laws mandating liberalism as the supreme ideology. Citizens are required to pledge allegiance to progressive values such as diversity, equality, and social justice. Dissenters labeled as "reactionaries" face public shaming, exile, or even execution under the guise of "protecting democracy." The Conservative States: Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia unite under the banner of "Conservative Natio...