Hello! Welcome Back to the Archives of Fabella daily. The only podcast that gives you a peek into the history of a magical world. Today is March 24th, equal to Aries 4th. Books are available on Amazon. Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts and hit that subscribe button for more great stories right in your feed.
March 1742 saw Denmark conclude a treaty of friendship with France, a day after the expiration of its 1739 treaty with Great Britain, and the Verendrye brothers take possession of South Dakota in the name of the King of France.
But in the magical world of Fabella, amidst a revolution against an international superpower, the smallest member of a village caused her entire town to vanish.
I’m Dillon Foley, and this is Archives of Fabella.
Beyond our world, there is love
Beyond our world, there is war
Beyond our world, there is life
Beyond our world, there is Fabella.
Aries 4th, 5742 FY Fabella Year equal to March 24th, 1742 AD Earth Year
Fabella is the same size as Earth. If you were to lay a map of Earth over this wonderful mystic world, the country of Canada would fall directly over the nation of Laxaria. Laxaria was known for importing lumber and ore throughout Fabella. But the large nation of the great white north’s greatest claim to fame in history took place as they were fighting for their Independence.
Days after rebel colonists in the northwestern country of Laxaria took up arms against the Sheba Union in the Laxarian Revolution in the year 5742, the tiny hamlet of Fefferton was suddenly and ruthlessly attacked by the ruthless Sheban airforce.
Colonial air forces in Fabella were made up entirely of flying mounts like dragons, pegasuses, perytons, and griffins. It was the preferred mode for waging large-scale war, and the military-run by the devious Sheban Union has the largest air force of the period to induce dread and fear in rebel towns across the world.
Fefferton was a small village homestead community for a modest amount of Laxarian rebels. The message sent by the Sheba Union was abundantly clear. Fefferton was a warning; more towns might be burned to ash if the colonists don’t give up the rebellion and retreat.
Colonial villages all over Laxaria were in fear for their lives. Many male folk have gone off to fight, leaving these towns populated by mothers and their children. Citizens in the Laxarian town of Chesterburg believe that they may be attacked next and figure out a way to defend themselves. Not many of them know magic, leaving them grossly unprepared should an assault on the town be launched by the rival Sheba Union.
Entic witch, Ella Penner, volunteered to take up the challenge of protecting Chesterburg. Her valiant efforts were laughed off by much of the populace. As with all entics, Ella was a small — bug-like — 3ft nothing, blue-skinned, halfling with a pair of glowing antenna. She only escaped slavery due to her talent for magic. The entire town regarded her as nothing more than an insignificant little bug. Despite how the town reviled her, good Ella was a student of the gospel and knew that she must step up and use her power to preserve her home because it was the right thing to do.
The task set before Ella was daunting, to say the least. With Sheban air forces capable of raining hellfire down on Chesterburg, the only way to really protect the town would be to hide it. How could she hide an entire town, though?
Her first thought was to brew a potion. After months of hard work, she created a unique type of invisibility potion that rendered an object soaked in the solution completely invisible. However, the solution was poisonous when ingested by living things and remarkably toxic when it came in contact with the skin of vermin she’d been using for her experimentation.
Late at night on Aries 4th, when Ella reached into a cage to retrieve a rat, the animal bit her on the finger. Ella reeled back from the bite so much that she knocked over the cauldron containing the invisibility potion, spilling the contents all over a blanket.
As with all the other objects Ella had soaked in the invisibility potion, the blanket became invisible. Then an idea began to take shape. She soaked her bedsheets in the invisibility potion. Once dry, she used a set of poles to suspend the bedsheets directly over her little cottage. Lo and behold, the bedsheets rendered her cottage completely invisible. Anybody flying above only saw a patch of green grass.
Ella Penner had just invented invisible material.
In its raw early state, the invisibility potion caused the fabric to degrade after three days. Holes would form in the sheets exposing the hidden cottages and people underneath. Still, it was better than nothing, which was a major achievement in the history of magic.
It took Ella time to convince the townsfolk of Chesterburg to erect what basically amounted to a tent over the entire village. But after the Sheba Union military attacked another Laxarian town, the people of Chesterburg had no other option. It was do or die.
All around the town, mothers grabbed all the bedsheets, blankets, tarp, and animal hide they could muster. Some even went so far as to tear off their skirts and wear their husband’s pants or knickers for bottoms so they could use the dress fabric to protect their home.
Ella led her neighbors in soaking their sheets and linen in the invisibility potion. A blanket fort of sorts covered the town just in time for the Sheban Union air force to appear on the horizon. Everyone huddled under the invisible material over their homes with their families holding their breath.
The Sheba Union air force passed directly over Chesterburg on their airships and flying mounts to everyone’s tremendous shock and relief. The village was saved.
As soon as she could, Ella sent word to the Laxarian rebel troops by fairy post. The invisibility potion was used to soak clothing and objects, leading to invisibility cloaks that were adopted by the Laxarian military for use in the revolution. Ella Penner’s invisibility potion was credited with helping the Laxarians win their independence from the Sheba Union. Ella Penner used the acclaim from her work to advocate for the abolishment of slavery. By the time she died, slavery in Laxaria had been formally abolished.
Ella Penner was hailed as a celebrated heroine by the entic people and halfling communities worldwide, with her birthday becoming a national holiday.
That’s going to do it for us today. Tune in tomorrow to learn how a fairy spy contributed to the greatest defeat Fabella ever suffered. Subscribe now to get more new episodes right in your feed. Rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send your questions to archivesoffabella@gmail.com.
Archives of Fabella is created, produced, and hosted by Dillon Foley with music by Garret Ferris and Audioblocks. Books are available on Amazon in ebook and paperback, as always, “Look outside of what is possible and think about what might be.”