One Nation, Under Jupiter

JANUARY 16, 2766

With his blonde hair and unnaturally pale skin, it's plain to tell Gottlieb Donnersohn is an immigrant. Inside his home, though, I'm the one who felt like an outsider. Gothic decorum hung upon the wooden walls, giving the impression I was deep in barbarian country. Gottlieb's pride for his Germanic heritage pervades nearly every aspect of his life, including matters of the gods.

Even the man's appearance has taken heavy influence from his ancestors. With his intimidating build and enormous, ragged beard, he wouldn't look out of place among the horde of Goths that brought about the death of the old Rome so long ago. You wouldn't expect a man in his sixties to look so fearsome. My right hand was hovering close to my pistol, out of instinct.

The strange white foreigner took a glass, bringing it to a barrel sitting in his kitchen. A curious golden liquid bearing an uncomfortable resemblance to piss started pouring out. Once the glass was full, the top frothing with a fine layer of foam, he offered it to me.

"What is it?" I asked, hesitantly grabbing the mug.

"Beer," he answered in his goofy thick accent. I looked down at the barbarian's excuse for wine with a grimace, then looked back up. I smiled at Gottlieb, raised the glass, and took a sip.

I imagine the majority of those reading this have never tried the foreign delicacy known as beer before, and I suggest you keep it that way. It's horribly bitter, like someone took a dry wine, stripped it of its flavor, and watered it down as much as they could. Even long after I swallowed it, the foul taste lingered in my mouth. I passed the glass to Servius.

"Don't like it?" Gottlieb asked, shooting me a questionable look.

"Oh, no, it's fine," I assured him. "I just shouldn't drink while I'm working. It's not professional, you know. Anyway..." I motioned to Servius, who had already finished half of the beer. He started recording, then continued to drink. "I was wondering if you could give me an immigrant's perspective on Roman religion."

"Aye, that's an easy one," he said, crossing his arms. "They hate our culture. That's why they force everyone to go along with theirs. I knew all about the gods back in Germania. Thor, Odin, Tyr...I honored the Aesir like any good believer should. Gave offerings at the sacred oaks and everything. Then came Ragnarok."

"Ragna-what?" I asked.

"Long ago, prophets warned of Ragnarok, the war where the gods would die and the world would come to an end, consumed by fire." His eyes sunk. "I saw Ragnarok, as just a little boy. I saw the gods' shrines destroyed, men being killed by their brothers."

"You're talking about the war in Europe, aren't you?" We Romans mostly focus on the Chinese front of the war, but what had happened in Europe was a story in itself. The Chinese were tricky bastards back then, getting Europe's Norsemen to adopt their socialist ways. Soon those that followed the true gods and government were fighting back, Olympus against Asgard.

"Afterwards, you couldn't even say you believed in the Aesir!" Gottlieb slammed his fist against the nearest table. "They wanted to send us all to Russia, far away from them. The gods died that day."

"But the world didn't end during the war."

"Try telling that to Nanking." Gottlieb looked at the statue of Odin to his right. The Allfather was giving me a death glare with his one good eye. In his hands was Mercury's caduceus, snapped in two, one of the snakes crushed beneath Odin's feet. "My parents decided if we must leave home, we wouldn't freeze to death too. So we ended up here, in Nova Roma."

"I was just a child when we arrived in New Antioch," he continued. "I didn't really understand how different things were in this country. The other kids stared at me in school. They'd never seen a white person before, I guess. I saved the real problems for my parents. It wasn't like what happened back home in Germania. Here we were still free to worship the gods, they told me. We must simply use different names. Thor is now Jupiter. Tyr is now Mars. Odin is now Mercury."