Chapter 43

“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” - Vincent Van Gogh

0945 hours, local time
Saturday, 21 February, 2015
Bee Branch Creek
Dubuque, Iowa

“I now baptize you in the name of the true God, the King of Heaven, as members of the Havenite faith and founding members of the Havenite congregation here in Dubuque. As Prophet of the true God, I hereby ordain you, Casper Novak, as the new leader of the First Havenite Church of Dubuque, Iowa, and as a priest and elder of Havenism. I ordain you, Marlene Novak, Andrea Mercer, Olivia Pesto, and Natasha Michaud as priestesses and elders of said faith and church. You shall be the deputy leaders of this congregation, as well as the wives of Brother Casper here. Are you ready to take vows to him as his brides?” Charles declared after baptizing the first converts in the nude in the admittedly chilly creek.

“We are,” they declared in unison, feeling considerable enthusiasm for such a prospect.

“Do you, Casper, take these women, Marlene, Andrea, Olivia, Natasha, Amanda, Brenda, Jessamine, Lisa, Rosio, Tracy, and Wanda to be your lawfully wedded wives, to have and to hold from this day forward, to love, cherish, and protect, for better or for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” Charles asked Mr. Novak, who was quite thrilled to take his first plural wives, though there was a decent chance of more in the future.

“I do,” Casper beamed now with pride at taking so many lovely brides.

“Do you ladies take this man, Casper, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, to love, honor, and obey, for better or for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” Charles now asked the ladies.

“We do,” Marlene spoke for the group, who all smiled and nodded in assent, pleased at the notion of becoming plural wives for the new patriarch of this restructured community.

Things were rapidly changing already in this town, especially after the previous day’s orgies, both at school and in the Novak residence. Those who had participated, both students and teachers, as well as the visitors who guided them, had bonded in an undeniable way. Their fluid-bonding was the perfect symbol of this special connection that they retained among them. So was the obvious fact that all of the ladies and futanari were pregnant by multiple partners by now. These families would be linked by this reality and bound together in an unbreakable union, forming the nucleus of the new communal order.

As Charles lay hands upon the newly ordained leaders of this first Havenite church in the area, they all sensed that this was indeed history being made and they would be the founders of a new kind of community in their part of the former Hawkeye State. In a state deeply divided between the two main power centers of Davenport and Des Moines, both locked into a very tense truce at the moment, this third force could well tilt the balance in the place. This new introduction of a different faction likely would disturb the bosses in both city-states, but so be it. Their absurd civil war had threatened the recovery of the state from the disasters inflicted by Fireball Day.

“The strengthening and unifying power of our cause will certainly make us a stronger force to reckon with, I would imagine. The folks in both Davenport and Des Moines will have to sit up and take notice. They might possibly try to crush us, but if they do so, we will be ready for them, I assure you,” Casper reassured Charles and the others.

By now, Novak felt considerable resolve to protect his community, one now under his auspices as the leader of the church as well as the emerging chief public figure in town. The local militia would be reorganized with more discipline, it would be inspired by the rising new faith called Havenism that displaced the previous sects in the community, and it would have plenty of motivation and morale to fight back against any invaders. If the Davenport or Des Moines forces sought to crush him and the local Havenites, they might well bite off more than they could chew.

“It’s a very dangerous world, so yes, it’s best to organize and prepare. Just look at the constant upheaval in Illinois and Indiana among the factions that have emerged there, or for that matter, the border skirmishes continuing to heat up between the various forces in Nebraska and the growing menace of Russell Rao in Topeka, Kansas? Just look at how messy things have become in Wisconsin between the Masonic and Anti-Masonic forces, though the former now have the Kenosha community as their trump card.

“Hell, just look at the fighting between Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. They face a common foe in Brother Antoine in Ontario and Quebec, but they are still bitterly divided in the face of this threat. There is also the growing tension between western Pennsylvania and its nascent commonwealth against its coalition partners in Harrisburg, notably the Philadelphia-based association dominated by the Mafia-state of New Jersey. That’s just in North America, of course.