The Propaganda Doll

Found in the Shaping House, the children’s house where young Netherese cadets were prepared before they were old enough to attend the academy. The doll was a teaching tool — or something the Empire would have called a teaching tool.

It is a small mage figure, robed, with one detail that does not register immediately: its right arm ends at the wrist. There is nothing below it. This is not damage. This was always how it was made.

When held, it speaks — six phrases, in Netherese. Alina translated them.

The Six Phrases

The first five are in the same voice: a father’s voice, warm, addressed to a small child. He believed what he was saying.

1. “You were chosen, little one. The Academy sees in you what I have always seen. You are not like the others.”

2. “When the time comes to give your gift, do not be afraid. Every great mage of Irenthal has stood where you will stand. They were not afraid either.”

3. “Your right hand will open doors that no key can unlock. This is the oldest magic. This is what you were born to do.”

4. “Irenthal endures because its children are willing. One day you will look up and see the city in the sky, and you will know — you helped hold it there.”

5. “Your father is proud. He has always been proud. When your lesson is complete, come home and show me what you have become.”

The sixth phrase is different. Different voice. Shorter.

6. “Don’t forget your mother.”

Notes

The doll was designed for children who had not yet chosen anything — who would not be given the chance to choose. The five phrases shaped what the choice would feel like when it came. By the time a child in the Shaping House was old enough to understand what the academy wanted from them, they had heard these words hundreds of times in a voice that loved them.

Phrase five ends with come home. The children who heard it did not come home. They went with the city.

The sixth phrase was not part of the Empire’s design.