Nate entered his apartment without much fanfare. he hadn't expected anyone to plan a welcome back surprise party but it would've been nice.

As he entered the room he noticed that it looked like someone had been here not long ago. But he was sure it wasn't him.

His bed, once orderly and neatly cleaned had been tossed around left and right. His cabinet of foodstuff and the like had been torn open with reckless abandon. Thankfully it looked like the food hadn't gone bad, but that also meant it was likely recent.

An idea that Nate didn't like one bit. His closet was opened open, well more like torn up. It looked like someone had bashed the door in and looked through his belongings. He checked the closet to see if anything was taken. But it looked like nothing was missing.

What was once a strange robbing of his house now looked more like a violent visit? But that left the question of who could have gotten inside his room? And why they had done such damage.

Nate continued to look around his apartment but found no other clues. Looks like they had torn apart his plant collection. Which meant experimenting was going to take a back seat. Thankfully it had seemed they hadn't done anything to his set of already harvested materials.

Nate counted around two dozen pounds of steel, around half a pound of industrial silver. And some other quantities of material that were barely even a tenth of a pound.

"Looks like I won't be solving this mystery any time soon. Guess I should talk with the neighbors tomorrow to see if they noticed anything strange." Nate said as he looked at his apartment. Due to him being an engineer he had repaired some of the more damaged parts of his apartment.

Fixing the closet door along with the cabinet. Cleaning his bed up. And generally fixing up his room to be at least presentable.

It took several hours, by which the crisp morning had disappeared into a comfortable afternoon. Nate looked out the window of his apartment. Smiling at the pointed and domed rooftops that made up Roman Architecture.

He watched as a train slowly moved along the edge of his sight. Slowly marching to a stop before disgorging its passengers. Which was a colorful blend of Vat-Born with masterful skin tones and patterns. Truly making use of the possibility of humanity.

Nate was saddened by his inability to look further into the crowd. Not only were living areas hard to fin near the station they were also way too far from any place that would hire him. Maybe as a repairman for a train but he doubted he could modify the engine to any real degree.

That was when he touched his face. Feeling the cold metal that now made up his face. A metal mask of unfamiliar patterns and feelings. Of cold progress, but also a reminder that he had survived. And that the mask was primarily responsible.

It also reminded him of the fact that this particular mask was an Augment.

And all mask Augments were created with vision enhancement.

With a click as Nate activated the mechanisms of the mask. The two glass contacts that he saw through twisted and turned over and over again. Bending light at natural and even disturbing angles in seconds. Within seconds Nate could make out the faces of the many men and women who made up the once colorful blob.

He noticed bruised and battered men with and green skin and hair.

He noticed wolves and sheep among regular men, most of the time literally.

He noticed massive natural beasts that seemed to be created for no other reason than that they could be created.

He noticed other beasts that he had seen in his childhood, short as it was.

Nate smiled at the vast area of colorful characters that made up the crowd, in a dozen men you could easily find stories and appearances, scars, and books. That retold the laws, histories, and myths of a dozen lands.

As he looked at the crowd, he noticed two people in particular. It wasn't their appearance that made him take notice of them. There were enough colorful rainbows in the city alone that could last a lifetime. No, he saw one man and one woman.

Both looked almost exactly like a normal Birthed. Though he noticed some skin patterns that hinted at a Vat-Born heritage. So they most likely were of mixed blood.

Which was interesting, to say the least. While many more mixed-bloods had been present during the beginning of the century. With ever-rising tensions between Birthed and Vat-Born. They had slowly started to grow smaller and smaller.

As less romantic relationships began to form between the two groups. That, along with frequent attacks by Vat-Born and Birthed extremist groups had forced many of them to leave. As they were considered an abomination by both.

So it was quite rare to see them. Nate suspected their parents were either brave or poor to have stayed in Rome.

Tensions may not have been high as they used to be, but it wasn't unheard of for extremist groups to still commit violent actions.

Nate sighed as he set his mask's enhancement to normal before leaving the window. He had lost his mood for people gazing.

He sat down on a chair with a grunt. These types of things hadn't affected his mood as much lately but with his recent experience, it now affected him a lot more.

He quickly stared off into space, he stood like that for an hour before noticing a paper slip from his pants.

Nate quickly picked it up, all it said was a time and a place with the words 'You're Welcome' on it.

Nate remembered his conversation with Dr.Pemberson before he got out of the hospital and quickly put two and two together. He had a debt to work off, but more importantly, he finally had something to distract himself with.

he quickly put on some formal clothes. Which included a checkered blue shirt with a dark blue tye. A long dark Persian-black pant. A belt, and some nice brown shoes.

It was a bit fancier than what most people had. But it would give him a nice look and a better impression of his employers. Nate quietly hummed to himself a nice tune as he left his apartment and locked the door behind him.

The Cult of Vulcan was once a group dedicated to the work and practice of Vulcan. A masterful smith from the age of the First Roman Empire before its collapse in Italy and The Second Roman Empire. The Cult of Vulcan was originally made up of both Islamic and Jewish smiths that Vulcan had personally taught. This gave the cult a more open mindset than most others. Something that would be ironic later down the line. As the cult grew, so did its influence. Many minor cults were destroyed, their arts lost as The Cult of Vulcan continued to grow. The cult soon began to lose its Islamic and Jewish roots as it developed its own. Soon becoming one of the three major cults of the empire. The Cult would be heavily affected by the splitting of the First Roman Empire. But the cult would not be destroyed, after the splitting, the cult would tie itself heavily to the new government. Becoming almost a de facto political party in its own right. As for the traditions of the cult, all members mark themselves with brands that show their affiliation to the cult. This has been used as an insult by Vat-Born rights activists who have taken to branding themselves as cult members. Which has sparked off nearly a dozen violent altercations between the movement and the cult.

- The History of Vulcan: A journey to the roots of the SRE's greatest political faction- By Robert Shrewder