Of a Life in Nem: when a story has roots

We all know that words have roots, but how often do we really think about them? I never did, until I had to find all of the words that go with the root “nem”, meaning assign, allot, or take. I thought to myself: how in the world will I be able to make these into a story? They don’t seem to go together very well. After reading the definitions over and over, the idea hit me: semi-futuristic society taking place near a university. Then, it would be more feasible to get everything to make sense. I would be able to put some things a bit differently from how things are now, since I’m the creator of that world, everything goes by my rules. If I want them to play a game to settle legal disputes (spoiler), then a game they will play.
(142 words)

Of a Life in Nem

The year was 2143 and the tensions were running high as drones buzzed everywhere. Service droids scuttled around underfoot as the morning started in Nem, a small city in Sapio of about twenty-four thousand inhabitants. Between robots in the sky and those on the ground, no one could walk properly, for all the jumping and ducking around the hunks of whizzing metal. City Keepers, a highly skilled group of workers who had made it their career to keep technological advancement and possession in check, were all around, trying in vain to reach some of the higher drones.

“Great, just great. Another day with people’s inventions getting out of hand,” I thought while looking out the window. A chime made me look down. The title of the article that had popped up on my screen said: “Autonomous Chironomids Fly Into Greek Nome”. Some people should just have their tinker’s license taken away. This was just the latest in a series of articles dealing with the rising number of drones created for fun. I could understand if it happened once, but this amount was truly supernumery. Hearing about the innumerable problems that cropped up made me glad I wasn’t one of the many Keepers that took care of matters like this. To combat the recent destruction of so much technology, websites had begun to appear, asking Nemesis for help against those who had obliterated their drones. These Disciples of Nemesis, as they called themselves, were quite antinomian in their beliefs about the right for anyone to own as many droids as they wanted. The Deuteronomy of The Laws of a Technological Economy stated that drones were limited 5 per person, but the Disciples believed that anyone with the resources should be able to own as many drones as they wanted, and were looking to Nemesis to back them up. There was an idea put forth some time back by the Nomothetic Council of Nem, the ruling body for the province in which I live, that the best way to settle this fairly was to have those interested in the outcome play a game of nim, the nome’s pastime.

The rules of the game were simple: cross off certain lines from the board while leaving others uncrossed, and the person with the last line would lose. Since the Council expected many people to attend, they decided that the nim tournament would be single elimination. For some of the older people, this reminded them of the stories of their great-grandparents of Old America, where they held sports tournament in which the teams would have everything drawn up and all of the first matches would be randomly played based on location, with the following matches based on who won which previous match for their bracket.

There was a post on the nationwide forum as well that enumerated the official rules, ethics, and everything else. It was sad that the Council had to post that, but with the anomie of today, it needed to be clearly defined. There was also a snippet of text in the post about nomology professors studying closer the laws of the Nome of Nem and the beliefs of the Disciples of Nemesis. They found antimony, just as the Disciples wished, and now it was certain that the Tournament of Nim must go on. The winner would receive a nummulite and a certificate for a thousand credits to be spent on their virtual presence device, which was a common enough possession that nearly everyone over the age of twenty, the age of majority, had one. If the winner didn’t have one, they would be awarded one in place of the nummulite, while still keeping the certificate of one thousand credits.

The next feed on the forum was about the Christmastime astronomer’s convention festival being held in the new astronomy wing of the Citadel for Modern Science and Mathematical Studies at –Nomy University. All sorts of things could be studied at –Nomy University as long as the want for knowledge was true, and it would be used for the good of the commonality. That is how the benefactors of the university came up with the name: not because of legacy, but because they wanted for all of the –nomys to be studied there, making it the largest free university in the country of Sapio, a small country just off the coast of what used to be called Greece.

In the next month, there would be a seminar on the merits of Roman numerals, as well as a symposium on the noma epidemic going on beyond the outskirts of the city. The doctors at –Nomy University were optimistic that they were close to a breakthrough, using some sort of nummular patch that healed what was under it. The day after the seminar for roman numerals, there would be an quick presentation to the higher-level math classes, including a review of how to read tautochrones, hyperbolic trigonometry, do math using Mobius strips, and read nomographs.

The next few weeks passed with a blur, the rise and set of the sun the only metronome that marked my days, staying in front of my LiveScreen and watching the progress of the Tournament of Nim. It had only taken 9 days for the nomology professors to reach a decision that concurred with the Council of Nem, so the tournament went ahead. It had taken another 14 days to get through the majority of the nim games since only twenty-seven thousand people had shown up, which was about 15% of the population of Sapio. For most of the previous matches, I was numb to the drama, but once it got into the semi-finals after about twenty-seven thousand previous matches, I was both relieved and excited to see the final matches. These last sets would be of a whole new bracket, double elimination this time, and I was quivering with anticipation at what would happen.

Would it be the Council or the Disciples that won? If the Disciples won, the laws would allow them to possess more drones, as long as they didn’t infringe on other people’s rights to what little privacy still existed after the Dawn of the Lifted Veil, when it was an international decision that everyone went nearly completely transparent, not just people in power. If the Council won, the Disciples would be exiled for thirty years into a nomadic lifestyle, wandering homeless, and being able to barely get by, until they were taken in by another country.

The last match was about to begin and the two contestants, one Disciple and one for the Council’s decision, walked up to each other, put their hands together in the action of namaskar, said “Namaste”, and started to play. This was the hardest game to watch, as it ultimately decided the fate of a group of people, but it was impossible to look away from the nimble fingers and minds playing out the last game of nim of the tournament.

Each of the players had picked up their marker, acknowledged respect for the other side, and was about to start. The signal went off and they started to play, both of them having such a look of concentration on their face as I’d never seen before. After a grueling twenty-six minutes and seventeen seconds, the Council of Nem was announced as official winner of the 137^th Tournament of Nim. I was benumbed, staring in shock at my LiveScreen. I, along with many others, had thought that the Disciples would win. Now, the members of the Council who had participated in the tournament would receive upgrades to their virtual presence devices and a nummulite. From my studio on the thirty-seventh floor of Satis A, the apartment building and complex in which I live, I could hear the mixed sounds of the Council celebrating and of the Disciples protesting their fate. They were given three days to leave Nem, another two days to leave Sapio. This was deemed fair, since most things were virtual, and other people and travel were really the only reasons to stay longer than a half-day, as the bullet train could get someone from Nem to Madrid in twelve hours, and Nem was only 48 kilometers from the border to get out of Sapio.

Overall, the drone cleanup and moderation went well. The Keepers got all droid ownerships cleared up and back to regulation standards. The Council of Nem was nationally recognized by the Emperor JaJar of Sapio, who held a gala a short time later to honor the Lead Director or Nemian Internal Policy, the guy that first came up with the idea to hold the tournament. Time passed, and the Disciples didn’t return, having found a better home in Lichtenstein, where they went after living in Spain for seven months. The Council and the City Keepers kept working together to keep the robot population under control by having obligatory droid and drone registration. This worked for many, many years, and by the end of the reign of JaJar of Sapio, it was determined that rather than have unsavory things like war and bloodshed, it would be part of the policy – foreign and domestic – for the nation that all disputes would be settled by having a Tournament of Nim.

*All bold/underlined words have the root of "nem", below is a table of all the aforementioned words with definition, part of speech, and page number at which it is listed in the American Heritage Dictionary Hardcover 5th edition.*

WORD	PG	POS	DEFINITION
Anomie	74	N	1. Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values. 2. Alienation and purposelessness experienced by a person or a class as a result of a lack of standards, values, or ideals (ex). Anomic – adj.
Antinomian	78	N, Adj	1. (Christianity) A proponent of the doctrine of antinomianism 2. One who denies the fixed meaning or universal applicability of moral law. 1. (Christianity) Of or relating to the doctrine of antinomianism. 2. Opposed to or denying the fixed meaning or universal applicability of moral law (ex). (Antinomianism 1. The doctrine or belief that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil, or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace. 2. The belief that moral laws are relative in meaning and application as opposed to fixed or universal.)
Antinomy	78	N	1. Contradiction or opposition, especially between two laws/rules. 2. A contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable; a paradox.
Astronomer	111	N	One who specializes in astronomy
Astronomy	111	N	1. The scientific study or matter and phenomena in the universe, especially in outer space, especially the positions, dimensions, distribution, motion, composition, energy, and evolution of celestial bodies. 2. A system of knowledge or beliefs about celestial phenomena (ex).
Autonomous	122	Adj	1. Not controlled by others or by outside forces; independent (ex). 2. Independent in mind or judgment; self-directed 3a. Independent of the laws of another state of government; self-governing 3b. Of or relating to a self-governing entity. 3c. Self-governing with respect to local or internal affairs 4. Autonomic
Benumb	169	V	1. To make numb, especially by cold. 2. To render senseless or inactive, as from shock or boredom (ex).
Chironomid	325	N	Midge1 (any of numerous small nonbiting flies of the family Chironomidae, having aquatic larvae, and often forming large swarms near ponds and lakes.  Moving the hands according to the rules of art, pantomimic.
Deuteronomy	495	N	A second law, a book in the Bible
Economy	566	N	1a. Careful, thrifty management of resources, such as money, materials, or labor (ex). 1b. An example or result of such management, a saving. 2a. The system or range of economic activity in a country, region, or community (ex). 2b. A specific type of economic system (ex). 3. An orderly, functional arrangement of parts; an organized system (ex). 4. Efficient, sparing, or conservative use (wrote with an economy of language) 5. The least expensive class of accommodations, especially on a commercial conveyance, such as an airplane. 6. (Theology) The method of God’s government of and activity within the world Adj – economical or inexpensive to buy or use
Enumerate	596	V	1. To count off one by one; list 2. To determine the number of; count, to count out, number
Innumerable	905	Adj	Too numerous to be counted, numberless
Metronome	1109	N	(Music) A device used to mark time by means of regularly recurring ticks or flashes at adjustable intervals.
Namaskar	1169	N	A polite or respectful gesture of greeting or farewell widely used among Hindus and made by pressing the palms together at an upward angle in front of the chest and generally accompanied by a slight bow.
		Interj.	Used to express a polite or respectful greeting or farewell.
Namaste	1169	Interj.	Used especially among Hindus to express a polite or respectful greeting or farewell
Nemesis	1180	N	1. A source of harm or ruin (ex). 2. Retributive justice in its execution or outcome (ex). 3. An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome. 4. One that inflicts retribution or vengeance. 5. (Gr Mythology) The goddess of retributive justice or vengeance
Nim	1192	N	A game in which players in turn remove small objects from a collection, such as matchsticks arranged in rows, and attempt to avoid taking the last one.
Nimble	1192	Adj	1. Quick, light, or agile in movement or action; deft (ex). 2. Quick, clever, and acute in devising or understanding (ex).
Noma	1197	N	A severe, often gangrenous inflammation of the lips an cheek or of the female genitals that often occurs following and infectious disease and is found most often in children who are malnourished or have poor hygiene.
Nomad	1197	N	1. A member of a group of people who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land. 2. A person with no fixed residence who roams about; a wanderer.
Nome	1197	N	1. A province of Pharaonic, Hellenistic, and Roman Egypt. 2. A nomarchy (any of the administrative provinces of modern Greece).
Nomograph	1197	N	1. A graph consisting of three coplanar curves, each graduated for a different variable so that a straight line cutting all three curves intersects the related values of each variable. 2. A chart representing numerical relationships.
Nomology	1197	N	The theoretical study of metaphysical, logical, divine, or human laws.
Nomothetic	1197	Adj	1. Of or relating to lawmaking; legislative. 2. Of or relating to the study or discovery of general laws, as of nature or of human behavior.
-Nomy	1198	Suffix	A system of laws governing or a body of knowledge about a specified field.
Numb	1209	Adj	1. Deprived of the power to feel or move normally; benumbed (ex). 2. Emotionally unresponsive; indifferent (ex).
		V	To make or become numb
Number	1209	N	1a. (Mathematics) A member of the set of positive integers; one of a series of symbols of unique meaning in a fixed order that can be derived by counting. 1b. A member of any of the following sets of mathematical objects: integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers. These sets can be derived from the positive integers through various algebraic and analytic constructions. 2. Numbers, Arithmetic. 3a. A symbol or word used to represent a number. 3b. A numeral or a series of numerals used for reference or identification. 4a. A position in an ordered sequence that corresponds to one of the positive integers. 4b. One item in a group or series considered to be in numerical order. 5. A total; a sum. 6. An indefinite quantity of units or individuals. 7a. A large quantity; a multitude. 7b. Numerical superiority. 8. (Grammar) The indication, as by inflection, of the singularity, duality, or plurality of a linguistic form. 9a. Metrical fee or lines; verses. 9b. (Obsolete) Poetic meter. 10. (Archaic) Musical periods or measures. 11. (Games) a numbers game. 12. Book in the Bible 13. One of the separate offerings in a program of music or other entertainment (the band’s second number was…) ……….See more in AHD if necessary
Numeral	1210	N	A symbol or mark used to represent a number.
		Adj	Of, relating to, or representing numbers.
Numismatic	1210	Adj	1. Of or relating to coins or currency. 2. Of or relating to numismatics (the study or collection of money, coins, and often medals).
Nummular	1210	Adj	Shaped like a coin; oval or circular.
Nummulite	1210	N	A large, coin-shaped, fossil foraminifer of the genus Nummulites, widely distributed in limestone formations from the Eocene Epoch to the Miocene Epoch of the Cenozoic.
Supernumerary	1749	Adj	1. Exceeding a fixed, prescribed, or standard number; extra (ex). 2. Exceeding the required or desired number or amount; superfluous.
		N	1. One that is in excess of the regular, necessary, or usual number. 2. An actor without a speaking part, as one who appears in a crowd scene (an extra).