All historical research relies on the analysis of incomplete
information. The historical records pertaining to old Hallifax are in
particularly poor condition, due to damages caused by the barbarians of
Gaudiguch during the Taint Wars. The majority of records predating the
Taint Wars exist only in a fragmentary state, with the result that the
facts of the period must be reconstructed from those poor records which
have survived to the present day and been rediscovered.

It is from those records that I have learned of the lives and deeds of
Oxcox and Icdick Pavok. They are paragons of Collectivism, who earned
great fame for themselves through their service to the state. Their
lives are recorded in this book for both moral and historical
information, to the highest degree of accuracy which is possible for
events predating the Taint Wars.

Oxcox and Icdick Pavok, who were siblings, were born under circumstances
which were seen as almost miraculous in their day but have since become
mundane. Their parents were soldiers who had attained the acme of
excellence in their profession, as well as the collection of old wounds
which came with it. These wounds were sufficient to render both of their
parents entirely infertile, which caused them great grief. In the hope
of solving the problem they engaged a certain Shevat to develop a method
for restoring their fertility. After several years of research he was
successful, and he developed the method which is employed to this day
with only small adjustments from the original technique.

The parents of Oxcox and Icdick, whose names have been lost to history,
were the first to undergo the procedure. They gladly accepted the risks
of such an act, preferring to risk their lives to repair their injuries
rather than to allow fear to compel them to bear the injury throughout
their lives. This first procedure was only a partial success, as is
often the case with new developments. Twins, a boy and girl who were
named Oxcox and Icdick, were born to the Pavoks. They were strong and
healthy children, but their birth was long and difficult. It left their
mother weak and aggravated the old injuries which she had received in
her service to the Collective, and she died three days after her
children were born.

The two children were raised by their father, who trained them from
nearly the moment of their birth to follow him into the profession of
their parents. They excelled in their training, partly due of their
natural talent and partly due to the early age at which that training
began. When the twins came of age they easily found positions in the
military, where they sought out the most dangerous assignments in the
hope of sparing their comrades from the great danger which such missions
entailed. During one such mission they were crippled, and although they
did not allow their injuries to prevent them from achieving their
objections, they were sufficient to end their military careers. As they
were still young at that point, they sought out new careers in the
bureaucracy, where their injuries would not prevent them from fulfilling
their duties to the state.

The inseparable twins worked for long years and eventually attained a
degree of prominence in the bureaucracy. They were given the
responsibility of reforming the Collective's medical services, a task
which they managed with admirable skill. It was a vast task, which
occupied the pair for several years.

It was not long after they had completed their reforms that their new
system was tested by a disaster. A plague struck Hallifax, spread by the
insidious agents of Gaudiguch and the traitors which they had recruited
through the promise of great wealth and a ready supply of contraband.
This plague killed many people, and it put great strain on every caste.
Research slowed, and the production of important goods decreased
dramatically due to the death and debilitation of laborers. The
difficulties created by the plague were multiplied by those caused by
the shortages, and soon many citizens found themselves despairing for
the future.

The Collective was spared from utter devastation through the efforts of
Oxcox and Icdick. It was they who organized the triaging of the
infected, and ensured that those people who were of greatest importance
to Hallifax were treated before those who were of less use. It was they
who organized the rationing of vital supplies. It was they who organized
the successful quarantine of the infected, thereby limiting the spread
of the plague. Through their efforts, a plague which might have
destroyed Hallifax completely was reduced to a mere catastrophe.

The plague was sufficient to decrease the population of Hallifax to
unacceptably low levels. The two paragons arranged a breeding program
within the city in order to raise the birth rate to the greatest level
which was deemed sustainable by the Board. The program as funded by the
Pavok family fortune, the bulk of which was given to the state to assist
in the city's recovery from the plague. The twins worked tirelessly in
the recovery effort, and both contributed greatly to the population
recovery program. Oxcox married a Taroch, and the marriage produced
seven children in as many years. Icdick married a scion of the Lars
family, and she likewise gave birth to seven children in seven years.
These fourteen children were raised and educated together, and many of
them went on to highly successful careers of their own in the military
and bureaucracy, although none ever managed to attain the same degree of
excellence as their parents.

Oxcox and Icdick dedicated the rest of their lives to the eradication of
disease. They organized countless research projects that resulted in
countless medical innovations, and when they grew old and weak they
volunteered themselves as research subjects for those projects. There
are great risks involved in such things, and those risks eventually
claimed their lives. They died gladly, preferring to to be killed in an
effort to improve life for the Collective as a whole than to life in
weakness and old age. Such were the lives and deaths of Oxcox and Icdick
Pavok, paragons of the Collective.