Chapter 4

January 1st, 1900

Jemcaster, United Provinces of Sartoma

A large twin engined aircraft approached the runway of Jemcaster Airfield with it's landing gear extended, coming in for a landing. Carrying aboard it was a member of royalty who looked out at the city that surrounded the airfield.

The CP-17 was a twin engined military cargo plane, later adapted for the Air Force's Paratroop Corps and commercial use for transport and passenger aircraft. With a wingspan of thirty meters, a length of twenty meters, and a height of five meters, the plane was powered by two fourteen cylinder radial engines mounted on it's dihedral tapered leading edge wings. Providing twelve hundred horsepower each, with a maximum speed of over three hundred kilometers per hour, and a service ceiling of over eight thousand meters. It's maximum capacity ranged from fourteen to twenty eight depending on the variant.

The current variant now landing had more emphasis on luxury over functionality, given how it was marked as property of the government and was used by political members for jumping across the country.

Leaning against the windows to catch a better view outside, Princess Rose watched and felt as the flying machine landed and let off a few bumps while touching down on the concrete and asphalt runway. Around them were taxi lanes and hangers for storing aircraft, while several aircraft were seen parked outside as the rapid response force consisting of J-03 Falcons.

"I'll admit, I've never seen such infrastructure development in my entire life." Keaton said as he looked out the window in his seat behind the princess. "How long would it take to build so much?"

"Not long enough for the colonies to have developed it all on their own." Rose admitted. "This cannot be the frontier, it's just impossible at this point. Where did all of this come from?"

"I'm unsure your highness. But with the absence of the Imperium, the large metal warships, and everything else we've seen, these are definitely not the colonies. They all seem like the most foreign thing I've ever witnessed."

The plane pulled off the runway and into one of the taxi lanes making for one of the nearby hangers, where a black car and two government officials were waiting to retrieve and transport them.

Airbase personnel among the tarmac began waving colored markers to guide the plane towards it's intended stop, coming up upon the government officials before finally cutting off it's engines, the propellers continued to briefly spin before coming to a complete stop. A stairway was pushed towards the plane's front door and was secured in place, providing a safe route for it's occupants to climb down from.

"Excuse me ma'am," Rose called to the flight attendant who approached the door and was preparing to open it. "Where are we right now?"

"You're in Jemcaster. Capital of Sartoma. The people outside will take you before our leader who is eager to speak with you." She opened the door and allowed Rose and her bodyguard to step outside and leave the aircraft. Climbing down the stairs, they came face to face with two agents in grey uniforms under black jackets and flat caps waiting for them.

One of the two men stepped forward to great them as he extended his hand out. "Greetings. Princess Rose if what I've been informed of is correct."

"Yes sir, I'm Princess Rose of the Kingfom of Arkport. With me is Sir Keaton, my personal bodyguard. You are..."

"You may call me Mr. Black," The agent responded with his alias as he shook the princess's hand. "With me is my companion, you may call him Mr. White." The other agent leaned into view and introduced himself with the tip of his hat. "If you would follow us we hope to make this quick. Our situation could use some of your insight to better solve what is going on in the present moment."

The two foreign members were led into the black sedan they would use to transport them to the Fortress where the chancellor and his generals were currently occupied in.

Mr. White climbed into the driver seat as he would be drive the vehicle. Meanwhile Mr. Black would sit in the back with Princess Rose and Sir Keaton to keep and eye on and accompany them. With everyone settled, the car took off from it's spot and made for the checkpoint where the guard stationed there waved them off the airfield premise.

At this time of day, the streets were filled with much life as everyone was awake and going about with their daily lives. Men were seen walking along the sidewalks or driving on the streets heading to work. Shops and businesses were now opening for the day and gathering up crowds from pass byers who've taken an interest in their wares. Children and teenagers were walking along the sidewalks heading for school carrying books and bags issued to them by the local school district.

Traffic lights standing from the sides of road regulated traffic as cars passed through intersections on green and stopped while on red. While they were driving, Rose was quick to pick up on and understand the pattern made by the lights as she watched everything outside from her window.

"It's so alive. How old is this city and how many people live here?" She asked the agent sitting with her and Keaton.

"Jemcaster is currently about five hundred years into it's history." Mr. Black answered. "It was originally called Bremson back in 1419 before receiving it's new name in 1701. It's current area makes up six hundred and fifty nine square kilometers of land. If you want perhaps we can give a brief tour some time on some of it's historical monuments to give you more knowledge about it's history."

They drove around the city, turning on multiple intersections as their driver navigated through the streets to get to their destination. They even drove passed the Grand Mansion where the chancellor lived and worked on a daily basis. Looking out at it, Keaton and Rose described it as a residence for one of great power.

"Not a castle eh? For one with so much power over an entire nation I would expect to take residence in an entire palace. Not a mansion." Keaton commented. The mansion itself was indeed impressive, but mansions were usually owned by lords of noble families who owned land or ruled individual cities.

"Well we don't have any particular taste for castles or keeps nowadays." Black responded. "Those went out of fashion hundreds of years ago. Any such places still around that survived the course of time were converted in historical museums and such."

"Historical museums? How old in your latest keep to have been built?"

"That would be Goulrich Keep, and I'd say it's around...three hundred and sixty five years old."

"Over three hundred years old?" Rose was taken aback by how far keeps and palaces went out of style for these people. Such magnificent structures still held much relevance across the world, serving as the residence for rulers or as strongholds defending cities or guarding stockpiles of resources. If not use keeps, what did they use to defend their territory?

"We've arrived." Mr. Black announced as the sedan pulled up towards the Fortress checkpoint and stopped so the guard could inspect them.

"Halt!" The guard stepped out of his booth and approached the vehicle as it came to a stop. "Identification." Mr. White rolled down his window and revealed his ID badge attached to his wallet. The guard took the piece and used another to cross reference and validate it. "Alright, proceed through." The guard instructed as he handed White his badge back.

The agent nodded and drove on through finding somewhere suitable to park within the premise of the Fortress.

_________________________________________

Meanwhile...

"What the hell are these things?" The chancellor questioned as he inspected the photographs that finally arrived to show what the scout plane found over the northern border.

The photos displayed black and white captures of apparently some sort of palace, third world villages and settlements, and apparently some winged reptiles that were reported to have chased after the scout plane and engaged their jet fighters.

"We've checked and confirmed with reports," General Schwarzkopf responded. "These things were what chased our jets after our scout plane returned. Air border patrols have also reported catching sight of winged beasts some distance from the border."

"I've authorized the requisition of SPAA along the border with the 5th Infantry and 2nd Armored Divisions incase these things get too close and become a security hazard." General Riemann reported. "Though they do seem susceptible to 15mm based on when our jets engaged them in combat, so they shouldn't be much of a threat."

"I hope to god you're right general," Chancellor Sperl responded. "Last thing we need is giant fire spitting reptiles flying over the homeland. Where is this princess and when should she be here?"

As if on queue the doors opened revealing Mr. White and Mr. Black standing outside with Princess Rose and Sir Keaton between them. All four walked into the war room before the guards outside shut the doors behind them.

The generals and chancellor instantly became aware of this and focused on the new comers who arrived. "Chancellor Sperl, I present to you Princess Rose and Mr. Keaton from the..."

"Kingdom of Arkport." Rose finished for Mr. Black. "We came on half of the Arkport royal family to check up on and make an appearance before the colony of Stainross. Though it would seem as of now it doesn't exist anymore, and a new city has taken it's place."

"The colony of Stainross?" Admiral Rudel asked. "We've never heard of any location and no such location even existed in the first place. Where exactly did you come from in?"

"We came from the north in the Great Jewel Sea. Our borders neighbor with the Brathorn Imperium and supposedly the frontier which this territory should be."

"Heh, we've never been referred to as the frontier before." Chancellor Sperl commented. "We've been encountering several winged creatures originating along our northern border. Perhaps you can shed some light on them as they're rather unfamiliar compared to the reptilian species we know of." He handed out one of the photos revealing the winged beast being encountered by air patrols.

"That's a wyvern." Princess Rose answered. "They're the flying species of dragons common around the world. Some countries, like the Imperium, have been breeding subspecies for better performance compared to those normally found in the wild. By the looks of it, that's a wyvern bronze, commonly used by the Imperium."

Wyverns were used widely in air forces throughout various nations, with breeding programs established to breed and hatch more powerful wyverns for more suitable roles over the default breed. Naturally, all wyverns had red scales with a yellow underbelly. However their performance and capabilities were vastly different when compared to each other. All subspecies comprised of the wyvern bronze, wyvern silver, wyvern gold, and wyvern platinum with the latter having higher performance than the former.

"A wyvern...are these creatures all associated with wildlife or domestication, because we've never seen such creatures before and have no record of them."

"Both. I've noticed you lack a lot of knowledge about even most common of things that govern how the world works. First magic and now wyverns. Why is this?"

The generals and chancellor all looked at each other in confusion before returning their attention to the princess. "Magic? What magic?"

"I spoke with the first-mate of the ship we traveled on to the shore with. It was with him I became aware you lack even the basic concept of magic. It's one of the most important factors that govern how the world works. It's an energy that resides within certain individuals and elements that causes the manipulation of certain factors. All families of royal or noble descendants are granted with it."

"I see, is it something we should be...concerned about?"

"Perhaps," Rose answered. "It's also used to decide worth within society. Those who aren't gifted with it are referred to as the commoners. To have an entire nation run by non magic users would be considered absurd by most people in power. How such a civilization got as far as yourselves without magic is questionable."

"Strange. We've been quiet familiar with other governments and have yet to meet any who judge another based on magic. Since when did this whole magic ruling ideology start, because we've never experienced it." Admiral Rudel questioned the princess.

"Since history itself was first documented, about 3000 RM. When ruling was established by magic, and shaped modern society norms into what it is today. What bothers me is none of this history sounds familiar to you. Why is that?"

The sartomans shrugged and shook their heads. "This all sounds like nonsense. No such events have ever been recorded in Kephsie history."

"Kephsie? Is that the name of some other country in a similar stature as yours?" Rose asked at the mention of what should've been the name of the world.

"Kephsie, it's the name of the planet. The very same planet we've been standing on this whole time."

"That can't be right. It's always been named Seach around the world. Since when did folk start calling it Kephsie?"

To both parties, something obviously wasn't right as the logic they were giving off wasn't matching or making any sense with each other. That was when Princess Rose inspected the map on the table and noticed everything on it wasn't right.

"What are these continents? I don't recognize them in any shape. What language is it even written in?"

"Don't recognize them..." Everyone fell silent, still not understanding what was going on, before General Schwarzkopf spoke up.

"May I perhaps provide a theoretical hypothesis, based off all the information we've acquired over these past few hours?"

"Go ahead." Chancellor Sperl answered and gave his approval to the Air Force general.

"Thank you sir. Following recent reports of creatures we've never encountered, mention of our homeland as this frontier, unrecognizable terrain, and lack of foreign commercial merchant ships coming into harbor, it may be possible that whatever has happened may have relocated our continents to an entirely alternate location...basically meaning we're no longer in Kephsie."

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January 5th, 1900

United Provinces of Sartoma Eastern Coast

"How fast can these ships even travel? I mean for not having any access to mana engines, this hunk of steel seems to move very fast in the water."

The United Provinces of Sartoma was in a very peculiar position following the unthinkable. While many didn't want to believe it, it was the current fact that was backed by a lot of evidence from reports coming in. Sartoma was no longer on Kephsie, and was in an entirely new world. One where the inhabitants named it Seach.

By now, the United Provinces realized it had no connection outside their homeland as the undersea cables designed to provide contact with other nations across the ocean were either no longer present or were cut completely rendering them useless. How this occurred was a complete mystery, but now Sartoma had to assess it's new environment and figure out where they fit in, before something else disastrous occurs. By now the chancellor and generals were well aware of the growing incidents and tension along the northern border following continued attempts from commoners trying to cross the border and a scuffle between an Imperium noble and his soldiers. If they didn't do something now the situation could dangerously escalate beyond their control, and they could find themselves in the middle of a war. So the decision was made.

Thanks to insight from Princess Rose, they were able to identify the palace their scout plane found as the capital of the Brathorn Imperium, and would send a small naval task force with a diplomat to make contact with their head of government. Meanwhile, Princess Rose had stayed a few days in Jemcaster to learn about some of the history of Sartoma, before she and her bodyguard were sent on a battleship escorted by two light cruisers and two light carriers back to their Arkport with another diplomat to make contact with their head of government.

Why a battleship rather than a cruiser? Given what Princess Rose informed them about how magic users were rulers and non magic users were believed as inferior, the government wanted to showcase their military and technological prowess in hopes the rulers of this new world would take them very seriously. Based on what they knew from Princess Rose, no other nation has anything equivalent to the displacement or firepower of a battleship. A good display of power was a logical means of gaining one's attention.

From the side rails, Princess Rose looked down at the waves being generated in the sea as the impressive large ship cut through water like a knife through melted butter.

"About thirty five knots when pushed to the limit." The ship's first officer answered to her question. "We're currently holding at twenty five knots for now. We should be reaching Arkport —, the Kingdom of Arkport within a few hours."

The speed was impressive. No known ship powered by mana engines was capable of reaching thirty five knots. The highest most ships could achieve was twenty five knots when pushing the mana engine to it's limits. But it was common for most ships to sail between fifteen and twenty knots. A massive ship larger than any she's ever seen pulling off thirty five was indeed impressive. The Lloyd Shipbuilding company would indeed be looking into trying to uncover every detail of how this ship operated as it did.

"How many of these vessels does your navy currently hold? For such a large ship it must've taken up a lot of resources."

"She did, as with the other forty seven ships just like her. The Jemcaster class battleship is one of the most advanced and heavily armed naval warships present within the navy. Her current technological capacity precedes all one hundred battleships built before her."

The navy had constructed a total of a hundred and fifty two battleships in it's entire history, a hundred before the Jemcaster or Citadel were introduced. It would be the Principality who first concepted and introduced the idea of the battleship to the world as an evolution above the ironclad, but it would be the United Provinces who would perfect it and dominate in producing high quality battleships.

The first ever battleship they constructed was introduced as the Leviathan class, with ten ships introduced. With a length of one hundred and fifteen meters, a beam of twenty three meters, a draft of seven meters, and displacement of twelve thousand tons, the ship relied on six coal burning boilers to power two steam turbines to turn two propellers for a top speed of twenty knots. Her primary armament consisted of four double 330mm guns at the fore, aft, port, and starboard, with a secondary armament of fourteen 152mm guns built into the port and starboard hull.

The next class was the Steelheart class battleships with twenty more introduced. With a length of one hundred and sixteen meters, a beam of twenty five meters, a draft of seven meters, and a displacement of fourteen thousand tons, the ship was powered by the same boilers and turbines as the Leviathan class, with a armament of four double 330mm guns, and twenty 152mm guns.

Fourteen years later came the next evolution which expanded on the idea of the battleship. The Dreadnought.

The dreadnought was a new type of revolutionary design principle for the battleship, and the Sartomans were the ones who capitalized on it following with the first dreadnought era battleship constructed.

The Arkport class dreadnought was the most revolutionary design of it's time, with twenty two ships constructed. With a length of one hundred and forty meters, a beam of twenty five meters, a draft of eight meters, and a displacement of sixteen thousand tons, the ship was powered by twelve oil burning boilers for two steam turbine turning two propellers for a top speed of twenty knots. Her primary armament consisted of four twin 356mm guns with a secondary armament of twenty two 152mm guns. Later air defenses would be added consisting of two twin 40mm AA guns and eight 20mm AA guns.

Another battleship developed around the same time was the Arkran class dreadnought, with eighteen ships constructed. With a length of a hundred and seventy five meters, a beam of thirty meters, a draft of nine meters, and a displacement of twenty nine thousand tons, the ship was powered by fourteen oil burning boilers turning two steam turbines for two propellers for a top speed of twenty three knots. Her primary armament consisted of five twin 356mm guns with a secondary armament of four twin 152mm guns and twelve single 152mm guns. Air defenses consisted of four twin 40mm AA guns and eight single 20mm AA guns.

The original super battleship was made, known only as the Dreadnoughtus class super dreadnought with ten such ships built. With a length of two hundred meters, a beam of thirty meters, a draft of ten meters, and a displacement of thirty five thousand tons, the ship was powered by sixteen oil burning boilers turning four steam turbine for four propellers achieving a top speed of twenty two knots. Her primary armament consisted of four triple 356mm guns with a secondary armament of eight twin 152mm guns. Air defenses consisted of ten twin 40mm AA guns and twenty single 20mm AA guns, and was the first ship capable of launching an aircraft via a weight catapult system mounted on turret three.

After the era of dreadnoughts came the first modern battleships starting with the Malevolence class battleship with twenty ships introduced. With a length of two hundred and fifty meters, a beam of thirty three meters, a draft of eleven meters, and a displacement of fifty thousand tons, the ship was powered by eight new oil burning boilers powering four steam turbines and propellers for a top speed of thirty three knots. Her primary armament consisted of three triple 432mm guns and a single triple 254mm gun, with a secondary armament of ten twin 152mm guns. Air defenses consisted of twenty quad 40mm AA guns and twenty two twin 20mm guns. Later ships of this class were the first battleships to be equipped with and test out new radar and analog fire control systems while the very last five ever built were designed to test out the new naval diesel engines that would power the next generation of ships soon to take over the fleet.

"One hundred and forty eight ships just like this?" That number was startling. While ships-of-the-line were impressive and usually numbered in the hundreds with major powers, they were inconceivable compared to the size and displacement of this full metal monster. "How long have your people been building ships like this for?"

"About seventy years." The first officer responded. "Battleships were first built back in the 1830s, so yeah. We have a lot of experience and expertise when it comes to building these behemoths."

Within hours from now, the first sign of land would show, along with hundreds of smaller vessels relatable to fishing boats sighted along their path as they made for the capital of Arkport. The shore came on the horizon within the sights of the mighty battleship, with many of the smaller ships taking notice with their occupants sounding out cries of alarm and shock, having never seen such an imposing vessel. The Kingdom of Arkport has guests.