Chp.1: Plans for a future war

Ramat's world was divided into three main continents; there were also islands, but they were so small that it was impossible to consider them continents themselves. The continents had various names in the many languages ​​and cultures that existed, but in common parlance they were called by their ancient elven name. The names were Ut-Arang, meaning 'middle land', Ut-Lama, 'left land', and Ut-Parna, 'right land'. These names were due to the fact that they were arranged in a rather singular way: Ut-Arang was in the centre-south, while in the north-east there was Ut-Parma and in the north-west Ut-Lama, divided between them by a small inland sea . Had they been closer by only a few tens of kilometers, they would have formed a single huge continent. Overall, when viewed on a map, the continents appear to form the shape of an inverted pyramid broken in the center.

Of the three continents, Ut-Arang was the largest of all and contained such diverse environments that it seemed impossible that they were all part of the same land. This meant an abundance of resources, and indeed large empires and kingdoms had sprung up in many areas in the south of the continent. A careless observer might have thought that the most prosperous area would have been the northern part of the continent, since it was closer to the other continents and therefore gave its inhabitants greater trade routes, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Ramat's climate and geography had created a strange twist of fate, which had prevented the supposedly more prosperous area from developing to keep pace with its more southern competitors.

The northern part of Ut-Arang was dotted with numerous mountain ranges; one of them, called Atar Goldin (meaning 'giant mountains' in Elven) almost completely cut the continent from ocean to ocean, dividing the northern and central parts. There were also other smaller mountain ranges which divided the northern part into various areas, but it was the Atar Goldin who played the major role in the particular geography of that area. The mountains blocked the passage of the cold currents from the south and instead trapped the warm ones from the northern sea. This had created a rise in temperature that had transformed half of the northern part of Ut-Arang into an implacable desert, the Yuthia Desert, which completely blocked access to the northern sea and therefore to the other two continents. Blocked by one of the world's largest deserts to the north and an almost impassable mountain range to the south, the people who lived in that area hadn't had the opportunity to interact much with the rest of the world, so their development had been slower. If we added to this the fact that the extreme seasons that were generated due to the particular climate, which caused hot summers and extremely rainy winters, even things like agriculture and livestock, the basis of civilization, had been difficult to settle in that rough area, while instead forests, swamps and woods thrived, and with them many dangerous creatures. And finally, limited space and resources had led the peoples living there to frequently fight for control of the rivers, arable areas, landlocks, or the few passes through the mountains that granted access to the south. As a result, by the time the local peoples had finally succeeded in creating stable nations, they had lagged behind the already flourishing empires that had formed in areas more favorable to civilization.

This had happened not once, but twice in history. During the Age of the Elves, the northern part of Ut-Arang was considered one of the poorest areas in the world, and in fact it was rare to find nations of elves, while instead it was more likely to come across the barbarian tribes that then represented the other races. Since there weren't many elves living there, after the fall of their rule other races hadn't had as much access to their great learning as they had in other parts of the world. As a result, even the human and beastmen nations that had formed later had struggled to arise, while the other races could only form small kingdoms or city-states, or even had reamsted to a primitive and tribal level. Once again, therefore, the race for civilization had been lost, and the northern part of Ut-Arang was once again considered one of the least prosperous areas in the world.

However, that didn't mean that part of the world didn't have an amazing history behind it. Numerous nations and kingdoms had followed one another, growing or falling to others, and some of them had lasted for hundreds of years before falling. This continuous succession of successes and failures had led to the current geopolitical situation.

For several centuries, the northern part of Ut-Arang had been divided into several nations that more or less managed to balance each other in power, preventing any one from becoming too strong and thus preventing the emergence of a hegemon. This had gone on for a long time, until about 800 years ago an extraordinary being appeared: an overlord, a creature of legendary level chosen directly by the gods, who had begun to completely change the structure of power. It wasn't the first time an overlord or demon king had appeared, but this particular overlord was extraordinarily intelligent and cunning; with special tactics and strategies, he had defeated all the saints and heroes of neighboring nations and in doing so he had expanded his kingdom very rapidly, transforming it into an empire. About 300 years later, two demon kings had appeared and taking advantage of the overlord's death of heroes and saints, had in turn expanded their kingdoms, engulfing many others along the way.

Finally, some 200 years ago, it had come to the inevitable meeting between these three superpowers. Clearly, such a meeting could not have been peaceful. A long war had begun and lasted for over a hundred years. At the end of this war, the overlord and the two demon kings had very wisely chosen to stop fighting, since it was now clear that none of the three could prevail; therefore, since disagreeing was so difficult, they chose to come to an agreement. Thus it was that they created a great alliance between their empires. When this alliance was signed, about 80 years ago, the east of the northern part of Ut-Arang was exclusively composed of the three great empires, divided from each other only by a few buffer states or natural barriers.

Clearly, this didn't mean that their expansionist aims had stopped. Each of the three empires aimed to acquire more territories in the west, which were not only richer but also had more passages to the south, and thus would allow for more trade as well as the possibility of further invasions. However, during the conflict between the empires that had lasted for so long, the nations of the West had not stood idly by and had taken advantage of it. Before they wouldn't have dared to attempt to form a resistance, since this would inevitably have attracted the attention of one of the three empires which would not have hesitated to eliminate them; but by the time the three contenders had begun their war, they had been too busy to be bothered to maintain their grip on the west. This had allowed the nations present there to strengthen themselves and prepare for the future invasion.

In that context, the Jurao Kingdom had been the one who had guided this process. Since that nation was located almost directly next to the empires of the east, its rulers had been concerned with creating something that could block any plans for invasion. This something had first taken shape in a long series of military and economic reforms of the Jurao Kingdom, and then in the creation of a great alliance between all the neighboring nations. When the peace between the three empires had been signed, this alliance numbered about eight nations; normally one of the three empires would have attacked immediately to eliminate it while it was still weak, but unfortunately over a hundred years of war had extremely weakened their nations and everywhere there were riots and rebellions, therefore it was unthinkable to start a war. But as the empires of the east slowly recovered over the next 80 years, the nations of the west also continued to grow stronger and attract more kingdoms into their alliance, forming an increasingly strong and impassable wall. The hegemony of the overlord and the two demon kings was now over, and instead a very precarious period had begun with two huge opposing blocks: the three great empires to the east, and an alliance that now numbered fifteen nations to the west.

Sooner or later the war would have exploded, everyone knew this: surely, the three empires would never have abandoned their expansionist aims. While the Western alliance would have preferred peace to continue, it was clear that the current peace was just the calm before the storm. A new type of war had therefore begun, the political war: each of the two blocs was constantly trying to strengthen and surpass the other in every area. This, of course, included absorbing additional nations, peoples and civilizations into one's bloc. And the most attractive nation, for both blocks, was the Baudonia City Alliance. It was located directly in the middle between the Jurao Kingdom and the empires of the east; its terrain made it easily defensible and since its inhabitants were beastmen it was easy to find great warriors among them. Absorbing the Baudonia City Alliance into one of the two blocks meant greatly strengthening the power of that block.

The king of the Jurao Kingdom was aware that the accession of the Baudonia City Alliance with the three empires would certainly have given them an enormous advantage, therefore when he understood that it was in favor of this possibility and on the contrary rejected the proposal to join the western alliance, decided that the only solution was to get ahead and invade. So for years he had studied the territory and the right strategy, making use of extraordinary spies such as the now deceased Ethan, and when he learned that yet another revolt had broken out in the east (after 80 years the situation had still not stabilized) he immediately started the invasion. Since they hadn't formed any alliances yet, the eastern empires weren't required to help the Baudonia City Alliance, and with the rebellion going on they couldn't provide aid in the form of weapons, warriors, and supplies. Therefore, that was the perfect moment. And in fact the invasion had been successful and the Baudonia City Alliance had been successfully annexed to the Jurao Kingdom, which in doing so had doubled its borders.

However, conquering and annexing a nation didn't mean having total control over it. It was necessary to pacify it and make its inhabitants happy to be citizens of the Jurao Kingdom. This was a long process that would take years, maybe even decades to complete. The king was convinced that by showing kindness and justice, he would make the beastmen more tame and successfully integrate them into his kingdom, turning them into full-fledged citizens.

However, many thought otherwise. Humans and beastmen had been enemies for millennia, and in many areas of the world still were. While some were slowly trying to create a climate of greater tolerance, old grievances were far from extinguished. Therefore, it was normal that many influential people of the Jurao Kingdom, such as nobles and rich merchants, didn't share the idea of ​​peaceful accession. From their point of view, it would have been much more convenient to enslave the beastmen. This wouldn't just have averted any risk of treason or rebellion, but would also have increased the finances of the kingdom (and obviously the wealth of the aforementioned nobles and merchants) which could then have been used to speed up the construction of new fortresses, walls and defenses against the empires of the east, or the creation of new mills or dams to favor agriculture and therefore the supply of resources. And since the slaves were controlled by submission collars, the heavier beastmen could also be used as soldiers, sending them to their deaths on the front lines to pave the way for the realm's true soldiers. In short, many saw that solution as much more advantageous than the idealism of the current king.

The royal high general Carrion was one of those people. He deeply despised the idea of ​​peaceful coexistence with the beastmen, who were not only a people barbaric but they also served gods other than humans. So when he'd been given control of the Baudonia City Alliance, he'd decided to have his own way. Of course, he could not go directly against his king; the role that the goddess Heloisa had entrusted to him was in fact to always serve the kingdom, and consequently also the king. After all, unlike overlords and demon kings, saints and heroes were often tasked with keeping the structure of nations stable, not overpowering them and seizing power. Therefore, Carrion could never challenge the king himself. However, she could have opened his eyes in a more subtle way. If the beastmen started a savage uprising, then even the king would have to accept that his idealism wasn't enough to handle the Baudonia City Alliance, and would have accepted more drastic measures being used. After all, Marcus had always proved to be a wise king: if he realized you made a mistake, then he tried to fix it. If Carrion had shown him the impossibility of peaceful coexistence with beastmen, the king would have accepted that there was only one way to deal with them: extermination or slavery.

But doing so wasn't easy: with most of the beastmen army now destroyed, there were few who would have wished to start an uprising. Therefore Carrion would have to create one himself, planting the seeds in the right place and working to make them germinate. And so, with the help of several nobles and merchants and a group of extremely devoted priests with whom he was closely affiliated, he had begun to sow dissent in the Baudonia City Alliance, severely punishing the beastmen for their contributions to the war without the king came to know nothing. And his work was working admirably: now, after a year since he had begun his policy of terror, it was only a matter of time before the flame of revolution turned into wildfire. When that happened he would promptly eliminate the rebels using the army, and then with the help of his many friends in the upper class he would use that incident to make the king realize the need to completely enslave the beastmen. At that point, it would have been an exclusively uphill course.

Yes, Carrion had the entire situation in his hand. Everything was going his way, and he was going to use the aftermath of that to help build an impassable wall against the eastern empires, without taking any chances by relying on dirty beastmen. He just had to wait for a riot to break out, and then it would be all right.