Arriving in Heaven's Reach
A/N: Majority of this chapter is showcasing some parts of Heaven's Reach from a merchants perspective just to give people some insights into how advanced and better the city is compared to even Kingslanding, Volantis, or even Braavos.
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At one of the train terminals in Heaven's Reach, a magic train had just arrived, opening its doors and allowing the passengers to disembark. Among them was a Merchant by the name of Norario Pahrolis and his family who had travelled all the way from Volantis to see the city of Heaven's Reach for the first time.
Their eyes widened in amazement as they stepped out onto the platform, looking around at the vast structure with its amazing architecture and strange carvings. The terminal was filled with a diverse crowd consisting mostly of humans but also, off duty elves, Uruk-Hai guards, and dwarves performing maintenance test on the train after each stop.
Norario's wife, Anara, held their young daughter Lyenne's hand tightly at the sight of the Uruk-Hai who looked scary to her. Norario had received a rundown of what to expect from other merchants and was told not to be scared as nothing would happen to them as long as they didn't break any rules.
Turning towards his wife, he reassured her with a gentle squeeze, "Don't fret, Anara. Those are just the city's guards who serve the emperor directly. Remember what we were told before arriving. All are welcome here in Heaven's Reach."
Despite his calming words, Norario himself couldn't help but feel awe-struck by his surroundings as well. Their home city of Volantis was considered vast and was being rebuilt with the same architecture, yet it couldn't remotely compare to the grandeur of Heaven's Reach.
A sudden buzzing sound from above drew their attention. Norario looked up to see a hovering carriage of brass and glass descending from a nearby building. It gently stopped on the platform beside them.
The door slid open and out stepped an Imperial Officer, who Norario recognized as a Human with quite high rank from his uniform mentioning a rank unknown to Norario, 'Colonel'.
The officer was followed by two Uruk-Hai carrying boxes of goods which they proceeded to unload onto the platform. As he was busy looking at the Officer, another merchant who recognized Norario approached him and his family.
"Norario, is that you?" The man called out. His name was Darius, an old friend and fellow merchant.
"Darius!" Norario replied, meeting his old friend's embrace. His wife and daughter greeted Darius as well, who seemed pleasantly surprised by Lyenne's growth.
"Judging from your wide eyes and slack jaws," Darius motioned towards the Uruk-Hai and the Imperial Officer in the background, "I gather this is your first time in Heaven's Reach." Norario nodded and Darius laughed heartily, giving Norario a playful slap on the back.
"Well, you'll get used to it, friend. Heaven's Reach will make the grandest of cities look like pauper's shacks," Darius said, pulling back and directing his attention to the horizon.
"And if I may add," he whispered, leaning close to Norario, "There's serious opportunity for trade here."
"That's what we're here for Darius," Norario responded, adopting a more business-like tone.
"Good, but let's walk and talk while I take you around the city," suggested Darius. Norario agreed as they followed Darius out of the train station and into city.
For the next few hours, they walked around the city, with Darius showing them the various marketplaces, the guild houses, the Ports of Arrival and Departure for various goods. He introduced them to the different traders and artisans, all telling stories of their time in Heaven's Reach.
Along with this, they had seen the towering buildings in Heaven's Reach, some of which were more than 10 stories high. They also saw the Imperial Stadium which was used for many of the Sports that Maximus introduced to keep the Dothraki, who were a warrior-based people entertained.
Separate from the stadium, they saw the Colosseum, which was used for Gladiator matches and tournaments, something that was familiar to Norario from tales of the old Valyrian Empire yet executed on a much grander scale here in Heaven's Reach.
And then there were the gardens; green fields stretching as far as the eyes could see, filled with plants and fruits, some exotic even to a well-traveled merchant like Norario.
As the day came to end, they found themselves in front of the entrance to the Imperial Palace. Well not the entrance to the Palace directly but to the area which was considered the Palace grounds. Separating the Palace walls from the rest of the city was a small river which flowed all around the palace.
The only way across were a handful of iron bridges which were guarded by two Giants and more than a dozen guards for each gate. These guards were a mix of the most elite soldiers that Maximus had in his possession.
As Norario and his family saw the massive giant who stood as still as a statue, Lyenne had become infatuated with the massive giant and started running towards the gate. Darius tried to stop her, but she was too fast and had managed to reach the first set of guards before anyone could catch up.
The first two guards who were the Rohirrim Royal Guard were taken aback by the small child rushing towards them. But as they realized it was merely a curious youngster, their expressions softened.
"Whoa there, little one," a guard chuckled as Lyenne came to a stop, staring up at the towering giant with excitement. The lead guard pointed towards the giant, a smirk forming on his face.
"Up there is our friend Grimnar," he explained. The giant performed a slight nod towards the small child, causing Lyenne to giggle gleefully.
Norario and Anara finally caught up to their adventurous daughter, out of breath but relieved to see her safe.
"I apologize, My Lord, for my daughter's behavior," Norario said, bowing respectfully. The guards merely waved off his apology, exchanging glances amongst themselves, they have seen countless children react with innocent awe towards seeing something that they had only heard about in myth.
"It's alright. She's not the first child to be curious," replied the guard as he waived Grimnar to come closer. Grimnar reached his hand out and gently patted Lyenne's head who giggled.
Meanwhile, Darius smiled at Norario's reaction. "Don't worry, Norario," he whispered to his friend. "The emperor treats his subjects with fairness and affection… even those who aren't quite subjects yet."
Reassured by the exchange between Darius and the Guards. Norario sighed as he watched Lyenne having fun. He looked at his wife and could see in her face how much she wanted to stay here in Heaven's Reach. Looking back at his daughter, he thought about moving his business to Heaven's Reach to keep seeing the two people he loved more than anything smile every day.
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Inside the Palace, Maximus was sitting in his office currently trying to decide what to do with New Ghis now that Achilles and Admiral Thorne had successfully taken it. The Ghiscari Iron Legions had been mostly wiped out due to them fighting until the last man, leaving only a few hundred left from the thousands of soldiers who were defending the city.
Now he was deciding on what to do next. He already planned to change the name of New Ghis to Port Alexandria and then make the city a central hub for connecting the empire's sea trade to that of the far east.
There was already a land route which was connected to the far east, but the route was dangerous and littered with all types of bandits and dangerous wildlife. A sea route would be faster and safer and allow Maximus a doorway to investigate the city of Qarth.
Port Alexandria would become the central hub for the new eastern fleet that would form, while Volantis would be the Central Port for all Imperial Naval activity, and Myr was for the Western fleet.
Drawing up the plans he had, he began to write on the sheet of paper all the things he wanted done to the city and the next steps they would take. One of those steps would be to take the Basilisk isles and expand further into the Red Waste closer to Qarth and the far east.
Once he was done drawing up his plans, a servant knocked on the door and brought him his dinner for the night. After dropping off his dinner, the young servant walked behind Maximus and began to message his shoulders.
Taking a break from his work, he enjoyed the message for a short while then ate his food. After eating his food, he decided to call it a night and took a bath before getting into bed. Tomorrow, an envoy from the Emperor of YiTi will arrive to improve the relationship between the two empires.
The Western and Eastern half of Essos had been separated for too long, and after sending a messenger to the emperor of YiTi, he also wanted to bring the two sides closer together. While war was fun and all, for the winning side at least, it was not always the answer to everything. Sometimes diplomacy was preferred over rather than taking over new land and then decided what to do with it next.
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[Conquer New Ghis completed]
Rewards: Dragon Princes (The Dragon Princes are the High Elf Heavy Cavalry who ride ontop of swift cavalry. Both mount and rider wear crested ithilmar armour which is is forged in the heart of Vaul's Anvil, where ancient enchantments are bound into the cooling ithilmar, ensuring that no lesser flame than the fires of Vaul can offer harm to the armour or its wearer.)
-20k System points
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Total System points: 596,650
A/N: Next Chapter will showcase some more internal things within the Imperial Union including the meeting with the YiTi envoy. After we will see more expansion before he takes his demi-god trials.