Stage 1 -

Reawakening

Mages are able to use the Radiant Souls as a source of energy for their magic.

Before they can do so however they need to build a trusting relationship with that soul - a process not everyone can succeed at.

Sometimes an apprentice Mage has already built a relationship with a Soul when they enter formal training but for most, the training begins with an extraction ritual in which they ceremoniously remove a soul from its tree.

The Apprentice then extends their mind towards the soul until they get used to finding each other. With effort, they can contact each other over long distances and even through walls.

At first, these Souls are dormant. They exist in a state that has been described by many cultures in many different ways as either “one of all”, “primal self” or “non-self”.

It can only be reached by appealing to its sense of incompleteness - that there is a mission to be pursued, a meaning left to fulfill or a responsibility to carry. If done correctly, usually with the help of old fables and myths, the Soul is reawakened and will remember its past life and values.

Apprentices often struggle with this and need the assistance of a psychedelic drug which is extracted from the Soultrees.

Once the contact has been established, the Mage needs to share and listen to build trust with the soul.

This is crucial because the Soul has the ability to withhold the energy needed for a spell and will usually not provide anything for a purpose it does not support. Or in other words: The Soul will not provide Energy for actions which it deems immoral - making almost all actions of combat, war, crime or other abuse of power close to impossible for Radiant Magicians.

Stage 2 -

The Amplifier

Once the connection has been built and the Soul is willing to help the Magician, an amplifier is required to channel its energy into action.

A rune - simply referred to as Naturune - needs to be engraved on it. It is a codex that binds the Soul in space to this object, allowing it to provide energy and protecting it from use against its will.

Often additional functions are added by extending the “Rune Logic” engraved on the surface of the Amplifier - most commonly these are additions to the Base Amplifier Rune allowing the Mage to channel more energy through the device though making it harder to control.

Usually, the mage has to train up their ability to let energy flow through the amplifier.

Stage 3 -

Choosing a Path

So now, what might a Mage use this newfound power for?

The Powers of Radiant Souls are limited to affecting living things - but they can interact with them in a plethora of ways. Broadly speaking, there are four main fields of study which a Mage may pursue.

Inner Magic

(1) Mages who focus on affecting the minds and emotions of others are known as SHIRU. Shiru require a deep sense of empathy and gain the ability to understand different sides of an argument, the deep pain of a person or the human condition in general. They learn to understand the workings of the mind better than anybody else and likely serve in such positions as philosopher, therapist or minister.

(2) Getting in touch with animals will make you an ANIMUR Mage. You will be able to communicate with horses and oxen, giving them tasks, encouraging them, keeping them company or find work in a communication tower with pigeons, sparrows, falcons, eagles and other birds commonly used for messaging. If you want to talk to your horse whilst riding into town, this is the one you choose.

Outer Magic

(3) The MEDICUS is capable of affecting the bodies of the sick. They have a deep understanding of anatomy coupled with what is known as the “Medrem”: The ability to mentally probe a body in order to identify what is amiss. They are often more capable than any other doctor in the healing of wounds - but acquiring such skills is a great challenge and not all Medicus are equally capable. After all, the body is a complicated instrument and a slight error on a Medicus’ part could have dire consequences. We owe the Mages who advanced deep into the Medrem the identification and healing of many ancient and formidable diseases.

(4) We all know them. They keep our modern society running: Becoming a TERRACI will give you the ability to affect plants. You will be able to feel a network of roots and floral structures everywhere. It gives you the ability to remove pests from crops, accelerate growth and artfully grow almost any plant in almost any shape. Where would we be today without their abilities.

The Sentinel

Most Mages pick a discipline and stick to it. Overachievers pick up a second. And while many dream of learning all four, very few exceptional Mages actually do it.

One might be a Terraci and a Medicus but can not call themselves a Sentinel until they've mastered all forms of Radiant Magic. These Sentinels who long ago in the Age of Honor were sent to defend mankind against the “Beasts” are now sought after as exceptional bodyguards - making them the only Radiant Magicians to frequently engage in combat.

They are not just valued for their abilities but also for what they represent to societies. The wealthiest aristocrat might buy the most expensive swordsman but the Souls of the Sentinel will not simply protect anyone: Only the one worthy of defence in combat. A small guard of Sentinels in a Kings or Queens Guard is a sign of righteous rule. And the people of many countries, especially in the west, know this.

Stage 4 -

Finding Work

You might have been gifted an amplifier by a Mage and trained yourself any of the abilities above, maybe with the help of a mentor.

But in most cases you will have learned your craft in a University Order.

University Orders

They filter applications, reach out to talented students and then educate their selection in the fields mentioned above. They tend to have various colleges specialized in the different forms of radiant magic pertaining to diverse fields of study ranging from politics to science to the performing arts, craftsmanship and trading. They typically also financially support research expeditions by its faculty. In the old days they were mostly self-sustaining because the students were made to work, growing food and maintaining the property. But today governments often substitute with funding if the Order is representing their preferred religion or if it's prestigious and useful enough to be supported. Parents or grants pay for individual students and “Provider Orders” add funds in return for “First Looks” at the new students.

Provider Orders

These Provider Orders are usually servicing bigger companies, aristocratic ventures or government contracts, functioning much like an agent, making contact with various potential employers. They are for obvious reasons interested in attaining only the best students. They often have several branches, sometimes in different countries, with the biggest of them managing atlas-wide international contracts. Provider Orders, needless to say, are where the big bucks are.

Elite Provider Orders

Next, we have what I call Elite Provider Orders. These are the prestigious organizations which are usually associated with a higher government body like the Order of Tian who is servicing the 4th Estate in “The Dynasty”. Rather than poach from the Universities, these orders seek to bring talented and prospective Mages into the fold from an early age - all the better to foster a sense of purpose, duty, loyalty and adherence to the Order’s Traditions.

Mage Guilds

On a smaller scale, we find Mage Guilds. If a citizen requires healing, if an independent farmer has a pest problem or any other issue disconnected from a larger organization arises, it is a Mage Guild that will answer the call. These Guilds work locally, are often run by a committee and especially around the Boon & the West are many hundreds of years old. Although they have less geopolitical influence then other Orders, they are very influential locally, as an effective and well organized Mage Guild will be a great blessing to any community.

Freelance Mages

Of course there are also Freelance Mages - maybe because they weren't meeting the official requirements or because they simply did not want to share a cut with a third party. They never agreed to or managed to cancel their contract, making their own business the way they are able to and prefer to. Some simply wander from town to town in search of work, sometimes doing jobs which don't even require their special skills. Others are highly sought after for their abilities but will only agree to contracts on their own terms when and how they like and with 100% of revenue going into their own pockets.

Closed Orders

Although since the Stock Market Boom in the mid 800s they are an ever less frequent sight, closed Orders still exist today. They train their own Mages but then retain them and dedicate themselves to the religious pursuit of finding the right answers to meaning and to contemplating better ways of living. They sometimes decisively engage in social crises but stay as a self-sustaining monastery away from all financial incentive.

Additional Stage

Looking into One’s Shadow

I hope this presentation on Radiant Magic contained at least some new information for all of you. However, I have one more thing to share - something quite exciting.

During the visit of the Order of Tian the apprentices would go through a special stage: Making contact with a Shadow Soul.

I was not permitted to watch it first. Already aware of it being a special procedure we insisted and eventually two days before we were scheduled to leave I was let in as an apprentice was establishing a connection.

She had trained for a month to withstand the psychological pressure.

Now: I am aware that many of you might not be aware of the fact that a Shadow Soul needs to be intercepted on its way towards the depths of the earth. There, in deep caves where the “Haunting” makes survival an implausibility, expeditionary forces are tasked with locating them on their way down.

This makes them very valuable and not many Orders believe it to be a worthwhile investment.

But the Order of Tian owns two such passageways into the Shadows and it trains the students there to prepare themselves mentally.

This exercise is meant to show them the dark side of humanity, to have them look into what life can erode to - a type of cautionary experience. It was made very clear to me: The Order will not use this exercise for magic but only for the purpose of looking into one’s own Soul.

This needs to be a very controlled experiment.

Radiant Souls usually are hard to awaken and one has to gain their trust. This is because they have something to give and they only give when and how they see fit.

A Shadow Soul will reach out for you, is up for anything and oftentimes makes an active effort to make you lose yourself or abuse the energy the Soul can provide you. It wishes to corrupt.

Sitting some distance away, I observed the apprentice stare into the sky and wondered what it was she was thinking, what she was seeing as in front of her the shadows in the soul moved slowly in a circular manner.

And then, a second later, her head snapped towards me and a bolt of lightning flooded out of her fingers and towards my very seat. Fortunately, as it turned out, she wasn't skilled enough yet to aim or control the energy properly so I just came away with a few singed hairs and slightly stunned from the shockwave of the pillar exploding behind me from the impact of the flash.

After she was seperated from the Soul and the situation had de-escalated, one of the mages who lead the experiment explained to me that the Shadow Mages were uniquely able to channel raw energy into storms, lighting and Fire.

There is a concerning trend in some of our eastern countries to accept Shadow Mages to practice their abilities in preparation and application for warfare. After seeing how easily a Shadow Soul was able to corrupt this prepared trainee - and just how destructive its magic was even without harnessing - I believe Shadow Mages application in warfare is inevitable. But I strongly advice - inspite of its allure - not to be tempted to join into an arms raise. It will have dark and lasting repercussions for our societies.

The Choice

Today I will be trying to convert you to every single major religion on the Soul Atlas to show you their merits.

Of course, if you lived in the earlier centuries, you were born into a family which already believed in a religion. Though some of us made up our minds and switched beliefs. Here are your two main choices from the age of resettlement (0 YT):

Now you might think this way of thinking is suspect or contemptible. Most likely because you were brought up differently. It is possible that your set of beliefs looked quite different, more like:

Ancestor Reverence

Ancestor Reverence believe that the nature Goddess, Awa, has challenged mankind since its inception. We have not grown strong in spite of her but because of her. She nourishes us, allows our crops to grow plentifully, our animals to be healthy, she lightens our labour with her rains and when tired she allows us to cool ourselves in her meandering streams. She is not just the rivers, but also the wide lush fields or the shade that protects from the sun.

She challenges us to establish Order.

She has sent forward the Beasts so that the best among us might distinguish themselves. She has forced us against her creations so that we might have a common enemy. So that our resolve and the capabilities of our community might be strengthened.

On our day of judgement she bestows upon us a soul tree to protect our soul should we be worthy and she recalls us to the depths to be punished if we are not.

Awa leaves those most worthy among us so we may study them, revere them and aspire to live up to, or even surpass their ideals. These we call Reverends. If you want to be both challenged and blessed, you may join us. We will provide you with the community, the rituals and the support to overcome the dark times and find meaning through ordering the chaos.

It is actually remarkable - although they dislike hearing it - how similar both the aforementioned schools of belief are in their conclusion. The reason for it seems to be that both religions sprang from different interpretations of the same ancient religious texts, known as the Antigo, written by the Ancient Prophet and referred to usually like: “As written by the Ancient Prophet in the Story of the Silent Tree …”

Of course, there is the odd one out. The Religion that was always chosen by a few and never abandoned. It has essentially no atlas wide institutions and is independently believed by many who consume Soul Tree Extract. It goes by the collective name of Nature Worship:

Nature worshippers believe that at the beginning of time, the great Mother met the first man on the face of the barren Atlas. With the help of her spirits, she enchanted him like she had done with so many before and placed him on her belly where she could see him for as long as she wished.

Until roughly the year 400YT these were your only choices. A few minor sects and cults were created but these only garnered small followings. Though towards the end of the Age of Honour, a new splinter sect of Edany gained popularity:

Star Edany

The Edanists and Star Edanists agree: Akash is the correct interpretation of the Goddess under the Atlas.

Akash, undoubtably, is evil beyond measure. But nonetheless, there is good in the world. Fortune is brought to us by the Sun Goddess Sorna and at night our moon couple Lua (small moon) and Gatar (big moon) watch over us. We see it as our duty to cut down the Soul Trees so the Souls may drift skywards to become stars, reunited with the embrace of the gods that watch over us.

It has never been up to such humble creatures as humans to decide all the ends of the world. It has always been a divine struggle between powers far beyond our grasp.

Edanists and Star Edanists did not get along very well. Mainly because Edanists thought Star Edanists to be heretics who handed their destiny to some made-up gods who they had never managed to establish proper contact with. On the other hand, Star Edanists thought Edanists were way too serious and arrogant to believe they were in control of the universe.

Anyways - this resulted in a series of bloody conflicts. Embittered by this deep divide the middle north (Star Edanist) and the middle south (Edanist) fought each other in the Edanic Crusade.

From this brutal period which intermingled with the Age of Empires came an intense desire to rise above the violence. Out of it was born Theozen, a very different kind of school of thought and more of a philosophy than a religion:

Theozen

Theozen is a very recent religion. There are too many wars fought over mere speculation, too many friendships broken, too much division between people we love because we know them and people we hate because we don’t. Yet we can surely see that there is a divine power at work in our Atlas. It is therefore our burden as the priesthood of Theozen to travel from country to country, to extract wisdom about the divine from all myths of creation and all Ancestor Souls. We will connect with nature through the Soul Tree Extract and we will call upon the Shiru’s from all over the Atlas to gather wisdom from people of all classes.

From our age-old burden comes the great “Book of the Divine” printed over and over again to contain the old and the new wisdom alike. You may not initially believe but once you read our book you will find it difficult to continue an unbeliever.

Join us in Tribute and in Gratitude.

Theozen gained extreme popularity during the Age of Invention and saw an additional increase during the Moral Revolution. Generally, time periods in which people were well fed and the future looked bright, people would go to visit the Theozen Temples to read from the great Book of the Divine. They would sit and talk with the priests. Many Ancestor Reverends and Edanists converted to Theozen as they were looking for a way out of the rigid norms and traditions they had felt, were forced upon them.

But Theozen, clearly being manmade and simply comprehending the divine was not enough to sway cultures and peoples during dark times and so they would fall back on praying to their old deities, searching for guidance from the beyond.

When in the year 994 the great recession brought down the established world order and left the Immortal Kingdoms in ruins, the allure of another pseudo-religion spread, finally finding roots in Castodia where it developed and here is what they believed:

Honordom

Honordom believes that: who are you to interpret the will of the Souls, the wisdom of the Ancestors? You must give them to the honorable Tribunal. There we will make sure that Akash, Edany’s Goddess of Chaos, has not infested their wisdom. In this tribunal those trained to be finding the truth within the souls will extract the will of the Ancients, the wisdom of those before us and those who find the truth about past attrocities.

It is through this process that they may come forth to reveal the God Emperor/ Emperess chosen by the will of the Souls. This one person, the highest of all relevant ideals, shall be the ruler of the nations. They shall know good from evil better then anybody else. Those they choose to do the peoples bidding will be divinely so. Their decisions may feel irrational given their long term understanding as society will be one sunrise at the time lifted towards the highest Ideals.

Now this came at a time where the world was in disarray and where nothing was more needed then a divine ruler to right the wrongs of the world. This is why it managed to spread through Castodia, Frengenland and Catomea (where it was the cause for civil war). Unfortunately it had a crucial weakness as a functioning religion existing mostly for humanities wellbeing: The “Order of Sol” which appointed the Ruler would take their cut of tax profits in return for keeping the Emperor in chair. They could not choose competent rulers who would see through the façade of the “selection” just being an illusion. In reality the Souls which were collected from grieving families (sometimes by force) were dumped down a hatch in the many Temples across the country. Then the Order in charge of these Temples would declare who or what was useful to them as the divine will. They would then go on to choose puppet emperors whom they could control, often ruling from the shadows. Honordom countries eventually locked down fully. Becoming fervent separatists. Now nobody really leaves or enters anymore. Honordom is now a state religion in Frengenland, New Catomea, Castodia, Malar (which is a splinter that was gifted directly to the Order of Sol to build their pilgrimage site) and recently after a bloody civil war, Amurea.

After hearing of all these changes, crusades and instability. One can understand why Reverends swear on their view about rigid traditions and order.

But there is another religion maybe even more resistant to change:

Below the water levels where almost exclusively the submerged live there is a religion that is the most common and wide spread in underwater civilizations: Pantheon. From Aqflama, to Etlentis to Lua people believe in the Gods of the Depth:

Pantheon

Here is what Pantheon faithfuls believe: from the deep bottomless dark into which no one has ever ventured the gods watch you. Everyone of them has their own virtue - honor, truth, loyalty and more, asking you to live up to their standards. Of course appeasing all gods is impossible as we are mere mortals. Therefore every city or settlement must select one god such as for example Uminur, the God of Bravery (in the face of darkness). A guardian shall be selected to represent your town and together with other settlements and cities your clan should have as many virtues as possible among them.

In times of conflict there is no need for unnecessary bloodshed if the guardians of the city are proper. Elected by the people, the guardian may be the defender of the cities virtue. An attack on the city is an attack on its virtue and therefore the guardian is asked to step forward and in a dual with the enemy guardian defend the claim to the cities god. These duals will take place in the great temples of fate, guardians swimming above the deep dark with the bottom open so the gods may watch.

May you too take on the virtue of the gods, devote your life to a higher ideal.

Now Pantheon has existed in the depths for longer then perhaps any other religions. Its simplicity of devotion to one ideal before everyone else's and its way of structuring society in a relatively peaceful manner have made it stick around for longer. These beliefs are so intertwined with society that they only ever risk being forfeited if outsiders come in or if the submerged ascend to the land.

The truth is often times we do not have a choice at birth when it comes to what we believe in. We grow into the wisdom of our own town or village and this is fine. We must not forget that each conviction is born the same way. For those of you who might still choose: which religion would you like to know more about?

We believe that our little world is the whole world. Even those of us in positions of power, where we have to consider many little worlds at the same time sometimes experience trouble understanding all these realities. Therefore I present to you some carefully acquired and edited first-person accounts of what life is like in the strangest places to be found on the Atlas.

Life is different

In Submerged Countries

We have lived down here for generations. With the help of Radiant Magic thousands of years ago, we started to settle underwater towns and villages. Our thick-walled houses are well stocked with the water tongue plant, which turns water into breathable air for those accustomed. You may enter the houses through a small floodgate as a door but don’t be surprised by the warmth: That’s just the furnace because our best friend the water tongue likes it warm. Sometimes when pests get into our plants we might need to spend some time with the neighbors as we clean out our house.

When we travel we make use of our ability to stop breathing for many hours or even days depending on our health and age. Our various sign languages are of great help while we go about our business outside. We usually do so no further than 20 meters below the water surface. After all, there is very little light that reaches this deep- even during the day. And of course the water pressure is immense.

Additionally settling near a deep rift, pit or the “deep bottomless dark” as we like to call it, is inadvisable. Mostly due to the possibility of lurking predators which are hard to hunt as they can always return into the darkness to where we can not follow.

In Underground Countries

Our Caves are made of stone - either by nature, by us or the civilizations before us. In them, little grows that can illuminate the expansive darkness with the exception of some moss species and fungi. But if you lay down a good bit of earth from the above world you will be able to grow with a handful of Lumotropic jungle seeds a whole glowing jungle down here.

Aside from this, we have discovered petroleum - out of necessity really. We have discovered the advantages of crude oil, gas and coal. Our cities are now illuminated in all kinds of ways and only seldom when traveling to the surface we see the sunlight.

In the Hot North

I live in Zaria, a city in the Acilantran state. Most of our town is underground and this is the design of the majority of our cities here in the North. The parts of the town which are outside are made to be walked through when the days are cooler, from sunset, through the night & into the early hours of the morning. We usually sleep during the day and go about our business from the evening onward. It is at this time you can behold the glow of a thousand lights illuminating our Night Cities.

Everyone along the coast of Acilantra, Sokuzan and of course Follon never stay out for more than three glasses at a time without big coolers which can help us survive for about an hour. 

There are few fields of desert grain, which have the peculiar behavior, at least for foreigners, to sink into the ground when the days are too hot. A variety of cacti are a common dietary staple as well. Yet we still often experience difficult times if for whatever reason our food imports from Sokuzan or Catelon are interrupted or delayed.

Travelling above ground is usually quite difficult as we need to exchange our coolers every hour walking from sunbunker to sunbunker.

There are tunnels created by the great "Dark Tanaman". Its roots extend far into the deep, breaking open the stone and creating habitable rifts for us to live in. 

And of course one can travel by night - an option that has become more viable over the last centuries as dragons and other wild predators have been driven away from the most important routes.

If you want to travel the seas for a journey longer than a single night, for example to Togu Naga Coast, Reonur or deeper down the Sokuzan Delta you must usually do so in a submarine. It’s usually pulled by Yperetis and if you are with a trade convoy you need to be acknowledged by the submerged civilizations whose territory you are passing through. Our great underground ports are hidden, but impressive sights to behold.

In the Cold South

If you go far enough south, the snow almost never melts. Out of the endless snow we have carved three civilizations - Freya, Caletsa and of course the “Sehwitar” - a group of people so closed off that they will not even talk to us fellow southlings. Down here we consider ourselves the countries of the Sled rather than the countries of the Wheel. But much of our treacherous terrain requires airships to traverse which was one of the reasons why the most important Inventions for air travel tend to come from Freya.

Life out here is hard. This hostile place cannot sustain many people. Only the toughest like our ancestors. They were mostly builders & hunters. This shifted with the discovery of Fagaerium. Freya owns large Fagaerium-rich mountains whilst Caletsa, as a modern monarchy, is barely holding on leading to two very different experiences:

The Ages

I wish I could give you a full and true history today, ladies and gentleman. But of course, that is impossible. Today we live in Ynorian time and carefully record the many goings on of our world. But there was a time before Ynorian time and civilizations before ours. We have discovered their smoldering ruins. We have learned that their abilities equaled or even exceeded ours. The scant surviving artefacts they imbued with magic – an art we have yet to rediscover – have played an important role in warfare, special operations, magic and science. Why these civilizations fell we are not sure.

Some of the theories will be brought forward on the second day as understanding how such doom was possible is surely important to the security of our civilization today. For now, I shall stick to the facts.

The First Age

Those settlers faced a terrible foe in the form of “The Beasts.” These giant creatures of various shapes protected their territories and were always watchful and searching for human trespassers to kill. 

Age of Honour

This age grew out of the need for stability and safety. Small communities and caravans had little ability to care for themselves or truly face the threat of beasts. Humanity was mostly a fractured people of very small tribes – again, outside of Ynoria, at least.

But people found a way. Inspired by Ancestor Reverence or Old Edany's ideas of how people should treat each other, Kings and Queens put themselves forward with the intention of forming a safe haven for their people. They managed to organize greater tribes of humans which eventually formed proper kingdoms.

Together, it was now possible to fight against the beasts, rather than only run. Humans started to claim territory permanently. Kingdoms grew, as towns and villages thrived in open, relatively safe terrain.

Honor was that what made this possible. Soldiers who protected us against the Beasts and other creatures of danger were held in high esteem. To serve the country was an Honor and to live a life of Honor was a life of the highest meaning.

Age of Imperials

The defining characteristic of the Age of Empires is war and crusade. Battle lines began to be drawn not just over territory, but religion. A new sect – “Star Edany” - began to rapidly polarize the population. Increasingly multiple kingdoms united under one king or queen to organize against their ideological counterpart.

The first and most famous example of such a crusade was, after the “Purge of Agaiatar” in which local Star Edanists were widely killed, the “Crusade for Mankind’s Soul” as it became known by both sides.

Age of Aristocrats

The Age of Invention, often also called “The Age of Aristocrats”, was triggered by the elegant concept of the propeller.

In the previous ages, air travel had been very expensive and slow. Usually, ships were carved from a Fagerium-rich stone and propelled forwards by many rowers with giant paddles. Nobody had yet thought of a way to load or unload the Fagerium which would make airships hover so the airships were fixed to a certain height, making it relatively impractical for most civilizations except for those living in the flying mountains.

On the other hand travel over land was often full of dangers. Not only were the roads constantly besieged by wild animals and beasts but also by robbers, pirates, foreign raiding parties and to top it all off, not a lot of material could be transported on any single cart.

- click the image -

The New Age

In 994 YT the economic bubble burst in what came to be known as the first Atlaswide Financial Collapse. As the confidence in the Terraci bonds vanished, many countries which relied on this security, saw their value plummet. This included all the most important holdings of the Immortal Bank which was dissolved as a consequence. The value of many assets, especially stocks and bonds, evaporated.

Never before had the world economy faced such a scale of unemployment and such a degree of catastrophe. It was unclear whom to blame.

This led to a period of extreme instability. Acilantra disintegrated. Togu Naga and Reonur gained their independence. Valano and Ynoria were severely destabilized.

But without a doubt, it was the central west that was hit hardest. There, the whole Edanistic World collapsed. Where the so-called Immortal Kingdom had once stood, only a fractured, anarchistic political wasteland remained. There, countless petty Lords feud over their individual provinces – collectively, these fractured holdings are known as “The Dukedoms.”

Even today, a clear political order has not been established in this region, although Morou, Harlon Eru and Frengenland have founded nation-states with defined borders. These countries have had variable degrees of success in stabilizing their population and are therefore not officially part of “The Dukedoms,” despite existing in the former holdings of the Immortal Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the countries of the middle east turned to Honordom as a method to avoid collapse and protect the power of the ruling elite. Notable to the east of this region is the Dynasty, which weathered the crisis shockingly well and evaded Honordom expansion. They were able to do so because they had a stable native currency, strong domestic markets and because they had taken great advantage of the rubber revolution.

A word on that revolution: around the year 900 people had started experimenting with Rubber as a material. It found first use in slingshots, and eventually repeater slingshots replaced repeat shot bows. Their smaller ammunition proved to be a great boon to clip capacity, ammunition storage, and logistics. After the technology had found use in the military it reached civilian life where rubber hammers and presses were invented. The press could be hooked up to a water wheel on a river, store the rivers energy and then deliver it as needed. This created factories, assembly lines, standardized airship models and cities strategically positioned on rivers filled their towns with industry as factory made commodities swept the market and materials like iron were more widely then ever forged and used on mass. Although this technology emerged around the beginning of the new millennium only few countries were able to make effective use of it, embroiled in civil strife and financial collapse as they were.

Yet Honordom countries succeeded here and indeed we can trace much of their present influence to humble rubber.

While some countries struggled and others thrived in any given moment, the reality was that technological progress continued to march on. As production facilities and dependencies of countries became more sophisticated (just like the financial market had become before the initial collapse), countries were forced to rethink national security issues.

The whole system of interlinking parts to, for example, make the Air Force a reliable weapon in uncertain times, required an extraordinary amount of different resources, specialized facilities and logistics between these to work properly and be effective during wartime.

This led to an array of wars in which a new kind of manoeuvre warfare was used which devastated earlier powerful nations. This was the main reason for the rise of the Sokuzan Confederation which attacked the Yatur Empires at crucial weak links, unsecured ammunition factories, airports and general infrastructure, instead of attacking the armed forces directly.

At the same time, Honordom expanded. After they secured all Fagerium Mountains from Norus, which remained at a fraction of its former strength, they advanced West.

In Amurea around 1079YT a civil war broke out fomented by heavy Honordom-funded propaganda. It was in a way the most significant event in the East in the last century as it saw the involvement of both the Dynasty and the Holy Empires, especially Castodia, which both officially (or unofficially in the Dynasties’ case) backed one of the two sides in the conflict, leading to the defeat of the Dynasty backed rebels and the adoption of Honordom in Amurea. The Country was first led by a puppet government and later officially integrated into the Holy Empire in 1088YT.