With the fall and occupation of Kyrellia there were only two Human nations that stood in the way of total victory, The Holy Crux Empire and the Lugusian Theocracy. While both of these nations prepared themselves for a final struggle, they would have to wait for a little while as the Gaian Alliance had no intention of rushing into the Empire without first having gained full control over the territory they were currently occupying.

Thus, the lines were drawn, and the Gaian Alliance seemingly halted their advance at the banks of the river that separated the other Human Nations from the Empire. While the Empire and its masters spread propaganda that the ‘evil and sinful Sub-Humans and Metal Demons would not dare to set foot in the most devoted and faithful lands in the world’, the propaganda machine of the Gaian Alliance was also in full effect. Both Gihren and Revil were doing a remarkable job of being spin-doctors and by the time summer had ended and autumn began, the war had lasted six months with a more than half of that being spent with the duties of occupation.

Occasionally, some wise guy would get the bright idea to try and cross into occupied territory for one reason or another, only to either be captured, killed or maimed. There was a strict DMZ that had to be enforced and any attempt to cross it by either the occupied or the Imperials was dealt with using extreme force. As more months passed and winter set in, it had become clear to both the occupied nations and the remaining two unoccupied ones that trying to cross the DMZ was tantamount to suicide and the rate at which people tried to cross was reducing more and more with each passing week. As the occupied nations soon discovered, embracing their occupiers’ ideals and setting their deep-seated racism aside was extremely beneficial.

While during the reign of the Human Kings and the Church many people with strong connections could get away with any act, under the ‘new management’ people were unexpectedly thriving. Anti-Trust laws had been put in place and anyone could now take a wealthier man to court (for the right reasons) and potentially win (as long as they were in the right). It was therefore no surprise that the wealthiest people had the least positive outlook on the occupying forces, but some of that negativity was soothed by the introduction of newer and better modes of transportation, new goods and markets to exploit and not having to ‘tow the church’s line’ in order to keep power.

Businesses both large and small quickly realized that by freeing the slaves and working with this new regime was far more profitable than the when slaves were in inventory. The former slaves now freed from bondage were a new and untapped market that would be able to part with currency. If the institution had remained, they would not have been able to even acquire property, but now that they had the capability to do so any merchant worth their salt saw the profit to be made by exploiting… assisting this new demographic.

After a year of solid occupation, new governments were eventually created by the occupation and inducted into the Gaian Alliance. Despite the misgivings of some that nations without Divinely Chosen Monarchs would surely crumble, the new ‘Republics’ started off pretty well. Although they had made lobbying (or as Arkhan had called it ‘legal bribery’) illegal, they still let groups make ‘charitable donations’ to the governments themselves rather than individual members of said government. The apparatus of the state was harder to corrupt, but special interest groups still were able to influence national policy on a small to moderate scale, which wasn’t perfect, but it was still better than some of the nations on the version of Earth that Arkhan came from.

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With ‘Big Brother Arcadia’ as an example of how a government of the people by the people and for the people could be run the Republic Style of government was quickly gaining a lot of traction and the large amounts of funding and influence from their neighbors to the west was a helpful boost as well. There was the odd fact that Arkhan Aesir Arcadia was the ‘God King’ of the ‘Democratic’ nation of Arcadia, but the fact that Arkhan had long since stepped down from being an active King and was trying to merely be a decorative one that existed at the whims of the people made it easier to deal with.

But as the nations that had been defeated became freer and more equal, the remaining two merely tightened their grips and enacted even more draconian laws and treatments than what they had previously. The harsher they became, the more their people became unable to understand why they were being treated that way. Hiroyuki’s ‘secret police’ coupled with the now very active Inquisition viewed anyone who even sighed or grumbled as a potential dissident, and the punishment for dissent soon became the same as treason. In fact, they no longer viewed it as dissent anymore and any opinion that did not 100% match what was proclaimed by the Church became both treason and heresy.

With the lands to the west cut off from them and their goods no longer flowing into the Empire and the Theocracy, the recession that came from the crusade had become a full-blown depression. With countless men having died or been captured by the Gaian Alliance and the trade with the other Human Nations cut off there was not only a severe lack of manpower to do any meaningful work but the trade system that had kept the two behemoths afloat for so long had now disappeared and they were floundering because of it. For the first time in recorded history there were sparks of resentment and revolt that threatened to ignite a conflagration if they weren’t stamped out by the authorities. However, to paraphrase the words of a certain princess; The more they tightened their grip the more people slipped through their fingers.

Time passed, and the DMZ between the two sides became impassable for the average person. Time marched onwards and the buildup on the west side of the DMZ intensified. As the west modernized and democratized, the east was left to fall further and further into the grip of tyranny and despotism.

Now, just four short but highly eventful years after the counter-invasion had begun, the forces of the Gaian Alliance were preparing for the endgame. The border between the Gaian Alliance and the Empire was about to become the next front in a war that would eventually reveal a terrible truth that the Theocracy had been hiding for over seven millennia.

On Arkhan’s sixteenth birthday, the order was given.

“Attack!”