Frontier Margrave Haegenst is located to the extreme east of the Ansurpolean Holy Empire, the true inheritors of Summer Field and Motherland. The Empire's birth comes from human cities 17,000 kilometers south-west of Summer Field.
When the evacuation took place in Summer Field, former nobles of the Empire Ansurpolean from Terra declared the foundation of the Ansurpolean Motherland Empire and started "cleaning wars." Their supremacist views as the "chosen people and true inheritors of Summer Field", caused hundreds of years in constant conquest wars, and millions of victims died.
The Empire expanded with steel and blood, their economy based in constant wars to acquire resources, valuables and people; most of the victims were nonhumans, but this system is deemed to fall by its weight, not because of divine justice intervention but because of corruption, their fall in warring states civil wars, warlords, bandits, and big merchants with their own armies, all fighting to control lands and resources.
Almost 300 years later, a coalition defeated the last opposition and form a government ruled by a military triumvirate with a puppet Emperor. Then, over 250 years of abundance came, and many neighboring countries have always has been wary of the claims from the Empire. is good there's natural barriers:
The Tnesnka River, with a variable width between 30 kilometers and 50 kilometers, fkows more than 12.000 kilometers from east, thousand kilometers before the coast. The river floods thousands of square kilometers, creating wetlands with a variety of environments, like swamps, islands, marshlands, and others.
To the north, the Empire limits with the Alparna mountain range; this mountain range keeps into the ocean, creating hundreds of islands; there's only 3 frontier pass and airboats have tough times with monsters and altitude.
The 9,000 kilometers in between give the Empire more lands that they can manage, but still, they want more, when the peace brought stability and the birth rates increased, they set their eyes to the inland: to the east.
Slavery came quite common as the golems from 800 years ago started to decay, 2/3 of the rural populations and 1/3 in metropolitan areas.
Because taxes also include slaves and land extension, many big Aristocrat houses, the base of the Gentry's class used grey lines, like placing slaves in slums or in the free territories that not under any aristocratic official government.
The triumvirate, looking to keep under tight control the nobles and their mixed interests in private enterprises, ordered a doctrine to develop the lands to the east and, with time, reach close to their "home," Summer Field.
Taxes and imperial edicts come imposing stricter rulings, like direct Triumvirate permission to occupy the free lands, thousands of people were send to the borders, building post towns, and keep advancing.
The search and hunt for golems or ruins was highly valuable; to many adventures was a dream, but this also becomes a kind of curse.
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One hundred years ago, Haegenst was a small and poor barony, 4,000 kilometers south east from the Empire Capital, in relatively small mountains that reach the Tnesnka riverside. Jurgen was the youngest of the actual baron, the last of 16 brothers and sisters. since early age he showed curious behaviors and was very adept to magic-using. Even though the family was big, his father and mother's were loving and doting parents.
Their fiefdom was poor in the standards of the capital nobles, but the victim rates from hunger or weather were low, the taxes were low, and most of them was used as funding public services or works.
Jurgen helped his house with some changes in agriculture and aquaculture. at his 15 years adult ceremony, he signed to be an adventurer in the guild. The guild's system is a semi-institutional organization; there's adventurers, builders, and others. is part of the counterweight the Triumvirate had in place to limit the Feudal Lord's.
At 17 years old Jurgen and his team found ruins with a Golems factory; the factory could still operate with few fixes, the entrance was on the east of his house Fielfdom, in the free lands, but the facilities were inside his family domains.
They moved to report to the Guild Master near them, the Triumvirate send troops directly under them, but the battle of politics in Court was just starting.
The Haegenst family was granted a Margrave title, the lands the have they will keep only in nominal name and without the lands with the subterranean ruins; also: a percentage of the sales of the Golems factory; in exchange they will receive lands in the most east of the frontier; they will need their new enormous fortune to be invested in all new territory.
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Anissa lives in the border of the free-lands territories with the wild-lands territories. is weird how this can be confusing: free-lands are somehow tameable and wild-lands don't.
Her 7-year-old children's were playing close to her while she was foraging some herbs; they probably evacuated the town; they needed to be ready in mid-afternoon and wait the airboat Haegenst Frontier Margrave family sent to evacuate, but her children disappeared.
Luka and Annie were playing when they heard the people in town saying they would move to another place; the ambient mana is increasing and the probability of monsters stampede increases; they are twins; they went quickly to a hidden place; they had a little cat creature they found almost death 2 weeks ago; they holed the little cat inside a dry trunk with a small like tunnel, reaching inside a rock; it seemed like an abandoned nest, and they used as their secret base with their friends when playing.
Just when they got to the dry trunk they heard a loud growling from the the forest line, down the hill, a few hundred meters from them, a big brown-like bear with 4 pairs of legs, 10-meter bulky body suddenly came to them.
They were scared but got quickly inside the trunk and opened a the small cover in the entrance of the small tunnel leading to the nest down inside the rock, their secret base had small lumens rocks crystals crawling inside. they reached another door and opened, dust starting to fall from the tunnel. They quickly got inside and closed the door.
Then look inside their secret base, and the little cat was held by another kid, small as them, white skin, ashen blonde, wearing a kind of travelers brown robe with hood that's is partially open, somehow he looks like their father. They were stunned, and their base was under attack!
[Um, hello, my name is Matthew; you are?]
[Hello, my name is Luka, and she is my twin sister Annie. What are you doing here?]
Sorry to intrude; this fella was trying to get out making noise and meowing that attracted the bear. The creature outside here.
[Seems the creature is affected in some way by the ether.]
The kid looked up the cave roof and then to them.
[Creature?, That's a k'er, a big one, is weird coming out the forests in the wild lands.]
[Um, interesting; don't worry, he would leave soon.]
Annie seemed scared, holding her brother's arm tightly, but looking at the boy named Mathew.
Soon as predicted, the noises ceased, and then Matthew woke from where he was sitting on the floor, and addressing the children, he asked:
[Is okay now? What do you want to do?]
Luka: [We are leaving now; we just came to retrieve Tom.]
He pointed the cat.
[Ok, take him; now is calm.]
Matthew gave the little cat to Luka and started to going out, followed by the twins.
Once outside, the twins looked around; there was no dry trunk and the rock is partially destroyed. Sitting in one of the remaining tall rocks, there's a woman in the same garments as Matthew; she was looking at the forest line and then looking at the twins.
[Hello, my name is Serena].