The unique thing about the structure of the British community was that 2 queens had been ruling it for well over a thousand years. The most respected and well known, but not necessarily the best at warfare, was Queen Gwendolen. She was the absolute monarch and one of the original founders of the British community. Everyone loved and respected her, which was in complete contrast to the other queen, Boudica.
Not only was Boudica newer and had a hatred for all things men, but she also made no effort into concealing it. Going so far as to publicly announce it a couple of times. Naturally, with the majority of the population of Planet 4 being men, including the British community, it did not go down well. However, what she lacked in subtleness, she more than made up for in warfare, being the single most powerful fighter strategist the British had ever seen.
In a grand office inside the ruling faction, the United Front faction, sat a few individuals who were the epitome of class and power. Queen Gwendolen the figurehead of the British. Arthur Wellesley, William Joseph Slim, and Robert Clive all of whom were the best strategists of their time. And finally Alan Brooke, the overall battle planner for everything.
“Queen Gwendolen, with your permission, I would like to start off this meeting with a toast to you, who have ruled us for millennia and hopefully another few millennia to come,” Alan Brooke raised his cup, followed by the others.
“Thank you, Alan Brooke,” Queen Gwendolen said while raising her cup as well. Everyone stood up and took a sip of the red liquid before being seated once more.
“Now, there are a few things that you all need to be made aware of. First on our list will be the mysterious disappearance of Edmund Allenby.”
“Disappeared? I did find it odd that he was not here with us today, but how can he have just up and gone just like that?” Asked Arthur Wellesley.
“We’re not sure. We estimate that he disappeared between a year and 2 months ago.”
“Edmund Allenby may not have been at our tier of military prowess, but he still held the title of Field Marshal. His loss will not be small to our community.” Observed William Joseph Slim.
“I cannot agree with you more, but the reality is that he is no longer with us. We can’t rule out that he may have defected to another community.” Alan Brooke explained.
“Hah! Well, perhaps he knew that he wasn’t the strongest one here and decided to go to another community in hopes of being the strongest there.” Robert Clive chuckled wickedly.
“Enough Clive. He is still one of our comrades and until such time it is proven that he has defected, you are not to speak of such disrespect to Edmund Allenby! Understood?” Queen Gwendolen raised her voice in a rare show of power.
“...Whatever…”
“Ahem! Moving on. This next one is just for you, my queen. I have provided a list of the next group of candidates whom I think will be the next leaders of our community. Just like you chose the four of us, Edmund Allenby, and the hundreds of others before us.”
“Thank you, Alan Brooke, I will go take a look at them when I get the chance. However, let’s get to the most important topic that you have prepared for us. I’m quite interested in it. You understand, right? The matter with Sun Tzu?”
“Yes, of course, we have finally received the formal invitation to the mock tournament event. It is coming up in less than half a century at this point and we have yet to decide who will be the one hundred that get to be in the tournament. The sheer magnitude of this project took centuries to make into a reality. Even with someone of Sun Tzu and his teams’ network, prestige, and resources.”
“Oh, this Sun Tzu must be pretty powerful, I respect that.” Said Robert Clive.
“Oh, Sun Tzu, this isn’t like him at all.”
“Queen Gwendolen, what do you mean?”
“He came to our community while the four of you were still being nurtured into the leaders you are today. I met him personally and I’ve had a nagging feeling ever since that something wasn’t quite right with him. I met him at the last Death Match tournament for the first time, and with him was Zhu Ge Liang.”
“Zhu Ge Liang? Are you referring to that fellow that was touted to be on Sun Tzu’s level? A behemoth of the Chinese community.” Alan Brooke asked.
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“Yes, him. Those two were inseparable, as close as the best of brothers. Those two had taken over the Chinese community long before that so they were quite well-known, but I had just started this community at that time. The two of them, me, and Queen Boudica met each other, conversed, and we were treated well by them. From what I got, Sun Tzu was mature, charismatic, and… happy, almost.”
“Was the meeting with him recently different?”
“Yes, for one, Zhu Ge Liang was not by his side. Granted they were not under the same faction. However, Sun Tzu had fundamentally shifted from that first image I had of him. From a man that even the spiteful Boudica didn’t mind to some old depressed miser. Something had happened during that time that made him look like he aged 10,000 years.”
“A shame, but how can someone of Sun Tzu’s experience not be able to mask their thoughts for a meeting?” Arthur Wellesley questioned.
“Heh, you underestimate me. I’ve been managing this community for a long time, don’t you think I can pick up on subtle cues after all that time spent in my position?”
“My apologies for disrespecting you, my queen.”
“Oh, not to worry. I witnessed the Chinese dominate nearly everyone in the Death Match tournament. I was naturally curious as to how they were operating their community, so I sent in a couple of hundred people to report to me about their policies, unearthing talent, and all that. There was one massive red flag that stood out to me. The complete abolishment of the Three Kingdoms faction.”
“I haven’t heard of them, were they powerful?”
“Yes, quite. Nearly on par with Sun Tzu’s faction back in the day. Also, they were in no small part one of the reasons that the Chinese community was able to score second place.”
“...How did such a powerful group fold like that? If one faction is at the top of a community, almost nothing will be able to bring them down.”
“I have no clue. The only thing that came up from our spies’ investigations was that just about every important figure of that faction disappeared so suddenly. There are still a few running around the Chinese community today, but the vast majority of them do not have the same status as they had before.”
“So are you saying that the Chinese community has been weakened?”
“I wouldn’t say weakened as they have many more strategists to take up the place of the missing Three Kingdoms strategists. However, it is still a great loss of talent and future prospects.”
“Who is still active among the ex-Three Kingdom factions?”
“The only one who isn’t totally useless is Guan Yu. My spies tried to get in touch with him but by the time we found out about him at all he was busy starting a faction with a couple of others. We have been keeping an eye on this new group and they call themselves Under 1 Banner, led by some young upstart called Baron Magellan.”
“Is he strong?” Robert Clive once again asking about how strong people were.
“He’s a special case. We’re not quite sure, but he has quite a few capable people that are willing to stand behind him.”
“This is all very fascinating, but we still have a time limit on our meeting today so let us get back on track. What should our composition be for the tournament? Queen Gwendolen?”
“I say we go one-third of the people participating be mentors, such as the four of you, with the other two-thirds being from that list you gave to me earlier. How many people were on the list?”
“About 2,000.” Alan Brooke answered.
“Then we will have to cut down that number by quite a bit.”
“Will Queen Boudica be in charge of the females as she has been in the past?” William Joseph Slim asked.
“Of course, it is one of the few things that keep her sane in this community. Why do you ask?”
“I have been observing her from afar the past century or so. It seems as if she is slowly losing it. Not only that, it seems her disgust of men is growing stronger by the day. It’s a bit unsettling, let me just say.”
“Well, you would be too if men destroyed everything you cared about. Anyway, she is a powerful force for our community. Losing her would be quite detrimental. I’m sure you can all agree that she brings us more benefits than harm. As long as that stays true, then I don’t plan on doing anything about her.”
“...Alright.”
“Well, the last topic on our list will be that we are severely short on aerial strategists. I just don’t seem to get how none of our allies who excelled in aerial combat never made it to this planet.”
“Aerial warfare? How important is it?” The Queen asked trying to get a scope of the problem.”
“Quite. The only ones we have now are those who are just average at it. We have the technology to be great, but we are seriously lacking in not only talent but also capable trainers.”
“Oh? Aren’t the Americans offering a service for this exact thing?”
“Yes, I have tried to get a few to come to our community, but no matter how much money I offered, they said that what we were demanding from them was too much and that we would have to bring all of our students to their community to learn about this type of warfare.”
Queen Gwendolen looked around the room before she made her decision. “Look, technology has grown so much over the past two centuries than I have seen in the thousand-plus years that I have been ruling over this nation. If we are to fall behind now, we will not be able to catch up to the other great nations. For this reason, we have to pay the Americans as much as it takes for our strategists to become renowned throughout this planet. No exceptions!”
“Yes, ma’am… Although, there is one more avenue available to us.”
“What are you referring to?”
“We have recently accepted 2 masters of aerial warfare into our community. They hail from the Chinese community, I’ve had a few bouts with them myself, they are pretty good. Of course, they don’t compare to those I’ve fought with during the Second World War, but they can serve as a starting point.”
“Oh? Who are they? How come I wasn’t made aware of this?”
“They have only come here recently and requested to not be bothered too much. From what they have told me, they came as an exiled faction. The two aerial masters are named Meng Tian and Meng Yi.”
“I think it would be best to get them on our side. Why don’t you send a few people to tell them our plight and see if they are willing to help us. Remember to not be stingy, good relationships are worth more than any weight in gold.”
“It will be done.”
“By the way, where is Boudica? I haven’t seen her in a while. She normally isn’t that busy.”
“She has made a trip to the French community with a bunch of her female entourage. We have no idea of when she will be coming back.”
“Fine, if she does not come back in the next year then have her replaced with someone else for her duties. We cannot afford to be complacent now that we are entering one of the most pivotal tournaments of all time.”
“Of course.”
Little did anyone in that room know, Queen Boudica of Britain went to the French community not to meet with any of its official leaders, but rather the Joan of Arcs faction. The two groups had one goal in mind, and they were not afraid to take a step into the unknown into what they believed was the single most important decision of their lives.