TtOW! - Side Story 186.1 - Game of Crowns: The High-King's Ploy (Patreon)

High-King Xavlaeron sat back in his throne, gazing out on the ocean beyond. He was seated at the front of the airship, where a large glass dome covered the nose, revealing a full view of the sea and sky.

All around him, men and women sat at their stations, manning the artifacts tied to the ship’s functions, their hands fixed on the magic cores built into their armrests. These men and women wore not the mass-produced armor of the Legion, but the beautifully crafted armor and robes of Mirima, which held equal value as works of art and weapons of war. Small touches of gold and gems drew attention without demanding it, magic circles were woven into wider geometric art designs, and sharp angles were kept to a minimum. And on the armor, robes, and coats of each individual was the same symbol: A sword and an arrow, both piercing through a shackled chain. This ship, the personal ship of the High-King, was crewed entirely by the Sentinels of Liberty, Mirima’s most elite unit that outdated the island nation itself, and one that had and never would bow to any emperor, friend or foe.

The vast majority of them were half-elven. Many appeared human save for the fair features and slightly pointed ears, but the partners of the elves were not limited to humanity. The mechanic’s shorter stature and light beard hinted at his half-dwarven parentage. A half-elf mage with the lower body of a snake appeared almost entirely like her Mélusine relatives, but her scales were smoother, and lighter in color. A half-beastkin had a silk-like mane of fur on his head, over fur-tipped pointed ears.

The Sentinels of Liberty were open to all, and indeed High-King Xavlaeron’s staff included all sorts. But the Sentinels of Liberty these days prized ability above all, and well, in the High-King’s opinion the half-elven could not be beat. They had the energy and initiative of the mortal races, the patience and grace of the elven races, and, above all, could be trusted not to have loyalties to either the Elteno Empire or the Empire of the Sun. The years of hostility between elf and human could make it…uncomfortable to live in either nation with the blood of the other.

Mirima may be considered a full part of the Empire, the leader of one of its three constituent parts. But it only remained that way due to a fierce defense of its independence, both on the fields of battle, in the halls of diplomacy, and behind the dark alleys of subterfuge. A defense that was leveraged against both foe…and friend, for friendship was no excuse for negligence. And so, even now, when Mirima led the Council of the Southern Realms as one of the rulers of the Empire, it made sure to maintain its own forces.

And it was well they did. High-King Xavlaeron frowned as he thought back to the recent days.

Even now, High-King Xavlaeron was not as confident as he wished to portray. Emperor Lucius, a mere puppet chosen specifically for his lack of resources, connections, and political training, had pushed much harder against his shackles than anticipated. He had nearly conducted a quiet coup with the engagement of his son to Consul Hiberius’s daughter, and only his son’s sudden and scandalous infatuation with a commoner prevented the Emperor and Consul from solidifying their control of the North. And then, even after that, when Consul Hiberius had all but abandoned the Court and Emperor Lucius was heavily scrutinized, the man had still managed to find a way out. He acted with incredible, reckless decisiveness to throw in his lot with this NSLICE-00P, planning to take advantage of her raw power and the instability it produced to gain leverage out of nowhere.

It was a serious problem for High-King Xavlaeron.

For all that was said among the common folk about there being three courts and three emperors, the truth was much more complicated. Mirima was technically not Empire proper, along with most of the Southern Realms. And the Eastern Court, on the other hand, was a military government, acting independently only due to the distance of the front lines from Corvanus. The North, while weaker militarily and economically than its counterparts, represented the purest line of Velus, and all the traditional authority of the Elteno Empire. A North united under a strong Emperor could seize the reins of the structures and agreements in place between its supposed peers.

The East could largely maintain its independence if it wished due to its sheer military might and monolithic nature. But the South was not so lucky. As a collection of allied realms, it was far from monolithic and far from united. And its greatest strength, its powerful economy, was partially out of its control, a resource that enriched it but that could not be guided or exploited by a single person. An attempt to do so would cause the various member states to break off their trade agreements, forcing any would-be tyrant to renegotiate the entire relationship from scratch with every single member. Even the High-King of Mirima lacked the august and power to do so, even without considering how the other Courts would intervene.

Mirima, therefore, played a dangerous balancing game with the actual Courts of the Empire. It presented its powerful advantages on paper, hiding away its inability to leverage those strengths like the North could with its traditions or the East could with its armies. It negotiated, it plotted, it spied, it blackmailed. But it was a game that could come crashing down in a single moment if the Sun Elves ever let up the pressure on the East, or if the long-stumbling North could stabilize its own affairs.

Which was why the High-Kings sought to make a play for real power.

It had been a plan spanning centuries and multiple wearers of the Shattered Chain. A slow and steady build up to leverage their wealth and knowledge, combined with movements behind the shadows. Assassinations that prevented certain Emperors from achieving their ends, enticing words to ambitious generals eyeing the throne. Strong support for the East’s endless and pointless offensives against the Empire of the Sun, thus spending their might on a war in eternal stalemate.

And now, High-King Xavlaeron was ready to fulfill the dreams of all his predecessors. He could not help but crack a smile.

A full fleet of sixty battle-airships, flying fortresses that each could match the might of a legion with a fraction of the manpower. That could travel from one corner of the Empire to the other in mere days, arriving before even the local legions could muster. They were supported by countless smaller ships, donated or pressed into service from member states and Empire-spanning businesses, as well as the Sky Legion, the largest sign of Imperial Authority over the Southern Realms.

Ironic, that said symbol would now lift Mirima above the Empire they supposedly served.

Now, High-King Xavlaeron would defeat the foe that Caelinus could not, despite the opposition of both Emperor Lucius and the Eastern Court. The world had already seen how the Northern Court had failed. Now it would see Mirima rise, and that neither arm of Elteno had any ability to resist it.

The Southern Realms would fall in line. The people of the North would realize on whom their safety depends. And the Eastern Court would see who it was who supplied their war.

Elteno had faded. But Mirima, Mirima always endured. And now, under High-King Xavlaeron’s rule, it would ascend. To rulership of the Empire…and perhaps even beyond.

But first, they had to defeat the Queen of the Dobhar.

High-King Xavlaeron glanced over at the scroll in front of him, portraying a map of the Northern Seas. A glowing ship moved across the sea at the same speed as his own, indicating their current position. He turned to one of the mages.

“Activate the Caelum Aurem and have Arofinas’s Insight deploy their Aqua Manus.”

The mage turned back and tilted her head.

“Your Majesty? It’s a bit early, is it not? We are not close to the Turannian shore line yet.”

High-King Xavlaeron narrowed his eyes.

“This foe defeated Caelinus, the bastion of the North, and Uscfrea Spellbreaker. She destroyed a Consul’s home in the heart of Corvanus and escaped with impunity. We will not underestimate her. And do not forget that she is the Queen of the Dobhar, and stole the Northern Fleet. The water is the home of her army, now that we have moved beyond the shores of Utrad, we should move with utmost caution.”

The mage nodded.

“To break all chains.”

High-King Xavlaeron nodded back.

“To break all chains.”

The mage relayed the order. The wind swirling around the High-King’s craft began to expand in size and speed, howling as it whipped around. Soon, tendrils of mana-laden wind began to swirl off in all directions. High-King Xavlaeron also watched as another battle-airship, the Arofinas’s Insight, lowered from the sky into the water. The bubble of wind around it began to pick up the water and transform into a bubble of water as the ship broke into the waves. It would soon repeat the actions of the High-King’s ship, only with water instead of wind.

High-King Xavlaeron smirked.

The forces of Mirima may not have fought as many battles as the legions of the East or even North, but they had not rested idly all these years. Long had Mirima stood at the forefront of the mystic arts among the Empire and its allies, and now they would showcase their efforts. A major difficulty in magical warfare was the short range of magic. Since everything in Aelea possessed mana to some degree, even the very air around them, everything also had an impact on spells. From the moment a spell was cast until the moment it reached its target, it began to bleed mana into its surroundings as it interacted with the mana all around it. As a result, even with the Farcasting skill few mages had the ability to cast spells further than they could see, much less aim them, and so to this day the majority of combat took place within visual range.

There were ways around this. The communication artifacts of the Empire, for one. But even they had merely circumvented the issue via a network of devices that would relay the message to its intended recipient. The issue of range still applied.

Which was why the airships of Mirima had a distinct advantage.

They had learned a way to take advantage of the very effect that restricted them. They built artifacts that would send out waves of wind and water magic with no effect at all, tuned to the air and sea around them so as to minimize their bleed as much as possible. And then, the artifact would measure when and where its spell began to lose mana, signaling where it had encountered stronger interference. With time and research, the enchanters of Mirima had even learned how to interpret the signals to speculate as to what kinds of mana it had encountered, and so guess as to what was there. It wasn’t perfect, but they were now confident they could distinguish a ship from a shoreline…and even a warship from a civilian vessel.

Or a flying, magical queen from a wandering bird monster.

This would allow them to detect their adversaries far beyond the range of normal sight, even magically enhanced sight. Even clairvoyance spells had to focus on a specific target, and were not practical to scan a wide area like this.

High-King Xavlaeron was confident not even the Legion or the Sun-Elf Archons could outdo Mirima’s detection capabilities. So he would definitely see NSLICE-00P coming from miles away, and long before she saw him.

And eyewitness accounts of her battles had revealed that her defenses were surprisingly light compared to her offensive power, and that she had taken damage from both the Spellbreaker and from Caelinus’s Sky Knights. So if High-King Xavlaeron could catch her off-guard by striking first with all his fleet’s power…even the mighty magical Queen of the Dobhar could be brought down.

“Nothing on the Caelum Aurem, but Arofinas’s Insight is reporting they’ve detected a fleet on approach!”

High-King Xavlaeron grinned. Right on schedule.

It was time to teach these savages the new reality of modern warfare.

Author’s Note:

Ah, yes. Modern warfare. You will definitely teach them that, High-King Xavlaeron. And then all your plans will come to fruition. Definitely.

There definitely is not a Great-High King shaking his head at you after his own, infinitely more sublime plans failed before the might of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Great-Ultimate Boss-Empress!

Anyways!

Will Mirima rise to its place above the Empire? How will the primitive Turannians react to the new reality of modern warfare? Can the plans of a High-King overcome the Queen? Tune in next time, to find out!