Political Map of the Continent

Geographical map of the Continent

[Echo One] "This is Echo-One to all elements: On my signal, advance forward."

Lafayette was at the wheel of the JLTV. The truck was assigned to Unity squad after they arrived in Fort Lauderdale. They were staged to move, ready to go at the minute's notice. They were flown in from Afghanistan, transferred to Germany, and moved to Florida. All in the span of a day and a night.

It wasn't Korea. It was all Hezekiah cared about. It was all he needed to know.

"Experimental Battleground?" Brian asked in the back of the truck, "What the hell is that anyway?"

"I think it's like a VR kinda thing, y'know. Like, a simulation of a battlefield," Flint answered.

"Oooh that makes sense, that's cool."

Hezekiah wondered himself, though his brain was too tired to really think about anything. The soldiers had been sleep deprived for the period of time they were in transport. He couldn't really make too many complex ideas on his own. He frankly didn't care either. It wasn't the meatgrinder. And in the end, that's all that mattered. Besides, they were in the US, home territory. There were no IEDs here, no bad guys with weapons, no patrolling long-ass stretches of absolutely nothing. It was home.

He sat with his legs up on the dashboard, looking up at a Palm Tree that towered over him through the window. The warm sunlight beamed through the window warming his skin. He thought it was alright, a nice relaxation spot. If only he could get some more sleep now… he could just slip away for a second.

When his eyelids drifted together, the image of a seed appeared in his mind. It was wrapped with a hand, a white-gloved hand. Upon seeing it, his eyes shot open again. That dream…

"…It is done. But you aren't. You are just beginning on your marvelous journey," That reptilian voice hissed in his mind yet again. That dream of his from a few nights ago re-emerged from his subconscious almost frightening him.

He found Flint shaking him awake as his eyes once again opened, Lafayette was driving the JLTV following behind another truck in the convoy, as they proceeded forward down a hastily built dirt road.

"Shit, you were out for a good 15 minutes," Flint told him.

Hezekiah looked at him confused, "15 Minutes? I was only out for a second…"

"Out like a light, man. I can't blame you though, I haven't gotten a good rest since Afghanistan," Brian said.

Hezekiah was confused, what the hell was wrong with him? Was he an insomniac? Is that what insomnia was? 'No insomnia prevents people from sleeping… right?' Hezekiah thought to himself as he reasoned within his mind. He shook his head, unwrapping a towelette from a package to wipe his face in a desperate attempt to freshen himself up.

[Echo 1] "We are advancing towards the target area, just follow the road into the tunnel and we'll rendezvous once we are on the other side."

"Where do you think we are going?" Flint asked Hezekiah.

Hezekiah shrugged, "No clue. Don't care either."

"Why not? It's important!"

"Sure it is, but it ain't Korea. Don't know about you, but to me anywhere is better than there," Hezekiah told him. Flint nodded in acceptance.

"True," Flint said.

"Me, I don't ask questions," Quinn said in his bold and boisterous New York Accent, "That's the kind of shit that gets people killed. You see in damn near every movie, you ask questions, and you get killed."

"Damn straight," Brian said.

"Amirite or amirite?"

"You sound like you know a thing or two about that," Lafayette asked him with a chuckle.

Quinn threw up a hand, "Me myself? Nah. Back in the day, my family got fucked by the mob, asking too many questions. That was damn near 100 years ago though."

"Real shit?" Flint asked.

"Yeah," Quinn chuckled, "We're alright though, now that the mob is dead. But still, High Command thought it fit that we didn't need to know, and I'm not one to find out before High Command is ready to disclose that to us."

"Smart…yeah that's smart," Flint nodded, "I don't like the fucking government anyway, never did."

Hezekiah watched as Lafayette followed the truck ahead of them, pulling into a tunnel going underground. Slowly, the JLTV was enveloped by blinding darkness once again…

The Crystal Palace, Fargo

Population: 1.2 Million (Mostly Demi-Humans)

Type: Capital City

Allegiance: Iscariot Empire

The Crystal Palace, the symbol of Iscariot royalty and the practical embodiment of the state itself. A giant complex made of white walls, spires that reached the heavens, and a massive dome over the center of the building that was embedded with various Jewels that gave it a sky-blue color and sparkled in the embrace of the suns rays. It housed a university, a government administration building that handled taxes and the running of the nation, a prestigious hospital, one of the largest libraries on the continent, and an observatory. This was a center of learning and the seat of government power. Numerous inventions like the telescope, the advent of gunpowder (Which had limited use in this Renaissance-like world), and the sextant were either made here or got their name after it was promoted here.

But beyond all of that, it had a primary function. It was the home of the Royal Family and the Iscariot Royal Court. The seat of the monarchy, and the brain of the expansive empire.

In front of the building was a giant nearly 100-acre plaza, decked with trees, sculptures of various figures, fountains, and a giant crystal ball that sat in the middle of a pond right in the middle lining perfectly with the entrance to the Palace. The Crystal, combined with the dome on the Palace proper, gave the Crystal Palace its name. It was the tallest building in the entire city of Fargo, a sprawling metropolis home to well over a million. It was an entrepot of global trade, located right at the junction of the River Albya and the River Blareflush. The Albya river continuing to the West bringing in trade from the numerous kingdoms and fiefdoms there, and the Blareflush river going North-East towards the Falklands. The bitterly hated rival of the Iscariots.

The Palace was busy, the King and Queen decided to call court into session and people from all over the land came. Well the rich aristocratic elites did, the working class and the slaves of the nation did not.

The sound of a crowd chatting away seemed to wash over the atmosphere like a wave about to crash on a beach. Slow, rhythmic, yet indiscernible, and loud. It was the official meeting of the Iscariot Royal Court. All the nation's richest nobles and aristocrats, merchants, the clergy, and other elites of the nation met here. There was a dominant issue amongst the elite today, as they talked nervously. Exchanging rumors and gossip, some of it was factual and based on solid ground. Others were just myths and conspiracies formed in the recesses of the imagination.

The Green men of the Albya River Peninsula had caused fear, humans with beasts of iron and magical lights. The Iscariot vassals down the Elbea River had raised concern about them, sending reconnaissance units to study them from afar.

"Is it the Falkish?" Asked one of the Iscariot noblewomen talking to her other countrymen.

"The Falklands might be trying to establish a colony on the Albya River Bay!" Said a rich Aristocrat.

"Nonsense, we beat those Human beasts in the war! They wouldn't dare try to build a colony on the territory of our Vassals!" Said a third.

"Order! The King and Queen have arrived!" A royal knight dressed in flamboyant armor and colors shouted, calling the attention of the people and silencing them.

Two figures entered the room, the crowd parting to make way for them. They walked slowly through the court hall and sat upon the thrones at the front. The windows letting in beams of light that shone down upon them. King Fredrick the Third, and his wife, Queen Nora the First. They were both Foxes. Demi-Humans to be exact. All of the people of the court (And for that matter, the nation) were Demi-humans. Or at least the ruling classes were.

The court was full of them, bears, cats, wolves. Pigs, avians, and weasels. Rabbits, mice, and deer. More like animals walking on two legs than real men. The demi-human Empire of the Iscariots was the most powerful nation on the entire continent. If not, the entire world. The Iscariot Capital, Fargo, was the bastion of the Iscariot hegemony and power. The most wealthy city in all the land. Located along the junction of the Albya and Blareflush Rivers, it was the center of continental trade and power.

The Iscariot Empire, formed out of the Iskarot Duchy, was a nation built on war and bloodshed. King Archibald the First had practically formed the nation back when the Empire was the Iskarot Duchy. Through war, cunning, and diplomacy, he managed to unite the multiple warring nations in the heartlands of the continent into a single power. But his greatest achievement was the conquest of the Faregough Kingdom, a trade city that had put up heavy resistance against Iskarot forces. But after a long and drawn-out war, the Iskarots won and Archibald crowned the city as the new capital of his pronounced Iskarot Empire.

But that was hundreds of years ago, now things have changed. The people who once used to claim heritage to many different nations in the heartlands of the continent, now identify as Iscariots. The numerous interactions with their Falkland rivals have changed the old Iskarot language into the new Iscariot. What used to be the Elbia River was the River Albya. BlauerFluss was now Blareflush. Faregough was simplified to Fargo. The Empire had changed, its culture, and tradition, and way of life completely different.

But the same Royal Family ruled over the nation, the Jorgan Dynasty. King Frederick was the current reigning Emperor. Son of the famous Soldier-King before him, King Rupert the Great, Frederick was a mere shadow of his late father's glory. Despite the strength of the nation, it was hollow on the inside. At least currently.

King Frederick was one of the figures who walked in the room, full of confidence, full of power. He was a demi-human fox. The Jorgan's were a fox dynasty. His fiery orange fur carpeted his body as black accented his features. He wore a crimson red crown that sparkled in the sunlight seeping in through the windows of the Royal Court. His clothing was covered in gold and red textiles woven from only the finest in all of the Iscariot's vast lands. Studded with jewels of a variety of orange and red hues. Red, and more specifically Crimson, was the color of the Iscariot Empire and her Royal Family. Representing the blood of the Empire and the Jorgan Family.

At his side was his Queen, Nora Jorgan The First. The opposite in both appearance and personality. She was all white, her fur the color of the snowy highlands from which her ancestors came. The Planinia Family. She walked alongside him, wrapped in an icy-blue dress that turned to a coal black near her ankle. White ruffles studded with blue, turquoise, and green gems were woven into the seams of the dress. And on her head, sat an obsidian black tiara.

The two foxes, Orange and White, walked up to the two thrones that dominated the head of the Court. Taking a seat, a knight to their side called the court into session.

"What is the meaning of this commotion?" The King bellowed, looking out at his subjects, "All this morning I'm assaulted by letters and demands that I call a court to session! Now somebody explain to me at once!"

A small pause, and then one brave soul spoke, "Your Majesty…" The King turned to look at the person who addressed him, "Our subjects in the Albya River Estuary report of strange men that have seemed to magically appear at the tip of the Peninsula. They request for an imperial investigation into the matter."

"Who are these-men-you speak of?" Fredrick questioned, narrowing his fox eyes looking down at the one who had spoken.

It was a wolf demi-human who had addressed him, a timber wolf knight, dressed in his black armor. The depiction of the Iscariot royalty, a golden sword amongst a scarlet shield, lay upon his breastplate. His name was Sir Wendover, a wealthy and affluent General in the Iscariot Empire who held a lot of prestige. He was a brilliant commander fighting against the Falklands during the wars. Because of his tactics and leadership, the Iscariots had gloriously defeated the despicable humans and triumphed in victory. Practically the entire nation had cheered in victory after the cowardly Falkish signed the peace treaty formally surrendering. Most of the units were under Wendover's command, and he reaped the benefits. He was one of the three top generals in the Iscariot Imperial Arsenal, Himself, Lady Igraine who was a bunny demi-human, and Sir Perceval who was a great brown bear. Igraine was a newcomer having been included in the group a year or so ago after brutally destroying the Penn Republic to the North after they had attempted to attack an Iscariot trade convoy. But Perceval and Wendover were older and much more experienced, both had commanded Iscariot troops through the war back when Rupert was king twenty years ago. But Rupert has been dead for about ten years now, and his son Fredrick was proving to be more and more of a… of a…

'Idiot' was the word Wendover wanted to say, but he knew speaking of the nobility in such a manner was a matter that could risk death. Wendover was proud but he wasn't an fool. Besides, the Queen was always a balancing force in the crown affairs.

"They appear to be human sir-"

"The Falkish?" The King yelled out interrupting him, Wendover closed his mouth and waited for a little for the King to cool down.

"No sir, they appear to be of another faction than the Falkland Empire. It was always the wish of your father King Rupert to colonize the Albya Estuary area but we have failed to make a settlement there. These people could very well be settlers from some other nation looking to make a habitation on the tip of the peninsula," Wendover responded cool and collected.

"And what are our possible courses of action?" The King asked.

Wendover raised his eyebrows, and shrugged a little, "Good question, my lord. It is a relatively minor intrusion that has caused a little bit of worry from our vassals along the area. But I assure you that they are probably not hostile. We should probably just let them be-"

"To let the humans live in peace and possibly gain an advantage over us is not something I think would be in the best of our interests," Lady Igraine interrupted. Igraine was a Bunny, a descendant of an old Warrior Bunny tribe in the heartlands that the Empire had annexed. And like her predecessors, she was a keen tactician. Absolutely merciless on the battlefield. She was a blind nationalist, letting her love of the Empire sometimes get in the way of making good decisions. And she hated Wendover. And Wendover likewise.

The King looked at her with a smile, "My, my. Lady Igraine. Do you have a solution?"

Igraine smiled, "Of course I do my lord. We ought to march into the peninsula and stomp the Humans out while they are still small. They are Humans, we cannot trust the likes of them for they are always scheming against us! Either they become a tributary to our Empire, or they come as our slaves."

The Queen interrupted, "Igraine, don't you think that is a little extreme? They are not hostile to us, nor have they proven to be our enemy-"

"I think it's a magnificent idea, Nora," The King said dismissing his wife's claim.

"Fredrick, you have to think about things before you rush headfirst into them!" Nora warned, "Think of the consequences-"

"Consequences? We are the largest nation on this very planet, none dare to challenge our might or our existence! We are the greatest! What consequence could ever possibly happen to us? Lest the gods themselves strike us down!"

"Wendover is one of our most experienced generals Fredrick, he was the one who defeated the Falkish. It'd be best if you treat him with a little consideration."

Fredrick brushed the words off, "My little Nora, you don't understand what it means to be Queen just yet. Not quite knowledgeable enough to understand what it means to take advantage of a situation while it is presenting itself in the face. You are too soft Nora," Fredrick said.

A berated Nora resigned, a little red in the face. Even though she was Queen, she wasn't in power. She knew her husband probably wouldn't harm her just for challenging his ideas, but the last thing she needed was to get on his bad side. Besides, this is a small matter involving small people. What's the worse that could possibly happen?

"Igraine, you are a brilliant tactician. Wendover, you are older and more worn out," Wendover cringed a little at the statement while Igraine beamed, "Perhaps you aren't as sharp as you once were under my father's reign. The Albya river is extremely important to our Empire, and my father had always wanted to set up a trading colony on the peninsula to expand our wealth and power, control of the region is important and if the Humans set up their city over there it is vital we do as well. So I am going to send you, Wendover, to investigate and to subjugate the people there. Have them become our tributary, or protectorate, or what have you. If they refuse, crush them and take them all as slaves. Understood?" The King said to Wendover. The wolf sighed and nodded his head.

"Of course my lord, I won't fail."

"I trust you won't. Court, dismissed."

The audience in the court stood up and began to mill about. Some of the merchants and aristocrats stood around chatting with each other to secure private deals, clergymen hurriedly rushed off to lead church services, civil servants counted numbers on sheets of paper and scrutinized each and every last decimal. It was a hub of learning and communication. It was the court where people came to get any real work done and were one of the largest public gathering halls. It was used when the Royal family called it into session or not. It didn't matter, it was as open as a park. The only times when the King called it into session was if the people who attended had a unified concern they wanted the Royals to make a decision on, which wasn't too often. Usually, after court closed, the Royals went to their chambers to do whatever it was that Royals did (With this King in charge, wasn't a whole lot). Lately, the court gatherings have been getting shorter and shorter, and they seemed to have lost their purpose. The King hears one argument that he really likes, and with little effort put into thought, he accepts and enforces said argument.

Wendover stood amongst the crowd a tad bit berated, and even humiliated. Fredrick was standing up to leave, and Lady Igraine had already gone off to the rest of the city with her Aristocratic friends. Nora however was still on the throne, it seemed as if she wasn't yet ready to leave and wanted to stay for a while, which was normal. Occasionally the Queen would stick around as she was a bit more preceptive to the people of the court. If somebody felt left out of the "Discussion" during the court they could present them to Nora in the hopes that she'd loan them a kind heart and use her power to pull a few strings. Wendover was one such person, and while the King went off to attend a meeting with diplomats (probably), he wanted to use the chance to air his frustration.

He walked up to the throne, which in itself was giant. The space surrounding the throne was bent so that it would be all but impossible to notice it. The floorboards curved around the area, and the seats themselves rose high above the floor. He looked up at Nora, who was busy talking to a few civil servants instructing them of errands to do around the land. When she turned to look down upon Wendover, he was forced to stop. Her snow-white fur seemed to illuminate the entire room around them as the sunlight bounced off. Her eyes conveyed a strength that even Fredrick did not possess- not in physical power, but intellectual capacity. Her near blemish-free features marked her as one of the purest symbols of nobility. It made Wendover's heart skip a beat. Quite figuratively…

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Sir Wendover?" The Queen asked, her words hitting him like a hammer. Her words were soft and kind in nature, but held and commanded great respect that even Frederick couldn't match. Frederick's power was via fear and his volume, hers was in wisdom and the capacity of such. Wendover was snapped out of his inner thoughts and brought into reality for a change.

"Oh, erhm…" Wendover stammered for a bit, "I wanted to say. I felt that the King has not fairly understood my concerns. I was hoping maybe-"

"That maybe I could knock a bit of decent sense into him?" Nora smiled warmly. Wendover hadn't expected it, but the sense that even Nora understood her Husband's ill nature put him at ease.

"Uh, yes that's - Exactly! Yes! If you would be so kind?"

"I'll deal with Fredrick personally. But you are still commissioned to run this mission nonetheless. There is some logic in all the madness I assure you. The Albya River is one of our most important tools. Fredrick and Rudolph have been eying the Albya Estuary and peninsula for decades now, to establish a trading colony and major fortress in the area would solidify our position against the Falklands. I'm sure that you understand this?" Nora asked. Wendover nodded and bowed his head.

"Of course. And thank you, My Queen-"

"And one more thing Wendover," Wendover looked at Nora who looked down on him, "I will not be very pleased if I hear about a massacre of innocent people commit on behalf of yourself and your soldiers. Human or not. They are sentient beings with feelings too," Nora said, "Even if this Empire chooses to enslave them." She muttered the last part out.

"I understand."

"Alright, good luck and Godspeed…"

Wendover thought of his conversation with Nora while he left the Court to head home. She was right, the Albya river was of extreme importance.

The River stretched all the way from the mountains of the north, through the fertile heartlands, to the ocean down south. Hundreds of different tribes, factions, clans, and smaller kingdoms traded along the river, especially Fargo. Every twelve months the river would flood bringing nutrients and fresh soil from the mountains and uplands into the floodplains surrounding the river. Farms and crop life flourished along the Albya river valley, and because of the predictable pattern of flooding the river went through life began to revolve around the flood. The Empire itself controlled numerous vassals along the river for the sole purpose of taking a portion of their crops and harvest. The River would flood, the plains get fertilized, people grow crops and send a portion to the empire which then dries what it can to put into reserves. Whatever the vassals don't need, they tend to sell to merchants of the empire. Some are even owned by larger trade corporations bringing wealth to the Empire and Fargo.

But running even deeper in society, the main calendar the Iscariots used revolved around the cycles of the Albya river. From flooding to recession of the water lines, and normalcy in the river current. The Falklands on the other hand had no use of such a calendar as they were located far to the east, and their calendar revolved around the sun and natural weather.

In fact, the river was so important to the heartlands of the continent, entire wars were fought just for control over it. One of the smaller kingdoms had attempted to dam a major tributary of the Blareflush River (which fed into the Albya River), but doing so would create an immense shortage and drought throughout the East. A coalition of nations rose up and brutally killed the reigning King for even attempting such an act. Water rights were heavily guarded, landlocked nations created entire navies to guard their river claims.

Of course, the Falklands had the largest navy out of them all, but they lacked brown-water naval capacity. The Iscariots, despite being landlocked as a nation, projected a great deal of their power through its river navy. They designed warships shallow enough to fit into the depths of the River, and fast enough to swim against the current. The Empire excelled at exerting its control downstream to the smaller petty kingdoms of the south. The Falklands meanwhile created much larger ships, with sails the size of giant buildings loaded with weapons like harpoons and gunpowder-based cannons. The Falklands were great at controlling the oceans and routinely dominated the trade and shipping lanes in the oceans.

The Iscariots had always dreamed of having a connection to the ocean, but any attempt to do so via invasion would be met with fierce resistance from either the Falkland Empire in the East or the larger empires in the swamps to the South-West. But this new opportunity could be just what they were waiting for…

Maybe…