Unification Wars

[Junko Ike]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To work on the Lore of Atrisia and some things that have been getting worked on in mention for RP's
• ​Image Credit: Image Created by [member="Shoma Ike"]
• ​Links:
  Sei Murasaki
• Hitchhikers Guide to Atrisia
• The unification Wars Part 1
• Unification Wars Part 2
• Atrisian Tiger

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Event Name: The Unification Wars
• Participants:
  Jade Empress
• Pearl Prince
• Kiyoma Haung
• Unaga Ike
• The First Yovshin
• Sosokan Sama
• Keiko Hanzo
• The Shining Star
• Nobuna
• The Tiantai
• The Keisei

[*]Results: Kitel Phard/Atrisia was unified into an Empire under the Jade Empress who died shortly after the final battle passing it to her son the First Pearl Emperor.
CHRONICLE INFORMATION

Spoiler

1. THE THOUSAND KINGDOMS:

Not much is known about the early years of Kital Phard.... commonly called Atrisia now to most tongues but there was a time when we weren't always united. For ten thousand years, before starships traveled around, before empires rose and fell across the stars there was us... just us believeing that we were the only beings in the universe on our planet. She fought, we fornicated, we made light of the day and we drank. The warlords fleeing across the mountains with their ten thousand tribes were a long way.

The Jade Empress, the unifier, the destroyer, she had a thousand and one titles but few knew her as Ga-In of the ancient house Lo. She was the fourth born daughter of the fourth son. An unlikely one if ever there was one. Her father was often called unworthy having a hundred concubines that drove his family into ruin. The modest house sold their finest silks, their jewels and more until tragedy struck. Most said it was because he tried to afront the gods but others claimed it was kinslaying by his children to stop his vices.

Ga-In though had another vision, never seen as humorous, never seen as friendly to most but she was renowned for her tactical mind. Leading her family in wars against the other clans and absorbing the, their riches. She would put to the sword any who sought death over the dishonor of living with the failure. A small mercy she rarely showed but it marked the beginning of her ambition. Some said it was more when she worked to recollect her families wealth. Being a minor house that served one fo the larger vassals they didn't have much.

However from their village within the foothills they could see the ancient forests rich with timber and game, they could see the sea with its fish and the river that led to the fabled white Pearl. A castle that all traded with and that grew fat and wealthy from its ambitions. All around her though were warlords, clans, houses and petty lords or ladies claiming dominion over their small little hills and Ga-In wanted more. She saw the mountain men come and raid villages, thickly muscled, tanned skin, massive clubs and heavy armor.

The villages along the coast that were prime with fish and crab, treasures from the sea and a place for raiders. The river lords who controlled trade and had some of the finest archers in the lands often using night soil to attack those who wouoldn't pay their way down or up the river. The forests had the craftsmen and miners those who were skilled in labor sure but they were also honorable and seen as the common folk with the largest numbers to work the land. Often traded with in the harsh times of winter.

A thousand and more villages, kingdoms all ripe for the taking but there would need to be more. One couldn't just claim to rule and control it by themselves. She would need more then that as their small army was just that small but they knew how to talk. They knew how to deal and come up with terms for trades. Seen as some of the more middle men wihtin the kingdoms as Ga-In sent out her family. Each one who was weaker willed and wanted to help raise their family up from the depths of debt before the house was destroyed.

She attracted the interest of five who would become her generals, who would lead her matters of state. Their ideas and advise were important to her cause. They gave her also what she needed soldiers, laborers, equipment and a war chest. The one who seemed the most out of place came from the village of Sno along the coast. Renowned for their ship building they were some of the first to make galleons in a way that no one could touch. Interlocking the wood so it didn't have visible lines and was made sturdy.

The ships she provided would give them a chance in the sea and to move across the coast. raiding where they needed to for riches and valuables to sell for campaigns. The coast was rich in many things but they would also need to go to the river keeps. That was where Lu Bai came in, a river lord with archers that gave them access to trade routes, protection and the more fundamental needs of going to the White Pearl to trade. Spread out across the continent the first goal was to connect and strengthen their supply lines.

They were not looking to rule, they were not looking to contorl it just at first create a place, carve something out for themselves that would become stronger and absorb the others. COmpete with many of the others where they could. Ga-In worked with the likes of ZHang, a strong man of the mountains, black haired and thickly muscled what he lacked in refinement he more then made up for being her friend. Her biggest suported and loyal once he had joined the cause. Bringing with him horses and mines for riches.

The mountain clans also gave them a few other thing, access to what would be the fourth Tai of the north, honorable, strong and offering them something few others could compete with. He had soldiers and supplies, thousands of villagers tending his fields and mines, forests with a small keep of wooden walls and towers. A better place to house and feed an army as it provided in Jar'kai what would be natural protection and a place where others couldn't come and get them. Sending the Ruby Kraken with her ships to raid along the coasts Ga-In was hatching a plan.

That plan involved the final one to her cause, a late comer but they brought something the others could not... mysticism as it were. A Tiantai adept who had been raised by them and was offering knowledge of the other villages who offered ancient secrets, tunnels, passages, shrines and riches for what would be her first borne blood child. Ga-In agreed as for the purposes of what her mind was working on she would need everything in place, gods and men to flock to her side and the Tiantai were renowned for their deals.

2. VISION OF CONQUEST:

Ga-In hadn't sought to rule, merely create a stronghold a place where her family and their allies would be able to carve out a place for their own. Jar'Kai would serve a purpose and they went to work training their military. The forces were strong but they needed steel, flesh could be stronger, flesh could be made to bend and be forged within fires few others would see.... but steel could carve into flesh.

The first provocation as some might call it came when Ga-in became pregnant, her first child promised to the Tiantai for their well for their works and knowledge. She paid the blood price compared to some and had their acceptance as it was needed. One of the petty warlords challenged her after she had given up her child insulting her honor some say... others that he cursed her for having a child but not naming the father.

There were rumors about the father of this child for sure some said it was one of the mountain lords, that is was the price she paid to have the river lord on her side. Whatever the reason, whomever the father it is not for one to speculate. The child themselves went on to be something for the Tiantai themselves to handle and that is another tale.

The warlord though after he did all of this, after her boasted took the care to suggest that she bow to him, serve as his concubine before he swept over her newly allied clans like a plague. Not one to bend or break.... Ga-In being so young invited him and the others in the area, the ones who surrounded them to a party within the home.

She invited their families and for each warrior she got two children, a dozen slaves, a handful of concubines and wives, even more merchants that followed to sell their wares. It all went a long way towards turning this into a grand festival and party as Ga-In's plan went into work itself. She had her men slay their children, bake them with onions, carrots, bacon and spices.

The families were set to be taken captive after she had gotten what she wanted, paying the blood price as they slew them at dinner. Poison in the wine, heirs fed to them and some were even so bold as to demand that they receive more. Ga-In indulged them and as they died she gave an offer to the families... the heirs were gone, the males of the family line removed root and stem.

THe offer was to join her and she slew several of the small houses, absorbed the clans getting them to be some of the first as it was suggested she could do this itself to the rest of the region. THe continent even or the world. What they might be able to do though she was unsure about it here for now. THe plan would require far more then what she had.. they would have to plan this out.

As her eyes looked west towards the past, towards the Nhai mountains where they had come from once upon a time Ga-In instead turned east towards the villages, the holdings and small forts. She didn't just attack, now there had to be an order to it and so messengers were sent out with her announcement. Kital Phard would have one ruler and those who refused to bow would be made to.

THis we know was met with mixed responses at best but there was a great deal that was happening now, her armies moved to the places they held creating a fort at first. Wooden and stone walls, mud in the streets and shelters for all of the people. Farmers in the fields, soldiers on the walls and scouts plotting. Mapping everything that they had to look at.

The scouts themselves were doing an important part where they came back and were making a map. A proper map of the rivers, pathways, hills and mountains themselves. The villages and even farms with areas of forest covered caves. The map was preserved and said to be so accurate to the landscape where it would all be looking to the future plans.

Those who had agreed to her, who wanted to do what she wanted and were willing to bow to her. They came to the fortress of Jar'Kai and they bowed. Going down as lords, ladies and servants. RIsing up as her subjects and those who would have her protection. Ga-In already prepared as they had been training on horse with sword, spear, bow and their blades.

She struck out from the mountains going down towards some of the first keeps and villages as they set up for siege. Drawing out what soldiers who sought to fight them. She had learned a great deal in the months leading up to this and one of them was when you were on horse against foot soldiers.... you could ride them down. She didn't order them to slay them out of anger though.

No Ga-In in what some described as respect didn't hate or want to kill those who refused to bow to her. She gave them as honorable a death as they deserved, seeing that they joined their ancestors and as they charged using bows her riders gave a blood curdling scream that would cause fear. Where the enemy soldiers stood they suddenly broke ranks moving away.

THe third wave of attacks saw them entering the homes and looting, to break them, the women and children were taken and brought before her. She wasn't going to kill them, at least not for now but to keep them in line she took a child from each family. Raising them as wards, they would serve and her family as apprentices, cupbearers.... learning skills.

Ga-In continued with this and the first strike of her unification campaign came. With her riders these jade screamers as they began to call themselves. They swore to her that they would be her blod, her fa ily and among these horse lords it was sacred that they serve with family. Gqa-In encouraged the wives of those who had been killed to marry new husbands. Produce new offspring who would give her a future army.

3. SONG OF SORROW:

The army grew as several more petty warlords and clans came to serve under Ga-In, within the first year the small collection had become its own small state. Jar'Kai had become a fort with a small village around it and within as they constructed walls for protection outside of it. News reports of other lords coming to take notice were there and the different lords were organized.

The first step was a class of governors and men who would oversee the different areas, small and divided territories that she can't be in at all times. THe other was then to have a universal look and design to their men. Where the others seemed to use whatever they could find these men would be molded and organized into a fighting unit. The battle standards came to be made.

There were problems though she couldn't beat that.. years of petty fighting, of arguments would not be settled overnight but it would not do if she had her people fighting each other to the death. A non lethal means of settling disputes and gaining glory for your skills was created. A tournament of sword, horse and archery. The tournaments also boasted prizes and glory.

Quick to catch on to how she was using the tournaments to entice small folk and merchants from other hold out villages with food and riches the other war lords sought to attack. From the east and the north came an alliance between the Houses of Chen and Zhou were working together. They didn't know much in the means of tactics but they had been fighting each other for centuries.

That alliance was one fo the first things she needed to crush, one of the first real problems that could prove a danger as they were sweeping towards her and denying her the area in between. Slashing and burning the farmlands, the villages. Their total war and burnt earth methods did little to endear them tot he people they swept over who knew the area and fed her soldiers information.

They were getting all of it supplies, troop formations, dispositions, mounted riders, artillery, camp girls, servants being brought to handle things. Supples of food and how much wine or sake were being delivered. Ga -In wasn't one tow aste an advantage and ordered that they make getting water difficult while offering up more and more wine and sake.

It seemed strange to for a time poison and ruin the rivers, the streams. The people though understood what was happening. An army was only so good but the ong march through the mountains where her men were picking at them with archers in the night. Depriving them of sleep, feints and false trails luring them deeper and more divided, less water and supplies as they took them.

It served more and more to disorganize and sow discontent within the ranks, some oft hem even going so far as to desert as the two warlords drunk were prone to infighting and killing those near them in frustration more then anything. It served her purpose before the real fight might begin. At the milk water rier they found nothing, the winter was harsh.

Snows nearly ten feet with the river being iced over and you could se it under the surface. The men had run aout of water and were drunk on wine more often then naught, days marching and not being able to sleep at night. Weakened from lack of food and as they had entered the paths of the mountains Ga-In had had her men seal it and block off the supply train.

While her men set up on the other side of the river with their supplies, fires, music, everything that would seem a means to show they were not afraid. The soldiers were well fed, their camp girls beautiful, their servants fetching water and the different units told to make a display of it all. The general she had chosen wore his tiger standard to lead them.

The tactics worked, in the night several of the legions had crossed the river, throwing aside their swords and armor begging for a bite of wormy apple. Wanting some form of warmth and drink that didn't make them sick. Ga-In welcomed them and come morning the remaining forces of the two warlords launched their attack with what they had left. Not nearly enough to best of men.

They both were taken to stand before her, broken and looking sickly from the lack of food they could barely hold a sword as she still showed them respect. Offerign them the chance to serve her, to rise and live. Zhou was from a long line often claiming to be the original line that led the people. Many could claim that as it was said Taito sought to unite the clans and so had given a child to each.

THe truth of that is unknown but the claim was what they had clun to for thousands of years, honorable in many ways and proud. He didn't spit in her face like Chen but also said that his line ended with him and he had been to long a lord... To long the emperor of his house. He could not go to serving under her so he would prefer to die with a sword in his hand.

Ga-In gave him his death eventually, feeding him, caring for him and making sure that he was at full strength. Chen had chosen to insult her and died from decapitation in front of his daughter who swore fealty to her but they stayed there in the mountains. THrough the winter as most left except for her elite soldiers and a few others. ZHou was deserving of honor and it came eventually.

As the snows were melting a small alcove of cherry blossoms were used, the early morning sun, a bard who recorded the tale of the fight that lasted a full day and night. Ga-In was younger and faster but Zhou had been fighting all of his life, over eighty years as some claim, he knew how to fight and win but he was old still and unable to deliver the final blows.

When finally he made a small mistake her blade sliced across the back of his ankle bringing him down tot he ground. With the sun cresting over the mountains he bowed his head and she honored him letting him join his family. The bard reported then that after the death his soul was carried away as the cherry blossoms recording it in verse as it were.

4. OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLIES:

With two of the larger territories under their control, a swath of territory that was burned and ruined but they were working on it. Ga-In also had something new. the Ruby kraken had returned with allies from across the sea. Large ships and galleons that were bursting with riches, weapons, armor, supplies and so many more things. Other ships with soldiers, diplomats.

The ships came to the village of Sno that had been building its first harbor and was growing. An ancient grove of trees was set up as its main gardens where Ga-In met with all fo the new allies from across the sea. THeir soldiers being deployed across the coast in long boats, horse, elephants, exotic tigers and other creatures that have been used in legends as tools of war.

With all of the celebration though they would be able to and would need to work on some more of it. They had two more places to go with their new forces and it was starting to attract attention from the other warlords. Before they had viewed the upstarted coalition as well just that a flight of fancy but now there was more dangerous things happening.

Ga-In had been looking at the other cities along the coast... with it and the allies from across the sea they could send and use information but also do what was needed. Attacking shipping routes and pirating what they needed to. The thousands of islands that had been moderately charted were ideal for creating outposts to monitor and set up a network where she was looking for now.

THe other forces were seeking to organize but their meetings location was sent to Ga-In, the Obsidian Butterflies were the title given to a pair of twins. Sisters who had taken over from their father after he perished one of the richest farmlands in the continent. With forests full of trees, mines that went deep filled with gold, gems and any number of resources that they could use.

The Twins were also courting her as an ally wanting to play in the middle and go to who they believed would best serve their interests. It went a long way as Ga-In figured she wouldn't give them much reason to keep thinking differently. As they were hosting the meeting she swept into the castle and killed them. They had declared against her, had their soldiers and heirs.

So she removed them root and stem with only their wives remaining and married off to others. Their children who could be was taken with her to bear her cups while information from the twins continued to pour in. The armies of the warlords were being absorbed by their neighbors instead of declaring for her and they were only ablento bribe so many.

With the new riches that she had gotten from the ships that had arrived, the new pirates that were working for her and terrorizing along the coast to raze and raid while softening them up for war. Her seaborne raiders were able to come away with riches and equipment, conducting it in a sense of honor as their primary purpose was also to scout and work on mapping the territories.

Ga-In worked on any more things and the twins declaring for her brought a few others thing. Their resentment that they were finally forced to choose a side was not welcoming. THeir knowledge of how to manage and how to invest and make more riches through swelled the treasuries for campaigns and for improving the lives of those who served her faithfully.

Ga-In knew the need to erode the support that others might have and so she spent large amounts modernizing and improving. Villages were important but some fo them could be made itno cities with defenses, modern sewers for waste, everything needed for farming and food production. Water purification that they would be working on.

The construction efforts that would be getting around, where they could build walls from wood and stone, where they could garrison soldiers and new mounts. Everything was intermixing and joined together to really give them plenty of space. The bigger things she was working on was the uniform approach to it with drums and banners to communicate across the battle field.

THe twins were also proving something she would have to deal with in the end, a need to humble them as she married them off to her generals. One from the mountain clans and one from the villages near the sea. To divide them and set up a local government official who would be overseeing their holdings for them as they continued to work for her.

THe appointment to areas like this might not have made them happy but their children were well cared for and dividing the two of them from plotting was important. She didn't want to deal with the dangers as she was approached by the Tiantai... seemed some had come to them seeking weapons and power to take her down. Offering them the riches of their would be kingdoms and her child.

THey had refused the offer, already owing a debt that was being paid to her but it was a telling sign that some were banding together to try and buy allies. TO get as many as they could and assemble them before declaring. Her scouts would have to work harder and find them before they were ready as Ga-In at the time only grinned. Reading other reports.

One of those reports were about Li Mu Bai who had slain his brothers and father to take control of his clan. A declared enemy he seemed to be pressing every man, woman, slave and even child into service to march and come to fight her armies. The disgust in the court that they would have to fight children was mixed. Some not wanting to do it on honor since there was no challenge and others because the boy was proving he had no sense of honor.

It would prove difficult as Ga-In didn't know how effective they might be, her men wouldn't cut down women or children for the sake of it. THere would be no joy or sorrow to it. THey might not even be able to fight back until there could be a knife in their guts... but she also couldn't ignore such a thing. Deplorable and wicked it was a tactic that could take out a squad.

So she was making sure they would be able to handle it and some ideas. Mainly she sent word to others disguised under false flags. He had to march through different territories and if they believed he was coming to take their children, their women and slaves instead of their soldiers who were out in the field. It could solve the problems for her and move others away from where she needed to go next.

5. CRIMSON FIELDS:

Everything was coming together, five years into the unification war as singers had come to call it. Ga-In gave birth to Taito her son and heir. His sister Kato was skilled much like him and there was speculation about who the father was. Ga-In had not been with a man as far as most of them knew and she was a conqueror. The thought she would abandon the wars to raise her children quickly went away though.

THe news reached the ears of a number of the warlords who sought to claim her kingdom, her power by claiming the holding them. With the rumors and stories abounding though that the twins were already destined to control the planet the warlords were organizing. An entire years worth of preparation would be needed and Ga-In had a plan when she was sending out her scout.

By now they had mapped a fair amount of Atrisia, they had a large stockpile of resources and the work going into the fort as it were in the fields. Hundreds of flowers and butterflies in every color imaginable. Some of them as large as a persons hand and some so small they could sit on a finger. SHe had chosen it for another reason as well.

The fields themselves were located just downriver from Jiedushi was up river with their slaves and their pillow houses. Temples dedicated to a number of the older goddesses of love, beautiy, fertility. THey were difficult not choosing a side but they also used their disciples as spies and infiltrators. They had been forbidden and killed by her men within her kingdom and at times it still seemed to be not enough.

THe city they were going to fed to the river and they had damned it opening all of these fields up to them. The fort was unimportant as she pointed out but she wanted all of them to make it look like the most important thing. She wanted a token force that was prepared to lose and draw them into the trap as she and her generals were planning and used the ones who signed up for it.

She had first started by forbidding her men from going there, the city was off limits and talks of them bowing were done... when they refused it was time. First by poisoning their water and food supplies. They were behind thick and strong walls. A siege would reveal what her real plan was. The second part was the dam high above where they were all located.

The fort was put at the highest point with as much as they could get within it. Supplies and the appearance of more men. It was the perfect bait and the enemies of her kingdom walked right into it. Surrounding the fort itself and preparing to lay siege while she was securing sections of the mountain passes. Blocking them off, the dam was being worked on and it was nearly time.

Three weeks into the siege of the fort and as they were sleeping it came, the dam broke as Ga-In watched from the mountain top and the sound of horns were the first thing to wake them up but it was too late as water crashed into them. Pulling them down, it washed around the hill the fort was on and as the bodies smashed against each other and rocks. It made the muddy soaked grass gleam red.

The battle fo the crimson fields was by some considered where she had been losing steam where her army couldn't handle much more but the quick turn around proved more dangerous. Ga-In wasn't playing with many of them and following the river she came to the gates ot Sarnoi at the edge of the world as many believed and was greeted by the Tiantai.

She didn't know where they had sent her son but the news of Jei's destruction was met with indifference. her victory had her appointed by them in a coronation and through their influence the priests and priestesses across the world in the furthest reaches would send and deliver her message. Ga-In returned to see that the fields were still submerged, sections of it all more swampy with a low hanging mist.

The army continued to work and it would serve as a reminder of what could happen to those who didn't bend their knee to her. The other was that her advisors were starting to come up with other ways to secure alliances. One was with marriage, if she or her higher ranking ones could be promised to some then with the larger groups that had started to come together they would conquer.

She didn't seek to marry one but the possibility of promising her men was something that she could work with and to placate her advisors who wished it she promised that is a man could bring to her the riches of the world then manage to best her in combat she would gladly wed him or her. She had an heir and was open to whatever might come in the future.

In celebration of this the news went out far and wide, many sought to try and impress her but it was one fo the lords offering to host a tournament. A fighting competition that would be the ultimate test, the grandest sight anyone could see of the planet. For months invitations were sent out and the people being allowed to gather and join them there.

Ga-In herself though was looking at while the promises of this tournament went u and about who was coming to her. Some suitors offering riches, offering silks, spices, gemstones and any number fo things from across the sea. Strange creatures from the stars but there was one place that didn't come. No one came from the White Pearl.

That was the real prize there, the White Pearl and its family were important they had developed the Jade bank, one of the largest and everyone came to them. Everyone who wanted gold or needed money to fund a campaign to get through the winters. Ga-In approached them and made the offer, seeing the ancient family in their high towers and on the river.

THey came, they visited and they feasted with the head of the clan coming to them from a place within the mountains. Ga-In had heard the story of this fortress where slaves were being taken for now. Ga-In met Unaga the aged leader of the clan a family name that was given once or several times a generation. Unaga bent the knee and the family offered to help fund the war with the usual interest payments.

6. THE LAUGHING WARLORD:

The great tournament was in full swing, the prizes were grand riches from across the world, silks, spices, gems, women, men, bedslaves, positions within minor clans for anyone who was seeking to rise up. There were hundreds of people meeting at this place at this castle and they were bringing everything here. Horses, tigers, elephants, lions, bears, wolves and hundreds of birds.

Everything looked beautiful and then there was the procession of the houses, each one of their men, each one of the standard bearers, each lord with his ladies or her with her man. There were their heirs, their servants, merchants who were following the crowds and setting up shops from across the world, dancers, bards, camp girls an boys. Merchants giving grotesques tickets.

There was the Li clan the tigers of Atrisia, a minor clan by any and all means but they served well. The golden tiger on silver gleamed with its claws, with its stripes and its lord who was bringing his men through. Their armor gleaming and Ga-In knew their swords were sharp. They were some fo the strongest vassals of her kingdom and served without question. Kain Li one of the finest warriors was proud but well respected. A strong general who was leading his clan and armies to victory.

Then there was the crane crest as it came over. The Bu clan served as information brokers and gatherers of her intelligence network. They were beginning to make the Metsuka, spies, informant and little birds or spiders. The emblazoned white and pink on a field of sky blue with it grasping a spiders web in one foot. Gave an impression of what they did.

The crest of the Scorpion house, from the mountains. THey were rugged, they were strong and powerful towering over most others like mountains. Where they were looking around though you could tell that they were sizing them up and with blunted weapons their use of exotic poisons would not come to be a factor Ga-In was hoping. The black scorpion on the sandy grey field.

Something interesting and exotic, the multicolored Unicorn crest passed by and her screamer, riders from across the mountains and plains who served from horseback as riders, messengers, archers. The multicolored had been an odd choice but the rumors of their lord and his dedicated knights had reached her ears. The horns protruding from their horses armor though were what made unicorns seem plausible.

It was time for the White Pearl to gleam. The silver/white Dragon standing on a golden field with different things in its hands. A blade as they were noted for being warriors and gemstones. The dragons horde was something that they would be able to see and she could see the aged Unaga herself leading the procession. A wall of servants and family with her each having their small variations of her crest.

The House Ike waited there bowing to their empress and they spoke bringing forward something she hadn't been expecting. A massive palaquin carved from a single piece of jade and being held up and moved by what looked like a thousand servants... but ti wasn't so. In truth it was maybe a good dozen but more were following to switch out and keep people fresh.

The latest from across the sea a red Lion within a field of gold. Notable becuse it wasn't a male lion. The She Lions of K'Dath, ancient and amazonian. They were fierce and wore instead of armor pelts of lion fure, they had on their gloves claws and necklaces of teeth from their prey. Serving her as vicious and loyal scouts that mapped the regions they were heading into and sending information back.

One of the lesser fisher clans, Mei's pink Crab on a blue field was simple and showed how they lived. Off what they made, simple lives but they were also one of the largest and strongest supporters of the kingdom in terms of what they could output making equipment for fishing, making spears to catch food and netting. They wore fish scales and honored their mother river.

From the furthest regions, from the darkest jungles came the supposed cannibal clan. THeir massive Giant on a field of red spikes and there were different colors. For different bodies... they were dangerous but they were also loyal to the strong and she had slain their master in single combat ending their ruling house yes but they had all sworn to serve her.

The crest of the Ruby Kraken from Sno. One of her earliest supporters, one who had sailed across the seas and into mouths of monsters to bring riches that were still barely touched upon today. Everythig was happening and they would hopefully be able to do so much more while she wore with her soldiers golden fish scales, held bows and spears of heartwood from exotic trees.

The Triple hollyhock crest was different. Black field with golden flowers and a procession of soldiers clad in different armors then she had seen before. The one at the head was jovial, laughing and loud as he was drinking. His women were all over him and bursting out of their clothing.. but he brought tribute and was offering his clan and territory as the prize should be lose.

The tournament of Xiaolang was prepared to begin and everythign that Ga-In was seeing as more and more houses, clans and even rivals showed up. In the spirit of competition but they were also wagering their service same way she was wagering her rule. If one of them won she would be given every boon and prize but also required by honor to take their hand in marriage.

The tilts as mounted soldiers battle on horseback lasted for two weeks, the melee and archery contests for everyone to go through them and have them whittle down from two thousand to just two fighting. The feats of strength and speed, battles of wits, food, costume contests, poetry and music. This tournament had it all but still the woman was malcontent.

There was just something about him, about that warlord who was going through the contests rather easily. She might actually have to face him and the prospect was not her favorite. He was large and powerful compared to the others while still being faster then many would have liked him to be for his size. She was prepared to fight him and as other lost she could see the prizes continue to grow.

7. GEMSTONES:

Ga-In entered the melee itself though, with everything happening she battled against them, thickly muscled men with massive hammers and axes. Water dancers with thin rapier style sword, rogues with their knives, soldiers with katana's and herself with a sword. It was considered unimportant but it was from her family and had been blessed by the Tiantai and other religions on the world.

Some of them had begun to call her blade the Geisha's Thorn, for it was simple it was eloquent and made of jeweled metal folded nearly a thousand times. Treated with blood and power. The blade appeared like mother milk, white with slight shades of color. Cloudy but still polished as the blade itself gleamed at the edge where it cut through most of the armors.

Ga-In herself was seeing something else as well, a soldiers in mismatched armor, smaller then some but still a decent size before they were moving through the Melee and she took out one of her generals. The man laughed falling out fo the ring when he tossed his weapon aside and to the table to go and join the others in watching it. The battle going through the night and into the morning.

As the sun was coming up the ruler won, she had feinted and managed to get her blade behind the armored soldiers leg bringing them down and pushing them out. The good sport went on while the weapons they had used were place next to her throne. Gifts, rewards and boons from across the kingdom were being given as some approached her.

The reports of what was said vary by accounts and records we are not certain of but it is commonly accept they presented her with a crown of green gemstones. Jade from the hidden seas, exotic aurodium from the mines of the white pearl and crystals that resonated with the ancient magics of the cosmos. Ga-In was so impressed by it she wore the crown as a symbol of her rule until she died.

The other prizes were from across the kingdom, over the seas. Ancient treasures, several from potential suitors who brought with them riches they laid at her feet, servants, dancers. The last remnants of Jei, priestesses in chains, their slaves and courtesans, girls and boys from the fames pillow houses that had been out of the city when the destruction came. They had fled and sought refuge but all wanted a chance to impress.

Ga-In herself was deemed the Jade Emrpess, first of what would be the gemstone legacy so it was funded, fueled by all of the glittering gems of the world. Her throne that was carved from a large chunk of solid jade and made to be grooved with her slaves taking her led the procession to see the real boon and prize from it all. The new lands that she had won in the tournament.

From the far eastern provinces in the lands that were winter, where desolate wastes and stretches were nothing but snow, ice and bitter cold. Nothing grew but from it she had the giants, thickly muscled men and women with block teeth, coarse hair on their faces and bodies, pale skin and large dogs who pulled sleds for battle. The cannibal wastes were what they had offered and her domain nearly tripled.

From the southern reaches where the lands were fertile came grains, wheat, rice, exotic teas, fish, new types of game. Mammoths, cat that were like tigers but had thick and massive teeth protruding from their mouths. Elk and deer, monkey's it is rumored and legendary that there was a monkey that so impressed the Empress she commissioned songs about him.

From the areas of the western lands there was the thousand isles, the remnants of something. Lonely watch the furthest island before it went into the sea where a watch tower stood and the beginnings or end of a long road. It was believed it had been part of something, part of a highway that connected some ancient kingdom from the times before the clans divided.

There was any number of other things, snake charmers who brought exotic poisons designed to coat a blade, wyverns, basilisk, fish that would strip the flesh from a person within minutes, reports of cures to sicknesses that were within the jungle.... Which is they worked could prove the most beneficial. There was the promise of wealth but still there were some who held out.

The mysterious armored soldier was there and they were revealed as something of an enigma, not taking a knee nor claiming that they were already part of the kingdom. They were fleeing though back to wherever they came from and mounting one of the horses brought to her. A majestic unicorn with a gleaming black horn made of black diamond and armored in jeweled steel Ga-In gave chase.

THe chase was ahead of her army and she made it to the coast, going east and then south along the coast as it seemed almost like they were going nowhere. The southern reaches here led to nowhere as the soldier crossed the step stones, ancient land bridges that had been submerged but when the tides were low you could cross quickly between the islands.

It was going deeper and deeper across the islands to the jungles of the south, thick with trees and the scent of humid air. A few crossed with her and they came to see the island of Ukiyo-E often rumored to be the floating world. Sparse in terms of resources and value to many but it boasted something other places didn't. Just as much history and the holders here were dangerous.

In truth it was scarcely populated with only a handful of cities but ti was older by some standard. Ancient statues were along the coast line of it, thick cliffs that rose up and up with larger walls on them making it a dangerous climb. trees and rivers that ended in waterfalls where jagged rocks kept the animals of the island continent in. To some it was considered a floating world.

The continent though was still larger then most would believe, with legends saying one flew over it for three years and found nothing but endless jungles, ancient roads that had been overgrown by the jungle, lakes of silver water, cities made of black stone, gold metals and mountains around a desert that sank down to a fiery underworld. No one knows if it is true and exploration fo the continent is still low to this day.

THat is in part to the dangers of it, flies and bugs that plant larvae under the skin, sicknesses that can afflict any who come, cannibals, lizard men and women, shapeshifters, necromancers, witches, warlocks, night gliders, wyverns, basilisk, tigers, lions, bears, wolves, giants, spiders, rats, crocodiles, snakes that were able to eat fishing boats, rancors, tyrant lizards that could move through the skies and the men and woman of it.

They were often considered primitive but in truth they were older then most, while the Tiantai lived int he oldest city of Sarnoi the Oni themselves were ancient. COnsidered short but in truth they spread this to deceive other. The truth is they were large and lithe, the women standing at times some claim eight feet tall, with full figures and golden or silver eyes. Dusky skin that was smooth and smelled of exotic oils and some of them were rumored to be a third neither fully male or female but in between.

Ga-In found them in their ancient city, the network of their ancient cities claimed the continent would take eight years to cross from one side to the other safely, that their people were spread out but the jungles mostly isolated them and had reclaimed many of their cities. The leader of them had sent his daughter to scout and duel this one who wanted to be a ruler.

He challenged Ga-In to a fight but it would not be ordinary, old and considered infirm. He was over ninety years old, balding, nearly blind and toothless but his mind was ever sharp. His young bride the twenty seventh he had taken outliving most would challenge her. While some scoffed it was no joke, the fierceness of the Oni was dangerous and in the muddy waters the pair wrestled in their duel.

What lasted longer then expected came to a close, the jade empress having won the contest of skill and strength by proving she could fight to claim them all and the Oni joined her. Adding the crest of the crocodile to her armies as the warrior women of the Oni marched forward. Becoming what she would call the Onna-Bugeisha. Their outfits were a mixture of form and function with kimono's that allowed them to move, painted faces, oiled skin and hair but they had swords, bows, fan blades, rode on massive rancors as we now call them and giant apes.

8. DEATH OF THE RED HEROINE:

The war continued, traveling through the realm of the Jade empress as she was becoing know proved no less dangerous. Where there was organization there were assassin's. THe ones who felt slighted that they had failed to take the crown and her hand. Males and females, the ones who believed their clan should be free to rule themselves again.

One of the main things that were being done was the construction of further fortifications on Jar'kai. With the recent acquisition of the Oni's loyalty they were sending expeditions to aid in their recovery. If they were wanting to really see what they might be able to discover there. Training a new set of soldiers as the first stones were laid within Jar'Kai.

Well the first set after they were working to modernize the city, sewers, limestone and minerals purification to clean the waters. Streets of stone that went up to hills and sections of the city. Lookout towers spaced around the city, thick walls with a second layer betwen them that would serve to house armies and more soldiers, freeriders from the minor clans who worked as mercenaries and more.

Ga-In was traversing the streets with her generals when they came out of the shadows. Cloaked in black and wielding blades hidden in springs on the wrists. They were sent but who knew which warlord... could have even been one who was trying to end her and take what she had carved out. The battle itself was short, the assassin's were trained but no real threat to some.

One of her generals who had joined her afterwards. One of the first to really come over when she started to and had proven the most loyal moved. Red kimono flashing to the side as her blade slashed through two of the men. A dart fired froma third taking her in the neck as she was pulled to the side by Ga-In. Everythign they had gone through for the years of fighting and this was how it ended.

No Ga-In herself was vowing to ensure a swift form of vengeance. She was normally calculated, and swift but she had lost someone close to her. The pale skinned beauty as her people called her was honored with a funeral pyre. Her own tales coming as there were more clans pledging to her. One who was Hanzo, artists and weapon makers that served.

Others the sosokan sama... a strong clan of judicial servants. They investigated and sought to bring justice to the other clans. Selling their services which seemed strange but at the same time they were regarded for their skills in being impartial. With the week of mourning for the Red Heroine and her armies now enraged. Lu suggested something be formed to protect the empress.

The first group was from the Warlord Nobuna.... she was offering her sympathies for the attack and deaths but also suggesting they they turn to raising an army. Royal guards dedicated to protecting the empress. It was a distraction however as while Ga-In was searching for the killers Nobuna used the time to usurp and kill two of the other warlords declaring herself Empress of The Sea.

A small kingdom but she controlled a larger chunk of the ocean,k using the islands and ports to clami dominion on several continents. She was raiding and reaving across the oceans until the navies that she would be able to use. Ga-In was looking to position herself, trying to handle Nobuna who she was certain was the one calling and doing the dangerous game.

There was much intrigue in the new political systems that were being set up. While all answered to her, they were also proving to be something dangerous. Ga-In had to work at it, she had to make sure they constantly knew what she was doing. The Jad Emrpess herself was working on expanding and the heirs to what were now being carved out kingdoms well they were proving to be difficult.

So her new plan was to unite these empires, fractured and with a brutal total power. The others were wiping them out, she would have to ensure that the people might not completely love her but they would respect her. Through honor and power. Through dedication and through her resolve as they were all going for now. Her generals took to the sea and the jade screamers figured on some ways to move around.

This new era begun in the tenth year of the unifications wars was considered the time of the ten kingdoms. Where before thousands of clans had spread out across the world, hundreds of different people now they were moving into a time where warlords weren't just raising themselves up but they were proving that they were ready for a higher level of war and battle.

Ga-In proved to be at the forefront of that as the ships being developed were made to carry her soldiers, their horses, wolves, beasts and infantry. Her genrals were experimenting with the sciences and magics. Flying machines were being shown in theory with the air being heated in thick synthatex holders. Where they could hover and get to places only birds had reached before.

The other major thing was the discovery of the palace. Ga-In moving to the lands of the Tiantai at Sarnoi, bringing herself about after the campaign to conquer the continent of the Red Heroine in her honor. It led her back to the gates of Sarnoi and while she didn't raid the city, didn't make them bend the knee they were within her domain. This phase of rapid expansion and solidifying troops.

THis new era of making alliances while she moved from continent to continent and thrusted into the hearts to strike at capital cities. To go after different clans and develop resources. Meanwhile there were other things, meteors from the sky bringing metal and rock and creatures few had ever seen. Aliens in every sense of the word who said that there was a vast galaxy.

9. ENIGMA OF STONE:

With the reveal of Nobuna's plans the small Empress was proving dangerous. She had learned a lot more from her conversations with Ga-In then the Jade Empress would have liked to acknowledge. She had learned how best to deploy her own soldiers and ships for maximum coverage from the Crimson Kraken but there was one fatal flaw of her plans.

She as Ga-In noted relied on the water, required it to move her soldiers across the seas and up rivers where they could claim plenty but it was ports and river towns. Once you got inland and away from the waters they seemed to become almost useless as their light armor and weapons were great for boarding and swimming. She worked to have her men in heavier armor and protect them from the initial arrows launched at them while they moved in close to fight.

The Togawa lake was such a place, kept away from the ocean by a massive falls and fed by glaciers in the north. It wasn't much of an ocean but Nobuna had never been there before. She had always stopped below the falls and turned back not realizing what was up there or what sort of traps may be in wait. Using the bends of the river archers were set up to pick at her men first.

THey would fire, take a few and run one of the ships into another to soften them up, then repeat at the next bend while they were letting them go. Her men were fishing the rivers and using any and all means to have its fish disappear or be scarce for the time. Once they got up to the falls a dam was being constructed to hold back the river and it turned more into a secluded lagoon.

Nobuna knew about reaving, she knew how to sail a ship but her tactics were simple always looking to claim something. Seeing this and then seeing the gold, gems and food byond, hearing about it from captured soldiers and slaves how The Jade Empress was celebrating at a fortress built on the lake with walls that would be able to withstand in the end an army. She wanted it.

The lure was too strong, she marched inland up the mountains bringing her soldiers and raiders. THey had given up their naval presence for the promise of a fort that would be stronger then anything eventually,. If she won she could finish it as the sight of the lake with its small island, the fortress itself was there. Nobuna prepared a means to reave it and take its riches.

That first night they harassed and assaulted the smallfolk in the village, they were there knowing that they would likely be attacked but had been chosen from different villages. Different families with the purpose of they wanted revenge. They wanted a chance to fight back against the force who had been killing them, taking their children into slavery and killing their families.

THe attack was sudden and Nobuna took the fort, thick black stone that had been washed with oil to dry in the sun, armies, rooms to hold thousands upon thousands of soldiers and even more. She took it and declared herself the new ruler saying she had won a great victory against the enemy themselves. Before the end of the first week there after the commoners had worked on it.

They had set it up to seal the gates, with stone and hold them inside. Ga-In approached and offered to let her live with unconditional surrender. She wouldn't be killed here but be taken back to the capital. The old stories say that Nobuna knew Ga-In was telling a half truth... she wasn't going to be killed there, killed at the fortress itself. She would be taken, paraded and executed.

Nobuna went inside of her fortress, claiming the thick walls would sithstand the assault. Ga-In had already shown her answer to walls at Jei, she had proven that she didn't fear an overwhelming force as her hands motioned and pitch was added, the oils splashed against the wall and more materials lobbed over. The stone had been made by her men after all and it was special.

As the fires burned the heat and smoke was intense, stpone might not burn but wood does, metal melts, skin bubbles and sloughs off after it becomes charred, the screams from the battlements could be heard, the terror as they tried to jump into the moat into the water and found that it was oil. The great fortress filled with gold, gems and the riches of the continent was true... but as Nobuna learned it was a trap.

Ga-In avenged herself upon them stoking the fire until the stone grew hot and red first dull then hot cherry and finally it was looking almost white hot to the touch. Stone didn't melt but it did cook and it all became an oven against them. Making them pass out from the heat and blister the skin, the scales and clothing didn't mean much, their weapons became heavy, the wood starting to heat and crack.

Eventually the screams ad the Empress of the Sea roasted alive, her closest allies in there with her and when a week had finished and she was certain everyone was done. They collected what bodies there was to collect the molten gold encasing the form of Nobuna who was still alive under a mountain of bodies and burned with most of her skin raw or sloughing off at the touch.

The Empress of the Golden Sea as she came to be called when she was pulled out. A statue of her... well not of her she had been given the crown she wanted, she had been immortalized screaming and in agony as Ga-In had artists work on it and placed it in her throne room at Jar'Kai a reminder for all the fate of false friends and those who kill her people.

There was more developing as she sent armies into Nobuna's territories and gained access to two other continents, thousands of ships and sailors. She had the port of Sno that served well but they were skilled at making merchant ships, trade vessels and galleon's. The raiders from Nobuna were lighter, faster, smaller vessels for getting up rivers and launching attacks.

10. A TALE OF TWO WARLORDS:

There was more happening across the world with everything getting happening and news coming from across the world to them. Kiyoma Haung one of the warlords who had been uniting her people under her father. Taking to task all fo them that they could. Snatching up the smaller clans and villages until they were bursting but they couldn't feed the entire army.

Desperate she turned to the SHining Stara clan that was... different, dangerous and powerful by most. They had resisted Nobuna at sea with their mastery of fire that didn't burn when in contact with the water. THeir sense of honor and protecting their people was an important part. Often considered the most honorable clan on the planet and within the region.

The Shining Star was the head of the clan but she was meeting with his daughter a means to try and ensure both sides would get to work together. Exchanging daughters to act as wards and learn from each other. The Haung clan was regarded as some of the eldest and most vicious. While other clans had swords or armor that was passed down through the family.

THey had been given knives, thin jeweled steel blades that had impossibly sharp edges for making their banners. One fo the reasons they had managed to get the frozen coasts to them. THe people fell in line once they had forced them to move without shoes or boots int he snow until their feet were black and they came to them begging for spoiled food.

Kiyoma traveled to join them and could see this group, the Hanzo's who had sent a child to the Jade Empress.... but they had not joined her. THey had offered to train and teach them armorworking, swords and construction efforts. She could see how they formed their armor, thick plates while having full suits including their faces. Their double blade fighting style made them more dangerous.

Their possibly alliance or war as it seemed much more likely was to get the resources needed to oppose the Jade Empress who continued to expand. Her lords and ladies were leading armies of people and gathering as much of the regions as they could. THe tales of her mercy to enemies, of her strength against the Oni and her destruction of Jei.

Everything going on, all fo the tales were something that they would have to contend with but they were uncertain about it. The rumors that the Shining star himself was going across the sea to battle. The forces that the empress had gotten from Nobuna were raiding the coast to try and draw the naval forces into the open sea where they could swarm and have the advantage.

The major losses at sea were a problem and he was going to treat with them, the Shining Star and his men heading out as she spent a year there learning all that she could about the port city. Its defenses, it guards, the elite soldiers she could see were wearing cloaks of silver with their armor. The more provisional ones who were dishonored wore silver armor instead of the blue and red.

She had been playing at it though seducing the captain of the guards called Daeron who was ambitious but he was also loyal to his brother. The head of the clan the shining star. He wasn't going to attack him or take from him but he wanted it, he wanted the acclaim that came from being the leader... he had plans that he would do and joining their kingdoms to form one to fight.

THat ambition helped as she convinced him to make choices when he was named regent of the clan with his brother away at war. She worked to get him to increase the taxes to put her his mistress up in a number of fancy estates. He got her servants and gems spending as much as he could and then going after the people. His smallfolk, the farmers and merchants were upset and prepared to revolt.

That was the in her and her father needed, bringing an army that was welcomed to the gates they proceeded to sack and take the city. Stringing Daeron up next to his niece who had been abused heavily before taking her own life on the march to the city. The Haung clan itself was taking what they had and killed all fo the means to get a message out.

The Shining Star returned seeing the destruction and sent out what soldiers he could. THey had worked here to survive limping back at sea but sending them out it was said he held the body of his daughter and vowed to bring vengeance. He would join the Jade Empress if she would give him that and bringing all fo his clans skills where they were working together.

With the city taken they used tunnels underneath, family crypts and sections that had been sealed away to hide and then they assaulted. The Jade Empress herself was giving them all of the support that would be needed and from the sea they fired arrows, used cannons and catapults to send attacks to them. They retook the sections fo the city and put to justice those they could.

Daeron had survived his anger, his hatred preserving his body and mind long enough for him to see his brother return and from accounts he wept begging for forgiveness from his brother. Receiving it so that he could pass as the warden of the city who had been given it Kiyoma was found dead in the throne room. A fatal dose of poison being ingested.

The Shining Star himself with most of his family dead, his clan and the people who served them, had joined them for protection passed his blade to the few remaining members of his clan. While he was skilled and would have been a great leader he was also broken against the pain and danger. Taking his own life and having the Empress act as his second as the armies of the Yova joined the Kingdom of Jade.

THey had a new purpose and there was much more to this battle that was going to have to happen. The Haung clan was some of the most dangerous on the planet, sweeping over and holding it through fear and torture. THey had taken the silent hills, a series of mines that had at one point been made aflame smoke coming and covering the towns for years, there was the ancient lands of the first kings in their hollowed hills. The wars had just begun as now these kingdoms could afford to and were going to be able to resist against them.

Spoiler

11. KISS THE DEAD:

The second decade of the war was preparing to begin, thicker, heavier and more and more the violence against clans who didn't decide where they wanted to be was increasing. THe larger kingdoms were still not as strong or as vast as Ga-In's as the Empire of Jade as some fo them called it but they were getting there in terms of population.

THe real tricks were being how they managed it and them, where Ga-In worked to improve and modernize cities or villages to make them better places to live, give her men full training. She was looking at what they did, others were betraying each other, fighting against one another to try and scramble for any little piece of territory that could make them feel stronger.

Ga-In stoked this fire, working with the metsuka or what would become her spynetwork. THey were infiltrators, farmers of dissent and propoganda who would work for them. She had them stoking the desires for conquest and riches across these rival kingdoms, inciting the villagers to rise up in revolt and offering deals and riches to them to sell their goods to her instead.

THe army itself was moving and sweeping across the continents and to places where few had been. There were still considered holdouts close to home though that she would need to turn her attention to eventually but the mountains themselves and where they had come from before... She needed to be able to move an army around them and not just through them.

Ga-In's reports from some of the regions they were headed and discovered Sancha, an ancient citadel of magical users. They were like the legends from Unaga who had returned from the stars with stories.... and Ga-I wanted them to be a part of her empire. She tried to figure out what they wanted, what they desired and that was difficult.

Their skills with these magics were impressive and it seemed like one fo them could decimate their armies. She surrounded the citadel but it seemed they didn't go out often and trade, they didn't seem to do much of anything unless directly threatened and if she could at lest not let others curry their favor then she would have to accept that.

There were other things, more feral beings, ones who sought to exploit the riches of the mountains and regions she had taken. Funeral processions that would heading into the mountains. Near Seito as the head of the IKe clan passed away in battle. Ga-In attended to honor them and got to see the place and how dangerous and powerful it really was.

This would be a powerful fortress for a battle and she hatched a plan with the new head of the clan. His ambition was there and he wanted to really move up in the army now. He also had a slew of ideas that would put them ahead the least of which was testing out the fortifications of this fortress. Ga-In had her soldiers get into positions and fill it to the brim.

They had filled it, they had prepared it and everything else. Luring several enemy armies in with news that Ga-In herself would be attending to this small village in private for reasons. Two of the rival warlords came after her, ten thousand men being brought in on horses, thousands of archers. She had armored soldiers in alcoves blocking the way and they could hold the passes.

The lure worked as they came after them first encountering and breaking their initial charge against the wall. The sounds of creatures being used as they let loose tigers and great apes against the warlords armies went a long ay to sending them down into the canyons around them. Screams and with the mountains protecting their archers they fired back.

It was a slaughter as one of the people with her was the prince. Her heir and he was old enough to start learning military tactics, he couldn't lead the armies but he could work with the people here. Her generals doted on the boy teaching him everythign that they could, her handmaidens ensured her was skilled and as they watched a second charge come in the gates held.

Severla more charges came and the different clans under her command sounded the drums, nothing was breaking the gates and with the excavation the Ike clan had done the scouts would find no other means to get through. Her soldiers were sent out onto to clear the path with the new Shining Star using the deads equipment but leaving the bodies for a pyre.

The utmost respect was shown to the soldiers as they entrapped them within the canyon. Boxing them in and proceeding to move like a glacier from the back so they wouldn't notice until it was to late. The seventeenth charge was the last one coming as a final act of fight before they were held back to be killed. Their generals put in chains and killed.

She was looking at it but sending armies across the sea to claim their provinces was going to prove the real test. This close to home she had some better plans though while her best generals were heading out to conquer. Orys had proven most effective and with his ancient line they were working on becoming a high standing house among the court.

They were all seeking favor and more were coming from across the sea to fofer tribute, fealty or any number of things they could do get protection and help. Most were being pushed into her empire now because she offered the best alternative compared to the others. Where brutality and domination were important and all they offered she would offer gold and jewels.

Ga-In sent out more envoys as she arrived on the eastern coast. Where before she had places to work out of this one they were quickly assembling within the port of Dagger Mouth. A white walled fortress around one of the ancient groves. They could protect the mines and sources of food as well as fresh water here. She was setting it up and the older areas would give them a route around the mountains.

12. BLEEDING PEARL:

The battle through the mountains themselves were something. Few had been on the far side since the ten thousand clans had passed. ROunding them brought all of Ga-In's forces into conflict with the horse lords... compared to the ones she knew these ones were savage and had sacked cities. Burned villages left behind, dragged their riches and warriors behind their horses. Taken the women and children to be their own.

THey were dangerous, they were powerful and as Ga-In was watching them in a fight against her riders it was clear they had trained in techniques few others could. Small shields on their arm to deflect arrows, saddles that allowed them to comfortably shoot from nearly any angle and blades designed to be used from hors back to run down and slash their enemies.

She would have called it impressive and with spearmen in charge they managed to turn back one of the hordes that descended upon them. The regions west of the mountains were going to prove to be the most difficult she could find and she would have to take them to make sure her own continent was secured. The fortresses and regions in the east near jar'kai were supplied to last for years she needed to cut off potential supply lines.

She was movign in and with some better ideas of how to outride them brought herself into the battle against one of their leaders. Wearing thicker armor, using a slower but more sturdy horse that would carry her weight and outlast most of the other horses around her. The Jade Empress entered battle taking a sword blow to the shoulder as she delivered a slash to the mans face.

THe blade dug deep and she wasn't disputed as the winner while she limped away, taking her prize which was his wives and slaves. Children were something she would have to find a use for and the ones he trained and taught himself were just children. She couldn't kill them but they were violent and dangerous as she sent them to the first fortress in this region. An old outpost from the times before that they were operating out of.

That was also the beginning when she started to learn about their culture, observing the Sundancers, beautiful oracles who could see into the magics of the universe and predict sometimes the outcome of a raid or battle. They were not always accurate but as one said the future was always shifting and it was a better alternative then what was the Keisei or the Hana.

These names interested her and Ga-In discovered there were other places, some ruined cities they could fix up, establishments to rework and with trade routes being worked on to connect to her other fortresses and villages in the east. The Jade Empire was expanding into the Nhai mountains crating a secondary location in the corpse city itself to show they didn't have fear. She was working with them and the Hana were something she had found to be dangerous.

Strange being they were, tattooed, naked generally even in the cold with piercing of their bodies, body modifications such as longer necks, hooped eats or filed teeth to make them look more fierce. THey said the power of the universe gave them the will power to withstand the most bitter colds or sweltering heats. Looking at them with their spears and polearms they were clearly highly skilled. Coming out of the Cannibal Wastes, a harsh area full of razor sharp sands that cut the flesh.

Their main habits involved raids against others, they would strip it of resources, anything that was valuable and then they would disappear. For each kill they got a new tattoo, for each clan they had a dragon's head who reported and paid tribute to an Daimyo a leader back in their city. THey gave the orders and were a long standing tradition of sending the females of their cities to fight. Those captured by them were checked and if they failed the examination could be gelded, made into a eunich then cast away to die and bleed out upon the sand.

The brutal nature of their arena's where the warriors fought for entertainment and glory, to settle disputes and prove their status for a mate. Was legendary for its blood shed, exotic creatures from across the world could be procured for it, warriors seeking the riches of the city itself were welcomed if they could survive the trek and being attacked by raiding bands of Hana themselves.

They also proved dangerous in other ways, they were constantly at war with the Keisei, another group within the mountains who was renowned in the world beyond. Famed as a place where you sent your children fi they were special they took no wives or husbands although they were a family. Sister, brother, mother, father was considered their designation within the walls. They had no attachments, they were living art. Painted, masked at times wearing robes and kimono's, trained to sing, dance, recite, pour tea.

THey were a special breed to the Jade Empress who brought soem fo them to her court to understand these beings.. to understand what they did and she learned. They were masters of oral traditions. THey could recall tales from before the clans, before when the old ones battleed the gods, when fire rained from the skies causing the exodus of Taito and her ten thousand clans.

They also knew tales of her, of her deeds and actions for what they also had was a communications net. Powerful and using magics she had not seen before they could enter into a state and communicate with each other becoming a messanger that would allow for near instant communications. The Keisei though wouldn't fight for Ga-In and neither would the Hana... that was fine she didn't need them to fight just do what she wanted. One to communicate and one to be let loose and soften up her enemies.

To gain their loyalties she had to fight, the arena of the Hana where even the Keisei rarely went because of their society. Women were the raiders who were sent out and bring in riches but the males controlled everything and they were allowed to be as cruel as they wanted to their women. Something that she might have to change if she took them by force. Ga-In had to fight though.

And fight she did being called the bleeding pearl of the arena as she sliced and carved into the flesh of the Hana who faced her with her katana. The pearl hilt shaped and carved to be a dragons head. With her progression through the arena the Hana began to take notice and the Keisei were taking part of it composing ballads that they could sing and preform for her. Their songs echoing and resonating throughout to inspire as well as tell those who didn't go what was happening.

13. HOUSE OF GOLD:

The House of Jing, in the West was ancient and renowned the work they had done proved that. Legendary in their tastes they had filtered into Ga-In's knowledge fot he region and stories from others. The heart of this was that they controlled the jungles and had built a city of gold. The Youngest being something of a cruel and humorless man who had increased the gold they took out of the mines.

Those mines were the most important part, they could compete with a number of others and served as a danger. At first though Jing sought to entice Ga-In when they heard she was within reach of them with riches. Sending her tribute, gold, silver, aurodium, crystals, gemstones, animals, servants, exotic girls and pretty boys. Raided from islands, taken and trained in the lost arts now of Jei.

They made her statues for each of her cities, smaller ones for villages and a titan of a statue for her capitol. The beauty was beyond reproach and it was said to take a hundred slaves a hundred days to haul the golden statue through the distance fro the city to her camp to show her. Such was its weight and power but she felt insulted and melted it down.

Sending back the gold to them as a dowry gift along with one of her daughter, Ga-In knew many of the political games needed in some cases and Jing was not something to be sacked and taken. They would have to be enticed to join her and bring themselves willingly into the fold. Not exactly the thing of legends but what happened to her daughter was something that made the Jade Empress take notice.

The warlord of Jing with his men, his riches and his wives didn't accept the proposal for a union to make this an alliance. He took her daughter, had his way with her and then buried her in one fo the mines themselves they used. Sealing it away and sending a bard who had been made to watch it. To relay the tale in song that he had been forced to compose.

Ga-In was said to have gone silent and the humor dying from her eyes for that instant as she finally spoke. Demanding her armies assemble they were going to make a song for the ages and she sent from the corners of her empire. For mystics, for spellweavers, for those who knew how to use this power the Keisei spoke of to alter reality.

She was summoning all of them and wanted options, her soldiers could lay siege but she couldn't wait that long. Such an insult required swift action and she was going to get that as they worked. Her empire was built on fire and blood as much as it was built upon her leadership, she would show just how dangerousn she could be as she put them to work.

The legends and rumors say for a thousand days they worked magics and spell weaving, that they sacrificed a thousand captured soldiers, even more of their own who agreed to do it. The willingness of it made the spells strong as rains came to the world. As the seas rose up and began to flood the city, earth quakes rocked it and broke the ground until it was being pulled into the ocean.

The region dind't recover, whole sections of mountain fell into the sea, tens of thousands of those loyal to house Jing perished in the event and even more were put to the swords for it. The house had only one surviving heir a child to pretended to be a boy and was within Ga-In's army, they had disagreed with their brothers and family. Been cast out and now they stood as the sole heir.

Not for long though the dangers of being in it were taking a toll on them. The girl tried to assassinate Ga-In at one of the meetings. Rushing her with a sword while her guards stopped. The vendetta was there and while she seemed to hate them she wasn't cruel enough to just kill the girl for her honor. Instead locking her away in a tower with food and respect but she was a hostage in a gilded cage.

That cage would serve to hold her and eventually a few others. Becoming the black brides as it were with their husbands dead. Ga-in Kept them there until she could decide what to do with them... until she could figure out what might become of them. Her main focus was on what she could do now to get the main vestiges of the planet. There were holdouts and she couldn't break Kuramagi yet.

They continued to press to the western reaches, searching it out and coming to the coast. From there it was a small channel leading to other lands, an unknown continent that had largely been unexplored by the scholars as she was learning. They could go there but sending larger resources would prove difficult as she moved. The provinces, the riches and the territory could also bring conflicts with an unknown enemy.

So she made a decision, sending expeditions at the world, two small flets of ships to map the coastline of it, one into the lands itself. Bamboo forests, steep mountains and great rivers that she could see. They would have to get all of the information they could while moving along the coast and enclosing it to the mountains. The North would still prove cold while the south led to smaller islands.

THose small islands as she was discovering were a mixture, some were populated, some were small enough to walk across within an hour. Others were vast with volcano's and mountains. Exotic creatures like monkeys, spiders, fish and great sea creatures. The natives of them had never seen other people before traveling from island to island for food and to live then moving on.

One of them she learned was a penal colony that had been developed, a large island surrounded by cliffs and a city that was on the waters of a lagoon. Everything had eben set up and the island proved to be beautiful with soldiers who didn't know who she was having long ago been killed and replaced. The criminals were a dangerous sort but they had also been there for two hundred years alone.

They agreed to join her for boats and their freedom, so with promises and ships she sent them to travel up river in the lands they had not explored. THey were criminals or at least the children of criminals, they could be dangerous and such they needed a goal so if there were things that needed to be met and attacked or would prove a threat they should be able to handle it.

14. THE PILLOW HOUSE:

There was more going on int he world then just what was happening with the Jade Empress however, kingdoms were rising and falling, clans uniting, children grew older, took titles, mantles, become heirs and exiles. Gen of the kingdom of Ji was one such. Pining for his lost love he had spent a considerable amount of time trying to court the daughter of a warlord.

He did so for a number of reasons, seeing her in the night when he had been escaping raiders on the coast as she played her flute in the moonlight. The animal she had called off from him brought his attention around and he learned that she was from a rival clan.. a dangerous clan who had been exiled. Her skilsl with a blade had made her a fierce killer in their lands and her black hair was beautiful with her pale skin.

THe clan itself had been moving around and raiding nearby villages, proving themselves dangerous but he had not risked it... He had not found her, had not followed her and loved her to give up. As they were all moving around the young prince Gan finally managed to convince her to leave with him. THey would abandon everyone and flee to the furthest reaches of the world and then go beyond.

THey were looking to protect themselves... they were looking to live and love each other but their families were at war. The two of them were prepared to flee, they would meet up but something happened and their clans both discovered them. The raiders killing Gen's father as he in anger cursed her and her family. In her sorrow she became cold, hair becoming white, eyes silver.

She was a dangerous being before and it was rumored afterwards she became a demon of ice and pain. So tore into them and fleeing to the mountains was taken to the floating world. A realm of our land where the Keisei visit and reflect the beauty of them all. The clans themselves were wiped away bringing destruction to some of the vilages as other warlords moved in.

The kingdom of Ji itself was at risk, it was endangered and smashed without the aid and protection of its people. The servants of Akiko who came from the ancient fortress of the DUsk had swept into the northern wastes. Great stretches of ice and snow, mountains and the shallow sea. A region where boats could go through and then would be stuck as the waters froze entrapping them.

Legends of the kingdoms and what they were doing, tales of love, hate and wars going across the continents. One group had formed and managed to become fairly large. Led by Tua No Gi and his armored soldiers. Trained since their birth and used as child soldiers to surprise and attack others. No one wanted to kill children or fight with them.

THose children were marched into the heart of Waru and faced something nasty. Raiders descending and stealing away the children while they were attacked. Turning them into slaves that would be used to defend their attempts to revive the temples and religions of Jei. The slave soldiers didn't do much though as the slaves were not as talented in their skills.

Ga-In sitting in her throne heard of these claims and these tales from her spymasters and the Crimson Kracken who traveled around the world and was bringing ships with her soldiers. Returning with all fo the infomration about the riches of some fo the far off lands she was convinced about the dangers of religions, the dangers of not having something enticing.

The great pillow house a structure where prostitution and vices, degenerate acts not fitting to honorable men and women was set to be created. A place she could not go and didn't want to go but she knew a number of her men and women wanted something to ease the stress from their lives. The Five rings, the five dark rings... legendary texts and ideas.

The Red Kracken was another, Sno her village had greatly improved since she joined the empress. Using barely a third of one fo the near hundred treasure ships she had returned with to build up the city. It had gone from small village with deep ports to almost an assembly line. Instead of one ship being built at a time they built the pieces uniform and interchangable.

THis alowed Sno to produce faster ships, with their method of interlocking the woods and working in metals that made them able to take hits and deflect cannons or blasts. The triple reinforced hulls, interlocking parts so no need of nails and screws, the platforms for their archers and even ways of transporting warriors at sea. The Kracken had proven she knew what she was doing.

The village also expanded first into a small port and dock then into a city and the main trading hub of the Jad Empess. Where all fo the ships came to get their wares and partake in the few riches. She even set out on a second journey, bringing supplies, equipment and everything to Sarnoi a second and a third time. Traveling different routes to get there and find the quickest.

Once she had the proper route each time coming back with more ships, bursting to the seams with treasures, with gold, silver, gems, crystals, aurodium, precious metals, wheats, grains, rice, meats, exotic animals, technologies that had been discovered or invented, traded to them. The Tiantai themselves bringing religion and medical supplies to some fo the dangerous parasites and sicknesses.

Boats and boats would return over the twenty years the unification wars had been going on, the wreckless captain of a ship who had joined a woman with ambition had changed to a renowned and dangerous one. Fashioning lightweight armor for her men, making weapons they could wield in combat and protect themselves with but it wouldn't weigh them down if they were in the water.

The Crimson Kracken pushed further as well working with the naval fleets to overwhelm and send their forces up as many rivers, portage techniques to move boats and keep that dominence of a river or lake. They might become locked but the ships were being made with different techniques to do just that and lightweight so they could move them quickly.

THere were also new models of ships, iron and steel clad with abilities to bring lots of supplies and cargo for developing and assembling forts quickly. Piecing them together in the night so in the morning they would have protection and a dock while suddenly everyone was wondering how an enemy emplacement had gotten built so quickly. She had found her purpose and sailed across the sea bringing back allies with tales of more further out where maps didn't reach or extend.

15. THE INCENSE GAME:

Intrigue was not just an exclusive notion outside of the Empire, in Jar'lai the Sosoka-Sama. Investigator of events, situations and people had their hands full. Several died in an incident, fire bombings dangers carried by plague and the first problems with slaves being incited to rebel against their masters. It was leading to something but the investigator was stretched thin.

That was when they were given leave to create their own force, of non soldiers who were charged with keeping the peace and enforcing laws and edicts. Matsudaria was key to this, finding purpose in the laws and changing them as needed. FOunding the first unified police force and more regulating the laws of the empire after calling a great council.

The work that they would be doing here, was getting the laws from all fo the villages and clans... combining the ones that were similar and the more obscure ones would be given to situational case by case basis. Other laws that needed to be sorted out would be open to incorporate and be changed with the inclusion of new locations. The kuramagi fortress clans were still holding out.

There were other dangers as the investigation into the deaths came about, one fo them was revealed to have been a keisei brought to court by one fo the nobles. THeir order was ancient and new to their knowledge in some cases. The real danger was that they weren't demanding placation like many others would have done. This endeared in some cases and made him send what they could spare to pay for the funeral costs.

The investigation itself brought them some attention and interest. They were learning more of the secrets of the five generals then thought possible. From the danger that the brutes of the mountain clans could do. Drunken oxen who would cause fights to test themselves and their strength against it. Worked in other villages but in a city it would be more dangerous.

To the village of Sno where they werre living big off the wealth being brought in from trade and taxes, a large portion going to the empire to build and establish itself but stil having their large portions. TO ancient criminal groups who had once sought to exploit the chaos caused as they were spreading A point of controlling them or managing them over trying to wipe them out.

The ancient bands had their purposes though if they could use them to manage and stop petty criminals around the area, on the roads then it would be used. If they could prevent major crimes and selling of drugs and dangers to children it was well worth it for now. So he established a set of rules and honor with shadowmarkings on the buildikng that would be immune to their forces.

All of these works helped in the big investigation of the killer, sending him to the frozen wastes to the north and the fortress of the Dusk, where the clan who was in charge oversaw raiders and exiled criminals. THey were coming back with a grudge though and using the cities unrest to do it. Taking advantage was one thing but the investigators could not allow this to continue.

They descended upon them, smashing their defenses and the Massacre at Dusk came to be known across the empire. Ga-In herself had told him to do all that was needed to quell uprisings and while she was popular those who dissented needed to be made an example of. She could be kind and was very rewarding to those who were loyal but also cold and able to be cruel.

While the Incense Game was played and criminal groups built their empire offering up tribute to the forces themselves. There was more, the young pearl prince and his brother came to stay with their sisters. He was working to meet and court several of the more influential ladies at court as his uncle suggested to strengthen alliances for his mother.

His sisters were already being planned to be married off to lords. To ensure their loyalties but also because they had gained the Empress respect in the battlefield. She had several daughters and a handful of sons who served at various positions within the court. Her children were being given over to military service, one having shown talent to a keisei who was in chambers and taken away with her to their citadel.

Another was being sent across the sea to a land no one knew much about, their eldest brother had contacted them. A member of the Tiantai who had been given freely. He was not returnign to his family nor laying claim but with passing his trials and being brought before the gates of Sarnoi he was allowed to contact them and explain. The Tiantai had seen much, had many ways to offer advice to the empress.

The advice when it came was on religion, Kital Phard their home had thousands of godsa nd each clan had a variation of the religions. It was chosen and recommended to have primaries and pitting the other religions against each other. To keep them from getting on the same track, stroking the competition that might be betweent hem and the differences.

It would work, it could be used to keep them divided instead of united while the gods of their more religious supporters were worshiped. It wasn't needed but could serve its purpose. Where Ga-In wanted to build them up was what their dominion ofit. Boats gave them the seas, horses and elephants the land but the sky was important it would give them dominion over all.

The best science and metal workers were being used to make dirgables, something they could use to go over oceans, mountains and the rivers. It would speed up their traveling capabilities as they could set the course and a few men could lead and guide them while an army slept. Attacking from the air and exploring was a big advantage.

Her generals were working with it, the scientists creating a prototype they could use to travel around and it gave them a means to scout, make more detailed maps and spread faster communications as the shadows the the empire closed in around their enemies. Able to drop bombs and release bot water or oil onto enemy emplacements. THeir arrows could only be so effective in the end against them.

16. WAY OF THE TRAITOR:

Her Generals were not immune in the end to deception, Lu Bai spurned in his advances sought at first to conquer her with riches, then by giving strong armies... His failure to win the heart fo the Empress from another led him to sell out the city of Jar'kai bringing in foreign soldiers and relinquishing the city to them for the hand of the daughter of Kami No Chujo emperor of the Isle of Ants.

Ga-In was away in the mountains of Waru meeting with the Keisei, as they were taking in one of her daughters for their training she wanted to see her off. Another child had gone to the faith. Religions were needed so supporting the Tiantai and letting one learn about the gods from her first borne would be helpful. THe new of Lu Bai's betrayal though struck her hard but they could return quickly.

THe first step was not recalling her armies, they had the city surrounded, Jar'Kai was meant to be a fortress itself but operating from Seito Palace in the mountains she was able to b reak them. His armies now couldn't stand against her cities and villages, where there once had been dirt and wood stood stone and soldiers. Farmers with pitchforks trained to defend their homes.

Ga-In returned to court with her other generals marching in. Lu Bai seeing them around Jar'Kai sought to escape in the night before dirgables were overhead dropping soldiers itno the courtyards. His loyal men unsure of what to do as they had fought for years alongside the ones they were going against and had been brought inot the empire since the beginning.

His men were conflicted and Ga-In gave understanding to them. THey had served their master there was no greater display of their character or honor but now they were being asked to fight the ones who he had trained, who he had served and turned on without their input. He was forcing them to kill others. She offered them a chance to walk away under the cover of night with safe passage from their friends.

Many of them left with arrow cover to protect them as they fled and prostated themselves before the empress. THey had fought and killed some but they had been following orders. Following their master, Ga-In wasn't going to dishonor their actions by condemning them but she couldn't dishonor the memory fo the fallen. So she gave it to her men and the families.

THe decision that was given and what they could do was a trial by combat, five champions on each side. The fight was not made to be grand but they could choose their means of battling and even the field. One of them fearful of what might come played a game of the mind against another of her generals. The tower of hanoi styled challenge lasted for an entire year.

It was not something that had been expected but it did provide a means for him to meet others, for him to conversate while contemplating the moves to try and redeem himself for each of his fellow soldiers he had killed. His wife was able to escape and pledge herself to one of the religious orders, his children taken in by some to be raised with honor and to redeem themselves.

The others who were fighting though had become mixed a few showed their skills and what had made them dangerous fighters. Fierce and powerful but they knew how to conduct and fight with honor. Two of them fell to blades one of them mortally wounding his opponent and both were buried with honor. A third fought with his brother who had remained loyal.

In the end the fourth had been the most troublesome. He won his fight after protest. Wanting to face one who had more skill as the young boy to had demanded this be his chance to prove it had been the first to come forward. He was allowed to live but chose to instead aid the family of the man he had killed. A young wife with child who he took in to provide for. Adopting the family crest and colors instead of his own.

Things were beginning to heat up and become dangerous, with Lu Bai still in the city the army would need to go after them with somethignt o break the siege there. Seito would easily hold out and the army was well provisioned but Jar'kai itself was made to last and hold out for years. Ga-in didn't want to have that long of a distraction as the remaining four generals worked to formulate a plan.

THey would assault the city with units at the gates and with dirgables to distract while another team led by the empress was leading the way through the sewers. The attack was her and a small team who would handle all of them when the empress herself donned her blue black armor. Changed over the years but no less impressive with the jeweled metal itself.

IN the morning the assault began and they moved in going through the sewers quickly to not alert and seeing the small reports about the naval forces that had been brought in. The Crimson Kracken returning with some of the long boats they could use on the river and move around as needed. It allowed a few of their more quick moving scout units to get into areas usually less defended.

THey were all moving into the castle itself, the fortress and making a display of it. THe smaller numbers could be cut through and sending her mountain to the gates meant being without his protection but he broke the stalemate. Smashing through the locks of the gate and allowing it to be opened. After a year Jar'kai was being opened to the armies and her others continued.

Uncovering other places to liberate, her closest friend going after what captives there were from their loyal men and women. The Onna-Bugeisha female warriors whose husbands and children were at battle had been garrisoned to protect the city. They had fallen and were captured being locked into a vault under the city but once with swords in their hands they remembered who they were and joined the assault.

The main three that smashed into the castle itself taking the throne room found Lu Bai gone... he had fled and left behind only a handful. The edict was passed and his men executed who hadn't given up. Ga-In returning where they could so that they might rebuild and work on the city itself. With new means or preventing such things like this in the future.

17. THE TURNING POINT:

With Jar'kai retaken there was a massive turning in momentum. Her armies were larger and now Ga-in focused on what would be needed to prevent such things like this again. Contentment, appeasement.. making it so that whatever was being offered was better then what anyone else could offer. The first thing would be an improvement to the world itself.

They were bringing the best minds themselves together for how they could improve. With stone cut roads, fencing and new methods for getting around. Shipping lanes where the boats were able to move around. A mint to make more uniform the currency within the empire, her banners and standards, villages with fences and walls where needed for protection.

They were working on other parts of it as well. The sewer systems in the cities needed to be modernized to reduce the dangers, no more in the streets. Water reserves sectioned off, management of the different areas depending on the time fo the year was a must as well when they started to develop parts of it. Offices to help the people, organize the farming and manufacturing.

The same advancements they were setting up in Sno, along the coast to have ports and watchtowers. THey had been working on more of it though as early warning areas of the coast led itno fotresses and military garrisons. Farmers in the fields were being set up with land as it was divided to what could be managed. The promises and money from the empire going to ensure people were hired and fed.

Industrialization came with the dirgable and manufacturing buildings to get out armor and standard weapons. her men still had their own equipment they could get but now the common soldiers who signed up for hot meals and a bed instead of the streets would have a chance. They also turned to education, advanced learning and everything they could use.

The continued construction of universities brought them to the attention of a few others, improving upon designs and ideas. With secured borders, new areas they could go and her military units being more organized. More focused with some using different weapons, utilizing what they could find and while they had encountered the kensei they also needed some to be their own force users.

They needed to be something different then beauties in the mountains, half naked warriors who killed and religious ones. No force users who could work for them was dedicated. FInding a region of the mountains around jar'kai they started building a citadel and the inquisition was being made. Force hunters who would seek out the empresses enemies and ensure no more betrayal.

Ga-In was also working on what would become greater reforms. Exchange programs to intermix several of the larger clans. To create a sense of unity as the seven arranged marriages were set to take place. New positions at her court for different ones as with a mint and standard currency across the realm brought a need for someone to oversee the coin.

There was also animals to raise, crops, ships to build. Her generals were in the field so for them there were appointed vassals who would run the highest positions within the empire. Even her own had a second... someone who would at the office of chamberlain. Clan Ike and Tagashi were the strongest, most loyal and they had given her strong service.

The two clans though weren't pitted against each other for sport or pposition. They would be a waste of resources and their abilities. They were both her strong hands the left and the right. One taking the position as her minister of coin and the other would work to ensure everything ran when she wasn't in the capital.Ga-In had many more things that were going to need to be handled.

There was Kansai province that still needed to be unified under her rule, parts of it were resisting still but she knew how to fight them. Their long standing fueds were important, their loyal service something that was impressive to everyone and as she worked on a few other parts of it the empress herself was moving around the regions of her empire to ensure everything was being built.

The twenty first year of the unification wars brought a harsh winter to many, outside of the empire where they didn't have what everyone within her borders had been developing. FOr some they thought this was going to be quick but taking an entire planet takes time... people resist and with her children she did have to raise well.. the ones who had managed to stay around.

Her other children who were not in different orders to tie them tot he empire and ensure their loyalty. THe Pearl Prince as they called him was her pride and joy. He was growing into a man now and with that came the prospect of marriage or at least a child. She was still young and able to defend and had a drive with the vision of a united planet.

The pricne himself didn't marry he couldn't find any as interesting... learning from his mothers generals about warfare he went to sea with the crimson kracken and they sailed for a full year while Kansai was under seige to unify it and bring it into the empire. Sailing the coasts until they could some placesrich with plunder to send back or more islands where they could start a garrison to observe.

Several of the islands they found were more mysterious, a former slave colony that had been set up to house and break them but the slaves revolted and turned it into a community since they were isolated. Their help with some of the maps of the sea and some places where wrecks had happened. The mysterious island of ants, the dangerous isle of toads and basilisks.

The Rei as they called themselves had migrated through several of their islands as they moved around. Learning about a handful fo the other islands that had been settled. The isle of tears and an isle of women... marked as one fo the more dangerous as the serpents on the islands. It was full of other things, spiders, insects, eels, things with a hundred different poisons.

18. STAREYES:

Legends are powerful on Atrisia, ancient stories of yovshin thousands of years before there were yovshin, stories of leaders being in charge of ancient empires that seemed impossibly advanced while being tens of thousands of years old. Stories of wonder that seem almost impossible, of ancient ghosts, gods, demons, monsters.... all of them seem to factor in.

Old tales of the Rei, legends really of where they had come from before they were slaves. Living in the northern waters that would freeze over, children of stranded ships that had resorted to eating the other ships when they got trapped. The strange tales of them from the Isle of women that they consorted with mermaids and mermen to produce the oil skinned Rei with their filed teeth.

Tales of the Oni the original beings of Kital Phard. THe older cities support something was there, roads, caves, the remains of ports and statues that seem impossible to move on their own... but no one has been able to figure out what happened to them. Perhaps the sicknesses and dangers of the continent were the real downfall and what might have been an attempt was reclaimed by the jungle.

Tales like Kirie Stareyes who followed a falling star in the night. Her sister Unaga founded her house on the island but Kirie took from the ship that had crashed. THe crystals bing used to replace her missing eyes and she could see horrible things. Visions it is said of white clas soldiers, silver enemies, different armies marching across the surface of Atrisia.

There are the ancient tales of the five forts. Dawn, Dusk, Dragon's Gate, Tiger's Claw and Okiya originally called the Serpents Tail. All fo them are filled with horrible lends, tales of what had happened to them. Slaying, mysterious creatures... the stories of corpses shambling, the dead rising, legends of ghosts and spirits being trapped within.

Memorable tales from around the empire. The forty seven yovshin a story of great honor, the thing that came in the night. A tale of warning and of something more dangerous. Stories about emperors and empresses the descendants of the Jade Empress that met untimely and unfortunate ends.. other who seemed more clever and skilled to live long lives but there were others in between.

So many legends, some that sprouted from the beginnings of the jade empire, Ga-In herself worked to ensure some things would be done and worked on. She didn't want to overblow it all but she did want to have some fo the more fantastical elements there. Her Oni were legendary as tall and flesh eaters. She never dissuaded this rumor allowing them to work as officials who could scare others into following.

THere were the ones from the mountain under ZHang who proved much more then brutes, they had their own laws at one point and society based around their horses. The Ruby Kracken was much the same. Seen as simple and small on land in the sea her ship unleashed cannons and archers able to tear down entire fleets. All fo them were great friends and that is what made it so sad their fates.

The men of the mountains eventually succeeded ZHang, his strength and power had kept them in line for nearly forty years... serving the Empress and before that holding them all together. FOr honor they stayed with them and continued to fight but without him they had lost that edge they had in combat and attacks. THeir riding and archery was weaker then many had expected.

Ga-In quickly moved with Ko Kami Fu, child of ZHang and herself one of the few she had acknowledged the father of. THe girl was a beast of a woman. Tall with broad shoulders and thick muscles. She knew how to fight and had proven that in battle gaining acclaim with her father and mother. She was placed in front of the different riders and proved her worth.

Ga-In herself stayed there and celebrated afterwards, the challenge had been to ride and fight with many of the others and the more dangerous aspects of it. One required that she fend of suitors. A challenge as their moondancers invoked the munin ancient memories of the past. To ascend she had to be able to survive invoking the spirits.

That had been the bigger challenge as she was large and powerful, skilled with sword, axe, bow and with her mother she had learned to ride some of the tigers. A thickly muscled one that was more fierce and loyal to her then anything else. The tiger tore into the horses, into the riders to keep them away from her and Ko Kami Fu managed to protect herself from the usual end result fo the challenge.

Ga-In seeing the power of her daughter was noted as being proud, the first streaks of silver within her hair showing as they drank but she had all of her children. Chiyo the bastard daughter of Ko Kami Fu and someone from the village of Sno. She never revealed who was acknowledged and given status within the mountain tribes. Learning her place as a screamer.

Others within the mountain clans were assembled and brought riches, brought horses and blades. The finest among them, statues, crowns, dresses... everything from enemy kingdoms that they had sacked. Dragging their men and women back to be used as needed. Adopting their children and using them to replace the numbers who might have been lost.

One of the things brought to them was a singer... well a sundancer. Strange beings who were said to see the future. Ko Kami Fu asked her to reveal what she saw in the future for them and if the empire would achieve its goal. She said yes.... but the empress would not live to see the ultimate goal.... she would have a dozen chikdren but the one who would rule all would have gold as his shroud.

Ko Kami Fu did not like this but there was more, predicitons... fancies any number of things could be said about it. A drowned kracken on a bridge that sway and swung, shadow warriors descending upon them and dawn breaking with the strong. Other predictions, some about the lines that would come.... Ga-In was said to have stopped drinking and more listened but Ko Kami Fu had the woman executed for threatening her mother.

The celebration went long into the night, with Chiyo being married by the end of it, a dull wedding though for the history books as only a single person died by most standards. Ga-In left in the morning with her honor guard and the soldiers but she wasn't leaving behind ruins at least. A wedding, a new clan leader who would serve as her general. The line would continue with Chiyo who had given most of the riches rbrought to her grandmother.

19. THE DROWNED KRACKEN:

There were as many victories as defeat, this humble tale shows many of the times when the empress succeeded but there were hardships. One does not unite a planet, a world by being soft no do they manage to do it by being so rigid they cannot accept others. Ga-In had surrounded herself with generals and friends, lovers and others who would play to aspects of her personality.

One that she was fond of was The Ruby Kracken, betwen the two krackens crimson and Ruby the seas were seen as the domain of the Empire. Raiding, tarriffs, pirates and naval fleets of ships that could set out from Sno. Using the power of them both went a long way but they were also turned away at times on the sea. There was the sleeper.

Ancient and dangerous, a ship of legend in many ways that was seen as a death omen, there was the thing that came. A ghost ship where the Ruby Kracken lost five hundred men on a small fleet. All hands disappeared as a month later the ships came into port but there was no signs of battle or sickness. Just the words 'It Came' scratched into the wood.

Then there was something else that came, while off the coast of Kansei province the kracken herself came under cannon fire and was forced to for the moment go through the heart of a storm. The ship being thrown onto rocks and her crew ended up on one fo the thousand islands. THere they worked to send word and get back to the fleets but there was a danger.

On the sea she had dominion, she had power and the pale skinned beauty despite how long she was in the sun had never been seen with a tan or even her hair being afflicted by the sun. Ethereal and beautiful it was no wonder she was sometimes the companion of the empress. Her affections known as she was reputed to have a lover in every port and brothel within access of the sea her true love.

Fighting their way across the island they came to the Tiger's Claw, a fortress that was considered impenetrable because of how remote it was, garrisoned with some of the more dangerous beings. Dark assassins and their dark rings. She surged using what archers remained to try and break the fortress before it had a chance to lock itself down. THey were in disarray from the storm as well.

TO Li the clan head this came as partially a surprise it was said he had fasted and given himself visions of the future. To see know the outcome of his clan fighting the empress who was overtaking the planet. From the reports there the vision had been of the empress putting them all to the sword and suddenly now he was under attack by one of her fiercest generals who had snuck to the island in the storm.

He had seen the actions as brave but such a woman he regarded with disdain not because she was a woman but that she would try and best him on land with a sword instead of her ship with her bow.... he felt insulted that she would think so little of him then to fight him at full strength and as they fought on the bridge it swayed and swung in the rising storm.

Fierceness was one thing to call it as the two of them went at it, as her men unleashed volley's of arrows and used sword, axe or whatever they could find they came to the end. The Kracken fell off the bridge onto the rocks below. Getting washed away with the receding tides and the dark clan claimed a victory. Putting all but one who had witnessed it to the sword and making a plan.

THey would have to go to the capitol it seemed, bring what proof they had and let the witness explain before trying to assassinate the empress and anyone who could pose a threat. THey would have to work on it as he revealed the silent sister. His clans ship. Black sails, muffled oars and a hull of ebony wood that made little light. THey traveled under the cover of night and stayed out of sight.

Infiltrating the city of Jar'kai proved more difficult as it was within the mountains and surrounded. THe river leading upt ot it patrolled and connecting to the sea but the Kracken's had worked to cover it. So they improvised and stole uniforms. By now the one soldier would have returned and spread the news of her death... of their coming and it would be on alert but nothing seemed different.

The clan was uncertain about what to do as they came into the city through the mud gates, at the river they were barred and used mostly to collect aste before it went into the river and sea or to keep things from trying to slip into the city. THe gaps of it could be bypassed with a little elbow grease as it were and had been proven but it was not easy and the Shining Star had anticipated it.

The new shining star, a teenager but he had been given the appointed title because of his honor and dedication to his grandmother. THe pearl prince seducing and having a child with but because of their stations and that they didn't love each other they were just lonely. The bastard daughter often called the Dark Secret wasn't much of one. The empress doted on her, the people loved her.

And she knew how to fight with a strong tactical mind in this case as she fought through the assassins with their leader escaping. He moved towards the palace to try and cut the head off of the empress and save his clan but was confronted by another of her generals. The Sosokan Sama himself who had been investigating the claims of the krackens death and would protect his empress while avenging his friend.

the two of them fought and while he had become older and slower he still managed to injure the assassin dealing a mortal wound that would eventually claim him life... however he was also killed and died in his oldest friends arms. In his anger at seeing a man he regarded as an uncle fall the Pearl Prince demanded that something more be made. Something that could uphold their will and would mirror the honor and dedication that had been shown by their family.

20. DAWN OF THE YOVSHIN:

The latest assassination attempt wasn't going to be the last but it was the most brutal, two of her friends dead, two generals. Age was something she could not defeat and Ga-In brooded over it. THe death of the Ruby Kracken was something she had mourned like all of the others but these were the ones who had started with her and so she resolved to finish the war in their honor to bring everything under her rule.

The two clans though brought it to her attention, the royal guard was not enough, her own soldiers were stretched across the empire bringing it all under her piece by piece and ensuring that rebellion or the modernization of the empire would not be interrupted. Progress required sacrifice and it had come in the form of leaving her vulnerable. So something was formed.

The Yova were the finest soldiers, most loyal to their master her granddaughter, the Shin clan was who recommended it and served as a small but proud clan. Renowned for their moxie and skills with diplomatic talks. They proposed to her soemthing new, something that would serve her better then just taking hostages and wards to train them as loyal vassals.

One child from each clans, great or small, not the heir. The second son, the one who might not have anything waiting for them once their brother or sister took over. They were to be taken and trained. Given purpose as an elite fighting force to the Empress herself. THey were given their own status, their own caste that could be seen as different to the clan leaders.

This would also ensure the loyalty, they would not dishonor themselves by turning against their own caste and status. THey were not fighting for scraps and could be given forts, castles, wealth of their own... their own houses if they wanted it or they could be there in the palace district. Everything made to entice and show how special this new position was.... but there was more.

It would need something, a name that showed the skills and Ga-In in a moment of boredom some say while she was melancholy about the deaths of her generals still said to just combine the names. The Yovshin of Jar'kai were formed, intricately detailed.. strong with armor that set them apart from the standard soldiers, duel swords, the finest horses and servants.

Fortresses were raised with grounds to train them, the Yovshin themselves were highly skilled being trained in all forms but they would also need to be taught poetry, mathematics, navigation, painting, armor crafting, smithing, hair care, medical skills for the battlefield. THe list of skills that were being taught to these fighters went on and on as they also had other things.

Those other things were one of the perks as the second child was brought from each clan and taught, different ones but all of them united under the empress herself who had from some the first borne child serving her in the palace of Jar'kai, the second child of these families was defending her. The clan district where they were housed was a layer around the palace district.

The Yovshin stayed in the first and third district, their training rooms and castles within the city itself on the small rung but they were also taught and trained to move without the massive army at their backs. THink more for themselves and as a reward the pleasure quarters were just a small river ride away for them when they had the off hours. The riches flowed into their estates.

Their weapons, their armor became legendary across atrisia as well as their service and loyalty, in battle Ga-In herself was seen with no less then two hundred Yovshin and as they quickly gained renowned in the twenty fifth year of the unification wars her reputation changed. Her armor was a slightly improved look to make her look like their commander, the jeweled steel of their twin blades and the power of their horses.

THeir numbers swelled as they took inch by inch lesser clans, bringing them into upraised status, one child to serve, one to protect. The ranks of the Yovshin grew and grew until it was its own unit on the battlefield, until it was used to crash the gates of the Fortress of Dusk with their men swarming in. The legends say no one was killed but it was a slaughter for the clan who resisted.

Ga-In herself would no longer be denied as the deaths had hardened her heart and made her dangerous. She marched more and more to the reaches of the continents, near and far until only the hold out kingdoms resisted that had managed to be in some fo the most fortified location. Kuramagi would come but they were still withstanding siege and even being cut off.

There were other places that they would have to go for as Jar'Kai itself continued to be worked on, to make it into a place others couldn't touch. The districts were simple, you had districts for merchants, warriors, teachers, and scholars, monks and religions, yovshin, the larger growing pleasure quarter, the palace district, the clans district, the warf with fishers and farmer bringing trade from the rivers.

Jar'kai flourished under the new districts, with Jei destroyed it was considered the place to go for getting whatever you wanted. Ceremony became important, tea houses and market squares became something large. Entertainment in the mountains and travelers were big, areas provided where new police forces could defend. Outposts along the roads and the beginnings of watchtowers across the empire.

THeir communication was still important and within the Yovshin this was important as some fo the clans brought other skills, their ingenuity for situations led to beacon fires that could be seen and activated quickly across the empire. Different dusts and materials that could change the smoke would allow them to communicate simple ideas and purposes across the empire within messengers and time. It changed the situation of warfare allowing armies to move and assemble quickly.

Koremitsu one fo the retainers of the Empress worked with the dangerous Lady Aoi, a renowned warlord in her time but she had become old and no less dangerous. Now unable to fully swing her sword without tiring herself she had joined the empress in her twilight years and brought with her one of the most dangerous elements. LOng range archers with bows of a special wood or so the story goes.

Koremitsu himself though mostly had the archers there and set up to defend sections fo the river, where they were on the borders and with the more impressive range the longer bows got, with the different poisons and materials they could put onto them including night soil to infect and ensure death of the enemy. THey were set to fire across the small valley pass at another fort. Raining down arrows for three days and nights until the ground was littered with them and the Yovshin horses could charge through leaving a trail.

The pass was easily taken, the clan within were infected from the arrows and sickness around them and dying. Their family had resisted for so long that there would be nothing left as the twin children were the only surviving members. Ga-In was fair and took them as her adopted grandchildren. Iyo and Myobu were often seen at court playing afterwards not knowing their families original fate and it became forbidden to speak of the clan or their mother and father.

Some suspect it was became of their relationship to the Empress and there is some talk.. small details. Asugao the wife of Uron was of a similar appearance to a young Ga-In... her father unknown but the first and major claim is that she was one of the bastards of Ga-In's father who was known for his vices... his family having suffered for it. IF she had fathered her before he died then this hold out was her own sister if even by half blood.

The Yovshin continued to rise in status and acclaim for two years bringing into the twenty eighth year of the Unification wars a new invigoration as the armies of the Jade Empress started to go after the ones who wouldn't break or bend the knee with deadlier tactics. THey had years to consider and reconsider their stance.. it was time to root them out and end the wars by ending them.

Spoiler

21. DON'T CRY, DON'T BEND:

Things had changed where before the Jade Empress had welcomed others to accept change with the deaths of her friends, changes and growing threats... she wasn't playing around anymore and entering the waning years of the Unification wars the battles intensified. THreats on all sides as they thrust into the last strongholds and hold outs against the empire. Embittered warlords and petty lords mounting betrayals as the lesser kingdoms scrambled to try and match her force for force.

THe Crimson Kracken had taken charge of the navy, the Ki Utesomo her ground forces. THey pushed forward into the villages around Wu mountains. Where monks and more peaceful villagers had been harassed and attacked. Armies clashing and from the sky her airships had been improved dropping black powder explosives on enemy lines. Entire threats that they had were being wiped away and the order for no quarters was given to those who fought. She could give them an honorable death on the battlefield but generals were not ones to break now.

Ga0-In sent her units, the screamers to assault and ride down their infantry, airships to drop explosives and deploy soldiers on them. The heavy infantry brought out siege weapons to smash into their gates and walls. Tear them down as fighting through the mountains had the soldiers faces hardships but the soldiers of the empress had been working for years to better improve themselves. Better supply lines, better areas to fight and resupply. Advanced cartographers to get the areas for everyone to see.

There was even more coming from them, even more as she put many more to the sword to cow the die hards either into submission or into their last stands. The fortress island of Mitsu with its massive walls, sheer cliffs and embracing lagoon. Rock walls that had only a single protected entrance tot he lagoon itself that they used. Boats would catch on the sandbanks themselves and stall but there were a nuber of fish and food so they could holdout if it came to an extended fight. She and her navy was not going to let them do that.

THey were working on it, releasing rocks and casks of oil while it was on fire. Using oil to ignite the water itself so that the trees and lushness of the island burned brightly long itno the night. The mines of the island with rock and coal were set ablaze smoking them out and turning the island itself into a furnace that they could not escape from. Their attacks were bringing up some of the notions that Ga-In was suffering from madness brought on by grief. A campaign of propoganda about her mental state was launched.

Her metsuka silenced them with the deadly assassin clans of the Ves who were loyal and dedicated once they had been brought in and raised up. Ga-In say the talks but there was a great deal going on before she found a reason to smash through the gates of several cities. Political intrigue as the vassal lords had to deal increasingly with the Prince and his antics.... loyal to his mother but unwed he was prone to have mistresses and servants frequent.... child of his own that were not recognized as the heir to his mother.

One such was when he and his two friends, children of his mothers generals were together with him. THey were close to brothers but not quite.... drinking long into the night, speaking of the past and working to recite the most beautiful poems. Something to do as he spoke about his conquests of different lords daughters as well as the ones who vexed him. A recount of arriving to the home of his old wet nurse a woman who traveled with his mother while she was leading campaigns across the planet. There he spied the most beautiful woman.

Iyo No Sai was his man servant at the time and live nearby, using him as an excuse to spy he learned as much as he could and approached in the night. Veiled and looking a common as he could. Sneaking into her room and cutting away the partition he discovered her with a sister. Both of them kept in the room of the small estate by their father a minister who had joined his mother. He announced himself and one of them fled in a great freight while he stayed and talked with the other sister. Long into the night and leaving before guards could come.

Their little brother was brought on as his servant and page. Learning what he could at court and being a confidant as he was fair skinned and had soft features that made him look more like his sisters then his father. The sisters themselves were separated as the one was with child afterwards and the other sister who had fled that night was not returning his letters to her poems, invitations. He sent her little brother time and time again until finally she relented telling him that she didn't think it would be proper to indulge his obsessions.

He was angered in many ways but he still spent time with the brother. Lamenting what had happened there was not much to do. his friends commented and gave ideas but they were in similar situations. one finding a girl who while or noble birth compared to many pretended to be simpleminded and equal with her servants. Even forbidding them from calling her mistress and dressing them like her in robes and some of the hair... She just coulnd't hide the smell of perfume from her baths compared to them.

The stories and drinking continued late into the night until they retired, stories from other ministers and children of the empress about their exploits came. Some serving with different houses to get them better into the fold of the Empire. Kiyoma Ike a loyal servant spent much time with Suyetsumu one fo the empresses grandchildren and adopted ward of the Ruby Kracken. The pale haired and skinned beauty was renowned as one of the finest minds at Seito palace deep in the mountains. A beauty among the clouds itself.

Suyetsumu's tales ad legends go a long way. It was said she would later enact a law within the empire by seducing her uncle the prince though means. Her skills she learned from some fo the last Jei priestesses who sought refuge in the mountains could go a long way towards making her considered oen fo the most dangerous officials within the empire. She had learned from her grandmothers friend. Her beautiful form was carved of wood and iron to adorn the front of their ships.

More tales, more stories and news as Ga-In tore through the western reaches and prepared tos et her sights on the final prize. Kital Phard had fallen under her blade and power. THe last holdout was where they all started to fled. The FOrtress of the Dragons Gate, Kuramagi Fortress. The Jade Empress was coming home after nearly twenty seven years of conquest and fighting to unite the planet and then to hold it. She wouldn't lose it to one holdout who had managed to resist thanks to the charismatic child of the old warlord.

22. DANCING BLADES:

Kuramagi was ancient even by the time of Ga-In's empire. The fortress had been built into the side of a mountain and had nearly a dozen levels of construction each one going higher and higher to tower. In theory it would require conquering each level which was dangerous, from above they could rain down arrows, rocks and other weapons.

THey had survived, they had kept stronger and powerful using their mountain. Dug in deep, connected to the Yeem ocean with a supply route through the mountains themselves. There were soldiers and villages within it and the clan head remained in power. Koga was old despite his reputation. Fighting other warlords well into his nineties and marrying at the time his tenth wife with who knew how many mistresses.

It was reputed he observed a first night, the ability to visit each female on their wedding night and the brides he liked he kept in one of the higher towers of his fortress itself. Towering over the mountains and into the early morning mists. When Ga-In issued her command and started to prove herself a capable warrior he remained steadfast in resisting her.

He demanded that she submit to him and when she refused he sent men to steal away one of her children the girl would be raised properly by him for his own purposes and by the time he was too old to move from his bed. Koga had become massive and bloated.. still producing children and attended to by his servants who were a mixture of captive wives, daughters, grandchildren, children and even great grandchildren.

His two sons Shoma the younger and Yansigasawa the elder were vastly different children. THeir deadly dance against each other for their fathers favor that he fostered and risked many times over his clan instead of having them be united. Yansigasawa was proving himself to be dangerous like his father with the problem that he liked the females of the fortress.

Since the clan was cut off from the outside world. Ga-In's ten year blockade and siege of the fortress brought about the dead of Yansigasawa in battle and his father eventually died.Slowly with rumors of his deviant intentions with more of the clans females. Shoma the newest head of the clan retreated inwardly allowing those who wished to leave to do so. He freed hostages they held, freed women and children from the towers.

THis went some way to buying trust but he also needed to send out children and women.... his nieces/grandniece, sisters cousins and more that his father and brother had done. His mother in law one of the brides of Koga remained with him not because of love but because she had been at one point his wife... Taken after his failure in the field as punishment and defiled with a child.

She remained at his side but he was soured to her at least for the most part.... still in love he raised her child as his own and had with her a daughter. His son perishing in battle against Ga-In's forces when she started bringing in airships to attack the fortress and get over their thicker walls. THe fortress still couldn't fully be taken but there was a lot more danger to it.

The dangerous assaults were beginning to take its toll but the first gates never broke and the airships could go overhead but they weren't able to drop enough soldiers into the levels to take the gates. Where she was moving around with soldiers to try and make an opening. They couldn't do it, they couldn't make a dent for nearly thirty years from the onset of the war.

Kuramagi had other mysteries about it, the first explorers found sections already made with strange patterns that allowed the light to fill the caverns. Sections of rock that had been carved into alcoves, rooms, chambers and a massive open area with a bridge and the Yeem below. Lightless and unable to be seen while high above it went into the mountain itself.

The first ones, who came before the ten thousand clans crossed the mountains aren't well known across Atrisia... their ruins remain in places. Ukiyo-E was a place they seemed to have been and the Oni claimed to have been descended from them. Tales of them fighting the old gods in a thousand areas of Atrisia have been collected as well as signs of their ingenuity but nothing to support them aside from anecdotes.

The first owners of the fortress itself built a statue to Taito and worked to keep it a secret that they had a way through parts of the mountains themselves bringing about the first confrontations where they were all going now. They could expand and control passes through the mountains, storehouses in caves but there was going to be more from them.

Shoma had worked long and hard to study and understand what had happened here, what the fortress itself and the mountain offered to him and his clan now that they were significantly smaller. Outcasting a number of his family who were corrupted by the decadent ways of his father. THe soldiers were digging in and making a number of ways for them to move around.

He had prepared for the assault and there were new threats and players on the board. As the news of it came, the final holdouts falling to the Jade Empress herself and dangerous situations coming when their allies marched on them. Oriiginally they had prepared and would need to really protect themselves but sooner rather then later they had to face that they were alone.

He celebrated the birth of his child and had them prepared a second son who would be around with his daughter and hopefully live as his wife passed bringing him into the world. The one daughter his ever faithful companion there as they fought and prepared for the main defense of the fortresss itself. He just needed to be able to wait them out.

He was preparing many thing and tried to prepare his men for the real challenges ahead. They weren't going to win and break the empire.. it was already to large. Eventually they would run out of supplies, they would fall off from the deaths and passings. THeir warriors would lose heart, their farmers and villagers grow weary and the only reinforcements would be half trained children.

He only had one hope or at least one sort of means. If he could stop the Empress herself then the unity she brought to the many clans and warlords would be taken away. He didn't know much about the prince or her other children but there was only so many options he could do without resorting to poison or dishonorable tactics. He would challenge her while their armies clashed.

23. SNOWBLOOD:

The isle of Hatsu, large, frigid and something few actually wanted to see. It was here that the crimson kracken when she had heard the news that the empire was meeting with one Hold out sat among the palace staff. They had worked on it, they had fought here in the ice and went against polar bears, ice spiders, lizards and mammoths... massive giants gorax that were thickly furred and had built these homes.

The atrisian's on the island went by some names, The Yuki was the most important. They had skills and knew how to survive. Pale skinned with white hair and wearing thick winter made kimono's. They served their rulers who answered to the Jade Empress with a fervor. Using what few resources were on the island or where they could do.

THe crimson kracken herself was proving more powerful and effective here, riaiding and whaling with them. The oils the whales produced and the blubber, the bones could serve them well in terms of what they constructed. New types of ships and improvements using the bones. THick breakers with reinforce breakers along the hull, they cut through the ice and were essential to getting around. Massive oars and sled wolves.

Rabu the first mate of the Crimson Kracken was one of the few men that they really trusted, coming from the island he knew about most of them and he knew about some of the dangers that the people here on the island face. So he was vital and important to smoothing relations with them. THen soemthing happened as he was seen running out fo the woods covered in blood. Arrows in his back.

THey were investigating and it would delay the trip back, what would already take months to return and help out the Empress at Kuramagi could be delayed days or even weeks but leaving without doing this... they would have to work on it when she moved around the island. Armored soldiers had been brought into place to ensure everything transitioned smoothly.

THe crimson kracken stayed around the island and the smaller ones just off of the coast of it. THey weren't large enough but some of them had been used in the distant past for everything that they were doing. Staging areas, holding cells, locations to send prisoners who were being questioned. The truth was they only knew they had to settle up as best they could.

Political rivals themselves though were not uncommon on the island as Ga-In Wei a child of Namimi who sought to gain favor with the empress herself. The child was a mere infant but she had been kidnapped by whoever was trying to cause strife on the island. The Crimson Kracken discovered a secluded section of the island a cove that could only be accessed by a cave.

The cave was strange, lined with ruined sections and geothermal springs that spewed sulfur. The warriors she had sent through reported that even with the snow above in some areas it was lush, fertile and even burning. Smoke risiing into the caves around them and parts of the island itself was there for them to see. Older mirrors, telescopic crystals and mirrors so it could be spied from different peaks.

THe murals she discovered were older as well depicting the sun god, with two children and from them the eight continents formed with a ninth being swallowed into the sea. Then they had a million children to form the hills, rivers, rocks, streams, trees, oceans and lakes. The children were young but they gave birth to man and from them the people learned fire and farming.

The crimson kracken found an old map of the stars that would tell them where they were from the night sky itself. THey made their way through and came to a large cavern sealed away with a boulder. The marks showed that it had been recently moved. THey were going down, deeper and deeper with the remains around them. THe Crimson Kracken was uncertain about what they might discover.

The lower reaches of the island seemed to be lined in alcoves with statues, twisted, deformed, beautiful. Faces warped and worn with age, lights blinking around them and stone giants that seemed to walk and patrol around the area. She had never seen things so massive or powerful that were being kept around. They still moved and had crystal and glass control rods she could see.

The floor was lined with a thousand thousand statues.. or were they people. She couldn't tell it looked like suits of armor, strange armor. Smaller, compacted with full face masks and swords. There were statues of creatures, larger ones when she had seen, ancient lizards she knew were on the world... smaller now. Falcons and within the cave there were bones from slaves who had been buried here.

THey were all sitting around waiting fro attend to their masters in the afterlife, they were guessing it was much like the normal soldiers. for each one there was several apprentices learning and who attended to them, servants for food and wine, slaves for other things, family.... Any number of slaves per son here in clothing and what looked like a mass grave of them.

The warriors were moving through and had to scale some of the statues, stone giants were not something seen but as they came out the underground city itself was massive in scale and scope. With a palace dedicated to the underworld god they were able to see in the murals. THey assaulted the citadel itself and were bringing their forces to bare once they could se it. Not knowing where they were as it seemed to be under the sea itself.

THey moved and faced off against a small force but they were dedicated, massive lizards that had been on the world were being used. Rode on with cybernetic mounts like horses that had weapons on them. These dino riders had put up a fight but the creatures themselves were dangerous and once they had their control box destroyed by an archer.

The creature went wild and smashed through several of them eating them but it was going to endanger the infant who they had chased within. A ripple came from the citadel itself and the Crimson Kracken couldn't fight all fo them and the creatures as it seemed things were waking up. Ancient undead things on the world that had been made to protect the citadel itself.

So they ran and ran fast, grabbing the child and rushing to get out of there only stealing enough time to close the massive boulder back into place. To seal the cave itself as they had been talking with some of the beings. THey threatened to kill a thousand children a day for this insult and she promised that it would be dictated by the empress... a thousand children would be born a day to replace them.

THey returned the child and started heading off quickly the delay was dangerous... something was happening and with news that the assault had started the Crimson Kracken had to take her place as one of the five generals with Ga-In.. she had to replace her sister which would be hard to do. The trip back brought them to the mainland where they would be able to get as far as they could up the river. She was moving in with her soldiers and everything they had gathered in the way of reinforcements with them to march on Kuramagi.

24. SPIRITS PRINCESS:

Kimiko Shonagon was a young girl when the raiders came. Seeking supplies to try and fight the Empress they had attacked villages throughout the region. Her clan was simple or at least appeared to be, they were revered and reviled for their skills. She was witness to the destruction, fires, enslavement, their warriors put to the sword before the armies of the empress could march upon them...

THen it is said she woke up, no longer sixteen she was still four... in her bed being held by her mother and father. Such a freight and fit of fear that the next morning her father left the village. His family moving away to the hills and giving away all of their lands, holdings and everything because it would be there she had said and he loved his daughter enough to put her mind at ease.

The village of ash as it came to be called twelve years later when raiders came from the mountains and burned it all. The fields would burn for a year, the animals put to slaughter and the wells poisoned. Everyone within died except for a single family who had retreated into the mountains themselves and into one of the forts. The father hearing this looked at his child he knew the family had visions but this....

THis had been something else entirely as they had worked on much more. Being found by the be official who had been there and he had heard the rumors when he was younger about the claims of doom that would reach the village and the region. Seeking out this seer who could prove a most skillful and worthwhile gift to the empress to improve his favor.

He spent time with her, talked with her and while she was you g her visions of the past, future and far off places made her different. She appeared wiser then normal, wiser then most and was telling him what she had seen. A united world under the banner of the Empress but there was a danger that only he could help prevent. Playing on his ambition to increase his position.

THe small manipulation itself was used to do just that... be a manipulation and he sent his soldiers, he sent the finest warriors with her. SHe marched as the leader getting them a chance to make it there faster as the youngest general on Kital Phard was leading the ground forces. THey arrived at Kuramagi itself and were deploying to cover the ground.

Nearly five hundred thousand men would be used with reinforcements from the kracken and the others. THey had more generals moving around and she was introduced to the empress herself. Seeing the older woman who stood there with the assault plans for the academy she was asked what she saw and Kimiko focused. Eyes glazing over.

She could see much from it, the assault on kuramagi's massive walls could be turned away. THey were made to handle large armies, its soldiers even while reduced had supplies, arrows, swords, rocks and things they could drop on the heads of attackers. IF any managed to scale the wall they did have back up in the form of a warrior defending the archers.

The one leading them was also skilled, young and powerful... his daughter was being raised yes but she was not seeing the empress in victory over this. Kimiko relayed this information but she also told what she had felt and smelled. No destruction, the conquering of the fortress would only take the death of one man the heir to the fortress and clan. Shoma.

The jade empress herself was looking at it and then at her as she seemed to have a better notion and idea. She would fight and there might be a chance that she could die in this.. destiny could be cruel to allow her to make it this far and take it all away... but the seer hadn't seen the empire falling apart. That would mean there could be someone worthy enough to take her place.

The visions though were just that a vision of the future, something possible and that meant it could be changed... if an assault was not going to work then she would just have to be smarter then that and she summoned from the furthest reaches of her empire everything she could get. THere was a plan but they would have to make sure everything was fully prepared to do it.

Kimiko herself though in these trying times found herself with a great deal more tasks and things to do but she also had a purposes. She was leading her people, leading them with more from the empire who would be making the assault against the walls of the fortress itself. She had seen some other challenges that would be coming from all of them.

The time that was being spent preparing also served for her to properly learn how to fight... how to face attackers in case she actually did have to face them. Receiving a suit of scaled armor from the Crimson Kracken so she could move around, sword lessons from Ga-In the empress herself in terms of what she would be able to do. Kimiko was working to fully build herself and her skills up.

Her other interests int he time as they waited after the others came.... was for the weather to be just right. Rituals were being preformed to try and alter or accelerate the weather but one couldn't do this.. they needed to be able to move at a moments notice as she was learning from her empress other skills. Education, technology, armor and weapons.

The dangerous situation only got worse though as the siege breakers came, horse lords from the mountains, Oni from their hidden world and even more dangerous beings but they were generals. She was slightly replaced by Reikaiden Murakami who spent time with the empress but she was also one fo the newer generals who had proven herself in a decisive battle before getting here through the mountains and smashing defenses along the way.

Kimiko didn't hate the woman or ONi... she identified herself as such and she didn't fully understand why when they were working on may more siege engines and ladders. Methods to get the walls and doors opened or scaled. SHe had a vision of the pricne and told him that he would find his bride soon enough. A titan of the world with strength that matched his own and his mothers.

25. BATTLE OF THE MANDARIN:

Reikaiden Murakami was an Oni handmaiden who had served under a lesser general. The Jade Empress had taken her home in the early years of the war and while she had no real feelings about that preferring a united planet to what else they were doing of nothing... she did have to admit that Ga-In was strange. Her soldiers tried several times to fully set up outposts but the parasites and creatures proved dangerous.

She had served one of the generals... he wasn't much in terms of tactics and he suffered sickness several times. One fo the bone eating parasites getting to him for a short time before a remedy was found... but by then his leg had been infected and the bone eaten away until it was like glass easily broken in comabt or even from walking.

The sicknesses and creatures of the hidden world were dangerous, something that many could not face and with everything that was going on, with everythign that was being discovered here.. it attracted more dangerous things. THere were the remnants of kingdoms come seeking refuge only to not find it and there were others seeking riches to fight the empress.

All fo them mostly met death, with few of them surviving long enough to get away with a few things. One in ten would get sick from something, one in twenty would maybe survive the creatures and everything that was around them. She helped as best she could learning the dialect of Atrisian that the general spoke even going so far as to learn about his family.

He was young and idealistic but also unsure about it he didn't like the idea of killing which was why he decided to come here to a place where nothing really happened they said. THe occasional explorer or raider trying to take the riches back with them but the continent's parasites and creatures would take care of most of them. He seemed an alright if short and stout man.

Granted he was standing next to the Oni, tall, muscled with black hair, dark skin and golden eyes. He looked out of place with his pale skin that only seemed to get paler as he was constantly sick and clammy. He taught her what Atrisian's were good with, math, sciences, languages, history. How to lead the men and talk with them, how to read a map of a battlefield, how to organize soldiers.

Then he passed away, a sickness in the night some said and others that he had given his life up to her. Either way she was acting in charge as the closest to him and had to face an attack. SOmeone had managed to steal one of the airships and flew over their home. Dropping black powder and fire bombs upon them. Water couldn't put the fires out nor could smothering it.

The Battle of the Mandarin was as much a naval battle in the air as it was one on the ground. As forces descended to the ground to fight and engage them. Oni riding on rancors surged forward to smash into their lines and Rei herself was in the vanguard who went after the airship. Her prowess and learning with the former genrral gave her an idea and she used when their airship got damaged rope and herself to control the direction.

Preforming an airship slice as she tore into the other ship and broke through the hull sending it down towards the surface. Most of the crew abandoned ship while she had them preparing to make some repairs while heading back to base. The Oni who were here could handle the stragglers who might survive within the jungle itself. Rei fought and was going after everything they could.

The news of the victory and her skills reached the empress itself and she was sent for with a special promotion. SInce the Oni needed someone to lead their forces and sending someone new there might take too long.... mgiht have to come with another replacement she would be in charge. THe Oni could lead themselves and serve her needs as warriors.

She was sent for and within their fleet of airships the ONi went... leaving their homeland en mass wfor the first time in thousands of years, with spears, blades and bows... With battle mounts and bpoats loaded with other things. Small frogs that were secreting a poison to coat their weapons. SMall blow darts and other poisonous creatures that would serve them well.

Rei herself had been given a new set of armor and as the airships themselves wwere setting off so were boats that had been brought by the kracken to collect them. THey were semi closer then most so their main armies could march albeit slower across the ancient destroyed bridges and section of ruined roads. The Oni forces coming to join at Kuramagi and add their massive numbers to the growing assault forces.

Rei was met by Ga-In herself... unsure of what the empress would be like as she had only read the communications between her and Yana the general she served. With Ga-In seeming to be impressed by her skills and how she inspired her people. It was seen as a mixture of political tactics and respect to appoint her as one of her five generals.

Other parts of the news that was going between them, it was rumored that she while waiting was personally trained by the Empress with swords and combat. Replacing Kimiko to some or sharing the attentions fo the empress with Kimiko... no one can really be certain as it was considered a sign of respect and Ga-In loved her people as it was.

That love is the subject for something else entirely... I'll detail it later but back tot he empress herself and Rei. The general and the Empress trained for the three months while the rest of the forces arrived. She seeded the Oni forces with their riders into the other units. They could defend with the larger beasts units like the siege weapons and screamers. The airships would be used to get soldiers in close.

There was more things prepared for them, more areas to do but Rei discovered that a great many of the other forces were just as unique as the Oni. The Hana from the mountains were dangerous but their warriors, a chronicler of the events that would be taking place. Writing it down in her book, a white make up covered woman in a flowing dress. The battle itself was about to begin.

26. THE FIVE GENERALS:

IN truth there were more then five, you can't win a war across a planet with only six people. There were many generals but always five who were loved and held close to the Jade Emrpess herself. From the ones who served her since the beginning to the half brother who betrayed her.... to a child who had visions enough to see and bring to her the forces she would need as well as news of how she would win.

They had all been working hard, all been bringing their soldiers and assembling to bring the forces to bare against the fortress at Kuramagi. Risks and dangers would be a thing to see but marching the armies across the continent gave them more then enough purpose. They brought all of them around and towards the end the massive force surrounded Kuramagi

The Crimson Kracken Rokujo no Suke twin sister of the Ruby Kracken Omyubo no Suke survived and returned to her empress with forces that could fill in the gaps. Reinforcements from the sea and the northern regions of the planet. Airships, exotic mounts like battle elephants and rancors, tyrant lizards as well as horses with stripes and faster legs.

Kimiko Shonagon the spirit princess of Kensai Province who was drawn to Kuramagi by visions. She had survived and given warning of the doom that would come to her village. Attracting when it came to pass over a decade later the attention of a youg official. He summoned her and brought her to his palace... sending word of what could happen and at the head of the army her with his finest soldiers.

Koremitsu the son of Ga-In and a warrior from the mountains. He was raised in war and one of her strongest supporters. He was considered young without the experience but his father had died killing the traitor Li which gave him much in the way of respect and being the seventh son of the empress meant that he was not expected to be the heir though he was much loved by his sibling the Pearl Prince.

Sosokan-Sama chief general and investigator of Jar'Kai who had survived through the years since he first joined Ga-In in her ambitions. Bringing the force of his personal investigators and retainers... he had trained them to discern motives and sneak around. The shinobi were something dangerous to those who didn't suspect them. They were spies and had all of the information that they could get.

Reikaiden Murakami an Oni general and rumored latest paramour to the empress her skills with military tactics were considered second to none. She fought and won the battle of the Mandarin a decisive victory against the Kingdom of Huang that had surfaced in the waning years and broke the lines into the mountains of the Hana. Securing the cannibal wastes and sections of the North.

The armies were assembled, airships from as many forces, elephants, horses, rancor, tigers, horses, bears, spiders. Anything her men could ride and use as a sort of mount. Units of Hana, Oni, beings from the corners of the empire wearing standards of the Jade Empress herself. It was a marvelous sight as the numbers were said to be nearly two million to the measly ten thousand within the Fortress.

THe general were assembled around the table, massive and carved of wood that showed the battlefield, details from the scouts and history books that would let them see the caves, the goat paths and with some scale to it for each of them. THey had been working on parts of it for months but now as she could see Kuramagi's fortress with its towers and walls.

THe discussions went on for three days and nights to come up with the assault some were said to suggest sneaking in, to get close enough to attack them and take out their leaders. If Shoma fell then he would be the head cut off of the forces who would scatter hopefully... or the other plan was to smash the doors, through the walls and they had all of their plans.

All fo the plans that were being presented to her were equally with merit but also reflected the personalities of the ones suggesting them. Sneaking around and ending the threat with minimal danger, brute force and giving everyone an honorable death. Assault with siege weapons and continue to blockade them while using the tunnels and paths to pick at them.

THe empress was said to have considered all of it, to look at each option until finally she was making a plan that would work. She would just have to send the message to Shoma and treat with him... to give him a chance to not be like his father or brother or family... to give up pride and bend the knee to join the rest of his people.She had a better plan then many.

The main forces were being assembled to handle the danger, her magic users had come and were beginning to use and create a spell that would turn the tide of the battle in their favor. Her screamers, her creatures, her soldiers all of it was standing there while she went back to her tent and look upon herself. This was considered the final battle the last storm and what her seers said she might not survive.

The visions that had been had by Kimiko and others but she dind't speak of that was that she would unite an empire... she would bring to heel all under her banner but she would never know the joys of it... she would not... it saddened her but she prepared for the battle when the first sounds of thunder came. Rain, dropping in large splotches when she got ready.

Hot water steaming for her, scented oils that would coat her and make it so that if she did die she would not smell as a corpse. it was a common practice, her hair was given a black oil. To hide the grey hairs and streaks that the wars had given her. Her armor was polished, her katana's were sharpened and she could fel the special properties of the colossus blade. Famed for her but presented as a gift.

27. A DARK BEATING HEART:

The battle was ready, the forces prepared as storms started overhead. THey had been raging for a full day and night until the skies were dark and the ground slick. The wind was blowing the rain into the faces of Shoma's men as he stood there. Golden armor adorned with rubies and jade jewels in the form of a dragon and fox. Sword at his side and even across the field he could see Ga-In.

She was dressed in her black and silver armor, jade emblems and sigils that had been given, thick kimono underneath and twin blades. Behind her all of her yovshin and forces as the assault began. Thunder across the battlefield were roars of battle ready soldiers charging and moving in, their war beasts, their drums and the sight of their banners.

The men in the fortress could hear it coming but they couldn't see it. THe rain slapped them in the face and blinded them, the archers on their horses were the first to arrive with bows firing up to the fortress walls. A mixture of arrows to try and attack them but also dig grapples into the grooves and slots of the walls. Where they could be used to climb up.

The forces were moving in, the airships deploying soldiers at the towers and walls to work on assaulting them as the men stationed in the mountains began their assault on the gate. The fabled dragons gate protecting them from the mountain passes was harder to get into but if it was being attacked then it would require people to defend and prevent eventually from being destroyed.

They had been working at everything... presenting parts of it when Shoma himself was opening smaller alcoves for him to send out soldiers. They were moving in to fight and take out the more dangerous ones bringing explosives to breach the walls. His archers firing as he directed them and Ga-In's voice was booming even over the storm. She was challenging him to fight.

The wind blinded more of the men as spearmen managed to climb the ropes into the fortress and start attacking. Riders continued to move around firing arrows, Shoma was moving down and out of the fortress leaving his daughter to command their forces within while directing it. He would face the empress on the battlefield as once he came out some tried to go after him.

Ga-In rose to meet his challenge facing him in combat while her men used the moment to surge the descending army. Shoma knew that if they were going to die just standing behind the walls would only do so much so for those who wanted to advance and fight in the open field takiong as many as they could with them he allowed it when he approached.

Their numbers swelled through the gates and smashed into the infantry lines as Ga-In and him fought in one area, both cutting down half a dozen men before finaly meeting each other in combat. Her twin blades in the new style that was used. Named after the capitol of her empire, Jar'kai and his blade gleamed. The silver blade was folded until they were confronting each other.

The blade clashed, thunderous and rebounding with the energy from the two of them, each strike creating shockwaves that sent men and beast flying into the air until a ring was cleared around them. The pair moved quickly, across the battlefield and as their soldiers were fighting the empress herself unleashed the creatures of the hidden world as massive leathery skinned rancors (as we know them now) tore through soldiers.

Again their blades clashed and the first strike was given, Ga-In's helmet was cleaved into breaking it as she discarded it. The emeralds adoring it fallign to the ground like a cascade of green blood. her blade bit into his leg smashign into a ruby dragon at his kama. The gemstones were said to be so valuable men stopped fighting and tried to pick them up.

The swords continued to clash into the night as the fortress walls itself could not be breached the army within managed to turn them away but their numbers were being depleted trying to keep away and stop the holes being created. The warlord and the empress battled it out until the skies roared with lightning that struck around them. Mud turned to glass and crumbled.

Still for another day they fought and the mud started to seep and fill. The rivers overflowing but they were not flooding yet. It was coming out fo the mountains in great rivers enclosing the massive army into its confrontation before another strike was made. Shoma taking a strike to the forearm and it severed partially his wrist to let it hang limply.

Ga-In took a strike as Shoma was bleeding out, the water washing his blod away and drawing a blade he severed the rest of his hand. The empress took an arrow from one of his more overzealous archers fired a shot that managed to catch her neck. She didn't perish from the strike but the shot dug in deep and her voice vanished a silent cry when she snapped the arrow itself.

Shoma was moving now and brandished his blade throwing the dagger into his own man, the fight was between the two of them and no one else was supposed to interfere in this. He couldn't take it back but when he offered to end it, to let them both be treated she refused him holding her blade. The other hand been lost with the attack and she couldn't hold it and staunch her bleeding.

They both had a deathly pale look to them from the blood loss as they finished, the final blow being struck as her blade plunged into his stomach. Slowly bleeding when she held him and couldn't walk away. Shoma didn't die but the battle was over and his men came to get him back. THey would bother bleed out, both would perish as Ga-In was taken to her tent and surrounded by her generals.

She couldn't speak, the physicians said she would die as the bleeding to her throat was fatal and removing the arrow would several veins and arteries in her neck. She placed a hand on them and thanked them for everythign they had done and was leaving them to protect and care for her son. THe Pearl Prince received his crown of jeweled blades and gemstones while she passed away surrounded by them.

28. THE GOLD WEDDING:

The death of Ga-In sent ripples through the empire. her son was named the new ruler the Pearl Emperor.... his generals moving around and pushing for them to finish the fight. THey had the advantage... all that was left in the fortress itself was a few hundred people. He knew that could last but Shoma had perished as well the strength of them was diminished.

He made a decision to finish the fight.. the generals and vassals swore to serve his mother and by extension they would serve him. He would see to it and they were marching on the city itself. Everything set up for them to finish eventually this conquest as they arrived within sight of the gates. Standing on front of them was her.

The daughter of Shoma stood there in her armor. She looked ready to resist but he could see something else. The gates were closed and barred. She didn't expect to survive this and women were manning the walls. Spears and bows defending it as only the females were there. This could mean that the others were secreted away or...

Or that the fifty or so warriors with her were all that were left. THe Pearl Emperor stood there prepared to fight but as he announced his mothers passing and that both of them had perished he made a different offer. In honor of his bravery and legacy they could join the empire. A union of both great houses.

THey were checking out the plan and she agreed to it. Coming forward and bringing what they might be able to do. THe Pearl Emperor himself accepted her and her people as the gates of the fortress opened up revealing to them all that they were barely just surviving. Boiling the leather of their shoes and armor, with rats and trying to keep who could defend them fed even minimally.

He saw to it that each of them were fed and laid out the plan for what was to come, he planned to unite the houses in a ceremony that would unite fully all of the planet. Envoys were sent out to announce it, leaders were invited, woman and children were said to lament in the streets that the prince was being married off.

THe legends of it all, of what happened was impressive to say the least. The Golden Wedding as it was being called, massive in scale and at Jar'Kai itself which was hosting it. The generals assembled with an honor guard of Yovshin, the Emperor's family from across the em pire returned and he acknowledged Murasaki the purple Kracken.

She was often considered a secret to everyone because of the circumstances but Murasaki served as a flower girl giving orchids and roses to the procession, A small child no more then twelve she had been broight to the capitol by her father from Sno city and given a small wing of the palace to herself.

The celebration lasted for nearly a month as the people came to the city bringing riches and wonders from across the empire. Keisei wearing exotic silk kimono's and giving dances to show their skills, Hana presenting an arena and challenges to the horse lords and other fighting groups. THey had built up their skills in stories and now they were setting out to prove it.

As the Emperor and his future Empress were set to be married with the ceremony starting they presented to the others their united front. A test of their combined prowess in ruling so that their houses would fully be united and the claims that she would only serve as a puppet be quieted. Court ruled over and saw problems of the planet to solve and give help where it was needed.

THe cases that were being brought before them were simple in msot cases. The local vassals were giving their reports, requesting soldiers or funding for construction projects. Business and advancement being picked up, forges to get equipment to their armies or farmers to grow more food. Roads to make it safer with guards and patrols.

All fo what they were doing was simple enough to her and the Emperor ruled fairly, he was not his mother in this regard as she wa known to play to the strengths and what would advance the goal and purpose but the planet was united in a single dynasty that would last he hoped forever or at least long enough for his family to live a long and happy life.

They continued until the month of gathering was done and the ceremony was set to begin. Still massive and impressive as they rode through the city on the backs of one of the larger elephants that had been raised to fight for his mother. With the Yovshin following and a procession of the officials as cheers and celebration went in the streets.

The rest of the procession provided them any number of beautiful sights, there were works until finally on the steps of the royal palace when they returned with everyone able to see them who was in the massive street itself. The two of them stood in flowing kimono's of silk and gold encrusted with gemstones that glittered in the sun.

The wedding ceremony itself was short, they said their vows, they exchanged cloaks and she was brought into the marriage as the Pearl Empress. Legendary now for her fairness and beauty she was forever loyal to her husband giving him over a dozen children and within their time they rarely ever spent a day apart.

The few times they did were entitled the quarrels when they disagreed and while never stopping their love and devotion to each other they also needed time to cool off. Herself returning to Kuramagi Fortress itself and he remained in the capitol of Jar'Kai. THere were three times and the last only lasted for a year.

Afterwards when she became ill he returned to her side and being carried by several of his yovshin and servants to his age. There was risks and dangers to moving him from the capitol. They passed away with each other as news went out to their children and most returned quickly to the palace surrounding them and seeing them off.

At the age of ninety four the Pearl Emperor and Empress were cremated and interred in the crypt for the royal family. They were succeeded by their great grandson and his bride the Ruby Prince and Princess the youngest and favored of as it were by the family. Slowly over the years the dynasty changed hands but always the Emperor and Empress were legendary for their time.

29. THE EMPIRE OF KITAL PHARD:

The second Battle of Kuramagi fortress began as many rebellions do with a spark, someone sought to upend the dynasty that had presided for thousands of years to come to power. I will not go into the details of every ruler, some of them were noble, honorable, some were cruel, some were inept but each of them did something to garner respect and show their prowess.

We'll focus for this chapter on Chujo no Li descendant of the Jade Empress, heir to the dynasty and his brother Kana no Li who ignited the rebellion. Some say it was over a woman they both fancied spied in her palace at night. She was a reclusive creature and both fell in love with her before they had ever set their gaze upon her. hearing her voice in the night... listening to her singing and playing her six string.

No one is certain what set off the spark between the two brothers in this case though. Chujo was married to Fijitsuma who would become known as the bloodstone princess. A cruel and hard woman that was several years his senior and rumored to have only given him a single child in their entire marriage.

Kana though with his charisma managed to convince some fo the yovshin who served him and his brother as protectors to follow. Splintering the group as they dueled and he stole away in the night Sedimitsu the woman from the house. In a black rage that heralded violence Chujo ordered the deaths of anyone involved who allowed it to happen.

Two years later as the rebellion began to turn in favour of the Bloodstone princess and her forces General Kagi of the rogue Yovshin found himself pushed back to Kuramagi after the latest defeat from imperial forces. This though was not a lasting set back as General Kagi still had a sizable force with him with which he could oppose the Bloodstone princess with the help of a fortified settlement.

Kuramagi proved to be a good strong hold in which to establish such a presence, the constructs steep sloping walls and other natural defences greatly increasing his ability to defend it from any sieging army. The general knew they would be able to hold out and even staying there as it rotted with minimal repairs it still had the defenses to protect them as they escaped into the mountains.

Unfortunately, imperial forces knew this too and where not hasty to assault the walls upon catting up with the retreating army. Wasting no time imperial forces laying siege to the fortress with the intended goal of starving out the defenders and attain a surrender, the war having already cost many lives. Though a mighty defensive complex Kuramagi lacked the original resources for sustaining and growing food.

With time passing away the defenders had to formulate a plan on escaping the fortified position, knowing that no friendly force would be arriving any time soon. It was clear that meeting the imperial force in open combat would be unwise, themselves having erected a decent defensive line around the main entrance of the Fortress. Though there where other methods to depart from the fortress all would have taken too long and there was the large risk of being spotted and caught out in the open.

Due to this situation General Kagi devised a plan to break out form the defensive fortress, aiming to also use the nearby waterway in the mountains to evacuate the majority of his troops to a new location. The aiming to gather more support among the few nobles he knew disliked Chujo and gain a military force large enough to face the empresses troop in open combat.

The plan involved sending a small diversionary force out from the fortress to flank around the main enemy army and cause a distraction, hopefully pulling enough defenders away from the siege camp to permit a break out at the ancient dragons gate entrance. It would be costly as opening the gate into the mountains would expose them to everything there as well.

This plan however was not air tight, spies working on behalf of the emperor delivering details of the breakout attempt to the sieging army. In turn a counter measure was put in place with a majority of the imperial archers and spear men put on a wide flanking position to prevent the diversion troops from reaching their goal. Additionally, a vanguard unit comprised of the princess herself and her most elite troops acted as a defense between Kuramagi and the river to prevent the generals escape.

Such a tactic proved to be a misstep as the strength of the flanking force was much small then suspected, the main bulk of the defending force sallying out to face the vanguard. Though the covering troops easily cut down the diversionary forces such left the imperial troops spread thin and dispatched from the empress and her forces. Alone and seeming to be cut off the vanguard unit was pushed back across the river, general Kagi sensing the possibly of attaining victory by killing the Bloodstone princess pushing the attack.

Such proved to be a fatal mistake as bit by bit the imperial forces came to reinforce the empress, leading to a bloody enjoyment at the side of the river both forces at a disadvantage. Imperil troops arriving in waves deepening on how far the unit was away from the vanguard, with general … troops having difficulties navigating across the river. Knowing that such would be a draw out battle that would ultimately result in the loss of many lives and possible defeat general … quickly challenged the Bloodstone Princess to duel along the banks of the river to decide the outcome of the battle.

Both combatants where equally skilled, their blades clashed along the water front, neither able to lad a decisive blow, though each scrape, close call and dent in the armour wearing the fighters down. They stayed at it and the princess struck a blow to the back of Kagi's leg. Severing the tendons and he fell down. She claimed his head before heading back towards the camp as the forces overran and smashed into the resistance.

The forces were crushed and Sedimitsu was killed by Kana in his fear of her being taken from him. THe bloodstone princess finding them and taking the news back to her husband where they celebrated but she only continued to remain cold towards him. THe time away at war had allowed him to find something new to fawn over. She cared little based on her diary for him in the waning years but stuck around out of duty while he forgot about this great love he had with some woman.

30. AFTERWORD:

Not much is known about what happened afterwards with them all, not many cared to really see what became of Ga-In and her children because the legends and stories of them were so much better. We have worked with the emperor of Atrisia to gather these stories and legends, accounts from different journals that had been recovered to create this official record for you.

From what journals and accounts we have managed to recover of Ga-In herself we know her mind about things. Musings of people of places, her plan for taking one place and then another as opposed to just expecting them all to fall in line and follow her. SHe was patient, she was tactical and she was one of great passions in her ambitions.

There are even more records from her generals, the Keisei themselves have allowed limited access tot he notes some of them took of life at the empresses court among the nobles. We know historical records of other who painted and made murals of the final battle where she fell and from genealogy we know a number of houses that can trace her various children.

We have been able to trace some and the name Ga-In has been used by different houses to try and invoke her spirit and favor. For ambition and power, prowess in battle and her legendary beauty. We have not been able to find notes of other Ga-In's in history doing more historical or noteworthy works but there are several from her generals and their houses.

Her bloodline filling them as she was known for her prowess in battle always willing to lead soldiers into a fight but also able to stand back and tactically command them. She was much loved by her soldiers, she was loved by her generals and known to love each of them as well. Tales of her exploits and her passions as it were or her fluid nature going with whoever inspired her.

Such actions did have dangers but there were others undocumented. The lamentations of the lovers of the jade empress is a story for nother time and another book emperor. FOr now we are discussing what came of it, what helped create this companion piece to the other chronicles that have been created. I have tried to present it to you are complete but without the minutia of daily lives presented in the journals.

There are more things though, that came out of this with the records being consolidated in that time and scout reports certain things were brought to light. Unexplored previously unknown regions fo the world brought to our attention. The expeditions to map the coast lines of the nine continents of Atrisia... of Kital Phard were important even though now it seems the ninth is partially submerged and only exists as an island.

We have charted other areas of the planet now with advances in technology and know where some regions are but the anomalies the strangeness of some of the ruins we have discovered. The world is older then even our records indicate, there are murals, scrawlings, runes and everything that points to us just being the latest civilizations here within the world.

We have spent so long exploring the unknown regions of our world of seeing the mysteries that we may have forgotten the fundamental facts of it. How it all started, how it came to be and the lies, deceptions, the passions of our people honorable emperor. The people of Kital Phard have always been ones to chart their own path.

We have detailed here other accounts as well, the people who are still in some ways influential today. The line of gemstone rulers, the strangeness of some of the tales and the mystical arts, the mysteries of the world for you. I hope that this message reaches you emperor in good health and you learn from some fot he mistakes that have been made.

The added chapters are from one fo your predecessors, I know that we have been facing some of the problems. One fo the battles that returned us to Kuramagi nearly a thousand years later. ONe of the dangerous situations with your ancestors and in some cases we have tried to detail the risks of having some of the false friends.

There are also detailed accounts from some of our clans, serving within Seito Palace was making it legendary, the White Pearl of itself was brought to fund and give us gold, aurodium, silver, gems and other riches. Silks that would cost most a lifetime to afford a single bolt for a simple kimono flowed into the kingdom.

We have been working with the new ones, the Republic that has discovered us. We have worked with some of the more exotic and exclusive places that were now discovering our world. Our advances in technology have worked harder for us, to explore the world but not turn it into an industry. The clash between the classes and our people have been difficult but we have dealt with it.

The battle between your great grandfather and anti imperial forces at the second battle of Kuramagi is a good example of the dangers present still to this day. I will not claim to know it all, I shall not claim this to be the most objective account. My family like many others can trace themselves back tot he creation of the first Empire.

This humble chronicler herself does not fully... know the scope or depth of what you have planned but I have seen enough of the past and written about it to understand that there are dangers to greatness and power. All of the work I did for your sister, all fo the works I have written about will hopefully prevent mistakes from being made in the future.

That is my closing for this chronicle but there are so many other tales hrre and within this book, hopefully when it finds you, when it is presented it will be done with an open mind. I am also sending all fo the research materials I was able to collect should you wish to see your ancestors notes and journal, experience an idea of what it was like in those days of the war.

 

[Junko Ike]

[member="Shoma Ike"] for this and some ideas would love a graphic is possible. it is a combination of

Qin Shi Haung
Oda Nobunaga
Aegon Targaryen
Three Kingdoms Period
Five Tiger General

Battle of Minatogawa

 

[Junko Ike]

Alright so this is for organizing the images themselves. THanks to [member="Garith Darkhold"] for them and anyone else [member="Shoma Ike"], [member="Nine Lives"] who have some we can add them here or ideas for what can go into this.

Spoiler

 

[Garith Darkhold]

Image One: Female Fire Suginja

Image Two: One of the Evil Lords

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Image Six:

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Image Nine:

Image Ten:

Image Eleven:

 

[Alyisa Mithel]

Image 1

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Image 6

 

[Alyisa Mithel]

Image 1

Image 2

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Image 7

 

[Garith Darkhold]

Image 1

image 2

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[Sor-Jan Xantha]

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

 

[Nine Lives]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_N-1M

How about we make Atrisian starfighters distinct have them look like flying wings, like the above example.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

[member="Nine Lives"]

If there are any images of a German Ho 229, that would make a great flying wing star fighter.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

All right, now that I'm no longer on mobile...

The German Ho 229 was the first jet-powered flying wing, but didn't see a lot of notoriety because it emerged so late in the Second World War. Also as a result of that, there aren't that many surviving Ho 229 frames.

Here's a couple of good digital imagery based off of the concept design though.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

 

[Junko Ike]

well maybe but in the wars the first airships were being designed and used. think Fire Nation airships with large balloons and propellers over jets.

also we shall need a graphic for part 3

[member="Tao Liu Xian"] [member="Nine Lives"]

but some fun things, mostly that Atrisian's in the waning years of the unification wars developed a form of greek fire and black powder have some fun with that

for the lols though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF9iXKKxK0U​

 

[Junko Ike]

double feature

chapters 25 and 26

 

[Junko Ike]

chapter 27 is up and there you go. how [member="Shoma Ike"] got his name

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

The Battle of K Academy My Version, not 100% finished all polished

As the war began to turn in favour of the Jade princess and her forces General … of the … found himself pushed back to KA after the latest defeat from imperial forces. This though was not a lasting set back as General … still had a sizable force with him with which he could oppose the Jade princess with the help of a fortified settlement. KA proved to be a good strong hold in which to establish such a presence, the constructs steep sloping walls and other natural defences greatly increasing his ability to defend it from any sieging army.

Unfortunately, imperial forces knew this too and where not hasty to assault the walls upon catting up with the retreating army. Wasting no time imperial forces laying siege to the academy with the intended goal of starving out the defenders and attain a surrender, the war having already cost many lives. Though a mighty defensive complex KA lacked the proper ability to sustain its population in the event of a long drown out siege

With time passing away the defenders had to formulate a plan on escaping the fortified position, knowing that no friendly force would be arriving any time soon. It was clear that meeting the imperial force in open combat would be unwise, themselves having erected a decent defensive line around the main entrance of the Academy. Though their where other methods to depart from the Academy all would have taken too long and there was the large risk of being spotted and caught out in the open.

Due to this situation General … devised a plan to break out form the defensive fortress, aiming to also use the nearby waterway to evacuate the majority of his troops to a new location. The aiming to gather more support and gain a military force large enough to face the empresses troop on open combat. The plan involved sending a small diversionary force out from the fortress to flank around the main enemy army and cause a distraction, hopefully pulling enough defenders away from the siege camp to permit a break out.

This plan however was not air tight, spies working on behalf of the empress delivering details of the breakout attempt to the sieging army. In turn a counter measure was put in place with a majority of the imperial archers and spear men put on a wide flanking position to prevent the diversion troops from reaching their goal. Additionally, a vanguard unit comprised of the empress herself and her most elite troops acted as a defense between KA and the river to prevent the generals escape.

Such a tactic proved to be a misstep as the strength of the flanking force was much small then suspected, the main bulk of the defending force sallying out to face the vanguard. Though the covering troops easily cut down the diversionary forces such left the imperial troops spread thin and dispatched from the empress and her forces. Alone and seeming to be cut off the vanguard unit was pushed back across the river, general … sensing the possibly of attaining victory by killing the Jade Empress pushing the attack.

Such proved to be a fatal mistake as bit by bit the imperial forces came to reinforce the empress, leading to a bloody enjoyment at the side of the river both forces at a disadvantage. Imperil troops arriving in waves deepening on how far the unit was away from the vanguard, with general … troops having difficulties navigating across the river. Knowing that such would be a draw out battle that would ultimately result in the loss of many lives and possible defeat general … quickly challenged the Jade Empress to due along the shores to decide the outcome of the battle.

Both combatants where equally skilled, their blades clashed along the water front, neither able to lad a decisive blow, though each scrape, close call and dent in the armour wearing the fighters down.

(dueling section not finished

 

[Junko Ike]

so chapters 28, 29 and 30 are up and 29 is the only one partially being worked on thanks to [member="Kurenai Yumi"]... the idea was good so working on it and didn't want to chop it up. just going to expand it and basically once we have the banner for part 3 from [member="Shoma Ike"] it can go up... also so many fun ideas now for future lore subs.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

[member="Junko Ike"]

 

[Junko Ike]

beautiful and soon soon it shall go up

 

[Junko Ike]

it is done