by Andur
Helen shrugs her shoulders. “There are fossils which imply that your ancient ancestors had wings. So either he was a freak of nature, or he exposed himself to extreme amounts of mana and survived the changes to his body. The books aren't clear on that point.
Either way, he used that power to seize control of Nict and became the first Emperor called Nicodeus Draco. He wasn't a nice ruler and executed everyone who stood up to him. Eventually he took a wife from a noble house and had children with her. His rule lasted for over a thousand years and in that time he waged war on all of Nict's neighbours. He always chose a new wife once the old one grew too old for him. His family spread wide and his blood thinned with time. Do you know that the original citizens of Nict weren't powerful at all when it comes to magic? His blood changed that. The great clans are all his descendants. Each of his children had certain powers, though none of them reached his might.
He kept the ones with more power close to him. They were the ruling family of Nict. They had the power of seeing the true nature of magic.
But as the Empire grew and time went on, it became clear that even the first Emperor would succumb to old age at some point. Though during his time on this world he forged the biggest and magically most advanced Empire ever seen. The southern nations, Dwem and the lands further north. Even the eastern planes were under our control. There were settlements across the western ocean. Everything mere provinces to the Empire.
The only country which stayed out of the Emperor's reach was Quinn. Quinn is big and they abhor magic. Their warrior elite knows certain ways to counter and repel spells. On top it was hard to wage war on them since they were so far away from Nict's centre of power. In addition they recognized the danger by the City Gates and stopped any attempt to put one close to their sphere of influence.
The City Gates were the reason for the Emperor's power, each province had one. The second reason why he could control such a vast empire was because of his enslavement magic. He forced everyone who served in a position of power under his will. There were thousands of mere puppets under his command. That's why he was also called the Master of All.
The third weapon under his command were his generals. He took six members of the greatest bloodlines which originated from him and made them his warlords and assassins. Whenever someone even tried to rebel he sent his generals to deal with the threat. In that time he also created seven artefacts of unbelievable power. Six of them he gave to his generals and the seventh was set up in his palace.”
Stella stirs in her seat. “And our helmet, The Light of the Emperor, is one of them. And I suppose it's no coincidence that Nict looks like a hexagram and the Emperor had six generals at his command?”
Helen stretches and nods. “The Emperor's generals were the forefathers of the great clans of today.
The helmet, The Light of the Emperor, the Zait. A light from the sky that burns your enemies.
The shield, The Will of the Emperor, the Eddin. An impenetrable barrier, warding off all harm.
The sword, The Emperor's Judgement, the Anja. A fire that spreads and flows like water.
The armour, The Emperor's soul, the Veit. Giving the user unlimited mana and strength.
The dagger, The Emperor's Wish, the Tinn. To command the shadows and walk among them.
And an amulet, The Master's Word, the Siorda. To control your enemies and allies alike.
The seventh artefact was the Emperor's Vault, it was thought that it gave him his power and control over all the artefacts, but it's more likely that it's the origin of his power.”
I change my position in my chair. “So this vault is still in the palace? But there are seven great clans. What about the Gejene?” This is all a little bit much to take in at once. So we are all related to the Emperor and he was an evil dictator. He created weapons of mass destruction and our opponents got their hands on them. Great.
Helen shrugs her shoulders. “In one way or the other, but let me continue the story. In the Emperor's final years he found a woman of noble birth and high magical power. They had two sons, twins who looked exactly the same. Their names were Serenzar Draco and Jeremiah Draco. Those brothers rivalled the Emperor in power and maybe even surpassed him. He made them his successors before he died of old age.
They continued in his footsteps and brought the usage of enslavement magic to new levels. Now even normal citizens weren't safe from being used like animals. Together they and their family ruled the Empire for three hundred years with an iron fist.
But then Jeremiah fell in love with his serving slave, which wasn't well looked upon. He even freed her from her enslavement spell and spent more and more time with her. Eventually she sparked a light in his dark soul and he began to see the world with her eyes. He tried to redeem himself and attempted to change the empire.
Serenzar didn't like what his brother tried to do, he ordered the execution of his brother's lover to cure him from his delusions of a free world. Jeremiah saved his love and killed one of the generals while doing so. It was the one who carried the Light. Jeremiah took the Light and used it to destroy most of the City Gates in the provinces. For some reason the Light can't be used to attack the heart of Nict.
Then Jeremiah took his lover and fled with her to Dwem. From there he organized a rebellion and travelled through the Empire to free the people from their existence as slaves. Soon he was known as the Saviour and the people gathered around him. Unfortunately the war for freedom took many years and ravaged the Empire. Jeremiah's lover was of normal birth and had no magic. She died of old age before Jeremiah could show her a world free of slavery.”
Helen stops for a moment to think. “But they had many children and since Jeremiah was an outstanding mage they inherited a part of his power. They founded a new clan and took on the name of their birth mother. From then on they were known by the name Gejene and followed Jeremiah in his cause.
The resulting war changed the face of the world as we know it and the Emperor's artefacts were used by both sides in the most horrifying manner. In the end they defeated Serenzar and brought the old Empire down, though it's not for sure that Serenzar was really killed by his brother. After the last battle most of the great artefacts were lost or thought to be destroyed. Jeremiah rebuilt the destroyed palace and sealed the Emperor's vault beneath it. He reforged the heart of Nict into the Free City States. After doing so he made the Gejene swear a blood oath to protect the Emperor's Vault. Having completed his love's wish he left and took the Emperor's Judgement with him. That's the only great artefact which was in Jeremiah's hands at the end of the war. Since then every clan head of the Gejene forced the oath onto the next one. So we waited and we kept Nict's legacy out of the wrong hands.”
Wow, this world has a crazy history. I tilt my head. “And the wrong hands are?”
Helen smiles. “We don't know what the Emperor's Vault is. I only know that there is a big sealed door down in the palace's catacombs. Everyone who tries to open it dies a horrible death. According to Jeremiah there are no right hands for this power and the Vault can only be opened by the Emperor's worthy descendants if they have all the great artefacts.”
Stella starts chuckling. “Seriously? Why are we even keeping this history a secret? Aren't there any records of it in other countries? And us being the descendants of the Emperor? Are you telling us that our enemy is one of the brothers, trying to reforge the Empire?”
Helen closes her eyes and crosses her hands in front of her chest. “I am not telling you anything. I just updated you on the history behind the helmet in your house. All I see is someone pulling the strings of several countries to gain power. He is calling himself 'Master', a synonym which was used for the emperor and his sons in the later years of the Empire. I am informing you that the Emperor and his sons were outstanding mages, whose huge amount of mana let them live several hundred years. It's not completely out of the question that Jeremiah is still out there, wandering the planet. But most important of all, I am telling you that the art
efact in your house played a major part in the downfall of the biggest civilisation of this world.” She snorts. “And we keep this history a secret because Jeremiah told us to. Most of the artefacts are lost. Maybe it's better if the average nobleman with great ambitions doesn't realize that the cute, magical dagger of his grandfather can do more than shadow plays for the kids. Other nations might remember parts of the truth, but it's surely on the level of a myth to them. And most importantly the Vault can't be carried away. We don't want any treasure hunters down in the catacombs.”
So whatever circles above our heads up in the orbit took out a little more than the City Gates. That's interesting. I look Helen in the eyes. “I only ask myself why you let me keep the helmet? Don't you want to give something as dangerous as that to the military to lock it away.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “That was indeed my first impulse, but I meant it when I said that this is a national secret. Not even the military knows anything. My second impulse was to destroy the helmet-”
“No!” Damn! I called out before I knew it. “Ahem. I mean. It's a very interesting piece of technology. It would be a sacrilege to lose it like that.”
Helen raises an eyebrow and grins at me. “Very well, so you understand it at least partly? Can you disable it until we need it?”
I nod. “Sure, I'll thoroughly take it apart to learn its secrets. The helmet isn't the interesting part anyway. It just controls a satellite above our heads, which attacks from high up in the sky.”
She thinks over my words. “You already took it apart?”
Not exactly. “Just took a look. The helmet is fascinating, but nothing completely out of my grasp. Maybe I'll think about a possibility to destroy the satellite.”
Now Helen looks surprised. “I thought you want to preserve this old technology?”
I shift in my seat. “Like I said, the helmet is interesting, but with time it will reveal its secrets. The satellite on the other hand... how should I formulate it...” The satellite in the sky is another matter. I don't like having something above my head that could burn my house any moment... at least not if I didn't build it myself. But how can I get that across without freaking her out? She is afraid of the helmet, I can't act like it's nothing extraordinary. Social skills come on.
Stella grumbles at my side. “Mom, I think Azir wants to say that the helmet is an interesting puzzle to him, but nothing more. And that he doesn't like it to have a weapon of mass destruction floating above his head, so he would rather destroy it and build one himself...”
My head turns slowly to Stella. “Social skills?” Come on, now it was okay to be blunt and throw everything into her face?
Stella shakes her head. “Don't bother training them on mother, you are too obvious.”
I nod and face Helen. “If it's like that, then I'll be blunt. Can I have control over a workforce of about a hundred people? I need twenty people experienced with magical circuits, ten normal workers, forty guys who are good with metal working, a Siorda whom I can train as manager and the rest should consist of people with good results in various scientific degrees.”
Helen looks surprised. “You are still a student. What do you want to build with those people?”
I shrug my shoulders and smile. “Various useful things. Just think about the stepper disc in front of your office. I built that alone, what can I do if I have a little help?”
Helen smiles. “If you tell me beforehand what you are going to make, then I might give you even more people.”
61. ~Tight schedule.~
“Why maintain an old building if you could build a new one?
Don't repair stuff if you can make something new instead.
Ever looked up to the sky and wondered what's up there?”
-The Creator.
Free City States of Nict, Capital
Azir
I got my workforce and got started right away. Project number one was to invade the capital's national observatory and throw everyone out. After a few days of spending my evenings on the helmet I decided that it's much too dangerous to use the Light of the Emperor myself.
That thing has a few magical circuits which are able to fry the user's brain. I fear that they are a safety mechanism. It's not like I am unable to meddle with the helmet, but after I had a thorough look at the whole thing I decided that it isn't worth to bother wasting time with it.
Ensuring that the thing is safe to use would require me to take it apart and put it back together piece by piece, magical circuit for magical circuit.
And there are a lot of them in there. The creator of the helmet used a technique of layering the runes in multiple layers on the inside of the helmet. Nothing new to me, but bothersome to analyse. It's like taking a modern computer apart and putting it back together in working order. A single person might achieve a task like that, but it requires a huge amount of time.
So I decided on doing the next logical thing and that's to evaluate the threat. I rebuilt only the part of the helmet which connects it to somewhere else and tuned my new communication device to the right wavelength. The rest was easy. After I got a good signal I deciphered it and had my very own uplink to the supposed satellite. From that point onwards all the credit has to go to Ivy. She is freakishly good at interacting with other machines, I doubt that I can compete with her by now.
It has to be said that she is a cheater. Machine language and codes are her native language, so to speak. I am not thinking in zeroes and ones like her. She didn't fail to bask in her moment of glory when she hacked the satellite network above our heads. We also downloaded a very detailed map of the world.
There are twenty satellites circling around the planet. The Emperor was a busy guy. Unfortunately the satellites are hardcoded. That means that neither I, nor Ivy can change their programming. Bad luck for us, good luck for anyone who might know the right frequencies to access the network.
At least I could find out that the satellites are using magic to create a strong magnetic field. They use that field to channel a stream of polarized ions into a thin beam. The resulting blast of focused radiation and matter is released at a target of your choice.
It's a really fancy trick, but also wasteful. There are much easier ways of striking a target from orbit, though I guess the Emperor chose this method because it was the shinier one. I like that; using a blast of radiation to scorch your enemies is shiny.
I gained that knowledge by the approach of learning by doing. I sent one of my drones out to the north, then I fired one of the satellites repeatedly until I had enough data to determine the used method. The The barbarian army's camp was a very welcome - and most importantly, a very big - target. Chuck was very happy that the plague in front of his doorstep turned into dust. Though most of the barbarians fled into all directions. The satellites can fire every ten minutes and each shot burns an area of about two hundred metres. It's effective against a target of high value, but roasting a big army doesn't work. As soon as a soldier sees his comrades pop like popcorn, he runs. They spread into all directions and your shiny radiation beams become more and more ineffective.
One interesting point that came up is that the network of satellites is covering almost the entire planet. Almost. There are no satellites in an orbit which leads them above Quinn's airspace. The continent across the northern ocean is also not covered by the network.
Of course the Emperor could have done that on purpose, but from what I heard about him he was a control freak. There is no way that he would willingly ignore certain countries. So the most likely answer is that Quinn has or had a way to deal with the satellites. The question which comes up next is who is living on the second continent?
There is a big central landmass on this world. It's running along the temperate climate zone and partly stretching up to the north pole. Nict is taking up a huge part of the western coastline.
The southern nations control a small part of the western coast and stretch out along the southern coast. The area under their
control is huge. If you would go purely by size, then Nict should have lost the wars against them long ago. But I guess the geographical advantage of Nict can't be ignored.
The centre of the continent is taken up by what we call the eastern plains. It's a huge steppe which stretches over several time zones, at least twenty times as large as Nict. I suppose the cleared airspace above the eastern coast belongs to Quinn and if it is an indicator for Quinn's size, then Quinn controls an area about three times as large as Nict.
Dwem controls the northern mountain range which stretches above Nict and reaches further to the eastern plains. Beyond Dwem is a scanty badland which turns into an ice tundra the further north you go. I guess that's the reason why the barbarians don't want to live there.
There is an archipelago of islands further across the western ocean, in size roughly comparable to Quinn. Beyond that archipelago and further to the south lies another continent at the equator. It's smaller than the main continent and shaped like a big fat blob of marmalade. Since I am the discoverer... since I rediscovered this continent I named it Blob.
Regarding my team and the observatory. The first thing on my list was to tear down the badly made telescope there, then I went on and had them build a proper one to map out the exact paths of the satellites.
Task number two was to build our own spying platforms and teleport them up into space. That wasn't very hard to do since I already had a very good basic unit in the form of my drones to work with. And teleporting something straight upwards into empty space is much easier than teleporting to a specific area on a planet's surface. All we had to do was to change the design of my drones. Forget about the wings, increase the whole blueprint in size and dimensions, add proper sensory equipment and get to work. In fact, teaching my team to build the needed telescopes and sensors gave me the most headaches. The devil is in the details.