Far out at sea, there is another continent thriving with ancient history and technology.
The continent is ruled by the emperor, Adolwolf the Fifth. Beneath the emperor are the Great Houses like House Ravenwood, House Hawk, and House Satan etc. Powerful political dynasties rule the region with armies and wealth.
The houses meet in a congress called the Lamp, which balances the power of the Emperor.
The other big political power is the Guild, cause the guild controls the markets. The Guild is secretive and mysterious. Everyone kinda hates the Guild for being the wealthiest and creepy. But everyone needs them to sell something or buy.
The continent has been ruled by this balance of the Emperor, Houses and Guild. They are bound together by a Greate Rule, which has rules banning the use of Nuclear weapons.
A cheeky bit of assassination and warfare is allowed within limits. Every noble watches their backs for assassins and tests their foods for poison.
The Houses rule their region under a strict feudal class system-slavery, and oppression and exploitation are common. This is an unfair unequal continent.
There is a Group called Flare. It's like gold. Flare has unique Properties that can raise a person's set intelligence in a short period.
The Houses fight for a slice. In this struggle, a tiny shift in interest rates can change the ownership of an entire region.
They do not use the telephone or computer because of the Blank AI war.
Facing the threat of AI, humans in this continent abandon its technology. People did rely on " Thinking machines", but then some people used those machines to take over the empire and enslave people.
There was a religious crusade called Seer that destroyed all the computers and banned them forever.
" Thou shall not a machine in the likeness of a man's mind". Their religious idea is that thinking and making our own decisions is what makes us human. Letting machine think for us make us, less free and less conscious.
Ever since humans have had to learn to think for themselves. They founded schools to train the human mind and body to their full potential.
So now there are people called mental-"Human-computers" who can think super logically. They process data, calculate probabilities and perceive people's motives.
The other important school is Seer, an ancient mystical order of being with highly trained minds and bodies. Seers can precisely control all their muscles and nerves, even their body's biochemistry and reproductive systems.
They have powerful memories and precision, they can read people feeling through their words and body language.
They can fight weirdly.
Seers work with the Emperor and Houses. They live to serve. But they have their plan. For centuries they have manipulated the continent from the shadows.
There is the most important thing in this continent. Akai, cause this is a drug. Akai makes people live longer, extending their lifespan for decades. They are called "Prolongers of life, the giver of health."
Many people are addicted. It is an addictive, mind-expanding life-extending drug and it tastes like cinnamon.
So naturally Akai is the most valuable substance in this continent.
And spice only comes from one place-the desert of illusion. In the desert is the monster.
There are no languages for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contractions of all matter, force and cosmic order.
A mountain walked or stumbled. " God."
This Life form is called God whose life cycle makes Akai. Humans harvest the Akai and sell it. So whoever controls the desert becomes rich.
For the last eighty years, the desert was ruled by the brutal House Hawk led by Duke Atlas.
The Hawk explore their people -they have slave labourers, sex slaves and gladiator slaves to kill for sport. The Hawk use and consume everything to feed their endless appetites for power and pleasure.
The Hawk are a mouth that swallows all.
Duke Atlas is a ruthless political schemer, who constantly indulges his desire for food and sex. He is too fat to support his weight so he uses technology which let him levitate.
To rule the desert, Duke Atlas installed his younger brother Ozius who is called the monster for his brutality. Ozius is not known for his intelligence- Duke thinks of Ozius as a tool.
Another tool is the advisor of the House Hawk, Iantha, a mental who loves to torture and poison. Iantha is addicted to Akai and this expensive habit forces him to stay loyal to Duke.
Duke uses people's weaknesses to control them. They also have a messed up experiment on humans as well.
The point is the hawks are dicks and Akai on the desert made them rich.
The Emperor ordered Hawk to leave and he gives to control of the desert to House Ravenwood, led by Duke Fotios. Ravenwood has a reputation for honour and integrity.
They protect their people and inspire loyalty in return. They rule a beautiful ocean and jungles farming and fishing.
Ravenwood isn't rich, but Fotios is popular and influential among the Houses of Lamp. And the Emperor hates that- he sees Fotios popularity as a threat.
So when Emperor give them the desert, that seems like a good thing for Ravenwood, but really, it's a trap.
" When a gift is not a gift?"
Emperor and Hawk secretly plan to destroy Ravenwood with an army of Sar.
Sar are the Emperor's elite soldiers renowned for being brutal and merciless.
" The dread Imperial troops the killer without mercy, the soldier's fanatics."
They are said to be the deadliest soldiers on the continent. Their origin is unknown. Yet.
The Emperor doesn't want other Houses to know that he is attacking Ravenwood so they are disguised as Hawk soldiers.
He and Hawk want Ravenwood to die in the dark.
Aaron's story begins as the son of Duke Fotios and Lady Jess. Aaron is just fifteen years old and as the heir to House Ravenwood, there's a lot of pressure on him.
No playmate his age... The dangers were too great.
He is highly trained in politics and combat. He is trained as Mental to have a powerful logical mind. Jess trains Aaron in the way of Seer focuses his mind and body, his perception and memory and using other people as his weapon.
Aaron is young but he's a politician and a warrior with a powerful highly trained mind.
***
Fotios visited the grave of his father, the old Duke. The old Duke used to fight tigers for sport. Until he was killed by a tiger in the ring.
The Ravenwood family keep the head of the tiger with the old Duke's blood still preserved on its fangs.
So the tiger head represents facing danger, putting yourself at risk.
Right now, just like Fotios is putting himself in danger by coming to the desert. Fotios knew that the Emperor and Hawk plan to attack him but he took the risk anyway.
Because he believes that he can win. Fotios plan to use the desert power by allying with Sandwalker, the local desert people.
Fotios believes that Sandwalker will be a great soldier specifically because they live in a harsh environment. So Fotios bet everything on this plan to make Sandwalker his army beat Sar.
Ravenwood doesn't care about Sandwalker, their goal is to exploit them.
Ravenwood may seem like heroic good guys but they use immoral manipulative strategies.
They are formal, distant and serious. Aaron doesn't question his duty to their houses.
Ravewood is an ancient dynasty in a deadly continent conflict and they are not cycling around.
The servant behind Fotios walked behind him.
" Duke, Seer are visiting the House."
Fotios does not surprise, he waves his hand and signals the servant to give him alone time. ' Seer is not the problem for me. Jess must have brought them to Aaron. ' he thought.
Alone on the shore of the ocean, Fotios thought of various things that wandered. Soon his mind will be filled with disgusting things. It's okay because this alone time is enough for him to continue.
The ruler doesn't show weakness. No. They simply don't have it.
***
Aaron gets a visit from Seer, Evgenia. A mother, a special high-ranking Seer has expanded her mind using the Akai drug. Evgenia has access to the memories of their ancestors. She can look at many places in her body's memory.
Evgenia is the teacher of Jess back at Seer School. Now she is the true speaker of Emperor Adalwolf. He uses her ability to detect lies.
So she is a powerful and important person and she has complicated loyalty to the Emperor.
She comes for a test.
She sits on the black leather chair.
The dark room, this room is where Aaron's mother, Jess worships " Lightbringer". The room gave a creepy feeling to Aaron's heart. The only light source is the candle on the table beside the dark clothes Evgenia.
" Come here." Evgenia gave an order to the young Aaron. He slowly close the door and walked toward her.
" Kneel"
Evgenia ordered again. This time Aaron doesn't do. He is the next Duke of Ravenwood. He is the pride of his family. He can't stay lower on behalf of his family.
He refuses to do it. So he walked toward the chair in front of Evgenia.