Eternal

Year 37

Ruling the Empire, it’s a thankless job, but somebody’s got to do it.

With all the restructuring and consolidation of what holdings you do have, you haven’t gotten around to actually expanding the Empire yet. You have sent quite a few scouts out though.

There were a few groups sent south of Nalin and into the Usksha Desert, but if there is anything past it, it must be a very long ways off. Every scout team has reported practically nothing but endless sands and hostile usksha nomads. To say nothing of giant sand worms and creatures that can turn people to stone with a mere gaze.

Further east of Delerg leads to heavy jungle to the point of it being practically impassible. Scouts that survived have told you that it almost feels like the jungle is actively trying to prevent further exploration. Apparently it’s also inhabited by dark skinned Halfling like beings, but a lot more savage. (Though from what Casimir told you, Halflings could get rather savage themselves) They made no attempt to parlay and always attacked on sight.

Someone mentioned that there was evidence of a few ancient ruins, but these weren’t explored much due the relentless pygmy attacks. Probably just remnants of a long dead civilization that the pygmies degenerated from anyway.

You didn’t bother with sending scouts further north of Rask, it’s well known that it’s just more mountains and even if there is land past them, it would be so cold that nobody would want to live there, well not the average Empire citizen anyway.

While the Empire has never really had a navy to speak of, you’ve been trying to make steps in correcting that problem. So far a few ships have been sent east, but there hasn’t been much news yet of any other major landmasses, just few remote islands that contain nothing of worth. (And none of them are Mortos either.)

Only the Empire’s western borders hold any immediate promise for future expansion.

Some of the scout reports have been interesting, as there seems to be a wide range of societies further west.

The major one you’re already having minor skirmishes with are a group of beast like people similar to the now extinct gnolls, but more “multi-racial” in nature. They refer to themselves as the “Children of Tor.” (Who you assume is probably some god or ancestor figure to them.) They also call their territory “The Land” and are largely nomadic just like the usksha. As you might expect, they see the Empire as an affront to nature and the land and have been hostile at every turn.

The Torites seem to consist of four major races. The most physically imposing being the great bull beings (The minotaurs). They’re reportedly as strong as an ogre and twice as vicious. They probably aren’t the greatest of thinkers, but to write them off as stupid would be a mistake.

The second group is no less imposing. These are the ones that seem to be half human half horse (The centaurs). The horse beasts must train constantly with their bows considering how accurate they are with them. They are fairly deadly in open plains due to this and their maneuverability.

The third group seems to be the most common and smaller than the other two, but no less dangerous. These are the “goat people” (The satyrs) They make up the majority of the population, but they also boast a number of wild mages, shaman and other types that tap into a natural elemental magic.

The last group has only been rumored, but you can’t dismiss the possibility. Apparently there is also a group of these beast people that have wings like birds that lives in the western most mountain range. Other rumors abound about less sentient beast creatures ranging from large cat like creatures with spiked tails to abominations that are mixed with a multitude of animals.

This is just one current enemy however. They are other more “civilized” groups too who may or may not be enemies in the future. Some of these range from hamlets that are fairly isolated from immediate dangers to small petty backwards kingdoms, which aren’t even as great as the one the Felkans had. There are other probably others as well, but it hardly matters since eventually ALL will be submitting to the Empire if you have anything to say about it.

Of course you can’t do it all alone even if you do attempt to have a more hands on approach than your predecessor. This is why you have your own inner circle to help.

Jacob’s replacement, Kivan pretty much takes care of all the things he did. Though to be honest, most of that stuff is dull administration duty that tends to bore you anyway. The funny thing is Kivan almost reminds you of a younger version of Jacob in some ways. You guess it must be the typical “bean counter” mindset those administrative types share. In retrospect it’s kind of a shame you killed Jacob as he ultimately was just looking out for the best interest of the Empire, but these things happen.

Warrick is still head of the Eyes, who are more in control of internal security than ever. You didn’t even get a single uprising within the few months you took the throne, though there was a bit of civil unrest that had to be quelled when newborns were taken from families for the Eternal Project. Warrick is good at his job, though you get the impression that he’d like to be out there in the field sometimes. Something you can identify with since you’ve been growing bored due to the lack of battle due to the whole concentration on “ruling” thing.

Brenda doesn’t seem to have this problem. She’s actually satisfied with more administrative duties, but then she’s never been at the forefront of war like the rest of the Eternals have. Still, she’s been instrumental in implementing some worthwhile domestic issues such as fully incorporating kobolds into the Empire (The little scalies are now some of the most loyal citizens and always willing to serve its armies!) and giving the remaining orcs their own land in Rask. Brenda reasoned that while their numbers were decimated in the Felkan War, they can probably build them back up within a couple of decades and the Empire will have a new generation of orc soldiers that can be relied upon. Not to mention the orcs are still serving in a good capacity by currently slaying the odd ogre tribe or giant that comes lumbering down from the Rask Mountains.

Brenda still doesn’t really get along with Warrick however. She still holds him partially responsible for Roldan’s death. There really isn’t anything you can do about that though, despite your best efforts. You just give a reminder to the both of them to keep it professional and they do for the most part. Which is more than can be said for General Ackerson and Grand Mage Galen, who you try to keep far away from each other since they’d kill one another if they could help it. Fortunately they aren’t called to the meetings very often. Ackerson is mainly kept on the western borders (currently dealing with the Torites as of late) while Galen has been put on day-to-day duty of overseeing the magic side of things for the Eternal Project. (Though he was a great help last year in helping you banish the wendigo problem for good)

He hates the job and would no doubt rather be serving as the dean at the mage academy, but you need someone there with competent magic skills when you aren’t available. You’ve actually made cut backs to the academy anyway, There just aren’t that many mages left and there haven’t been many new people to show the aptitude for it, especially after the Felkan War. With the rise of technology within the Empire you wonder if eventually magic will be displaced altogether, but in the scheme of things, its of little concern to you, since you still have all your powers after all.

The other one in charge of the day-to-day duties of the Eternal Project is an odd fellow by the name of Elam. He takes care of the more technical matters. He’s basically the “new Marik” except that he’s human, which makes him a whole lot saner, but not by much. He was once training to be a physician, but was kicked out of the guild for…unnecessary experimentation. He then drifted and somehow his interests turned to technology. He was a human supervisor at Marik’s factory, but more than that, he actually was allowed into the derro portion of the factory on a regular basis. After Marik left, he became a recluse and lived in one of the more remote parts of Arat where he tinkered on things and tries to create new inventions. Kivan was the one that actually tracked him down when you stated that you needed someone who had a better grasp of all this “derro techie shit.” So far he’s worked out well, though Galen whines about having to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do unnecessary tinkering on the Eternal tanks.

Finally there is Decena. In between running the Empire and overseeing the new Eternal Project, you’ve been training her. So far she’s been showing steady improvement due to your harsh training lessons. Lately she has desired the need to go out on the battlefield to use what she has learned and bring glory to the Empire, which was part of your plan when you started training her.

As you finish up, Decena moans in ecstasy when she climaxes.

Bedding her on a regular basis really wasn’t part of the original plan however.

“What the fuck am I doing?” you’ve often asked yourself. You certainly did when you first pushed your lips against hers and groped her body during a sparring lesson. She initially thought you were attempting some sort of new attack on her, which in a way you were. One that ended up being entirely successful.

You sometimes think what you did (and why you continue doing it) was due to quelling a sort of loneliness that exists within you, which is partially true. The other reason is far darker. In some strange way you were re-enacting your own training lesson with Semra. Except now YOU were taking on the role of “Mistress.” (You really don’t like dwelling on what possible psychological ramifications that all means, you just buried deeper in your ever growing brain box of suppressed thoughts)

Of course it isn’t exactly like the fucked up relationship you had with Semra, and Decena didn’t exactly resist you and seemed to give in fairly quickly. Of course you can never know if it was because she genuinely felt attraction or she knew that it would’ve been futile to resist. She claims she did feel something, but wasn’t quite sure what it was, which may or may not be true given that she spent most of her life in a fucking tank and isn’t exactly an expert on the whole feelings situation herself.

As it stands Decena doesn’t ask questions such as if the pair of you are “husband and wife” or even a “couple.” From what you can tell she just sees your sexual encounters as a form of “approval” from her Emperor. Perhaps even as some sort of “reward” for all her duty and obedience. Still, given how much time you do spend with her, she might as well be your young bride at this point.

You get up off the bed and take a long look at Decena as she starts to fall asleep from your round of passion.

Do you have any sort of feelings for the girl? Perhaps some, but not in the way that you had for Alison. There probably isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t take a good long look at Alison’s portrait and mentally apologize to it.

What you really need around here is a change.

“Decena, get up.” You say and pull at one of her arms.
“Wha? Again?” she asks sleepily.
“No, not that. You’re not sleeping here tonight, I’m sending you away.”
“Did…did I do something wrong? I can do better, I…” she hastily begins to say, worrying about your reasons.
“No, you’ve done everything right. It’s just that it’s time. You’re not gaining anything more by staying here and the Empire needs to expand. I’m sending you to the western borders to oversee settling some military outposts out that way. Maybe start making major strides against those beast savages that have been giving us problems lately.”

Decena’s eyes light up.

“Wait, you mean you’re giving me my own command?” she asks.
“Yep, I’ll have everything set up in a day or so. You need to be out their gaining real experience, not stuck here training.”

Decena at this point proceeds to leap out of bed and embrace you planting several kisses on your face.

“Oh thank you Emperor! I’m so happy you’ve finally placed this much faith in me and believe I’m ready for this!”
“Hrm. Yes, well can’t let talent go to waste. I suggest you go get ready.”

Decena excitedly gets dressed and leaves the room. Well that’s a temporary solution at least and it gets the ball rolling on expanding the Empire. Eventually though, you’re going to have to make a more personal decision about her.

As for you, you need something else to do with yourself as well. You’d like to go back on the battlefield yourself, but there is still so much that requires your immediate attention, the most important still being the Eternal Project. There are also still a few plans and notes that Marik left behind that show some promise. His concept of an “airship” for example is very intriguing to you. You’d like to try to get one built and the only one that’s going to remotely know how to get them started is most likely Elam, so it’s a trip to the Eternal Factory…

When you arrive Galen immediately walks over to you.

“Emperor! I’m glad you’re here, I can’t put up with Elam’s eccentricities any longer! At this point I’d rather be working along side that idiot Ackerson! I humbly request that I MUST be transferred! One of the other mages here can easily take over for…”

You grab Galen by the collar and then throw him to the floor.

“Shut the hell up! Do you ever stop whining? I’ve known elven slaves that whimper far less.” You say while Galen continues to stare at you from his new vantage point.

“I…I’m not whining for just my sake. Elam has been trying to make improvements to the tanks again and he damn near blew one up if I hadn’t managed to freeze the flames caused by whatever the hell he was doing.” Galen remarks. “Keeps saying he’s bored just monitoring the tanks, though I can’t say I disagree in that regard.”
“Well, looks like I better give him something else to do then since he’s so bored.”

You leave Galen and go find Elam who is excitedly explaining something to a nervous looking man though you don’t know if he’s nervous because you’re here or because Elam’s talking to him waving some sort of tool that has flame emitting from it.

“Elam we need to have a talk.” You say.
“Huh? Oh! Yes, yes, yes, Emperor! Indeed we do! I have figured out a way to improve…”

You hold up your hand as a signal that Elam should stop talking.

“Stop. Not another word or I’ll have your tongue removed. Just listen for a change. The tanks are fine; they don’t need any more improvements. They just need daily monitoring and maintenance if needed. However since you seem to need something more stimulating, here’s something you can do.” You say and hand Elam a bunch of diagrams and notes which causes his eyes to widen.

“That is your new project. I want you to start building one of these things. If it proves successful, you can do all the improvements you like to future ones to make them deadlier and more efficient. Does that sound good to you? You may speak now.”
“Yes, definitely yes! Thank you my Emperor! I will not disappoint you in this endeavor!”
“I don’t expect you will. Of course while you will need a crew to help you, I still need some of your engineers here.”
“Oh, of course. In fact how about Gregory take over here for me?” Elam says and points over to the nervous man he was just speaking to.

You wave Gregory over who walks over like he thinks he’s in trouble.

“You, can you just do your damn job without the urge to fuck with the tanks unnecessarily?” you ask.
“Yes…yes sir. I mean yes my Emperor.”
“Good. That’s all I need from you. Now get back to work. And as for you Elam, you’ll be transferred over to another factory, preferably one with a lot of space and far away from populated areas. Oh and I’ll still be coming by to check on your progress. Both of you.” You say and leave the pair of engineers.

You don’t leave the factory though as you want to make sure your future Eternals are still doing okay despite Elam’s over enthusiasm to improve their current dwellings. Of course while you’re doing this, once again Galen walks over to you. You swear he must have a death wish today or something.

“So I overheard that you’re transferring Elam out of here.” Galen says.
“Your hearing is as sharp as ever Galen.” You answer.
“While it would be a blessing to continue to work here without having to deal with him again, I still believe that my own talents are going to waste here. I mean you hardly need a wizard of my stature to oversee these tanks. Another lesser mage could easily do this job.”
“(Sigh) After all your bitching about Elam, you’re really no better. You know what though, you’re right. Your talents are going to waste here. I’ll have you transferred to western borders.” You say.

Not exactly what Galen had in mind by the look on his face.

“What? We’ve got enemies that need taken care of so that the Empire may expand. Goat people with magic abilities of their own if the reports are correct. You said you wanted something that was suited to your talents; well you’ve got it. And don’t worry, I’m not sending you to Ackerson’s command. You’ll be assisting Decena.”
“Decena? You mean the young Eternal girl? When did she get a command?”
“Just recently. Now I expect you that you won’t have the same issues with her that you did with Ackerson AND Elam. Because if I hear about shit not running smoothly due to personality conflicts again, I’m going to be very displeased with you. Understand?”
“Yes, my Emperor.” Galen responds dejectedly.

In the weeks to come, happily everyone seems to be doing well in their new assignments. Elam is already working hard to a degree where it’s actually not detrimental. The future Eternals are now under a more cautious, but still vigilant caretaker. And from her letters it appears that Decena and Galen are working well together or at least not to any degree where there are problems.

Decena’s letters are always full of excitement. You get the impression she wishes she could tell you about her battles in person. It’s obvious she wants you to be proud of her victories. And you are or at least you’re happy to see that she’s effectively using the skills that you taught her.

The most concerning thing about her reports though is that so far these beast people never engage in traditional battle. She mentions how they prefer to ambush or only attack when they have vast numerical superiority. The most difficult thing about combating them is their extensive knowledge of the land, which they live off of, as they have no towns or cities to conquer. Because of their nomadic nature you anticipate that they’re going to be a problem for quite awhile.

Still, at least Decena seems to be handling the situation. You have a message sent back that you will send reinforcements soon. In the meantime, General Ackerson has also made strides in annexing several of the smaller isolated independent towns and villages. These places will become some of the staging areas of what will most likely be an extended conflict with the Torites.

You’ll eventually win though and claim the land for the Empire; you have no doubt about that.