The Vythguard Empire.

At one point in its history, it was a part of the Ruthobold kingdom- however that was long ago.

Centuries ago.

After breaking off in a bloody civil war, an emperor was put on the throne and the empire was formed. This was before the age of human expansion, when humans, elves, and dwarves alike kept to the northwest corner of the world.

Eventually, the lure of uncharted lands gathered explorers, ushering in a new age. The empire expanded to the east, and the elves and dwarves began to move south- pushed away from human lands due to a combination of discrimination and curiosity.

Eventually, this led to the empire reaching the center of the sideways hourglass shaped continent- the far eastern reaches of the human realm.

In the beginning, there were no issues- that was, until a demon lord came to power and rallied monsters together as one, attacking the humans.

The forces of humanity were gathered at the center of the hourglass in order to stop the advance of the hundreds of thousands of wild monsters who were flooding into the human realm, and after this painstaking and drawn out final stand, the humans somehow managed to emerge victorious.

However, the emperor at that time was a shrewd man. He did not think that this would be the last of the attacks from the monsters. This was why he ordered the building of the wall.

The wall was the hope of humanity- the fortress safeguarding all humans from the terrors beyond it.

The existence of the wall and the formation of the border patrol showed that humans had the advantage over the monsters when it came to defense, and there never again was a force as large as the original one that attacked the human realm. While many other forces were gathered, they were never able to make it past the wall. That being said, no demon lords ever again united the monsters like they did during that era. The humans were much weaker than the strongest among the monster kings or the demon lords, and if they were attacked with a fully fledged fleet, it would be nothing less than a massacre.

Fortunately for the humans, there never existed a group of monster kings who were charismatic enough to become demon lords.

What is the difference between a monster king and a demon lord?

Monster kings are the monsters which stand at the top of the totem pole. They are the strongest monsters in the world.

Demon lords are rulers of chaos who through their charisma or power are able to unite all races and monsters under them. It is very rare for a demon lord to rise to power, as there are constant struggles even among those contesting to become monster kings. Just as the politics of humans were complex, so too were the politics among the strong monsters, and as such power remained at a stand still for the most part.

If a certain monster tried to rally and become a demon lord, they were met with opposition, and as such this rarely ever occurred.

Even so, once in a while small forces of monsters did gather to attack the wall, however this was usually among the weaker monsters- those ranked either 6th tier or less.

For reference, even among the strongest of the humans, it would take an entire group to defeat a single monster of the sixth tier. Humans were weak in general in comparison, and only those with special abilities or of hero status could ever even hope to face off greater foes.

Monsters attacking could travel by air or sea in theory, however there were only a select few monsters who would be able to swim or fly, and so any attacks through those routes were usually easily dealt with through local military units at the place of attack.

At some point, a certain demon created 'intelligent' monsters. These monsters did not have bloodlust, and as they grew more common, the monster attacks on the human realm became less often and the civilizations of the monster realm began to grow.

However, this led the humans to become overconfident.

Eventually, they felt that it was reasonable to go beyond the borders of the wall, and explore the dangerous lands of the monster realm. If the monsters were not attacking, then they might as well take advantage of it and try to continue to expand the boarders.

The current emperor, Percius IV, had this opinion.

Percius IV was an interesting emperor. It was his view that humanity had a 'manifest destiny' to take over the monster realm, defeat the current monster kings, and allow the humans to live in peace without any threat beyond the walls.

He was not a human supremacist, nor was he selfish. He was actually a very kind and loving emperor towards his people.

He merely viewed the monsters- intelligent or not- as nothing more than that.

Monsters.

Just as the antiheroes felt no remorse when they killed someone like Fargar, just as a farmer feels no remorse when he sickles his crop, just as an animal feels no remorse as it hunts its prey, so too did Percius feel about the monsters.

They were nothing more than threats to be taken care of.

The existence of the monsters meant that his soldiers had to be stationed on the wall each day, in the case of an organized attack.

If that threat was eliminated, then this continuous war and stationing of troops would cease.

However, Percius understood something. The further one went into the monster realm, the stronger the monsters became, until the realm of demons was reached.

The reason why no emperor had ever dared to expand further than the wall was because of two reasons. The first was because the natural position of the wall created a natural bottleneck for any attacks, and it was completely defendable.

The second was that the areas near the wall, which were filled with weak monsters such as the slime people, goblins, and insectoids, served as another buffer to attack of any large and organized forces.

If the humans took over the weaker monster villages, the front lines would be moved towards the stronger monster's territories, and harder battles would be fought. More men would lose their lives, and Percius was wise enough to not allow that to happen.

However, things would change if the hero of the country was to appear.

Yes, Percius was aware of the prophecy regarding the heroes- he knew well that if the heroes were to show up, that they would be able to work together to defeat the monsters and fulfill his lifelong ambition as emperor.

However, this was nothing more than a dream to Percius. What were the chances that he would live in the era of heroes?

As an emperor and leader, Percius had done everything he could for the people- and the best thing he could do as a leader was to ensure that they were protected from the threat of monsters. He was not naive, and even though he desired to one day be able to see humanity no longer live in fear of the monster realm, he understood that this would likely never happen. He would be content merely knowing that the wall kept them at bay, however he understood that he could not allow himself to become lax lest the monsters breach the wall.

Past emperors had established laws that banned the use of magic, and had established a hierarchy among various factions throughout the empire.

Percius rid the empire of such idiocy.

He made it so that the use of magic was allowed for military use. While some had protested and considered the use of magic to be the 'inciting of demons', Percius had no intention to allow his army to be weakened by such a belief. If magic allowed his army to become stronger, he would fully embrace it.

With that being said, in previous times various factions were formed in the empire. The first was the central military faction, which was in charge of training those who were to be sent onto the front lines. They ruled from the capital, beckoning out orders.

The second faction was the industrial faction, who was in charge of the production of weapons, armor, ammunition, and other military economics and logistics.

The third was the merchant faction- as its name would imply, those who transported domestic goods around the empire.

Finally, there were factions specific to political leaders. Each city was ruled by a Senator, and each Senator typically had a faction of their own. Even the capital where the emperor ruled from had it's own Senator.

Of course, the emperors of the past tended to have factions of their own. Percius too was no exception, however his faction was more of a group of people loyal to him for his known kindness and wise rule, rather than a group of scheming politicians who were only trying to further their own causes.

Percius had disrupted the hierarchy of these factions by creating the mercenary system.

The mercenary system introduced a new group into play- mercenaries.

Mercenary was a loose term that referred to anyone willing to lend their sword to the country, whether citizen or not. Essentially, one was allowed to rise up in social status simply by achieving feats during times of war. This encouraged many peasants to raise sons to become warriors, so that they too would have a shot at a rise in status. The other factions, aside from the faction of Percius himself, were extremely displeased with this system, however Percius had allowed it to pass anyways.

This was because he cared for his people, and did not wish for those in power to stay in power all the time. He wanted to give his citizens an equal opportunity, and to reward those who did well for the country.

Even so, there was a draft system in place which currently Percius was trying to remove, however he was unable to do so in the face of such heavy opposition. There was little point for a citizen of the empire to become a mercenary unless they were a free spirit who wished to perform work on their own dime rather than follow standard military customs.

The ranking system in the empire went as such:

Peasant
Laborer
Craftsman
Merchant
Corporal
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Captain
General
Colonel
Legion Commander
Emperor

These were the actual military and social rankings, however there was an equivalency among the military rankings that was associated with mercenaries.

Note that the craftsmen and merchants were all underneath every military ranking.

The first faction- the central military faction, was disbanded by Percius. Many political fights occurred, and some blood was even shed for this to happen, however Percius was bent on allowing his people to move freely up the ranks, and willing to sacrifice some for a better future.

Those who worked their way up to become Legion commanders- the highest military rank- would not be allowed to sit back behind a comfy castle when their countrymen were off fighting.

Even the emperor himself was willing to go to war in order to prove his point.

There should be no leader who is too scared to fight himself, but willing to send off thousands to die from a comfy throne.

Percius firmly believed this, and that is why he rid the empire of the central military faction.

He was a ruler who truly cared about his people, and was widely popular among his subjects. Even so, he did not have complete control over the empire, and there were many issues which he faced.

There is no such thing as a man who can save a country on his own. Corruption, bribery, and evil would always exist within the dens of politicians, and Percius was well aware of this. Men who considered themselves to be beacons of justice were often overtaken by their own fanatics, which led them to perform irrational actions, and Percius was doing everything he could within his power as Emperor to minimize these evils, without losing himself in the chaos.

----

Percius sat back in his grand mansion. It was roman style, built of marble, large and luxurious. There was a large pool, columns covering the landscape, and an open courtyard in the center. The throne room inside was lined with a dark green fabric, with similarly colored marble walls to match. A gold throne sat in the middle, with no seats for guests.

Weapons and portraits covered the walls, and the arched ceiling seemed to rise up to the heavens. Bronze statues were lined along the walkway, and legionnaires stood at arms in rows along the hall with halberds and maned helmets- similar to the ones of the Spartans.

Percius wore a fine red tunic with tan embroidery. He wore a crown made of nothing but leaves and sat with one leg on his lap and both hands folded.

His face was somewhat aged through his years of rule, but he was only in his mid forties. Even so, he looked like a man in his late fifties.

Five men, all wearing tunics of similar style, however all of them green, bent their knees towards the emperor.

They were the five legion commanders.

"Legion commander Darius. Is the information reported true?", Percius stated in a dominating voice.

"My Liege, this information has been acquired through one of my most trustworthy sources. There is no doubt."

"I see.... so it is true..."

Percius let out a laughing sigh, part filled with exhaustion and part filled with excitement.

"The Indeterminant has arrived in the Ruthobold Kingdom."