"Many players once asked me."
"Why did you support the crown prince Kodjis Kendari, a wise and just ruler, when you could benefit more from Prince Rahlan."
"My answer was simple".
"Because it is easier to work with those righteous lords who want nothing but the best for the country than a bunch of greedy pricks who are only out for their own gains."
"And because the path to the throne is rarely one that you expect."
"Especially when you want to be a legitimate ruler and not a usurper needing to spend the first 50-100 years of dynasties rule to build up the legitimacy needed to be seen as the rightful ruler."
"So you serve a genius king loyally."
"You always fight for the good of your country."
"All the while, you amass the power and allies you need to declare your independence behind the scenes should the need arise."
"But if a king ever comes along that is incompetent and loses the country to a foreign invading force…."
"Then you can become a rightful ruler, all under one dazzling pretext….
The pretext of restoring the once mighty kingdom."
"In other words, a rebirth."
"A new nation with a new name under a new dynasty while being heralded as the rightful successors to an ancient legacy giving your new nation a legitimacy few attain so quickly."
"Because for power to be stable, it must be slowly gained over time."
"Meticulously nurtured from the smallest sapling to the tallest of trees."
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online.
….
After these events rocked both real and virtual worlds, a total of nearly three months in real life had passed since the Dynasties Online's servers had opened, which was one and a half years in the game, over this time, the players have been slowly gathering power, and the nations of DO have been at peace, regaining the strength they had lost from past wars.
However, while a few select players like Reginald, the player behind Railius, gained in power, more lost everything, having their dynasties eradicated and having to restart 3 months later, the price of overwhelming failure in DO.
Over this time, the broader player base, especially those at the top with territories, also found out that DO is a game which needed to be treated like a real-life job for them to get the best outcomes.
This is because, at any time, a typical day of looking over a territory's finances or settling minor disputes can become a significant bandit incursion that they must deal with or host a guest far nobler than themselves.
While you can allow the AI who takes over your character while you are gone to manage such events and the day-to-day affairs, it is better for you to deal with them yourself as it can give valuable insight and experience to players that will help them navigate the Dynasties Online which can be a very ruthless world to live in.
Even people in less adventurous occupations like farmers and miners find that the players themselves doing things helps a character grow far more than having an AI handle everything.
This was actually a secret setting in the game that players would learn about over time but would not become public knowledge until nearly 6 game years or 1 real-life year had passed when players started to interact with each other more and find out the differences between their characters that could end up being quite large.
A setting that meant that an AI controlling your character to do things will not actually grow your character's skills at all!
A setting that would shock the player base, mainly affecting those lords or idiots who decided to leave the AI to handle things while they enjoy the money created by the game.
In other words, they would check in every now and then, exchange what in-game assets they could into real-life money, and then continue with their life, essentially using a bot to make them money.
There were many of these bot-like Dynasties in the early period of the game; however, as the game went on and got more serious with more powerful entities joining, such occurrences would almost entirely disappear.
It also didn't help that many of the lords who just lived off the wealth their territories created without managing properly quickly found that they lost their land and title for one reason or another.
It would take some time for these bot-like lords to lose their lands and titles. After all, it takes time for enough problems and grievances to slowly build up until a rebellion occurs or an ambitious rival plots against them, as in most cases, these dynasties who were landed nobles from when the servers opened fully had land grants from a nation's highest authority making it hard for anyone to make a move on them as long as they were content to sit in their territories and not do much.
As legitimacy and bloodline were fundamental in the medieval with only the will of god or the faith holding more sway than that of the king.
But difficult did not mean impossible, and if that inattentive player lord had no heir, then it was not impossible for them to suffer a terrible 'accident' allowing the land to be granted to someone else who would likely be their murderer as few would risk committing such a crime for no reason.
After all, a noble's life in the medieval world can be both full of riches and danger.
This system was put in place for several reasons. Firstly, it was to link the abilities of the player with their character explicitly. It is also why if a player becomes a grandmaster in any skill, it will not take long for them to gain that rank back in one of their descendants.
As a result, players who become grandmasters stay grandmasters, even if they must play a new character due to the Dynasty Inheritance System.
It also rewarded those who played more than those who didn't, meaning that the most powerful and influential players in the long term will deserve any position or power they attain.
The lack of many significant incidents made it almost like there was a lull in the world of Dynasties Online, a small timeframe to allow the players to adapt to their new surroundings, allowing the new arrivals to get used to life in the game and integrate into a medieval world, and those who had their Dynasties destroyed in the early game look to rejoin and create new ones just without the luxury of going through the Dynasty History System which ended as soon as the servers officially closed vowing never to make the same mistakes again.
After all, many of those players had nothing better to do or jobs to do, so they could only wait until they could return to the game, which temporarily bans anyone who has their dynasties destroyed for three months in real life to give a penalty for Dynasties that get eradicated either by choice or not.
The only place that had something surprising or interesting happen was in Nathia as with not much news beyond players reporting their daily lives with the soldier players killing bandits and training, merchants trading and so on, the death of a landed noble was big news as players debated who was dead and why.
Once it was announced that it was the result of the Viscount attacking someone protected by a grandmaster, people started to take note as it indicated that this event was far more significant than many thought for it to involve a grandmaster, which was seen by the player base as peak existences which you should never offend for any reason.
It also showed that, at times, even nobles must bow before these terrifying figures less they get killed like Viscount Kale and his children did, leaving the title to his younger brother as per the rule of inheritance, who was rumoured to be a completely different many from the old Viscount.
The few players dabbling in politics in Nathia saw how interesting it was to the broader player base, and so to keep the forums entertaining and informative, gave their insight into it, stating that two factions were rising in the Kingdom of Nathia, both with eyes for the throne.
The main reason for this is that the admiration for the realistic world and graphics of the game had long become a stagnant topic as players got used to it, taking such things for granted.
The first belonged to the Crown Prince of Nathia Kodjis Kendari, who, apart from being the officially anointed heir by the current king, was also his eldest son and known to be a generous and righteous man.
The second faction belonged to the second prince, Prince Rahlan Kendari, a man who had widespread support amongst the powerful landed nobility and was known for his greed as well as a hunger for power, two things which were not good bedfellows for anyone, no matter circumstance.
Of course, all this chaos in Nathia happened because of one player's house. However, the majority of the public would not know this, whether they be players or NPCs, as they were only familiar with the name Quinten Amberguard, which on the surface appeared to have nothing to do with the noble house backing it.
House Aurellion.
A noble house that many had forgotten about over their decade-long absence from the public eye.
Of course, the only waves made in these relatively peaceful places were made by House Aurellion, who seemed to have trouble following them wherever they went, like an angry lender chasing down a debtor for payment, constantly causing problems for them.
But this time of relative peace was quickly coming to an end as the horns of war would resound throughout the world in the near future.
….
Railius was sitting in a tavern looking over one of the many maps he had drawn or acquired of the many nations he had visited during his gallivant around the world.
After all, a chance to explore and gain experience of the world was not the only reason for the young lord of Aurellion's decision to go travelling around the world.
The other reason was to get maps drawn, not just any maps, but detailed maps of the many rivers and forests of the world and other small natural phenomena that may be missed on a world map.
Because who knew when these maps may come in handy?
He already had a detailed map of Rinada, Nathia's greatest rival after Chavaria. In addition, thanks to his intelligence network that had nearly finished creating an intricate web through the kingdom, that map was by far the most detailed of the ones he had commissioned or drawn himself, as it was a nice thing to do while resting from Aldorus' unrelenting training schedule which Railius swore came directly from Leon himself.
Despite Railius' best efforts, his maps, while better than most that could be found in the southern part of the continent of the northern part, were still of far worse quality than he wanted, though he would need to spend nearly a decade travelling to get such results.
'A long-term project for the future. I wonder who would be the best person to assign to this mission to.'
Railius mused as he sipped his fruit juice with all the poise of a well-trained noble, happy to be back on dry land after discovering that the sea disagreed with him so much.
Only 2 months ago in the game, his merchant fleet started sailing around the northeast of the game world, using the warmer months of June and July to pass through the ice-cold seas that freeze over in the winter months.
They did this after doubling the size of their fleet using the enormous profits they had made from their overseas trade, so now the merchant fleet under House Aurellion has doubled within a year of its foundation.
But it was not just 10 merchant ships they got.
But 10 warships, which had since been filled with 100 mercenaries each. Later, Railius would send someone to Malwin to request to provide some Pelican Guards and train up some new recruits as well, but for now, the mercenaries would have to suffice despite their high cost of nearly 10 gold per man per month.
This was an expenditure of nearly 5000 gold spent on mercenaries, but these were decent men who would not run away or surrender at the first sign of trouble like some would unless the situation was dire.
After all, mercenaries are not the most trustworthy people in the world, but beggars can't be choosers, and at least the more expensive and well-known mercenaries are, the more reliable they tend to be, for they have reputations to uphold.
And without a good reputation, mercenaries can struggle to find a well-paying employer.
Also sitting at the young lord's table were Aldorus, Cedrick, and his three friends, Jordis Vegrif and Norfaelor, who were each enjoying a particularly strong beer courtesy of the dwarven barkeep.
What was odd was that despite coming to this kingdom for the first time as a player, Railius could not help but feel attached to it, like somewhere in his heart was telling him that he was home.
Railius was not the only person who found this to be the case. Other players had found that they could be affected by their characters' emotions while in the game despite being players.
It was a curious part of the game where some people even complained about it as it was utterly absurd to them that players would be somewhat forced to feel as their character would towards certain situations or people.
This included love for a caring parent or, in Railiu's case, a sense of closeness within the kingdom's borders where his mother grew up.
For Railius was in the Kingdom of Norbohr, the place where his mother, Thorilsa Caskarm, was born and where his maternal family still ruled over a vast territory.
The Kingdom of Norbohr was odd as Dwarven kingdoms go as unlike the other Dwarven kingdoms in the game, most of their land was out in the plains, not the mountains.
Of course, the capital was a city carved into the mountain range. However, most of its land was not, meaning that compared to most Dwarven kingdoms that choose to largely isolate themselves from the world, The Kingdom of Norbohr could not, or the vast fertile plains they call home would be invaded by their ever-ambitious neighbours.
It was actually for this reason that at the behest of both rulers and in an attempt to bring the Empire of Chavaria and The Kingdom of Norbohr closer together, that the marriage between Lucius Aurellion, one of the Chavarian Empries, greatest and most trusted generals at the time and Thorilsa Caskarm the eldest daughter of one of the most powerful dukes in the kingdom of Norbohr was possible.
It also helped that both were fond of each other and more than willing to go along with the wishes of their sovereigns if it gave them happiness.
Unfortunately, after Flavius forced the Chavarian Emperor to turn Lucius and House Aurellion into traitors, the relationship between the two kingdoms began to sour very quickly.
After all, unlike in Chavaria, where the news was mostly suppressed, the other countries and their leadership knew exactly why Lucius was forced to become a traitor and was a reason why the crown prince of Nathia was willing to bring House Aurellion onto his side.
House Aurellion did not betray their monarch; instead, their monarch betrayed them, which was a significant distinction that set them apart from most fallen nobles who reached too far and lost their titles due to their failed grasp for power and influence.
While his companions had fun and got drunk, Railius sat in silence, staring ideally at the ceiling with only his thoughts for company.
They were mainly of his next moves but also of the past, as he remembered when he got the system notification while at sea only a few months ago alongside a quest with a very hard difficulty rating as it was a quest that could affect the fortunes of an entire nation.
[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican of Loyalty, the crown prince of Nathia Kodjis Kendari, who has accepted House Aurellion's pledge of fealty. You are now a landless noble in the Kingdom of Nathia and a fallen noble in the eyes of other nations until you decide to reveal yourself.]
[You have joined the crown prince of Nathia Kodjis Kendari's faction]
[Kodijs Kendari the Nathian crown prince is now your liege lord.]
[You have been given issued the kingdom-level SSS ranked faction quest 'The Rightful Heir.']
The Rightful Heir:
Quest Type: Faction quest
Rank: SSS
Description: Kodjis Kendari, the crown prince of Nathia, is the rightful heir to the throne appointed by King Luthor Kendari himself; however, his claim is contested by his younger brother, Prince Rahler Kendari, leading to a political fight for the throne.
You actively support Kodjis' claim to the Nathian throne and must do all you can to see Kodjis Kendari become king.
Quest Clear Conditions: Help Kodjis Kendari successfully claim the Nathian throne after the death of his father, King Luther Kendari.
Quest Clear Reward: Depends on contribution to your lieges accent to the throne.
Quest Failure Penalty: Unknown
….
Slam!
The door to the tavern was kicked open as a small man in a wet black cloak entered the howling wind that briefly blew through the door, making the chandelier's light flicker.
While Railius was locked in thought, the dwarf measuring nearly 5 ft 4, rather tall for his race, approached the table, his mithril mail armour boasting his wealth and martial prowess.
The other patrons looked at him with envy for a second before a glare from the old grey-bearded dwarf had them minding their own business again.
One eye was covered by a black eyepatch, and on his waist were what looked to be two pistols and a sword, the pistols very rare in Dynasties Online and more commonly wielded by a Gnome than a dwarf.
The man's scarred face brightened as he saw a familiar face.
One the dwarf had not seen in nearly a decade.
That of family.
As the dwarf got closer, Railius's friend's hands quickly went to their weapons at the perceived threat, but they stood down when they heard a quiet exclamation from Aldorus.
"Impossible."
The first commander of the Pelican Guards muttered in shock as he saw a ghost from the past, someone he had thought long dead fighting to keep the lord's wife alive when they tried to escape from Chavaria.
The old dwarf's grin did not leave his face, having seemingly heard the quiet exclamation despite the noise in the tavern and music playing on the faraway stage.
"As impossible as a 10-year-old lad escaping from the capital of one of the most powerful empires in the world."
"I think not."
"And you should be the last person surprised to see me as even after all these years, I believed you survived, but more importantly."
"That he survived."
"For her son is not one to die so easily."
The old dwarf said as finally a memory flashed before Railius' eyes, giving the player behind it the background information necessary for him to recognise his old dwarf.
He was Railius' maternal uncle, the younger brother to his mother, who supposedly died protecting her.
Arathuk Caskarm.