Factions

BLUE = BOOK 3

Perama (Constantinople)

Home to thousands of hardy survivors, Perama is the name of the enclave located at the bridge Alexander saw when he first traveled into this new world. It's not particularly regulated, but there are some rules everyone in Perama must follow: don't use fire; don't mess with the walls that protect the bridge; don't build any higher lest the place collapse.

The only semblance of authority the place knows are the merchants and the guards that protect the caravans and the walls. Still, everyone contributes to the defense of the Enclave in any way they can.

Around the end of book 1, Alexander had a conflict with the Patriarch’s forces and the Emperor’s forces. While Alexander wasn’t to blame for it, a lot of people in Sycae and Perama ended up dying, which drove Alexander to move everyone in Perama to Sycae.

The Patriarch's Enclave (Constantinople)

Belligerent and zealous, the Patriarch's Enclave is home to a faction of fanatic priests on a mission to find—and be saved—by their gods. Rumor is they are turning to darker and darker classes in their religious pursuits.

Soon after he arrived in Nova Roma, Alexander had a conflict with two priests that resulted in the death of one of them. 

Later, the day he came back from hunting a Drake with Romanus and Valens, the surviving priest ambushed Alexander at his hideout, having brought three more people with him. Alexander killed the three people the priest had brought along but failed to finish the priest himself yet again. By now, some of the Patriarch’s men had already been sniffing around for Alexander’s whereabouts and whatever information they could dig up on him.

Their relationship with Alexander only got worse around the end of book 1. The Patriarch and the Emperor joined forces to try and seize Alexander’s ship, which resulted in the death of around 40 priests and 40 of the Emperor’s guards. One of Alexander’s men, a sailor, died during this conflict.

Sycae (Constantinople)

While this enclave isn't run by the military or the priests, the Emperor controls the only bridge between Perama and Sycae, making the contact between the people of these two enclaves a very limited thing. It houses merchants, dockworkers, and traders, and is the closest thing to civilization left in the world, according to Asylaion.

Entering this enclave is no easy task. Without something worth trading or some other meaningful way to contribute to the city, you can only get there by either bribing the Emperor (unless you've already curried enough favor with him to be in his good graces) or sneaking your way into the city, but the consequences of being found out are extremely severe.

Nobody stays in Sycae for free. If you can't afford a place to stay, you'll either get kicked out or forced into the army until you pay back your debt. Their army also controls the walls.

Perama and Sycae trade on a daily basis, exchanging mostly crafts and fish for the fresh food grown behind the walls.

The Emperor’s Palace (Constantinople)

Territory of the current emperor, Alexios III. This enclave guards the bridge that leads to Sycae.

Only royalty—or true Varangians, who are responsible for guarding the walls to this day—have what it takes to be accepted into the palace.

The first thing Alexander noticed when he first entered the enclave was how well-kept the place was. Most buildings were tall and lavishly adorned, the palace walls were a beautiful marble that glowed early in the morning, and the free space about the palace was turned into manicured gardens with trees, flowers, and many other things that gave the place its vivid colors.

The inside of the palace, however, was so luxurious it felt suffocating. There was no balance, no room for each of the many pieces it held. Colors clashed violently and it was hard to appreciate the artwork and tapestries when the only criteria the place seemed to have for its decoration was how expensive the pieces were.

The Palace is also home to the Imperial Library.

Their relationship with Alexander only got worse around the end of book 1. The Patriarch and the Emperor joined forces to try and seize Alexander’s ship, which resulted in the death of around 40 priests and 40 of the Emperor’s guards. One of Alexander’s men, a sailor, died during this conflict.

Miletus - The Mining Town

An orichalcum mining town Alexander commandeered and turned into a full-fledged town later on. At first, the town was overrun with undead, but Alexander cleared it, tidied it up, and took hold of it for himself.

Many key characters in the story have moved to Miletus around the end of book 1. Asylaion has become the mayor of the town, Momma Lena also moved there, and Mehmet and his girlfriend have also taken up residence in the mining town.

Alexander built a rudimentary assembly line (or rather, a way to keep his nanobots working without him having to feed them with monsters/resources) in one of the houses next to the dock. This invention used orichalcum batteries to help stimulate the growth of tiny organisms in a batch of pools inside the house he’d built this in so his nanobots would always have something to feed off of.

Venice

Venice was the first city Alexander traveled to after escaping from Nova Roma. The city was beautiful, seemingly undamaged by monsters or the dangers of the new world and bustling with people. Its canals were packed with tiny boats, and the streets brimmed with people.

It was a city of riches, of decoration, of trading, and of high society.

This, of course, didn’t quite last forever. With the pirate attack on Venice that caused most of the city’s leading figures to up and get kidnapped (Alexander included), the city became a turmoil of blood and war that pushed most of its richer residents out. What remained in the city were the legionnaires and all the men and women under Alexander and some guards and adventurers that had chosen to stand their ground and protect the city.

Thankfully, they managed to protect the city, and Mikael assumed leadership of the city under the rule of the Legion.

Venice had already regained most of its life by the end of book 3, with its population numbering the 40.000 people, 3.000 of which were tasked with guarding the city.

Dwarven Kingdom 

• Dwarven City (Venice) 

  • A small dwarven ‘city’ that’s part of a bigger network made up of other dwarven cities. The capital of this network is called ‘Mountainhome’ and it houses the king of the dwarves. 

  • Alexander has a good relationship with the people of this city. When Venice was attacked at the end of book two, the dwarves went out of their way to assist the legion in defending the city, and they went even further by helping the Tlihi and the Legion itself fight against the demons in Carthage.

  • In book 3, Alexander finds out there’s entire networks of underground Roman cities spread across the Alps, that being one of the reasons why the dwarves settled in the cities they did.

• The king of the dwarves established an alliance with Alexander for: mutual protection and alliance against any of their foes for three generations, free and unrestricted trade for the same period, including travel for all caravans under the mountains under the protection of Alexander and his people; a perpetual lease of the city of Amissa for at least twenty generations and the underground road between his city on the lake and Venice in exchange for the technology known as ‘guns’ to be provided by Alexander of Nova Roma and no taxation of dwarven traders that come to Amissa to trade; Alexander and his people to be responsible for protecting the underground road and upkeep of such; freedom for each kingdom to recruit from among the other in the matters of war or trade.

Pirate Faction (Sardinia) (Nation of the Judicates)

A cutthroat and belligerent faction that has a considerable portion of Europe in its clutches. Their home base is in Sardinia, but they have spread themselves far and wide all across Europe, having already snagged Genoa and other cities along the Italian coast. Moderately sized cities dot its coastline, the largest of the bunch sitting on the east coast, where a wide river spilled down from the mountainous inner regions of the island.

The pirates kidnapped many of the high-profile figures of Venice together with Alexander a quarter of the way into book two. Alexander managed to escape, but most of these figures didn’t have the same luck.

It’s believed the pirate king has a skill that lets him possess others and brainwash people into lifelong servitude.

Demon City (Carthage)

Carthage was the demons’ hotspot and the place in the African coast Alexander passed by with the worst corruption. There were thousands and thousands of demons in this city.

Demons are believed to be a kind of pest, almost like a virus, that invades worlds and tries to take hold of these worlds for themselves.

At the end of the second book, Alexander, together with the rest of his legion, the dwarves and, of course, the Tlihi, cleared the city and managed to bring the world quest to an end.

Tlihi City

Located a few days away from Carthage, the Tlihi’s city is home to thousands of intelligent monsters Alexander initially described as lizardkin. Their society is matriarchal, with the women playing the main role in the fight against the demons and the men working as crafters and caregivers, for the most part. They are descended from breeding stock to the great female dragons.

Female Tlihi were bigger and dressed wore simpler clothes, whereas male Tlihi were smaller, with shorter frills on their heads, and were dressed fully in colorful garb.

Lyon

A gorgeous city at the junction of two large rivers and full of healthy, happy people. It was obvious, even at a distance, that the city had been Roman, a lot of its architecture still displaying Roman characteristics. The city was clean, the people friendly, and everyone seemed to generally be well treated.

The people of Lyon, however, didn’t look Roman at all. They were taller than most people back in Nova Roma, their skin fair, and had reddish or blond hair with lighter-colored eyes.

Order of the Pristine Mind (Monks)

The Order of the Pristine Mind had existed long before the coming of the monsters or the class they studied. Using the inherent magic that permeated the world, the monks had already learned to access the magical cores inside of them through meditation and martial training, founding an order dedicated to purifying their minds and using their powers for good.

When the monsters arrived, the monks were granted a unique class, the Monk of the Pristine Mind class, to reflect the enlightenment they had had already achieved. The subsequent years were full of turmoil as they tried to help the villages, towns, and cities surrounding the monastery. Sadly, even with their power, they had been unable to stop the plague of monsters and had soon run short of resources and were forced to hide themselves away to avoid perishing completely.

Now the monks marshaled their strength and trained relentlessly, hoping that someday humanity might rise again. When it did, the Order of the pristine Mind would be there, ready to devote all the power it had gained over the last hundred years of study and training to assisting humanity once again.

Alexander (or rather, Alexander the Monk, one of his doppelgangers) was accepted into the Order and began his training as a monk in book 3. Their exercises would help Alexander strengthen his mind and, by extension, combat the corruption that seemed to run havoc in his body.

Lakeside (Rhine)

More information on the Town/City Upgrade tab.  

Alexander designed this city to be shaped like a star fort. Sitting about the frontier and bordering the Rhine, this city was made with pure defense in mind, its architecture a very direct reflection of that fact.

Skilled workers slowly trickled into the city, most hoping to find some good work in the military city.

Amissa (Underground City)

More information on the Town/City Upgrade tab. 

The dwarven king leased this city to  Alexander for 20 generations. Dwarfs count generations as a whopping 450 years, so the city was as good as Alexander’s for as long as he managed to keep it.

The city itself was beautiful. Most of it had fallen to the passage of time, but remnants of what it used to be could still be seen inside. Pillars of magic light shone with a natural-looking shine that not only illuminated the city from all over but also helped crops grow and whole districts spanned the city from underground.

Unlike Lakeside, which witnessed a more controlled growth, Amissa very quickly grew in size once its doors opened.

River’s End (Rhine)

More information on the Town/City Upgrade tab. 

A city in the Rhine Alexander attacked at the end of Book 3. This city had been protecting the Parisian soldiers he had fought against earlier in the book.

With a population of around 10.000, this city has 350 soldiers to govern over all those people.

Captain Jehan and the other men at River’s End were sworn into Alexander’s service following Alexander’s victory.