Three Paths to Empire

Awldor    Miscellaneous      Three Paths to Empire

Yes, power has consolidated in the peoples of the sun, the moon, and the eye. It seems that the advent of a new empire is inevitable though what form it ultimately takes cannot yet be known.

— Rahma Kaur, Sorceress of Fire

The Quassus Continent is caught in a three way tug-of-war, though few seem to realize that there's a third player. The focus has been on the lands of the sun and moon and of their contrasting approaches towards the empire of the current age. We will go over each of the three from the most obvious to the least and compare stratagems. But first, we shall go over the concept of the empire.

A Discussion of Empire

The Ancient Order is also referred to as the Ancient Empire. It was a economic, political, and military entity that exerted its power across the world, and maybe beyond it. Their science and magic is the stuff of myth and legend, and of terror and catastrophe. The Ancient Order is the measure by which any future sovereign state is compared to if desiring to reach imperial heights.
So far no state has been able to lay a claim to the status of empire. There is an unsaid acceptance that the first state to have uncontested influence across the continent will become the new empire. Such a feat would greatly benefit the status, privileged, and power for any sovereign and their bloodline for generations to come. In the year of 1277, such an outcome seems more feasible than ever for the continents great powers. Hence, the motivation behind the increasingly destructive wars.

The Conquests of Helia

Currently the most belligerent of the three, the Kingdom of Helia, is hell-bent on becoming an empire through military conquest. Each conquered state is quickly exploited for their resources which are used to fuel Helia's war-machine and economy. Most importantly for the Helian King, the infusion of extra resources allow the Radiant City of Sol to more glorious heights.
However, there is a problem to their methods. The spoils of their conquest is concentrated in the Radiant City of Sol, with comparatively little across their lands. Such a concentration of wealth and resources will almost certainly bring disaster to the Kingdom's ambitions of becoming an empire should the pace of expansion slow down. That is assuming that those conquered peoples do not organize a great rebellion and collapse Helian society from within. It seems that all that needs to be done to defeat the kingdom is to outlast it.

The Alliances of Lunaria

The land of the moon has certainly seemed quiet compared to their neighbor, but were no less active. The Queendom of Lunaria has been gathering allies through trade agreements with the western tribes. These agreements come with a clause that the signing tribe must mobilize and hand over command to the Queendom during times of war. It would be of little surprise if these agreements are one sided in favor of Lunaria. Perhaps the goal is to create a network of puppet-states that, when called upon all at once, allows Lunaria to field a much larger army than they could fund on their own.
The issue with this strategy towards becoming an empire is that it is comparatively slow compared to outright conquest. Allowing the tribes to maintain their established power and position does reduce the economic and political burden on Lunaria, but they also remain sovereign actors at least for the foreseeable future. As such, they are capable of taking actions to the ultimate detriment of Lunaria (this includes military action). After all, friends are rare in the game of diplomacy. Perhaps this is the great gamble of Lunaria's strategy.

The Profits of Centrum

Always gaining greater influence via numerous businesses, Centrum appears to be setting itself up to profiteer off of the war between the monarchies. They have taken a position of neutrality in regard to the upcoming war in exchange for continued trade with both sides. In other words, they are profiting of the coming conflict between the lands of the sun and moon, but to what end? Are they content to reap vast profits for vanity's sake? Or will these profits be used for more ambitious goals? It would not be beyond the realm of possibility for Centrum to want to become an empire down the line by essentially buying the rights to be called as such.
But like every strategy, the plan of profiteering has weaknesses of its own. For one thing, Lunaria and Helia may not appreciate the fact that while they suffer more and more losses Centrum continues to gain. Either monarchy could conquer Centrum to gain direct control over a valuable center of trade and to remove a potential rival. The other issue is that Centrum is governed by a director's council which is hardly unified in their priorities, though this has been changing as the Mabara Guild continues to gain wealth and influence.

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Military Comparison

Helia fields the largest and best equipped army of any state. Their golden legions of infantry, cavalry, and siege engines have earned the name "The Golden Blight" by those facing imminent invasion.
Lunaria's army by itself does not match the full might of the Helian army despite having technology such as the Repeating Bow. However, when considering the armies of their allies the relative power of each opposing army evens out.
Centrum does not field an official army by itself, only the Centrum Guard, however its various relations with many independent ships and crews would allow it to mobilize a sizable armed merchant fleet. This fleet would have considerable influence due to being able to control vital trade routes.

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Note(s) from the Archivists:

I just had a new idea for a game of rock, paper, and scissors. - Archivist Bob
With three players, sounds like it could end in a draw. Maybe that could happen at the scale of sovereign states? Probably this continent's best chance for peace even if it's temporarily. - Archivist Tharivol