Trials of a Xersian uprising

by dangerously savvy to genres

1917: A conflict of interests between the Angloterran empire and the city of Xersia results in a vicious siege of the city. But when Edward arrives in search of alchemic and historical knowledge, he meets new people while deciding to investigate, and finds that the empire is ready for war. And as interests conflict, so do the people who can actually choose a side... or themselves.

1. Introduction: Tale of two cultures

The trials of a Xersian uprising

Hi guys. This is just another boring fanfic. Don't worry. Its not a stupid one (I hope), but a continual set after the manga featuring a conflict of interests between an empire and a city. Of course, life is not simple. I hope to provide a dark, cynical look into the effects of an uprising upon those who live in the city from the actions of a dangerously genre savvy empire which knows enough tropes to deter the storyline as the town increasingly strives for independance. Of course, it doesn't matter how good you are, when life gives you the lemons, it stays that way. Thus, a unlucky Edward will be the main character. Oh, did I mention that the world is a crapsaccherine one? Expect lots of new characters and cultures. And expect death. After all, the most indiscriminate thing that ever existed is death, and grey and black morality is abound. I know the tropes: expect subverted tropes and averted tropes, and even invoked ones (seriously, you will need to have read tv to understand some things). Dont worry, humour will exist in little clumps. Finally, apologies in advance, I am doing this on a tablet and it is very time consuming, so it won't be a long story, maybe 4 or 5 chapters pkus this introduction to the two interested parties, but please be patient: I can focus on this to give you a hopefully good story. Please tell me what you think and maybe even provide ideas or point out flaws in my work (there will be spelling errors, either through my own neligence or typo with a tablet) Welcome to the cynical end of the sliding scale of idealism vs cynicism.

But first, a quick introduction to the two sides with interests.

Angloterran empire:

The Angloterran empire is quite strange when one looks at it. To fully understand it, one will have to go back through the history of this universe to about 1803, but the cultures and ideaologies if the empire differ based upon the countries that make up the empire.

The first and by far most influencial country in Angloterra is the country of Anglia. Anglians are often described by their closest neighbours and enemies, and allies, the culturally respected country of Gaulia, found upon the Terran mainland itself when compared to the island nation that is Anglia, as being "Honourable, witty, hightly intelligent, good humoured, sporting, manipulative, sociopathic, rude, pub-crawling, impolite, blood knight, clearly mad, partly neutral evil, military enhanced, democratic dictatorship inhabited by mad, war obsessed magnificent bastards who need to be taken down a notch in the world." Anglians genrally agreed with this statement. Like many other Terran nations in the continent of terra, Anglia had an empire before the formation of the Angloterran empire. Anglia had a huge military, known as the royal army , a large royal navy, and the beginning of a royal air force. It may come somewhat a surprise that Anglia was not a monachy, despite the usage of the word royal. After a parlimentary uprising placed Anglia under a brutal civil war in 1543 to 1550 which resulted in the disposal of the current monachy and the introduction of a parlimentary dictatorship, the new dictator set about making sure that the Anglian military was loyal to him. The Anglian military was based upon recruiting almost everyone in the island to serve for honour and the empire. By incorperating the latest technologies, it was seen as the most powerful army in both Terra and the known world. The army was immensely powerful, and the dictator held an iron grip over it until his death, although he helped to craft the beginnings of the Anglian empire. When he died of a noodle incident that discussing still holds the death penalty for, the rightful heir to the throne reclaimed the country and became a beacon of morality in a sinful world. He laid the foundations for democracy in the country, modernesid the country and funded the finest universities and research centres to advance the scientific principles that the country relied so much on. He also moved to eliminate the corruption that engulfed Anglian politics and advanced the state towards a welfare society: what was once based upon the principles of wealth and status becane based upon intelligence and ability: the foundations of the military was incorporated into the running of the country. The military was to pledge their allegiance to the crown to avoid another situation when one could so simply create a civil war by denying monachy the right to use the military: it had to be carried out in agreement of the crown and parliament. This came to a rather unfortunate situation. Only 3 years after the death of this man, his only heir was executed for holding a religious belief. The monachy was never reinstated and a democratic dictatorship: vote for who you want to be dictator, arose, akthough the army still had to pkedge allegience to a non existant monach. The parlimentary dictatorship happens in quite the splendid way. Members of parliament are chosen by the public for whoever best represents the wishes and views of the majority of the populace of the constituency. When all the MP's in the country have been elected: some military, some professors, and some ordinary people. Then, gambit pileups occur. Every single person produes xanatos gambits and become chessmasters in a bid to becone dictator of the country. While assassination was illegal due to lack of MP's, anything else went. The system, with its uncoventional method and impressive reward, served to ensure that whoever was in charge of Anglia was the last plan standing: the most magnificent bastard who out gambitted all of his political rivals and manipulated the public into agreeing with his opinion with just a few words. While usually the dictator would be a general, the man with the power would usually be a scientist working with said general. However, as of the time of this Xersian uprising, 1917, the current dictator with absolute power was one ex mercenary and general of the Anglian military, Arthur Cunningham (reports that he had supernatural help via a wierd notebook were ended after all of the people investigating died of mysterious heart attacks). In basic terms, it is almost a carbon copy of england. Fantasy culture counterpart indeed. Another important detail was that Anglians loved war. Way too much. War was said to be the lifeblood of the country, and it is not hard to see why: the country had run on war for all of its lifetime, and to keeo yp a state of perpetual war, it was at war with "that really bright star", although shots are yet to be fired. In essence, its emoire was just a great big excuse for war and more with other countries: the larger the military, the better. (Thus, Anglia had a long history of war with other Terran countries). Also, a weird trait, often considered genetic, was a stiff upper lip. Doctors were very annoyed to find that many patients died because the gaping hole through the chest and missing limbs were "minor inconvineinces". Finally, a wierd custom occuredcin that a Anglian should never show his/her (no discrimination between genders: they were equally expendable, despite their 36 weeks of training: the longest training course in the known world at the time for basic mooks) face in combst. As such, full face helmets, baraclavas, face veils, all were used to dehumanise the soldiers to make them simply faceless mooks. No-one can find a reason as to this genre blindless.

Gaulia and Gothland

The other two countries that made up the Angloterran empire's main command. Compared to Anglia, they were political countries that lay in the cultural heart of the Angloterran empire, as well as expressing the Terran continent and expressing logical policies. Of the two, Gothland was extremely simple. A social darwinist monachy, they worked on entirely logical principles: a situation which led to said social darwinism. The throne was covered in blood. Often, this was literal. Nay, in fact, it was always literal with the Gothians. It was rare for a monach to live more than three years before being assassinated by someone. The economy was very well run, and surprisingly Gothland was the most moral and the most honourable of the three countries, despite the social darwinism. This is because the logical solution was almost always honesty and morality, because roaring rampage of revenges were so common. They did not have a large military: they found it much more logical to forge alliances, and to everyone's surprise, especially the war obsessed Anglians, it worked. Gothland never had an empire of themselves: too illogical. But when the three countries united their empires to rule as joint leaders, Gothland joined based upon logical decision. As the logical group of the continent of Terra, they based all of their reasoning in logic and science and reasoning: like Anglia, but without all the war. Insulting a Gothian was considered a very good way to get a angry group, or army, of Anglians knocking at your door: the two countries were the stauntchest of allies, and reacted together as well as radicals react with ozone: Engineering was often carried out in Gothland to build new, exciting weapons and vehicles to trade for scientific knowkedge from Anglia while Anglians act like little children with high caliber explosive weaponry. Needless to say, combined with their knowledge and two more factors I shall mention later, technology in Angloterra was remiscent of 1935 in our world by the time of 1917.

A Gaulian, plural Gaulanians for a reason which was lost to the mists of time and shoddy translation, was an empire. Bent on taking over the world, they often did so through treaties and trades compared to Anglia's policy of "kill kill kill". This culture is the closest empire to what the cliche view of an empire is: an opressive empire that came, saw and conquered (before a bunch of teenagers with foriegn accents fucked up what they conquered. Seriously.) The gaulanians were considered to be the most cultural of the three nations. Crime was practically non existant based purely because most crime was considered to be "uncultured". Also, the guillotine. At the same time, the emperor, said to be the pinnacle of culture and the centre of all things Angloterran (Anglia disagreed because of A. War and B. Arthur was manipulating from behind the scenes all along. Fools.), the Emperor was, in a strange twist of events, democratically elected, and could serve a maximum of two terms. The Gothians constantly called out the Gaulian policy because it was 'utterly illogical'. (Mind you, the Gothians called everything Gaulian illogical.) Despite this, everyone agreed that no matter how much people hated Gaulanians (countless wars from Anglia proved this, not that anyone liked them too), the food was brilliant. Too brilliant. "This food is bloody brilliant" exclaimed a great number of Anglians before slumping dead from poison. Everyone in Gaulia looked down on everyone else in Terra. Not hard to see why, given that everyone else was either mad or fanatic. Gaulanians would never resort to petty assassination for any purpose except removing Anglians from existance: a duel was far more honourable. The gaulian military was far less psycopathic than the Anglian military. This proved nothing.

Religion and science in Angloterra.

In Angloterra, religion is despised in all forms. While atheism runs rampant, religion is supressed all across the Empire. Religious belief is considered illogical, and, much like our world, it gets in the way of scientific progress. As such, all religious arguments were utterly refuted by scientific evidence, and the argument for morality was utterly crushed simply by many moral people who lived their whole lives helping others were not religious, while some religious people seem to have the same morality as one Father Cornello. However, the empire took it too far. In Anglia, and later the Angloterran empire in full, having a religious belief is subject to torture and execution. And it is clear: Angloterra wishes to destroy all forms of religion or belief in a supernatural diety. Despite the clearly unethical actions caused by the empire, some good came of this action: with no religious supression of science, science flourished to better the lives of many Angloterrans. The scientific and medical advances have resulted in a very high quality of life: a quality that a religious nation that occupied the Terran continent in 1803, Vaticia, never encountered.

Vaticia had a dominant religion called monodeity. Monodeity held that there was one God who created the universe, and everything in it, and even alternate worlds with spirits of God, in just 1 day. The religion also told of a great fire, and how God chose a single human and his family to survive with all of the remaining animals and spirits guided him to water. Then, it talks about the son of God, who died for the sins of man, beast and spiritkind. Of course, evidence refuted this. The religion ran the country, and anyone who would dare refuse, speak out against, not follow, or provide evidence against said religion in Vaticia was tortured and burned to death as a heretic. Vaticia's long term goal was to convert the entire world to their religion, as they believed that the only way to salvation was through their God. And definitely not one of the other dieties worshipped by other religions, of which there were potentially thousands.

As I mentioned, science advanced as well. But given the context of this story, there is another science bar that of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and their subsets, as well as the study of medicine, that we shall come to in a minute: specifically the effect on medicine.

Formation of the Angloterran Empire.

In 1803, a young Emperor of Gaulia, Louis Atore, decided that the Empires of Anglia and Gaulia needed to unite, and that Terra needed to unite to strenghten Terra's hold on the world as their empires expanded. The response was as follows:

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... No.".

Needless to say, a war broke out. Anglia and Gothia united against Gaulia's goal of a united Terra. The anarchistic state of Cantolitalia was quickly conquored by the alliance for strategic purposes, and Gaulia responded by conquoring the communist nation of the peoples republic of the peoples republic (please do not ask why such a name exists). The war spread across the areas of both empires, draining all the economics, resources, and manpower of all of the three nations. The war went back and forth as more and more minor Terran countries got involved and subsequently conquored, until a Anglian general finally cornered, defeated, captured and executed the Emperor Atore by realising that the red uniforms being worn were useless, and instead chose to use camoflague: A gambit that paid off. However, the war was not over. All three countries were shattered by the war, utterly exhausted and unable to react as many colonies started to declare independance. But the real kicker came when the country dominated by religion, Vaticia, saw that it had the perfect opportunity to invade and force its religion upon the poor, unprepared masses. Many small Terran nations were invaded and saw centuries of valuable scientific knowledge being destroyed by the monodeity religion. Eventually, it reached the stage where it seemed that Terra would fall into a age of technological and scientific regression under religious tyranny.

However, for better or worse, it was not to be.

The Anglian general, credited with defeating Atore, called together a conference between Gaulia, Anglia, and Gothia. He gave his idea for holding up against the Vatician religious state. He gave two ideas that shook the conference, but were carried out anyway.

1. All subjects of our Empires living in our colonies will be granted full citizenship for both them and their families if they join our fight against Vaticia.

Of course, Gaulia objected to this, but later agreed upon hearing the second idea:

2. The empires of Anglia and Gaulia, and the independant country of Gothia, will unite to form a new empire: The Angloterran Empire.

This statement absolutely silenced the conference. No-one could precieve why this man would create something that he had worked so hard to stop Atore from achieving. For at least 6 hours, the conference argued and argued and sipped tea and argued, all the while the general stood his ground, stating that it was the only way to survive and stop the state of Vaticia.

Eventually, after 6 hours, 2 deaths and 9001 cups of tea, the conference came out in the general's favour. Also, the monach of Gothia died of poison placed in his tea immediately after.

The general assumed command of the new armies, some soldiers putting even Anglians to shame (think of the Ghurkas. Think how so much better than British people like me. There is your answer.) And went to war.

And the war was so good, so epic, I must describe it to you. The

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Nobody could tell you how the general did it. But almost all of his strategies worked. He always anticipated every move that Vaticia would make. He always had backup plans so that whatever happened, he would win. He used his men to their full abilities to gain the full advantage. His armies would defeat armies much larger than his own (however, sometimes this was not pure strategy, but bribes of important government places helped.) While Vaticia also achieved famous victories as well, slaying many Angloterran soldiers, a mixture of new recruits and a united empire held up against the poorly trained Vatician soldiers. And finally, on June 23rd 1821, Vaticia surrendered. But by then, millions lay dead, killed for something so simple as two wars of ideaology. But nobody could stop what happened next. Through manipulations and bkackmail, the general rose to become dictator of Anglia. He smiled as his gambits came to fruition. With his counterparts, the emperor of Gaulia and the monach of Gothia, dead, he made sure that the new ones were simply puppets to him. He even had the audacity to admit this in public! And he knew that a united Angloterra was not needed. It just gave him power. As his soldiers quickly recolonised lost colonies, he sat back and watched autrocities in Vaticia unfold.

In Vaticia, anyone who did not renounce their religion was viciously tortured, watched as they and their loved ones were flayed alive, before, in a cruel twist of irony, were burned alive as they had done to so many 'heretics'. The leaders of the church were sentenced to a life of torture, with death withheld. You can be sure that is the Angloterrans could turn them into Philosophers stones, they would. The general then made an Angloterran charter, to convince the masses that he had a shred of morality left, even as he craved power for himself; Arthur Cunningham.

As of today, Cunningham is pretty much ruling from behind the scenes, and choses where to invade next, and the emperor of Gaulia rules the empire on a day to day basis, while the monach of Gothia runs the three countries and conducts foriegn affairs. Each country opperates independantly as a country, but the empire is ruled jointly. Most if the military is Anglian. Angloterra is currently having difficult relationships with Xing due to refusal of trade of tea, the national drink of Angloterra and, more importantly, stress relief for Anglians (although coffee is becoming popular). A full blown war is likely.

The Angloterran charter

We, the people of Angloterra, pledge these to be the rules, and rights, of all colonies of Angloterra. Those who rebel against Angloterra, or who are confirmed to have been following a religion or supernatural deity, will have these rights stripped from them.

1. All people have a right to life.

2. Any subject of Angloterra may achieve citizenship for them and their families by joining the Angloterran military.

3. Slavery is illegal in all forms, unless said slave was previously a slaver, slave trader, or slave user himself.

4. All subjects have the basic rights that any Angloterran citizen has, including a high quality education, medicine, drinking water that is safe, shelter, food of good quality, access to entertainment, minimum wage, free speech, clean enviroment, technology, job security, insurance, and freedom from discrimination, which is absolutely illogical since it is just the phenotype of someone, and to hate a phenotype that is different than yours, one must hate the genotype, and all of the genotypes that are different to yours, even your own family (Gothians gave the explanation).

5. Any subject showing sufficient intelligence, bravery or morality far above the average Angloterran may be granted citizenship.

6. Children are not to work until they are at least the age of sixteen, and the state will fund them if they take further education.

7. All cultures must be allowed and respected so long as religion is not included.

8. Historical cities and momunents are to be protected.

9. Angloterra will keep having wars to stop the Anglians from going on bloodthirsty psycopathic rampages across our empire.

Alchemy in Angloterra.

Alchemy never developed in Angloterra. A combination of lack of geothermal energy, lack of knowkedge of alchemy, and terrible Anglian weather means that alchemy is not usually carried out or studied. That is not to say that alchemy is an alien concept to Angloterrans: they have been aware since 1776 of alchemy, after Xersia proved to the Gaulanians that it exists in quite a spectacular manor. Angloterrans also acknowledge it as a science: the theories are sound and the evidence exists. However, it is not carried out in Angloterra as even travelling Alchemists have been unable to produce alchemy in Angloterra, despite years of knowledge and practice. This has not stopped people from trying. In 1801, a Gothian inventor developed a device that polarised infrared waves and actually made several interfere, and it was hoped that the frequency could be raised high enough to provide an alchemic reaction, but in the end another Gothian inventor managed to transfer electrical energy from a battery to artificially create a alchemic reaction. However, the energy used far outweighed the benefits of the reaction. Even medicine proved futile: it was easier and safer to treat wounds without alchemy. But a medical breakthrogh came when a transmutation circle was discovered that was illegal in many alchemy using countries. No, not human transmutation, or a philosophers stone, but close.

It is the only reaction considered to be worth the energy put in. The only reaction that saves what can't be saved by medicine. It is a last ditch resort to be used when one cannot be saved by coventional means. It is only reserved for soldiers, and many still serve in the military today.

The more alert amongst you may have noticed that Arthur Cunningham is alive in both 1803 onwards and 1917. While the obvious answer is "he is over one hundred years old!", he is actually very lucky not to have had an alchemic rebound yet, and he is determined and strong willed enough to not commit suicide. Suicide would be a viable option in his case. He has lived a half life, a life incomplete of what we would consider living.

After all, he has been nothing more than an empty suit of armour since 1824.

Xersia

Xersia has a long and quite a interesting history, and many of what is claimed by Xersians to be true is backed up by evidence found amongst the ruins of Xerxes. Xersia is all that remains of two of the most influencial cultures of their time. Xersia today resides as a historic walled city surrounded by miles and miles of barren desert, and the town itself survived through agriculture and trading.

To begin to grasp an understanding of the town, one must briefly delve into the history of the Hassasian people. Hassasia was a desert based nation. The people were often defined by dark skin and an attitude that is kind, helpful, forgiving and often defined as being very moral. The Hassasian people started out as a small culture beside a river known as the waters of life by the Hassasian people, and is geographically known as the river Tengar. The river Tengar was a river that flowed through the desert, bringing life to the area and allowing plants to grow, and allowing Hassasian people to survive. Agriculture quickly developed, and the culture expanded, with settlers moving downriver towards the coast and beginning new cities all along the river Tengar. A couple of cities cut off from the water and surrounded by desert were created, although why a culture would move away from the water remains a mystery, one which historians have long since searched for. The harbour towns along the coast quickly became a bustling hub of trade with many nations, and Gaulia was one of these trading nations. Historians like to believe that the Hassasian people were a flawless society, a nation of peace and order where people led happy lives.

For the most part this was true. While a social divide occured between the rich and the poor, and those who were poor tended to starve to death, many kings attempted to help thoseless fortunate in society.

There was a religion in Hassasia, although it was not a corrupt, obstructive one like the monodiety religion of Vaticia. This religion was encouraged upon the masses because of the ways in which it contributed to social, and sometimes even technological, advancement. The religion was based upon the belief that the river, although geographically possible, was the result of a divine gift from a undescribed being in the belief that the culture that utilises it will use it for the betterment of humanity and to give to others what has been given to them. The religion was actually useful to the extent where even the Gaulalians thought that the religion should be kept going. The Hassassian people eventually reached the stage where they had ten cities: two in the desert, three harbour towns for foriegn trade, and five cities amongst the river Tengar. Because of its location, usage as a trading hub and rich culture, it was never invaded, and thus never needed a military.

Crime and punishment was dictated by the principle of 'an eye for an eye'. The system was often regarded as tough, but fair. However, many kings believed that redemption was possible, and fairly lax crimes such as stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family were often paid back by simply an apology, a explanation, and helping the victim of the crime in some other way worth the cost of the bread. This quickly descended into bartering for well intentioned crimes before the crimes were carried out.

For many centuries, the cities prospered. But it seems that fate cannot allow such a perfect society to exist. No good deed goes unpunished.

One day, a trading ship unwittingly carryed over a waterborne disease, a microorganism that cound infect and kill humans if inhaled in large quantities through infected drinking water, to a coastal town on the river Tengar. The disease quickly spread through the river, infecting all those who depended on the river for their source of water. Quickly, disease and death spread, the governing bodies unable to react to the catastrophe. Quickly, the disease reached all five cities along the Tengar, and messangers bought it to two of the three coastal towns. Unable to evolve quickly enough, the populations of the cities reached unsustainable levels, apart from one of the coastal towns via advice of quarantine from traders, and the two isolated desert towns. The cities collapsed, lost to the sands of the deserts as the cities became ruins.

Of the two remaining costal towns, one was destroyed by a mighty and unpredictable tsunami that lay waste to entire sections of coastlines, and the other was, in a act of barbarity, destroyed by a huge pirate raid looking for wine, gold, slaves, women and blood. Of the two desert cities, one remains today. This is what is today Xersia, and would play a part in the years to come.

The other city simply disappeaed from history: no trace of it has ever been found. No records exist describing it's location. Nobody has ever found it, and nobody has ever come out claiming to be from there. Some say that it may have become part of Xing, others suggest that it became what is now known as Ishval. But, given that Hassasia was found far, far north of Xerxes, and a little bit east, this is unlikely. Many Xersians live in hope that they will one day re-unite with their people to restart the Hassasian kingdom. As one can clearly see, a tragic end for such a great kingdom.

Xerxian conflict

For more information regarding the culture of Xersia, one must look south, to Xerxes, before it was destroyed in a horrific alchemic reaction. It is known that the event occured after the destruction of the Hassasian kingdom, albiet when Is unspecified.

According to Xerxian lore, there spoke a time when a young prince disagreed with the slavery that was legal within Xerxes. He always argued in the courts, and in the palace, and to anyone who would listen, about the immortality of slavery and was firmly in support with the abolishment of it. He utilised his royal patronage to push forward the idea of abolition, and managed to get many people on his side, ranging from the poor workers, freed ex slaves, the support of those currently in slavery, and even some of the most influencial men in Xerxes at the time, including judges, buisness owners and even the advisor to the king, as well as several key figures in the military and their soldiers.

Given his position as future heir, and given the people on his side, it seemed that the only conclusion would be that slavery would finally end within the borders of Xerxes. But he was opposed by his own sister, known today as "The princess of chains". She argued that slavery was morally right, socially acceptable, and above all, productive. The king never took a side, only keeping his loyal general in a state of neutrality. The general never took action, but he knew that the king was old and needed a male heir: and he knew that the king would probably sway to the side of his son just for an heir.

Instead, the prince was found one morning lying in a pool of his own blood.

The public outcry was intense. People roared for justice upon the princessm believing her to be the one behind the assassination. They were not wrong. A riot started, the aim to free slaves, whike the military did nothing on orders of the king. It seemed that the royal bloodline would have to end, but for a good cause. The king prepared to honour his son's last wish, not agreeing with the rioters, which included slaves gaining freedom, but making it clear that he would not intervine so long as the riot did not hurt those not involved. It was good enough for the rioters. But then the princess revealed her ultimate trump card.

She was pregnant, and assumed to be a male baby at that. And she went to her father and swore that she would take her and her baby's life if the king did not agree to stop the riot with military force.

And when faced between abolition of slavery and his own bloodline, he caved in and chose the latter. He shook the morality of his general as he ordered the poor man to kill his countrymen with his soldiers.

The general, ever loyal, agreed, but only with a heavy heart. It was said that he broke down into tears several times as he ordered his men to massacare his own countrymen.

A vicious civil war broke out, but ultimately the military was too strong. The small remainder if those in the riot who were not killed, imprisoned or enslaved fled north, exiled from a kingdom they vowed to never return to, becoming travelling refugees.

The general never recovered. He fell into depression, finding solace in drink, and he fell to a shadow of his former self. He refused to see anyone, never spoke to anyone and openly cried about the deaths of his own countrymen at the hands of him and his men. He became simply an empty shell of a man. But one day, he recovered. He cleaned himself up, became sober, and marched into the palace, back straight as he had always been, and knelt in front of his king as he had done so many times before.

Then he stood up, drew his sword and ran it through the king's heart. He refused to kill the princess because her baby was essentially a hostage, and he could not destroy the bloodline. He was a vicious murderer in his own eyes, but he believed that he had a shred of humanity left not to take the life of a child, or nearly born baby. He left the city in self exile to wander the desert and atone his sins. He was never seen again, and believed to have died alone in the schorching heat of the desert.

Formation of Xersia

Of the refugees from the riot, they eventually reached the last remaining city of the Hassassian people, now no longer the proud culture they once were. The Hassassian people, ever noble and polite, took in the refugees and shared with them the accommodation and defense their city offered. As stories were traded, sympathy for each other grew, and despite their completely different appearance, the two cultures merged into one culture, known as Xersia. The Xerxeans refused to carry on their culture, and although a king no longer existed, many of the laws of Hassasia were used. The city grew, the architecture changing slightly, and eventually mixed races: often golden eyed, dark skinned people, or Xerxean skinned people without golden eyes occured. The government moved to a elected representative of the people who would live in the grand palace and govern affairs of the city for two years before a new representative would have to be elected: one could be re-elected, but only after a four year gap when two other representatives would be in power. This system worked because the city was just the right size for this to occur.

Populations eventually reached a balance to match the agriculture and almost miniscule rainwater that could be found from the desert enviroment. A military, although really a defense force, was created to protect the city if anyone ever tried to invade.

Although abandoned long ago due to the disease contaminating the river Tengar, the Xerxeans took a great interest in the religion of the Hassassians. They declared that the rules set by the religion were a good way to live their life, and although they did not believe in the unspecified diety as the Hassassians did, they adapted the religion to function as a way of life.

And they were almost to flattered to demonstrate, and eventually use and teach, the principles and process of alchemy to the intrigued Hassassians. Hassassians were dumbfounded at first. They had never encountered alchemy before, and this new concept that could change the shape of the earth was seen as a form of magic, although it soon became apparent that the Hassassians could also preform Alchemy, and well. The two cultures instantly bonded over these two things, considering that they both seemed to hold similar moral interests. A religion was set up to the alchemy God, but it quickly disbanded when it became apparant that truth was just a equivalent exchange dick who took various limbs, senses and the occasional younger brother just for trying to bring back the dead.

Interactions with Angloterra

In 1776, the Gaulian military discovered the city of Xersia. At first, they acted as a simple trading nation, trading much needed water, and rare, exotic goods and delecacies from around their empire, often for local recipies, delecacies, and most importantly, alchemic knowledge that traders paid for tenfold of the worth of the knowledge in the hope of one upping their Anglian rivals. But soon the real trades and treaties became apparant. The Gaulanians wanted land, and power. The Xersians spotted this, and quickly started trading alchemic knowledge for muskets, cannons, musket balls and swords, as well as bayonets. Then they trained their military and prepared for war.

And war they got.

The Gaulian military attempted to conquor the town through force. Not surprising: all other options had been exhausted. But the Xersians were outnumbered, outgunned, outrained and outresourced. But they had alchemy.

They pretended to lose, and as the Gaulian military advanced to enter the town, they activated the secret transmutation circles thay had hidden.

And in an almighty reaction, the sand rose up, and fell upon the scared, shocked and worried Gaulanians, followed by the earth. And in just a few seconds, half of the military was buried alive, and left to die screaming unheard for help, or their families, as their fellow soldiers could do nothing.

But the Gaulian commander was not stupid. He quickly engaged in a siege, and destroyed the farms to starve out the Xersians.

While there were farms inside the walls of the city, the food reduced and rations began. Meanwhile, the Gaulanians recieved food from the emoire, and more importantly, water. As they carefully kept an eye out for more circles, they did not advance, and instead kept up the siege for months, possibly years.

Finally, a drought lead to widespread death from thirst. With the manpower reducing, it became clear that the Gaulians could play the long game. The next representative was voted in because he favoured peace: surrendering with favourable terms. A treaty was signed, and the independance of the great city fell to a simple colony of Gaulia. But in a rare pet the dog moment, the victorious commander kept the existance of the way of life based upon the religion of the waters of life to himself, and when the Angloterran empire was formed, with its anti-religious policies, he kept it to himself as the passed away on his deathbed during the war with Vaticia.

It is hard to tell if Xersia was better off under Gaulian/Angloterran rule than before. On one hand, trade resumed, they were allowed to live as normal, and most importantly recieved vital supplies of water for dramatically undercut prices under Gaulia and free under Angloterra. Also, the railway bought in new trades and new jobs, and served to deisolate Xersia from other cultures, as well as new technologies being introduced. On the other hand, Gaulia supressed free speech and increased discrimination, but these ended under the Angloterran empire. However, the Xersians had to pay tribute that they felt was not due, disliked some of the empire's policies, were aware of the threat of death looming above their heads, and knew that fighting back, or having a religion,would have dire effects. Finally, they wanted independance. They preferred to be isolated and left alone, and while they wouldn't mind taking in other cultures, they wanted their own future, free of the influence of the Angloterran empire. And so, on the twenty fourth of may, 1917, Xersia, under representetive Abdul Isosceles, declared independance of Xersia from the Angloterran empire. Angloterra responded by sending the 3rd Angloterran infantry division to suppress the rebellion, under the command of Lt. Colonel Stuart Lancaster.