The way the Dark Land Kingdom is set up in this story has the Dark Land split into 7 provinces, with a central throne ruling over the 7 provinces. Currently, the 'kings' of each province are dear friends of Bowser himself, or as close to friends as he has; they are mainly just high-ups in his military force. As the Koopalings and Junior become of age, Bowser will appoint them to replace the current 'kings' of each province, since each of those 'kings' is only a regent, and also name whom will be Bowser's successor for the center throne. Bowser plans to step down from power and give the throne to his successor as soon as he physically can, since there are rumors spreading in the Dark Land that there are plans to murder Bowser to force him off the throne because of all the bungled attempts at kidnapping Princess Peach and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, and the amount of citizens whom have been killed in these bungled attempts. There is also anger at how high tax rates are because of the unending war with the Mushroom Kingdom because of all the bungled attempts.
Right now, the public of the Dark Land believes in either one of two theories: one, Ludwig will be appointed to the center throne since he is the oldest as wisest, or Bowser Junior will be appointed to the center throne since he is clearly Bowser's favorite. The belief also tends to be that whichever one is not on the center throne will be put in charge of the Volcanic province, the province that surrounds the capital city. The capital, like America's Washington D.C. counts as its own piece of land, and not part of the surrounding state/province. But as of currently, no one besides Bowser, and myself, know what the line of succession is truly going to be.
However, before any of his children take their respective thrones, the law of the Dark Land requires for them to be married so they can try to sire heirs. Heirs of each respective monarch of each province (and Capital City) are considered first choice for each throne, but if the Monarch of the center throne deems them unsuited for a position of power, an heir can be chosen by the Monarch from the top generals of the military, his own children, or anyone he thinks he should appoint to the position. Most rulers of the Dark Land have been male, so all of their official documentation and explanations of their government are written with male pronouns.
Finally, we must talk a little bit of Ludwig Von Koopa himself.
He is a musician, especially of piano, and he adores Beethoven. He is known for being responsible and wise, although he has a short-temper and is known to brood. He tends to prefer to stay to himself, locked up in his room. He has a reputation of being attractive amongst the population of the Dark Land, but has shown no interest in anyone to be his life partner, except for a girl named Fleur whom ended up in the military and killed under Mario's shoe. He has refused to even think of romance or romantic relationships, or even physical intimacy with anyone since then. However, Bowser has decided to appoint Ludwig to one of the thrones, so he must gain a wife to sire heirs with, and since time is running out before Ludwig becomes of age, Bowser decides to send his minions to kidnap a random girl, and force Ludwig to marry her, whether he likes her or not, for the sake of producing heirs. This is why Tatiana was kidnapped.
Alright, so now there's just the AN explaining the Mushroom Kingdom, the Mushroom/Dark Conflict, and about a mysterious person I mentioned in a previous version of this story, whom is making a come back, named Innocenza. Then, finally, will the first chapter of this story be posted! Sorry for how long this is taking, high school has swamped me with work, and so has filling out college applications! I hope to get this off the ground soon!
-aeschtunesfan 10:18 pm PST December 8, 2015