The Balance of Power

For generations, the Four Federations have maintained an uneasy peace.

Trade flows across borders.Students travel between academies.Diplomats negotiate treaties.Merchant fleets cross distant seas.

Yet beneath this surface of stability, rivalry never sleeps.

The Northern Coalition seeks security.The Western Concord seeks prosperity and conquest.The Eastern Democrate Federation seeks conquest and progress .The South-Imperial Federation seeks renewal and conquest.

Each federation believes its vision is the future of Eldoria.And each watches the others carefully.

The balance of power extends far beyond politics.On land, the Eastern Democrate Federation possesses the strongest military-industrial complex in the world.

The Northern Coalition maintains the most disciplined armies and some of the finest military officers on the continent.

The Western Concord commands the greatest wealth.Meanwhile, the South-Imperial Federation struggles to preserve the influence it once possessed.

The seas tell a similar story.

For centuries, the Western Concord ensured that no southern kingdom could dominate the waters between the western and southern coasts.Whenever Southern rulers attempted to expand their maritime influence, Concord fleets responded with overwhelming economic and naval pressure.

Over time, Western control of regional trade routes became so complete that the South was effectively locked out of becoming a major naval power.

In the present age, the Western Concord and the Eastern Democrate Federation dominate the Four Kings Sea through their powerful navies and vast merchant networks.

The Northern Coalition remains largely indifferent to maritime competition, relying instead upon secure land routes and strategic fortifications.

The South-Imperial Federation possesses respectable fleets, but they are designed primarily for coastal defense rather than power projection.

The balance is further complicated by the legacy of summoning.

One hundred years ago, the North and West successfully summoned people from other realms and accelerated their development beyond traditional limits.

Fifteen years ago, the East summoned people from Earth. The East's rapid rise culminated in one of the most important conflicts in modern history "the War of Liberation."

For fifty years, the republics of Unionvale and Brightfield had remained under Southern occupation.

Those territories were considered symbols of South-Imperial dominance.Many believed they would remain under Southern control forever.

Then the East introduced firearms.

Under the guidance of Earth-born summoners, factories began producing guns, artillery, ammunition, and modern military equipment.

Southern nobles dismissed them as inferior weapons.That mistake would cost them dearly.

During the Battle of Unionvale Plains, thousands of elite Southern cavalry charged against Eastern forces armed with firearms and artillery.

The result was catastrophic.

For the first time in recorded history, armored knights were slaughtered before reaching the enemy.One year later, the Battle of Brightfield ended in an even greater disaster.

The South committed one of the largest armies in its history, only to suffer a crushing defeat against an industrialized Eastern military.

Unionvale was liberated.

Brightfield was liberated.

And the South lost more than territory.

It lost prestige.It lost experienced officers.It lost countless veteran soldiers.

It lost enormous amounts of wealth attempting to sustain the war.

Many historians consider those defeats the beginning of the South-Imperial Federation's decline.Even today, entire regions of the federation continue to suffer from the economic consequences of those wars.

The East emerged stronger than ever.

The South emerged weaker than ever.

And every ruler in Eldoria learned a harsh lesson:

A nation that refuses to adapt cannot defeat one that embraces change.

Only the South refused to embrace summoning, restrained by centuries of religious opposition and traditional beliefs.

While the North, West, and East grew stronger through knowledge brought from other worlds, the South remained bound by its past.

Now that is about to change.

For the first time in history, the South-Imperial Federation is preparing an official large-scale summoning.

Each federation believes its path is the correct one.Each believes its future should shape the continent.And each waits for the moment history tips in its favor.

No one knows which federation will dominate the coming century.No one knows which ruler will rise.No one knows which invention, war, alliance, or revolution will reshape Eldoria forever.

But destiny is already moving.And soon, individuals from another world will arrive at the center of this struggle.

Their knowledge will alter nations.Their choices will change history.

And the age of the Four Federations will never be the same again.

( Prologue End)