Ursus

Introduction

I once had a long chat with my old friend, the poet Oleg Rublev. He was telling me about his new book called "Under the clouds":

After his exile in 1075, he began to travel around the world until he passed away in Victoria in 1090.

In those long 15 years he could not return to his motherland even once.

Overview

The Ursus Empire is an old millitaristic empire located in the north of Terra. It is famous for its harsh environment, stoic people and strong military.
This land was originally governed by the Hyppogryphs(Liberi Elders) and was called the Kingdom of the Hyppogryphs. But about a thousand years ago, under the leadership of the legendary warrior Igor, Ursus revolted and overthrew the rule of Hyppogryphs. They renamed the country after their race and established Empire of Ursus.

In the next thousand years, the empire maintained a strong military tradition, and the descendants of Emperor Igor brought Ursine swords to all parts of Terra. Today, however, a series of serious political and social strifes are pushing the huge empire to drastic changes.

Official language: Ursine

Main ethnic group: Ursus

Official currency: Chervonets

Founding of Ursus

The history of this land goes back far beyond the reign of Ursus. The first people to establish a civilized country in the mountains and hills of northern Terra were a group of Liberi Elders who moved north to pursue fleeing Sarkaz tribes. They called themselves "Hippogryphs" and named the land under their feet after themselves, the Kingdom of the Hippogryphs. At that time, the Hippogryph nobles lived in their mountain strongholds and looked down upon "lower races" living in the plains. They recruited those Ancients as their servants. Among these Ancient races, the most representative one were Ursus who migrated to the north together with the Hippogryphs. They were physically strong and had adapted to the harsh northern environment faster than the Hippogryphs. But this did not provide them with any kind of advantage. Instead, it allowed the Hippogryphs to demand harder work and higher taxes from Ursus tribes. The anger simmered in Ursine hearts for centuries, until the Nightzmora Khan set foot on the Hippogryph territory. The Hippogryph nobles frantically squeezed the already suffering Ursus, and hastily organized defenses in their mountainhomes. Nonetheless, Nightzmora hordes still managed to plunder whole Kingdom. Ursus witnessed the incompetence and weakness of the Hippogryphs and realised that If the Hippogryphs were allowed to dominate this land, everyone living here would eventually perish together with them. Small-scale resistance gradually emerged after the Nightzmora left the country. Although the Hippogryphs were aware of the growing dissatisfaction within the kingdom, they had neither the will nor the ability to meddle with the "lower races". As a result, a mighty uprising that was about to sweep the country and change the fate of this land forever was secretly brewing under the eyes of the Hippogryph nobles.

The uprising was led by an officer from the Ursus tribe, who later became known as the famous Igor the Great. Emperor Igor was one of the few Ancient officers that got the title of "Honorary Hyppogryph". He was conscripted by Hyppogryphs at a very young age and joined the army. He initially served as a handyman, but his extraordinary combat skills and commanding talents allowed him to be quickly promoted to an officer. In following years Igor won one battle after another, winning the admiration of the Hyppogryph nobles and gaining faith in hearts of Ursus people. The early planning of the uprising and the war to overthrow Hippogryphs was possible only because of Igor's status.

Emperor Igor's personal charm and military talents were indeed outstanding, and the Hippogryphs were simply unable to compete with the rebels on the battlefield. Igor's successive victories have led more and more Ursus to join the war against the Hippogryphs. After four years of siege, they finally captured the Deity Grypherburg Mountainhome, the capital of the Hippogryph Kingdom. With the suggestions of his ministers, Igor was crowned emperor at the Deity Grypherburg in the year 31. Ursus imitated the Hippogryphs and called the new country after their race. The Ursus Empire was born.

Igor the Great

The founding emperor Igor was undoubtedly the legendary hero of Ursus. People of Ursus has given him countless titles in more than thousand years of their history: some people say that he was a great man given to Ursus by the land of Terra, so he was called Igor Ursus. There were rumors that he was born as a peasant and his original name was Igor Borisovich where "Borisovich" is patronym, meaning he was "son of Boris". Old documents record that Hyppogryph King imposed a surname on Igor's original name, although this surname was abolished by his son after Igor's death, this three-part naming method formed the prototype of modern Ursus naming system.

One of his most well-known titles was Igor Razi-Tsar. This name was a military title conferred on Igor by Hippogryphs that meant "bear keeper" (in actual Russian it means Tsar that annihilates.)
As they trusted Igor, Hyppogryphs allowed him to command Ursine armies. During the Ursus liberation war Igor commanded the army with this title and was invincible. Later literary and artistic works often called him by this name, so it is still remembered to this day. When the Ursus today call out the name of Razi-Tsar, they are actually calling for an officer who is brave enough to lead them to victory and not the ancient Tsar.

When Igor ascended the throne, he crowned himself as "The Lord of the Ursus and Hyppogryph Empires", "King of the Northern Lands", "Ruler of the Ice Fields", "First Warrior" and "Liberator". This series of titles also confirms the tradition within Ursus to define the Kingdom of the Hyppogryph as an empire. The reason might lie in the need to provide legitimacy of the rebels' establishment of a new empire. In fact, the country of the Hyppogryph is considered to be a Kingdom by scholars all around the Terra, and only the Ursus call it "The Hyppogryph Empire".

Imperial Conquest

Since the founding of the country, Ursus' hasn't stopped its expansion. The ancient country that Igor captured from Hippogryphs only included the mountains and hills in the central part of the empire today. The empire's current huge territory actually came from a thousand years of conquests in later generations.

When Igor the Great was crowned, the hostile Hippogryph forces had not been completely eliminated and fled to the east, so instead of living with the people, he continued to lead his army to attack the Hippogryphs who were unwilling to surrender, striving to create a stable development environment for the empire. This task was not completed in Emperor Igor's lifetime. He fought against the Hippogryph remnants for more than twenty years in the long battle to attack the eastern mountains. Legend has it that he died in front of the military map.

Igor's eldest son Alexei Igorovich ascended the throne in the army and took over his father's unfinished business. "Young Emperor" Alexei determined the "Eastern March" as the basic strategic direction of the empire, and the ultimate goal was to completely eliminate the Hippogryph remnants that harassed Ursus. This national policy lasted for three generations of emperors and lasted for nearly a hundred years.

The century-long Eastern Conquest later evolved into the Ursus Empire's expansion strategy that lasted for thousands of years. The scimitar passed down by Emperor Igor to his successors was pointing all across the Terra. When the Ursus armies went on a mighty expedition, their sabers didn't care who was the enemy. The Ursus invasions was devastating to the other nations — their cultures were destroyed and their cities razed. There are many northern civilizations, relics of which had not survived to these days, as they had dissapeared from the history forever. The sword of the Ursus Empire had been cutting the roots of countless civilizations, until only the loud war cry of Ursus people remained in the northern Terra. One of victims were Sami tribes that lived in northwestern parts of present Ursus. Under the constant intimidation of the Ursus armies, they had to retreat farther to the far north, to the edge of Endless Icefields.

But the empire's journey was not so smooth. In the process of expanding westward, Ursus encountered a powerful opponent — Kazimierz. Kazimierz had similar origin to Ursus, but was more of an elite order of knights. At that time, Ursus method of recruiting soldiers was quite simple, the weapons and equipment distributed were relatively old-fashioned, and their troops didn't get any professional military training. This fierce and brave fighting style caused the Ursus army to suffer a heavy blow in the first battle against Kazimierz. At the same time, Ursus still used the ancient political system left by the Hippogryphs in the country, and the supply lines to the frontline were imperfect. These two factors led to Ursus' defeat in the First Ursus War.

The disastrous defeat of this war led to the first military reform of Ursus, and the establishment of parliament, provincial administrative regions, laws, etc. Ursus' war machine gained unprecedented vitality and challenged Kazimierz many times in following thousand years.

No military victory or defeat could stop Ursus from going to war abroad, it would only make the empire run in the direction of war even more intensely. Since the first military reform, the successive emperors of Ursus have carried out dozens of large and small reforms to the army and the country, but each change failed to make the country look brand new — the size of the imperial army continued to grow. The territorial expansion didn't stop for a second, and the power of the nobles was increasing.

The Great Rebellion

The "Great Rebellion" that brought heavy trauma to the empire had already taken shape in the era of previous Ursus Emperor. The late Emperor Vladimir Ivanovich personally experienced the Battle of Four Emperors, where he witnessed the power of Gaul Originium technology. He used the Gaul technologies received after the war to start the most powerful era of Ursus, trying to build Ursus into an invincible war machine.

Under his rule, a rapid industrialisation began and Ursus' economic and military power increased rapidly. However, along with the rapid economic growth, many "industrial aristocrats" with non-military backgrounds emerged, which made the military represented by the old aristocrats very dissatisfied. Nonetheless, the military strength of Ursus increased dramatically as Emperor Vladimir wished. Nobles couldn't wait to launch the ninth and tenth wars between Ursus and Kaziemerz, forcing Kaziemerz defense line back nearly a hundred kilometers; Emperor also wanted to lead a war against Leithanien in the south and the distant Higashi in the east. There are even rumors that he has secretly drawn his battle line to the city of Londinium.

During the decades of his reign, Ursus kept running at high speed, pouring out seemingly endless wars. The power of the empire swelled with industrial growth and war victories, and the emperor's popularity at home reached its peak. But Ursus did not realize the crisis hidden under the frequent reports of success, and the emperor did not realize that his ambitions were about to come to an abrupt end. On the battlefield between Ursus and Higashi, the Eastern Army Group suffered a sudden and disastrous defeat in the Battle of Blood Peak in 1072 and withdrew hastily. Emperor Vladimir suffered a major blow from this bizarre defeat. He himself became seriously ill and died within a year.

Vladimir's son Feodor was a reformist who immediately began to reduce the power of the army after he ascended the throne. On the one hand, he recruited a large number of parliamentarians with non-military backgrounds, and on the other, he strictly limited the expansion of the army's territories, and even proposed the strategy of converting military fiefdoms into civilian provinces.

In the summer of 1074, a physical conflict broke out between a group of soldiers and a nobleman in a tavern in the Gregorian province. The soldiers beat the nobleman and injured him, but the provincial council punished the nobleman. This caused a chaos in the society. In the winter, the Sixth Army called the protests "civil strife," sent troops to occupy the province, and executed all members of the provincial council under military law for "promoting civil strife." Feodor was furious when he heard about this and summoned the commander of the Sixth Army to see him. Not only did the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Army fail to comply with the order, but he also informed the nearby Third and Eighth Army armies and some of the Fourth Army troops that were on the way to change defenses to jointly occupy the three provinces. Claiming that Ursus needed to reclaim its military prestige, he demanded Fyodor to give up the throne.

At the end of 1074, the Imperial Parliament announced that the negotiations with the Army had failed. The Fifth Army allegedly received the emperor's order and launched an attack on the Sixth Army. The Sixth and Eighth Armies immediately counterattacked and began the siege of the Deity Grypherburg and bombard the palace. Fyodor issued an edict to the whole country, denounced the four armies as "rebels" and ordered the traitors to be severely punished. Army Group Center defended Fort Saint-Ioahn until the spring of the following year, when the Second and Seventh Army arrived with reinforcements from the Kaziemerz front and launched a fierce attack on the rebels. The flames of war at Deity Grypherburg ignited the entire Ursus, and an extremely intense civil war broke out. The war lasted until the winter of 1076, and finally ended with the annihilation of the Sixth and Eighth Army and the suppression of the rebellion.

This war was officially called the "Great Rebellion" by Ursus, and it had an all-round impact on the empire: During the great rebellion, millions of Ursus soldiers and civilians lost their lives, and countless industrial facilities were destroyed; Sixth and Eighth Armies was regarded as the instigators of the rebellion and were disbanded. The territories of the Army were redistributed to local parliaments. The Third and Fourth Armies, that were accomplices, were sent to remote border areas. The old aristocrats who supported the emperor took the opportunity to speak out, demanding to regain the majority of seats in parliament... In the next decades, political differences between aristocratic factions, the intensifying crisis of the infected, and serious social injustice were exposed. In front of everyone, it became a problem that could not be ignored. A series of dilemmas faced by the empire forced Emperor Feodor to make a choice.

Geography of Ursus

The long history of conquest and pioneering wars gave the Ursus Empire an extremely vast territory in the north of Terra. The overall terrain of the empire is low in the west and high in the east. From west to east, it ranges from vast plains to low and rugged hills, and then to towering mountains, forming a ladder-like geography.
Climate of Ursus is largely influenced by the northern tundra. Ursus is generally regarded as a very cold place. The farther south you are from the tundra, the weaker its influence is. The northern winds don't reach the central Ursus, which results temperate continental climate there. The closer you are to the northern tundra, the colder the climate and the harsher and longer the winter. In addition, the eastern Ursus has the characteristics of mountain plateau.

Ursus Empire borders Kaziemerz in the west, Leithanien in the south and Yan in the east. Northern Ursus border is close to Sami and the Endless Icefield. Large tracts of land have been incorporated into the empire's territory during the past thousand years of conquest, and a considerable part of it has not yet been fully developed. However, Ursus's blade is still pointed directly at the land outside the empire, intending to conquer more territory.

Political system

Emperor of Ursus

Ursus's ancient tradition of monarchy was born out of the origins of its liberation war. The rule of Ursus Emperor is simillar to the authority of General over his soldiers. Every decision he makes represents the highest will of the empire. Where the emperor points, the empire's blade follows. In the army, disobeying the commander's orders is the most serious crime, and in Ursus, any move against the emperor's will is regarded as the greatest betrayal of the motherland that must be punished with the harshest sentence.

The Emperor is also the leader of the Imperial Parliament and the Imperial Army. Everyone in the parliament, from the members to the speaker, is accountable to the emperor, and the governors of each administrative region must also obey the orders of the central government. Emperor of Ursus is the supreme commander of Imperial Army. Each army group needs to report to the emperor regularly on their recent movements and future plans, and it must first obtain the emperor's approval before conducting any major military activities.

All this makes Ursus more of an army with a state, than a state with an army. The emperor commands this army, and its victories and defeats depend on him alone. Therefore, Imperial power heavily relies on the emperor's character: a wise emperor could lead the empire into hundreds of battles, winning the loyalty of his subjects. However, when the monarch cannot bring victory or set an example, he will inevitably be held accountable. In 1072, Ursus failed to win in the war to invade Higashi and lost territory. This caused an uproar within the Ursus Empire, and the order of the empire and even the status of Emperor Vladimir Ivanovich were shaken, which also laid the foundation for the later "Great Rebellion".

Millitary

The official name of the Ursus Army is the "Ursus Imperial Army". However, the Imperial Army rarely takes action as a whole - this is a blessing for the countries of Terra. The highest level of the Ursus army is the army group, and its commander has a special military rank called "Field Marshal of the army group". The general area of responsibility of each army group is determined by the emperor, who directly conveys his decisions to the Field Marshal of the army group. The specific strategic decisions are made by Field Marshal and his general staff. In fact, army groups have a relatively high degree of autonomy. The Imperial Army originally had nine armies. However, during the "Great Rebellion", the Sixth and Eighth Armies were annihilated and abolished. Currently, the empire has a total of seven armies. According to Ursus official statement, if war mobilization is launched, each army group can expand its number of soldiers to one million in a short period of time.

The millitary tradition made Ursus always pay great attention to the construction of the army. The military nobles who lead the army regard the strength of the army as the source of their power and status and therefore don't let themselves relax even for a sercond. Ursus army has a complete recruitment and training system. It also has a number of prestige officer schools. After all, the empire at war needs to use every sword and every cannon as soon as possible. Influenced by its southern neighbor Leithanien, the empire has also uses Originium Arts. Combat casters are an important part of the millitary and there are specialized academies that teach offensive Originium Arts.

The front line of the Ursus army usually consists of shield regiments and veterans wearing heavy armor. Behind them blows the roar of heavy drones taking off to guide the artillery of the imperial warships that will annihilate the target no matter the cost. The imperial army has an almost fanatical worship of armored heavy artillery. For Ursus soldiers, the cold armor and shields can cut off the connection between then and harsh battlefield, while the heat of shells and fire burns away all cowardice and weakness.

Parliament system

The Ursus Imperial Parliament consists of two parts: one is represented the nobles nominated by the emperor, and the other are the imperial representatives elected by the provincial parliaments and appointed by the emperor. Parliament has the functions of the supreme legislative body of Ursus. The Imperial Parliament of Ursus was established after the First Ursus War. Along with the Imperial Parliament, provincial administrative districts and local parliaments were established as a result of the first military reform. Initially, the members of parliament were retired officers, deprived of their fiefdoms and military aristocrats who still held their military positions.

For a long time, the Ursus Parliament actually served the military, so army groups had a big say there, and the functions and real power of the parliament were far from what they are now. The Imperial Parliament gained actual power after capitalist nuevo riche nobles came to power. The current Speaker Islam Witte is one of these new nobles.

Administrative division

The highest administrative units of the Ursus Empire are provinces or "governorates". Each governorate has several fixed towns and nomadic cities on the land under its jurisdiction. The highest executive position of the governorate is the governor, personally appointed by the emperor. The provincial governors organize noble representatives from several nomadic cities to form a provincial assembly that leads the various administrative departments of the governorate. At the same time, the provincial assembly was also responsible for selecting candidates for parliamentary representatives in the governorate to the Imperial Assembly to be appointment by the emperor.

In addition to provincial administrative divisions, there are also territories belonging to army groups that are completely independent of provincial administrative divisions and not subject to the jurisdiction of the provincial governor and provincial assembly. In addition to serving as the permanent garrison of the army, the territory belonging to the group army is also the fiefdom of the old nobles (or "millitary nobles"). Within the territory of the army group, there is a set of administrative and legal systems that are completely different from those in the governorates, which are largely formulated by the Field Marshal of army group. During the reign of the late Emperor Vladimir, conquered lands were used as a reward for millitary nobles, and the size of the army's territories expanded rapidly.

Nobles

The origins of the Ursus aristocratic hierarchy are closely related to the empire's military conquest. In ancient times, the emperors of Ursus often awarded titles to their trusted soldiers and staff. The prestige of the titles and the amount of rewards were directly determined by military achievements. Even the status within the royal family sometimes depended more on the relationship with officers rather than on blood relations. Oftentimes civilian officers who showed their worth on the battlefield could also win the favor of the Grand Dukes and thus join the ranks of the nobility. The military meritocracy that has been inherited for thousands of years has inspired the extremely high fighting enthusiasm among the soldiers of the Ursus Empire, and has also allowed the group of nobles to continue to expand over the long history. These people are the so-called "old nobles".

During Vladimir's reign, with the development of Originium industry and the prosperity of nomadic cities, new blood began to enter the aristocratic class. The emperor formulated "combat policies" for industrial development and called industrial producers "industrial soldiers", and their military achievements were measured by the amount of output of their enterprises. Wealthy people with non-military backgrounds could be promoted to the "industrial aristocracy", or the "new aristocracy", by paying huge taxes.

What’s interesting is that although there are constant conflicts between nobles, the distinction between millitary nobles and industrial aristocrats, old nobles and new nobles is not so clear. The inheritance of military merit does not provide for stability of one's fiefdom. Under this premise, many old nobles began their "investment" after the "Great Rebellion" — opening mines and refineries in the name of the army group. Meanwhile, new aristocratic families are also keen on allowing young adults to join the army and enhance their status in the aristocratic class by serving the emperor.

Legal system

The Ursus Empire has a very strict military law, and it may be the only law that is strictly enforced in Ursus. Those who win the battles will naturally receive generous rewards, but correspondingly, those who violate military laws and regulations will also be severely punished. "Capital punishment" is a sentenced feared most by officers of all levels, even royal princes and nobles. Sometimes it can punish prisoners without actually executing it - some offenders choose suicide out of fear before the official judgment of the military court. The deterrent effect of Ursus' military law relies on the coercive power of the military. Military courts are all presided over by military officers and nobles. Therefore, most of the time, the so-called "Capital punishment" is nothing more than orders from superior officers.

In addition to military law, the Ursus Empire, which seems to be rampant in force, actually has a complete general legal system, with legislative, judicial, and law enforcement agencies. Each governorate and each nomadic city has its own parliament, courts, and military and police departments. However, this series of legal institutions does not enjoy a fully independent status and is therefore closely related to the bureaucratic administrative agencies. In addition to the aristocratic bureaucrats, the emperor himself also has the right to directly intervene in any aspect of the operation of the legal system at all levels, and could even directly issue judgments as the supreme ruler in the form of edicts. However, examples of the emperor's direct intervention in the judiciary are relatively rare. They mostly occur in situations such as coordinating disputes between noble factions or issuing emperor's amnesty orders.

Economy of Ursus

The military industry is undoubtedly the most important pillar of Ursus economy. Its arms industry and millitary technologies are among the top of the Terran countries. During the reign of the late emperor, Ursus industrialised with a war-like attitude and frantically created various parts for the war machine of Ursus. Most major cities were transformed into industrial bases lined with factories. These factories either received investment from the old nobles, or their owners were later granted the title of new nobles, and were basically owned by noble families. There are also differences in the scale of industrialization development among governorates and nomadic cities. Among them, the capital of the empire, Diety Grypherburg, is the most important industrial center of the empire, followed by cities in the eastern governorates, while the west parts of the empire develop the slowest.

In addition to the military industry, Originium mining and metallurgy, two closely related industries, are also very developed in Ursus. The vast land of Ursus contains rich mineral resources, but most of them are concentrated in the western region with harsh environment and adjacent to Kazimierz and Sami. This area is firmly controlled by the army group, and the mining rights are also owned by the Army Group. The hard laborers who were assigned to the northwest mines work day and night in the ice and snow. Every day they face the dark originium ore and dark clouds of originium dust. Fruits of their labor are continiusly transported to the heart of the empire.

Culture and demography

The Ursus Empire currently has a population of about 80 million, mainly concentrated in the central region with flat terrain, relatively warm climate. The regional environmental differences and regional development differences in Ursus are particularly obvious in the population distribution: the Deity Grypherburg and the urban agglomeration surrounding it have a population of nearly ten million, while the entire population of the northwest tundra is only around million. Miners, as well as garrisons of army groups live there.

In addition to the Ursus, who make up the majority, other ethnic groups are also an important part of the empire's population. In Emperor Vladimir's time, he defied public opinion and hired a large number of foreign talents, and even made the outstanding ones among them nobles. The continuous operation of the engine of war has resulted in a long-term state of relative scarcity of manpower and resources, which requires the ruler of the empire to wisely make all races living on this land available equal. Vladimir's tolerance has gained a surge of enthusiasm in the country, and Ursus citizens of different races all proudly call Ursus their motherland.

Although the image of Ursus people being alcoholic is quite common, it is far from representing the full picture of Ursus culture. Various forms of art such as literature, music, dance, and drama are very prosperous in Ursus, and all classes of society have a strong sense of pride in their country's art. In the era of the late Emperor Vladimir, in order to cooperate with the imperial military expansion policy, a large number of dance, drama and literary works were created that showed the uprising of Emperor Igor the Great. The trend of re-interpreting war myths once drove out realist artistic creation. stage. In recent years, relations between Ursus and neighboring countries have improved. Foreign cultures from Columbia, Kazimierz and other countries have had a profound impact on the younger generation of Ursus. Rock music records and videos of knight competitions are especially popular among Ursus.

Conclusion: Life on crossroads

Vladimir Ivanovich, the late Emperor of Ursus, once said: "Ursus is an extension of my hands." Under the dark gray clouds like lead, between the cold and biting snow, Ursus war machine casts a dark shadow and stands silently in the north of the Terra. Thick, hot blood oozes from its impregnable deck after thousands of years of hard fighting. Now this huge war machine finally stopped its pace of crushing everything at the crossroads of history and began to lick its own bleeding wounds. The will of Terra can only temporarily silence Ursus. Who will be in charge of this cold, sharp-edged empire, and where will it point? Extension of whose hands is today's Ursus?

Kal'tsit notes: Yurodivye and Empreror Blades

In Ursus culture, there is a tradition of respecting the Yurodivy or the "Holy Fool". The Ursus call those who appear crazy in daily life but can often express their deep feelings about things as Yurodivy. There is a concept in the Ursus tradition that the greatest part of human nature is the ability to persist in deep love for mankind despite suffering, and the crazy behavior of the Yurodivy is considered to challenge others' love for others in a disgusting way. Human love, their wisdom and perfection transcend worldly limitations.

Archives: Founding of Ursus

In the 16th year of the Terran Calendar, the mighty army of Nightzmora Khan had already left Diety Grypherburg, but the painful groans still echoed in this suffering city. The Hippogryph nobles who were completely defeated in the war implemented a more brutal rule on Ursus, and more farmers and workers were forcibly recruited to the mountainhomes to participate in the reconstruction work. Tent towns appeared outside the damaged city walls, filled with masons, carpenters, construction workers and porters who could not leave until the city is rebuilt. About two hundred thousand farmers and soldiers were forced to participate in this extravagant reconstruction, spending their lives transporting logs from the Leithanien forests to make luxurious furniture and carrying fine stones from Victoria for building materials in the wilderness. The nobles hoped to use new Diety Grypherburg to demonstrate the rebirth of the Hippogryph Kingdom, and they were determined to recover from the pain of the past at all costs, even if it costs the lives of countless Ursus.

Many laborers died in the process, and Ursus' anger grew in resentment. The conflict finally broke out two years later in the year of 18. A group of Ursus slave laborers killed the Hippogryph overseer and occupied the tower under construction in a square in the holy mountainhome. The hard work rebuilding the city, made them miss the harvest time and made it difficult for the families of these Ursus laborers to survive the following winter. The thirty soldiers who were sent to retake the tower defected on the spot. In just a few hours, these traitors became a small rebel army of sixty or seventy people. At the same time, the army building the palace at Diety Grypherburg was temporarily transferred to the tower to counter the insurgency. The leader of this army was Igor, who showed his outstanding millitary prowess against the Nightzmora a few years ago and was known as the "First Warrior" . It was already afternoon when Igor came to the square with the soldiers who were urgently putting on their equipment. The traitors were relying on defense provided by towers to confront the troops outside. More and more workers took advantage of the chaos and abandoned their workplaces. At this point, the streets outside the square were blocked by onlookers. Ursus worker, the leader, loudly stated to the crowd standing on the top of the tower, that the slavery and pain he had suffered over the years shall come to the end. This had further aggrivated the crowd.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Igor took off his equipment, ordered his men to clear the square outside the tower, and allow no one to approach, and then went to the tower alone. The soldiers in the tower recognized the Ursus hero, opened the door to welcome him in, and closed the heavy door after he entered. After Igor entered the tower, the unfinished building fell into silence, and no sounds of quarreling or fighting came from it. As time passed, the onlookers became noisy again, and people began to rush against the wall of soldiers, eager to get to the tower to witness what the Ursus hero did to his countrymen. Just when the soldiers were about to lose control of the crowd's commotion, the door of the tower slowly opened, and a tall figure appeared from the middle. Igor walked out slowly and walked towards the square silently without saying a word. Behind him was a pile of corpses. The people fell silent, and the silent heroes, silent armies, and silent crowds gradually dispersed, returning once again to painful slavery. Igor left the square with a calm face, but according to the witnesses who later followed him in the uprising, he cried for a long time during that night.

According to the official records left by the Kingdom of Hippogryph, Igor, an Ursus officer who was loyal to Hippogryphs, raised his sword and killed more than sixty shameless traitors. But the more credible version is that Igor convinced his compatriots to commit suicide. We still don’t know exactly what Igor said to his poor Ursus brothers. Maybe it made them believe that Ursus was not strong enough to challenge the Hippogryphs at that time, or maybe it made them believe that they would eventually lose. The endless suffering on Ursus may have promised them a bright future. But we will see Igor’s determination in the rest of his story.

After seeing how Igor treated Ursus, the Hippogryph rulers became more convinced of his loyalty to the kingdom and relied more on him. As a result, Igor's military rank rose. By year 25, this war hero had reached the rank of colonel. Although he was not the highest ranking officer in the army, everyone knew that this highly respected officer was the one who could truly mobilize all the soldiers. In the winter of 27, Igor who was highly regarded by the Hippogryph nobles led Ursus to launch an uprising that swept the entire Hippogryph Kingdom. Over the years, he has been secretly contacting the army and people across the kingdom to prepare for this massive war. The time for revenge has finally arrived.

In the next three years, Igor's rebel army launched a difficult war on exhaustion with the Hippogryphs. More and more Ursus joined the war to overthrow the Hippogryph rulers, and even some Hippogryph nobles chose to stand on the same side as the rebels. The war and the famine that followed claimed many lives, but the ruthless land would eventually witness the birth of a victor. In year 31, the rebel army achieved victory. As a symbol of political reconciliation, the former capital of the Hippogryph Kingdom, Holy Castle, was retained by Ursus and the Hippogryph coalition. In the same year, Igor was crowned there, and the Ursus Empire replaced the Hippogryph Kingdom and became an important force that couldn't be ignored.

Chernobog

Nearly three years have passed since the sensational Chernobog-Lungmen crisis, but the expected war has not broken out. After suffering such a disaster, this former industrial town still managed to survive. Chernobog and the people who live here may represent a certain truth about Terra: that suffering on this land will continue to repeat itself, but life will always find the way.

Age of Prosperity

I once visited Chernobog when it was in its prime.

At that time, Chernobog had more than thirty nomadic platforms and could be regarded as one of the few giant nomadic cities in the Ursus wasteland. There were many high-rise buildings throughout the city, and industrial facilities everywhere. Vehicles powered by Originium were driving on the streets, and most of them were piled with various industrial raw materials and products. When the vehicle drew past you, you could not only feel the deafening roar of the machine, but also smell the various industrial smells. Both sides of the street were filled with various Originium wastes.

The black color that symbolizes the Originium Industry did not completely overwhelm Chernobog. It happened to be the short summer in Ursus at that time, and it was almost lunch time. Most of the girls who had just finished school were wearing short skirts, making them the most lovely scenery on the street. They flocked to record stores and bookstores near the school, chatting about the latest rock music and novels.

In a restaurant known as the most Ursussian, a Leithanien businessman who had drunk too much was fighting passionately with Columbian investor, because the latter made rude remarks about the Witch King during the dinner. After everyone separated the two, the Iberian musicians continued playing the cheerful barcarolle of their homeland.

At that time, people of Chernobog were prosperous.

Of course, the infected were not among them. Outside the city, a checkpoint guarded by Ursus military police would strictly check the identity and health of every person entering the city. Once an infected person was discovered, he would be sent to the noble territory where the garrison was stationed, and then be assigned different labor jobs according to the actual situation until the end of his life.

Sarcophagus

Looking back at the development history of the entire city of Chernobog, we can say that this city is actually the product of the new nobles within Ursus that continued to rebel against the imperial military tradition after the rise of Originium Industry.

Around year 1070, the industrial noble Boris unearthed a "sarcophagus" near the mining town of Chernobog. At that time, Boris's group relied on the mines and refineries controlled by the Ursus military. The capabilities of the "sarcophagus" gave Boris the idea of getting rid of the military control. Thanks to Boris's efforts, it was discovered that the "Sarcophagus" could stably output considerable energy without the need for Originium.

It happened that the armies that were accustomed to making profits in war suffered a disastrous defeat at the Blood Peak Campaign in 1072, and the system of distribution of spoils of war was broken. The subsequent "Great Rebellion" also proved that the Ursus armies tightened their control over internal resources. At that time, they tried to drive the current Ursus Emperor Feodor out of the capital and elect someone who would continue the tradition of giving resources and land to army.

Under such a situation, Chernobog, with its magical "sarcophagus", naturally became an alluring target for rebelling armies. The Ursus Fourth Army took the lead and forcibly entered Chernobog in an attempt to seize the use value of the "sarcophagus", but ultimately failed.

This incident did not hinder Chernobog's development. The "sarcophagus" provided extremely low-cost energy, and the city prospered as a result, and continued being in the sights of different armies. Boris was at odds with the Third Army, which controlled the Gregorian Refinery, over the issue of raw material pricing. He also rejected requests from various armies to station themselves in Chernobog.

In order to protect Chernobog from external interference, Boris appointed himself mayor. The City Council was formed by Boris at the request of the Imperial Parliament. But it only had a nominal status. In essence, it was a tool for Boris to share power and consolidate relationships with his collaborators.

Boris did not realize that what he was doing was challenging a force that even Ursus Emperor Feodor was wary of. The "sarcophagus" brought economy and energy, and the "parliament" brought order. However, none of the above could give him the weapons to protect himself when facing the group army.

Aftermath of Chernobog-Lungmen Crisis

Half a year after the Chernobog-Lungmen crisis, Ursus and Yan reached a final agreement. In this agreement, Ursus needs to compensate Yan for part of the economic losses caused by this incident, and Yan will deduct part of it and return it to Ursus for the reconstruction of Chernobog. It is said that the agreement was passed in a vote by the Imperial Parliament under the strong promotion of the Ursus Emperor Fyodor.

According to this agreement, Ursus rebuilt a small mobile city of Chernobog in the original area to accommodate the survivors of the incident. Chernobog was transformed from a city into a municipal district, with the district council as its highest administrative body and under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor. The emperor himself appointed a commissioner to act as an observer, so Chernobog was now theoretically free from any influence from the local nobility.

After experiencing a natural disaster, the vast majority of Chernobog residents were became infected, so this move actually violated the Ursus Empire's long-standing strict policy on infected people. However, the establishment of the direct Imperial control was by no means without opposition. Therefore, it was tightly surrounded by the Ursus Empire Army Group to prevent the infected from fleeing on a large scale.

Today, there are only a dozen plates left in Chernobog. The buildings are submerged in black and gray originium dust. The outside of the city is covered with checkpoints, barbed wire and Originium searchlights. The original external checkpoints were used in reverse, because the military and police wanted to ensure that no infected person could freely leave the city.

For the convenience of management, the gate of Chernobog is only open during the day and is closed during night. Most of the street shops still sell Originium related products, and the original relaxed atmosphere has completely disappeared. The streets are mostly filled with infected people and visiting businessmen. The busiest places are the infected clinics and supply points, because the former is one of the few institutions that can provide comfort to the infected, while the latter is a special institution that distributes pensions to infected people in the city in the name of the emperor.

However, there are also many infected people who have escaped from elsewhere in Ursus in the city. After all, it's better to live here than in mines. There are even some desperate ordinary people who choose to live here. Since the Ursus military on duty outside the city did not want to be trapped in the city where infected people gathered, and no one in the political circles of the Ursus Empire was willing to be the real leader of the city, many of the members of the district council were local infections. As for the nominal parliamentary secretary, he is only a temporary member of the Imperial Parliament.

The future of Chernobog

The Chernobog-Lungmen crisis was but a small opening in the growing pressure on the Ursus Empire. The city grew up in the struggle against the army, but still had to pay its price for the win. After the final agreement was signed, Chernobog became the first step to break Ursus's consistent attitude towards the infected.

It's hard to say where Chernobog's future lies.

After the "sarcophagus" was recovered, Chernobog had lost its charm, and became like most cold, depressing towns in Ursus. But Chernobog is still special. It has the protection of the current Emperor Ursus, and the vast majority of people in the city are infected. As for whether those group armies are defending the city or surrounding the city, there is still a question mark.