Kingdom of Lucian

Biodata

History

Founding and Expansion

The kingdom’s predecessor, the Duchy of Luxian, was a vassal of the Kingdom of Yating. According to Lawson, the discovery of a large turquoise vein greatly increased the duchy’s number and strength of professionals, enabling it to overthrow its overlord. Historical records date the war’s beginning to solar year 1225 and describe a nine-year conflict ending with the destruction of Yating’s royal family and Luxian’s elevation to a kingdom 30 34.

During Lucian’s expansion, the Will Family aligned itself with the kingdom and received a ducal title to administer newly occupied territory. The first Duke Will secured his position through an agreement preserving the interests and independence of the region’s seven other great professional families 32.

By solar year 1538, Lucian and Tyrande were the western continent’s two remaining great kingdoms, alongside seven independent duchies. Lucian itself ruled three subordinate duchies and eight provinces 20 34.

The Rai Territory Turquoise Vein

Lister Merick, Quint Will, and Count Connor’s faction discovered a turquoise vein large enough to threaten the regional balance of power. Recognizing that keeping it would make them enemies of the kingdom, they agreed to surrender it to the royal family in exchange for rewards. Lister became their representative because Quint could not safely bypass Duke Will, while Count Connor wished to avoid closer royal involvement 30 31 32.

In Bode, Lister secured an audience through Sixth Prince Carven. Hughes ordered an investigation into the vein and approved Lister’s proposal to travel to the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty as Lucian’s representative 38 39 40.

King Kerry subsequently made Lister a count for life and appointed him diplomat responsible for relations with Great Chu. His rewards included a capital residence, a small purple-gold mine, ten percent of the turquoise mine’s annual proceeds, equipment, and potions. The public justification for his ennoblement credited his extermination of fourth-tier cyclopes; the turquoise arrangement remained undisclosed 41 43.

War of Unification and the Empire

Hughes succeeded Kerry while Lister was away on his mission to Great Chu. After Lister returned with a Great Chu delegation and reported that the dynasty surpassed the kingdom in territory, population, and military strength, Hughes decided to accelerate his plans for unification. Rather than first attacking the Duchy of Hyde, he prepared to declare war directly on Tyrande 79 80.

In solar year 1539, the second act opened with Hughes preparing a war of unification. Lucian declared war on Tyrande a week after the act began. Tyrande’s forces proved inferior overall, although the seven independent duchies formed a coalition to support it. After more than half a year of fighting, Lucian’s nobles were increasingly eager to contribute forces and earn merit 86 89.

The kingdom subsequently became the Lucian Empire, completing the main quest concerning its rise. In solar year 1540, friction between the new empire and Great Chu developed into another war; half a year after Lister received Parik Province, that war had intensified. The two powers later abandoned plans to continue their decisive war as they encountered life-forms from other civilizations 103 108 111 203.

Geography and Territory

The three subordinate duchies and eight provinces each had a central administrative city, giving the kingdom eleven main cities. During the second act, players could appear in Bode or other major cities within Lucian 86 87.

Government and Nobility

Royal Authority

• King Kerry retained control of the army, but relinquished the kingdom’s other governing powers to Hughes two years before Lister’s arrival in Bode. His advanced age and declining attributes contributed to this withdrawal 35 39.
• First Prince Hughes Lucian was the clear successor and one of the kingdom’s twelve chief day-to-day administrators. He handled the turquoise negotiations and authorized the Great Chu mission, then succeeded to the throne and led the kingdom’s unification campaign 35 39 40 79 80.
• The central administration includes the Central General Office and Central Finance Bureau. A clerk from the former handles Lister’s residence and rewards after his investiture 41.
• Imperial administration: Under the empire, the outer imperial palace also serves as the council hall where the twelve consuls normally work 111.

Noble Titles

• Life peerages: Lister’s original countship applied only to him and was not hereditary, but admitted him to the kingdom’s highest noble circles 41.
• Capital residences: Nobles other than hereditary nobles with fiefs receive housing in Bode. The Central Finance Bureau funded construction, while Hughes paid for the interiors twenty years earlier 41.
• Separate subordinate hierarchies: Titles granted by the Duchy of Will are not recognized as kingdom titles. Lister’s direct allegiance to Lucian leads to the revocation of his family’s ducal noble status and privileges 43.
• Foreign titles: Multiple titles are recognized among Lucian, Tyrande, and the seven independent duchies. Countess Yalan holds countships in both kingdoms 43.
• Lister’s later titles: Hughes converted Lister’s life earldom into a hereditary earldom after his diplomatic mission. Under the empire, Lister became Grand Duke Merrick and received the former Parik Province as a new duchy, the first such grant since the kingdom’s founding 80 111.

The Duchy of Will’s Seven Great Families

• The founding agreement allows the seven families to preserve privileges while avoiding obligations such as foreign wars and royal summons. The Will Family instead relies on newly recruited professionals and newer nobles 32.
• Hughes openly dislikes their semi-independent position. Count Connor avoids royal contact because greater scrutiny could endanger his family’s continued independence 32 40.
• Royal recognition protects Lister from further direct attacks by Duke Will, although his new kingdom title also gives the duke grounds to remove the Merick Family’s local privileges 42 43.
• Will II’s death sparked open conflict between the duchy and the Seven Great Families. Lister helped Quint by killing Morey and the other four opposing heirs, but declined the ducal title himself 83 85.
• Lucian demanded 2,000 Class Holders from the duchy for its war. Lister warned that Quint’s succession and the families’ recognition still depended on satisfying the kingdom; Count Connor agreed to persuade the families to contribute 85.

Technology and Education

Steam and Alchemy

• Steam-age capital: Bode’s streets resound with steam engines, contrasting with the more conventionally medieval Duchy of Will 35.
• Carven Dill’s inventions: Carven improved the kingdom’s steam engines and invented steam cars, alchemical equipment, and the university’s communication stones. The steam-train business also belongs to him 38.
• Inherited technology: Lucian and Great Chu both developed from the First Era’s alchemical civilization and retain technologies such as alchemical firearms 48.
• Mechanical information systems: University staff use a mechanical crystal to search records, while visitors receive communication stones usable within the campus 36.

Lucian Professionals’ University

• Origins: Began as Lucian Public School, educating noble children and members of high-ranking professional families before they pledged loyalty to the state 36.
• Admission reform: Expanded recruitment to talented applicants regardless of birth as the country’s military and administrative demand for professionals grew 36.
• Current intake: Primarily admits commoners with professional aptitude; exceptional students can receive scholarships and royal student loans 36.
• National importance: The developed professional-education system distinguishes Lucian’s cities from the Duchy of Will and contributes to its later capacity for conquest 36 42.

Resources and Alchemical Products

Turquoise

• A large turquoise deposit was instrumental in the rise of the Duchy of Luxian and the founding of the kingdom 30.
• Centuries of control over turquoise allowed Lucian to develop potent attribute-enhancing preparations 41.
• The Rai Territory deposit is strategically important because it could rapidly strengthen the professionals of any faction controlling it 30 38.
• Lucian’s turquoise mines contributed to its advantage in cultivating Class Holders over Tyrande. The special stock solution was unavailable for purchase in Bode and could be obtained through royal rewards or military merits 80 89.

Military and Royal Guards

Royal Guard System

• King Kerry established personal guards for his heirs. Most heirs actively developed these forces as both protection and support for taking control of future fiefs 42.
• The Sixth Guard, assigned to Carven, originally contained nearly one hundred professionals. His neglect and loss of succession rights reduced it to ten members, and Hughes considered disbanding it 42.
• Under Lister’s initial command, the Sixth Guard consisted of one third-tier leader and nine second-tier professionals. Although marginal within Lucian, it was a respectable force in Will City, and attacking it would mean attacking a royal-approved unit 42.
• After Lister’s return from Great Chu, Hughes offered to expand the Sixth Guard and make him general of the Sixth Army, but Lister declined to join the campaign. The guard was later renamed the Kingdom Lion Army, with its former captain Rolf promoted to deputy commander 80 91.

Notable Royal Combatants

Foreign Relations

• Kingdom of Tyrande — Initially maintained peace with Lucian through reciprocal royal hostages. Lucian’s fifth prince resided in Tyrande, while a Tyrande prince lived and studied in Lucian. Hughes later declared war on Tyrande as part of his unification campaign 35 89.
• Great Chu Imperial Dynasty — Initially known to Hughes through Lister’s report of a travel journal. Lister was instructed to extend goodwill, record information about the country, and identify useful resources 40.
• First diplomatic mission — Lister departed through the Lost Land with the Sixth Guard and identified himself in Jiangling Prefecture as a Lucian count and envoy seeking diplomatic relations. He later met the Yongping Emperor and described Lucian and the western continent 43 47 58.
• Great Chu delegation — The Yongping Emperor sought to hasten Lister’s return to Lucian. After Lister killed General Yu and the Duke of Wei in the resulting confrontation, the emperor ordered the Duke of Zhen to follow him and seek an opportunity to kill him in Lucian. A delegation accompanied Lister back, and Hughes received Duke Zhenguo in Bode 64 65 70 72 79.
• Imperial war — Relations between the newly formed Lucian Empire and Great Chu deteriorated into war. Both later abandoned plans to continue their decisive conflict after contact with other civilizations 108 111 203.

Role in *Divine Revelation*

The following table describes developments from Lister’s memories of the game rather than events already completed at the time of his initial arrival.

• Lister remembers Lucian becoming an empire by annexing Tyrande and the independent duchies, with Hughes eventually ascending the throne 34 35.
• He recalls the empire’s establishment around solar year 1562, but is uncertain about the precise timing of the second act’s opening 34.
• The game-era ruler he remembers is Lucian IV, whereas the history book he first reads names Lucian II as the current monarch. This discrepancy helps him realize he has arrived before the familiar expansion timeline 2.
• In the current storyline, Act Two begins in solar year 1539, more than twenty years earlier than the war Lister remembers. Players can spawn in Bode and other major Lucian cities, and the act’s main quest calls on Class Holders to contribute to the empire’s rise 86 87.
• Act Two ends after Lucian becomes an empire. Act Three opens in solar year 1540, requiring players to choose permanently between the Lucian Empire and Great Chu 103 108.