Goth

Biodata

History

Maritime Prosperity and Decline

Goth’s history includes fifteen great wars and the opening of a major sea route credited with making the country wealthy and powerful. During its trade with Cathay, overseas merchants settled in Distant Harbor and established lasting families 230 569.

That prosperity declined as Cathay’s internal troubles disrupted trade, Twilight Moon restricted maritime commerce, and the Broken Isles attracted business away from Goth. Distant Harbor’s abandoned docks and districts became centers of poverty and crime, while entrenched interests intensified their exploitation of the remaining trade 516 740.

Grand Duke Reknos secretly organized a fleet to reopen the maritime Silk Road and import cheaper Cathayan spices, silk, and other goods. This threatened the elves’ trade monopoly and became a decisive, undeclared reason for their invasion 18.

Goth–Moon War

The Dusk Moon Dynasty blockaded Goth’s coast and used overseas islands to launch amphibious attacks from multiple directions. Fighting spread across the provinces, preventing them from effectively reinforcing one another. The blockade and devastation of farmland compounded Goth’s military difficulties 56 288.

Despite sustained resistance by nobles, soldiers, and civilians, Goth could not match the invaders’ equipment, training, or resources. The expedition represented only a limited commitment of the elves’ national strength. Meanwhile, Goth’s weakened authorities struggled to contain bandits, mercenaries, and slave-catching groups exploiting the invasion 137 288 359 400.

The Holy Empire withheld meaningful aid and secretly reached an understanding with an elven faction. Imperial prince Alex also directed the attack on Goth’s delegation at Glittering Sand, attempting to cut off its appeal for assistance 644 652.

Tina’s Campaign for Aid

After escaping the Glittering Sand Incident, Princess Tina abandoned her journey to the imperial capital. Under Sword Saint Cascading Snow’s protection, she traveled through the northern Empire, exposed imperial betrayal, recruited volunteers, raised an army, and solicited nobles and merchants 120 288 644.

Her fundraising scheme attracted substantial investment but depended on later participants’ payments, creating the risk of a disastrous collapse. News of Kang De’s victories subsequently drove the investments and surrounding speculation into a frenzy 152 288.

Valentan and Danfeng Lucerne

At Valentan, Mayor Nick mobilized the city’s organizations and threatened punishment for betrayal. Kang De fought for Goth but refused Nick’s request to exploit the orcs’ trust and draw them into the war 147 190.

After the battle, Kang De’s Valentan Speech honored Nick and the defenders while rejecting the idea that Goth owed its survival to him alone. He called on its people to defend their country through fighting, farming, and other work. The speech spread throughout Goth and across the continent 230 231.

Kang De’s subsequent intervention overturned the military situation. At Danfeng Lucerne, he and Horus supported Goth’s counterattack, allowing its soldiers to retake the breached wall. Goth survived and stopped the war, but its national strength had been severely depleted 385 388.

Fragile Peace

Victory did not remove Goth’s vulnerability. Its international standing and deterrence depended heavily on Kang De’s continued goodwill, while hostility with the elves and the Empire persisted 388 402.

Goth’s army turned to suppressing the bandits and raiders who had preyed on civilians during the invasion. Nevertheless, an infiltrator already hidden in Maple Leaf Palace carried out an attack that seriously damaged Horus, exposing weaknesses in palace security 400 412 416.

When a dragon delegation disappeared inside Goth, Dragon Island threatened unilateral intervention. Reknos temporarily authorized Kang De to speak for the country. Kang De asserted Goth’s sovereignty over its airspace and warned that unauthorized dragon entry would be treated as hostile 487 488.

Paradox Element Crisis

The discovery of mysterious energy beneath Azure Waves Province brought renewed pressure from foreign powers. The Empire and Arcane Council demanded cooperation, fleets approached Goth’s waters, and foreign interests encouraged domestic rumors against Kang De 514 536 539.

Tina advocated national self-strengthening rather than submission, but many court figures preferred accommodation with stronger countries. After defeating the foreign fleets, Kang De confronted the envoys and Goth’s nobles, declared Valentan his, and denied the court any benefit from the Paradox Element. He then announced plans to transform Goth and weaken or destroy its noble class 538 549 550 551.

Rift with the Court

During the sea-monster crisis, the Holy Emperor demanded control over Goth’s military and diplomacy, sixty percent of its annual tax revenue, annual troop contributions, trade privileges, a royal marriage, and a share of the underground discoveries. Kang De rejected the proposals, but Reknos insisted that Goth would not follow him into another war 644 646.

Their dispute widened over Kang De’s treatment of nobles, territorial control, and changes to the traditional hierarchy. Kang De eventually demanded that Reknos support his preparations against Star Palace or yield the throne to Tina. The court instead renewed cooperation between Reknos and Prime Minister Xide and began consolidating noble support 646 795 811.

Griffin’s Invasion

When Griffin accused Kang De of the Tower of All-Seeing massacre, Reknos publicly defended Goth’s benefactor while calling for restraint. Griffin nevertheless invaded and promised to spare cities that abandoned Taidariel rule, offering ambitious nobles recognition and foreign support 845.

Kang De ordered his administration to prepare for a takeover of Goth’s government rather than trust the court’s declarations. The ensuing campaign reached a three-day stalemate, with Griffin’s Deceleration Field limiting Kang De’s alchemical bombardment 845 868.

Geography and Settlements

Goth has extensive territory, varied terrain, and a long, narrow coastline with numerous natural harbors. Its landscapes include forests, red earth, Gobi terrain, mountains, grasslands, and coastal regions, although much of its land is unsuitable for agriculture 133 516.

Government and Political Factions

Grand Duke and Nobility

• Grand Duke Reknos heads the state, but deeply entangled domestic interests limit his ability to control the nobility 56 422.
• The Taidariel Family possesses substantial inherited prestige. Its reputation and Reknos’s earlier governance help sustain national unity during the elven invasion 182.
• Prime Minister Xide Kailamu commands a political faction and serves in the Privy Council. His hostility toward Kang De is intensified by the death of his son Cleveland 393 811.
• The court includes nobles, spellcasters, military officers, and civil officials. During the Paradox Element crisis, these groups divide over resistance, reform, and accommodation with foreign powers 538.
• Goth’s communications network can be used by officials to relay messages across the country 133.

Kang De and the Shogunate

• Kang De initially holds great prestige but no general authority over Goth’s army, mages, or subjects. Hong San identifies his lack of a formal place in the ruling structure as a major obstacle to cooperation 425.
• Tina proposes an armed force independent of her father and loyal only to herself and Kang De 425.
• Distant Harbor later develops its own ministries, research administration, and expanding alliances under Kang De’s shogunate 795.
• Goth-origin supporters are not politically unified: distinct Goth, Distant Harbor, and Valentan factions emerge 798.
• Kang De’s eventual goal is direct control of Goth so that he can reform the country and mobilize its resources against Star Palace. This remains contested rather than an accomplished succession 795 811 845.

Economy and Trade

• Maritime commerce: Trade with Cathay once supported Goth’s prosperity. Renewing that connection would challenge the elves’ control of valuable imported goods 18 569 740.
• Agriculture: Goth produces grain, fruit, vegetables, and highland cotton, but unsuitable terrain and wartime devastation constrain farming 56 133 216.
• Restricted commerce: Its rulers prohibit slavery, human trafficking, illicit drugs, smuggling, and illegal passage. The Broken Isles gain a competitive advantage by permitting business Goth rejects 516.
• War finance: Tina’s investments and loans bring in foreign support but expose Goth to severe financial and political risks 120 152 550.
• Grain speculation: Kang De hires Dragon Island Defense to lend to speculative nobles for a five-percent commission, then help crash grain prices and seize their assets 574.
• Strategic resources: Tina favors using the newly discovered energy to rebuild national defense and accelerate productive development; control of it becomes a central dispute with both foreign powers and domestic elites 500 536 550.

Military, Magic, and Technology

Conventional Forces

• Goth fields soldiers, cavalry, elite troops, and spellcasters, but its forces are substantially inferior to the elven expedition in equipment, troop quality, and tactical deployment 385.
• Strong walls allow sustained resistance, yet Goth has few effective answers to fast aerial attacks against vulnerable urban targets 380.
• Valentan’s mobilization extends beyond regular troops to civic organizations, militia, and reserves 147.
• At Saint Covelo University, volunteers form a reserve mage corps for support duties. Reknos refuses to order a general mobilization of inexperienced students 383.

Magical Research

• Goth’s spellcasters combine several disciplines, including spatial confinement, telekinetic restraint, holy radiance, and wind magic 456.
• Their response to the Grewind locust swarm uses studied resistance parameters to adapt spell models for wide-area cold and lightning attacks 459 470.
• Enchanted materials available to the ruling class can surpass Earth’s equivalents in particular respects, despite the setting’s lack of a comparable industrial base 388.

Aerial Reconnaissance

• Eye of Lucius hot-air balloons provide elevated observation and coordinated searches 489.
• Enchanted hang-glider mages conduct aerial reconnaissance over difficult terrain 489.
• Neither system is useful during the Goth–Moon War because overwhelming elven superiority would leave it exposed to attack 489.
• The Thermodynamics School considers larger armed airships but lacks adequate funding and research data. Kang De offers designs and technical assistance 489.

Culture

• National identity: Goth’s people share traditions, religious practices, stories, and a memory of earlier national glory. This established identity helps sustain resistance to the invasion 182 216.
• Festivals: Knight Day and the Sun Festival commemorate 157 paladins. Sunflowers are carried through streets and alleys during the Sun Festival 216 230.
• Literature and heroes: Cultural touchstones include Saint Ailang’s long poems, Francis the Adventure King’s voyages, and the virtues attributed to ancient Goth paladins 216.
• Clothing: Tuya robes are woven from white highland cotton 216.
• Religion: The Sun God guides the church, while Captain Oswald invokes the sea god before his final attack at Glittering Sand 89 422.
• Attitudes toward outsiders: Leona warns that an outsider connected to Tina may face suspicion despite his achievements 192.
• Cultural independence: Nick’s defense of Goth explicitly rejects a future in which its children know only elven writing, history, and heroes 216.

Foreign Relations

Notable Quotes

“May the sea god forgive my sins, just this once. The weapons of the Goth People are never pointed at friends.”
— Captain Oswald, before attacking Hannah 89.

“This is our land, our country. We share the same homeland and worship the same gods. We have our own legends, our own stories, and heroes we revere and admire. This is Goth.”
— Nick Valentan 216.