Recaps

Victor and Alex drew the Xister Kingdom’s invasion force deep into Vela territory and trapped its main army around Vorka City, where the Two Rivers Legion held out under siege. As the Xister forces reinforced the encirclement, Alex and Victor prepared a decisive counterattack and a naval strike, while the defenders braced for another assault on the inner city.

• Victor and Vela’s nobles restored trade in the occupied territories, countered East Sea Alliance rumors, and warned Raine leaders that civil war might be approaching.
• Xister forces landed with a large army and fleet, prompting Alex and Victor to abandon Vela’s coastal counties and draw the invaders inland while Raine pinned down the East Sea Alliance.
• Victor led the Two Rivers Legion through a mountain route to capture Vorka City, then held it against repeated Xister attacks as allied forces encircled the enemy’s main army.
• The Two Rivers Legion repelled assaults on Vorka City, while Alex reorganized the allied offensive and Vela and Raine troops broke through mountain passes into the Xister Kingdom’s flanks.
• Marquis Kayo arranged for arrows to be fired over Vorka City’s walls to supply the encircled troops, but Victor’s artillery devastated the archers when they tried again.
• Count Valbi refused to send East Sea Alliance forces to help the Xister Kingdom, and Alex and Victor used the Xister army’s effort to reopen a supply route to draw more troops into the encirclement.
• Alex and Victor planned to annihilate the Xister seaborne invasion force while the allied army prepared a final assault on the encircled troops.
• Prince Yonicha sent four more legions to besiege Vorka City’s inner walls, where Two Rivers Legion veterans rallied shaken recruits for the attack.

Alex and the Vela Army helped defeat the Xister Kingdom, then joined the Raine Kingdom in breaking the East Sea Alliance’s defenses and capturing Stone Mountain City. The Alliance fractured into civil war, and Victor proposed using naval guns to break the fortified noble armies.

• Blox brought Sodoma high-explosive shells, supplies, and improved fuel, and the Vela Navy defeated an Xister supply fleet before a storm stranded the opposing fleets and cut off Xister reinforcements.
• Victor’s Two Rivers Legion reclaimed Vorka City and captured tens of thousands of Xister troops, while Alex negotiated the surrender of Prince Yonitsa’s encircled army and secured the handover of Xister ships.
• Alex joined Earl Stanley’s campaign against Stone Mountain City, where the Raine–Vela Allied Army drew in East Sea Alliance reserves and battered the city’s defenses.
• Victor let an uprising spread in the East Sea Alliance’s occupied territories, and Alex used the apparent Vela withdrawal to lure Earl Valbi’s troops out of Stone Mountain City, where Vela forces defeated them.
• Santos led the assault on Stone Mountain City’s walls, and Alex’s transformed soldiers overcame the defenders and captured the city and nearly two hundred thousand prisoners.
• The Allied Army broke through the East Sea Alliance’s defensive line, captured the northern Red River Plain, and helped trigger a civil war between surrendering and diehard nobles.
• Earl Stanley sent the Allied Army to suppress the civil war, but fortified noble armies resisted and threatened its supply lines, prompting Victor to propose using naval guns against them.

Victor secured a dukedom through a technology exchange, then led the Vela Army to help Duke Barick defeat the Central City-State Alliance and withdraw the kingdom’s forces. After Barick gained the succession, Victor arranged for a thousand Vela noble scions to serve in his guard, where they arrived in Golden Tree City and faced resistance from the existing commanders.

• Victor agreed to transfer Raine access to Two Rivers County’s technology under limited terms, and Carol I promoted him to Duke Golden Sunflower in 1673.
• After Carol I died and the kingdom’s position at the front weakened, Victor brought the Vela Army to support Duke Barick and Marquis Stanley.
• Victor withdrew the Vela Army to prepared defenses, then launched a dawn counterattack that broke the Central City-State Alliance’s lines and captured more than two hundred thousand prisoners.
• Duke Barick negotiated an armistice, withdrew most of the kingdom’s forces, and secured an agreement limiting the armies stationed along the new border.
• Duke Barick overcame Noble Faction opposition to his succession and accepted Victor’s proposal to recruit Vela noble scions as his guards.
• Alex selected one thousand young Vela nobles for service, and Victor arranged for them to travel to Golden Tree City and join the Imperial Guard.
• Brando and the Vela nobles repaired their dilapidated camp, while Moro questioned the order to make them the Third Legion’s cavalry.
• Victor brought food and wine to welcome the Vela troops, instructed their officers to prepare for the king’s inspection, and left Moro fearing that Victor would expose his obstruction.

Victor helped secure the Imperial Guard’s transition under Balek I, returned to Vela, and oversaw the territory’s growth while responding to espionage and preparing for conflict with the Faith Order. The arc left Victor angered by a loan shark’s abuse as Bobok and Boyang began a special operation.

• Moro and the Imperial Guard commanders worried about the legions’ future, while Victor offered jobs in Vela to officers who might be dismissed.
• Duke Barick selected the Vela Noble cavalry for his coronation parade, and Count Capofeli gave Count Lewis evidence about a traitor.
• Duke Barick was crowned Balek I, who formed a new cabinet, expanded military and industrial plans, and created a new Imperial Guard cavalry legion.
• Victor returned to Vela, discussed land resettlement and development with Alex, and traveled home as the territory continued expanding.
• The Xister Kingdom’s spies stole steam-engine blueprints, and Victor declined retaliation while lifting restrictions on sales of older engines.
• Victor organized an expedition to survey the volcanic northlands, while his officials reported rising population, trade, education, farming, and infrastructure.
• The expedition returned with sulfur ore and surveys, and Victor ordered preparations for a spring attack on Faith Order Headquarters as intelligence tracked its contacts and the arrival of a battered Barbarian tribe.
• Victor overheard that Scarface’s high-interest loans had cost Old Ryan his home and left him injured, while Bobok and Boyang met at the South City Branch Bureau before a special operation.