Chapter Summaries

The Moonshadow Queen prepared to leave for the Eternal Forest but chose instead to attack the Giant Empire, using the Sun King’s scrolls to strengthen herself. Charles watched her fly toward the Giants’ capital, where an armored Giant came out to confront her.

• Elendil admired Confluence City’s prosperity as Charles said Verdant Crystal City might someday become just as prosperous.
• The Moonshadow Queen burned the Sun King’s letter and told Felenlos and Kaland Riel to retreat to the Eternal Forest if they could not prevail.
• The Moonshadow Queen equipped herself, took the golden scrolls from the Sun King, and flew toward the Giant Empire.
• Charles recognized the Queen’s radiance and wished to learn what would happen, but the Book of Causal Paths refused to observe her.
• A powerful orc sensed the Moonshadow Queen passing overhead, then returned to his palace to summon female orcs.
• The Moonshadow Queen reached the Giants’ snow-mountain capital, activated the scrolls, and prayed as an armored Giant emerged to challenge her.

Charles returned to Greenshade City, discovered Scorchflame had impregnated the female snakes in his castle, and announced that he had become a hereditary Silverleaf Lord of the Elf Kingdom of Avenor. He left his officials to spread the news and planned celebrations for the citizens and army.

• Charles returned to Greenshade City after leaving the Verdant Crystal Domain and reunited with Scorchflame.
• Charles found that all the female Magic Beast snakes in his castle were pregnant and praised Scorchflame, promising to find him more mates, including drakes from Isata.
• Charles summoned Erika, Molly, Bruce, Yvenjieling, Elias, Charlotte, and Yuna, then announced that he had become a hereditary Silverleaf Lord.
• Charles told Charlotte to announce his new title to the citizens and officials, declaring that he would protect their future as Imril, the Sun Elf.
• Charles ordered an extra month's pay for every soldier and doubled food allowances for three days so the army could celebrate.

Yvenjieling reported on the stabilized occupied territory and revealed that she had captured a human wizard spying on Charles's Armored Knights. Charles went to the dungeon to question the prisoner and was surprised to find she was a woman.

• Yvenjieling reported that the occupied territory had been restored, bandits suppressed, and its army expanded under her command.
• Charles praised Yvenjieling's work and told her to return to the territory after resting.
• Yvenjieling revealed that she had captured a human wizard among the people spying on the Armored Knights.
• Charles dismissed the others and decided to see the prisoner in the castle dungeon.
• Charles found the woman guarded by four Armored Knights and remarked that the prisoner was a woman.

Teresa, sent to investigate Charles’s Armored Knights, was captured after underestimating Yvenjieling and the knights. Charles brought her out of the dungeon, while the Book of Causal Paths revealed that she had tremendous causal power and might have been important in her original fate.

• Teresa arrived in the former Scorched-Earth Warcry Tribe territory and investigated Charles’s forces, weapons, training, and Armored Knights.
• Teresa tried to abduct an Armored Knight, but Yvenjieling and the knights ambushed and captured her and nearly all her subordinates.
• Teresa repeatedly tried to resist in the dungeon and was beaten, then gave up trying to escape under the watch of four Armored Knights.
• Charles visited Teresa and took her out of the dungeon.
• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles that Teresa had tremendous causal power and had been an important figure in her original fate.

Charles interrogated Teresa about why she had approached his military camp and used her capture to pressure her grandfather, Old Tyler, and Blackstone Bastion Settlement. He revealed that he wanted the settlement’s people to become his subjects, leaving Teresa frightened and pleading for peace.

• Charles brought the battered Teresa to the castle garden and questioned her about her origins and purpose.
• Teresa claimed she was only a merchant and offered to surrender her shipment, but Charles said her captured subordinates had already confessed that she came from Blackstone Bastion Settlement.
• Charles accused Teresa of being sent by Old Tyler to learn about his Armored Knights and warned that he could use the alleged spying to attack the settlement.
• Charles revealed that he was the Silverleaf Lord of the Avenor Elven Court and said he wanted the humans of Blackstone Bastion Settlement as subjects who would pay taxes and provide troops.
• Teresa insisted that Old Tyler would not fight Charles and that her people only wanted to live and trade, while Charles threatened to send an envoy to discuss her fate and the settlement’s future.

Charles kept Theresa close and put her to work while planning to expand his territory amid turmoil in the Elven Royal Court. After Theresa’s capture left Tyler fearing for her, Ross returned to Blackstone Bastion Settlement and confronted Tyler about their people’s fate.

• Charles brought Theresa out of her cell, sent word to Ross, and used Theresa to help with experiments and Armored Knight armor.
• Charles planned to annex nearby lands and considered bringing Blackstone Bastion Settlement under his control.
• Tyler learned Theresa had been captured, rejected his assistant’s offer to rescue her, and hoped she would keep the settlement’s identity secret.
• Ross returned to Blackstone Bastion Settlement with his guards and entered the settlement as its people watched him.
• Ross met Tyler on the wall, recalled seeing him there more than twenty years earlier, and asked whether watching over the settlement could change their fate.

Ross brought Tyler to meet Charles and persuade him to discuss Blackstone Bastion Settlement’s future, revealing that Imril had captured Theresa and wanted the settlement. Tyler traveled incognito through Charles’s Domain, observed its strict laws and orderly communities, and arrived outside Greenshade City to watch the Armored Knights train.

• Ross told Tyler that Imril knew about Theresa’s capture and wanted Blackstone Bastion Settlement, then urged Tyler to meet with him.
• Tyler agreed to go with Ross after weighing whether he could defend the settlement from Imril’s forces.
• Disguised as one of Ross’s guards, Tyler passed through Charles’s settlements and saw humans and orcs living and working under strict laws.
• Ross explained to Tyler that the laws protected ordinary residents from bandits and soldiers who might otherwise plunder them.
• Ross brought Tyler to an overlook outside Greenshade City and pointed out the cavalry and infantry camps.
• Tyler watched as more than a hundred Armored Knights rode out with ordinary cavalry to train and charge.

Tyler visited Charles with Ross and saw the strength and prosperity of Charles’s territory, while Ross explained that Charles’s status and ability to repay debts attracted the resources that built it. Charles confronted Tyler over Theresa’s spying and threatened to kill her and conquer Blackstone Bastion Settlement if their negotiations failed, arguing that Tyler’s settlement was vulnerable because it was weak.

• Tyler watched Charles’s Armored Knights and learned from Ross that they were human soldiers equipped with armor made using Ross’s materials.
• Ross led Tyler through Charles’s flourishing city and explained that its peacekeepers were soldiers who had been wounded or failed selection.
• Ross and Tyler waited to meet Charles, while Theresa continued working under Charles’s watch and feared the sleeping third-rank Magic Beast nearby.
• Charles welcomed Ross, accepted his congratulatory gift, and then confronted Tyler about Theresa spying on his military intelligence.
• Charles threatened to kill Theresa and attack Blackstone Bastion Settlement if talks went badly, saying he would target it because it was weak and its manpower would benefit his territory.

Charles pressured Tyler to surrender Blackstone Bastion Settlement peacefully, arguing that it would give its people a future and allow him to build strength before the coming chaos. Tyler remained hesitant, but Ross and Theresa’s accounts of Charles’s rule weakened his resolve.

• Charles urged Tyler to join him and offered to train Theresa, warning that Blackstone Bastion could not grow and would face stronger foes if it ventured beyond its borders.
• Charles demanded that Tyler either hand over Blackstone Bastion Settlement peacefully or face war, then left him time to decide.
• Charles considered how absorbing Blackstone Bastion and the Sons of the Broken Blade would expand his territory, army, resources, and power.
• Tyler asked Theresa about her treatment, and she told him Charles had treated her well and was seriously teaching a human wizard apprentice.
• Ross urged Tyler to surrender, citing the lives humans could build under Charles and his promise that a human might govern the territory.
• Tyler asked Theresa whether Charles would teach her, and she said he probably would, leaving Tyler to sigh as he weighed the choice.

Charles sent Scorchflame to invite Theresa and Tyler to inspect his cavalry camp and gave them two days to decide their next move. Tyler abandoned thoughts of fleeing after seeing the camp’s disciplined Armored Knights and elite cavalry, leaving the Blackstone Bastion Settlement’s decision unresolved.

• Charles ordered Scorchflame to tell Theresa and Tyler they could visit the cavalry camp and had two days to consider his offer.
• Scorchflame delivered the message, and Tyler eagerly led Theresa and Ross to the camp while Theresa warned him to return afterward.
• Scorchflame accompanied them, and Tyler realized he was too powerful to ignore, so Tyler gave up his plan to flee.
• Elias welcomed the visitors on Scorchflame’s behalf and guided them through the camp.
• Tyler watched the cavalry train and was stunned by its size, discipline, and coordination compared with his own army.

Tyler toured the Armored Knights' training camp and learned that it held three hundred knights, leaving him and Ross alarmed by Charles's military strength. Scorchflame sent Tyler back to the castle to think carefully, while Theresa warned him that Scorchflame was a third-tier Magic Beast.

• Elias led Tyler and the others to the Armored Knights' training grounds, where Tyler watched their training and saw the force of their charge.
• Theresa explained that she could solidify sorcery runes in armor but could not assemble the armor or explain how the knights had been made so powerful.
• Tyler asked how many Armored Knights were in the camp, and Elias answered that there were three hundred.
• Tyler and Ross were shaken by the number, while Charles's plans showed that he had spent nearly all his resources on building military strength.
• Scorchflame dismissed Elias and told Tyler to think carefully before returning to the castle, and Theresa warned her grandfather that Scorchflame was third-tier.

Tyler weighed Charles’s offer to surrender Blackstone Bastion Settlement against the threat to his and Theresa’s lives. Charles promised Tyler a place in his government and revealed that he could teach Theresa the wizardry behind the Armored Knights, leaving Tyler to decide whether to prove his loyalty.

• After returning to Greenshade City, Tyler studied the castle’s formidable defenses and worried through the night about Blackstone Bastion Settlement’s future.
• The next morning, Charles hosted Tyler, Ross, and Theresa for breakfast and offered to teach Theresa magic if they surrendered.
• Charles offered Tyler a senior role and promised to leave Blackstone Bastion’s administration intact at first while stationing troops and reorganizing its army.
• When Tyler asked if he could leave, Charles said he would kill Tyler and Theresa if they refused to surrender, but that Blackstone Bastion Settlement was what he truly wanted.
• Charles told Tyler that the Armored Knights had been modified through wizardry and offered to teach Theresa the techniques if Tyler proved his loyalty.

Tyler agreed to swear loyalty to Charles and bring Blackstone Bastion Settlement under his rule, though Charles insisted on returning there with an army. Charles set out to secure the settlement and ordered Yvenjieling to coordinate its defense with Bruce, while Tyler kept the Sons of the Broken Blade beyond Charles’s grasp.

• Tyler accepted Charles’s rule and asked him to treat the people of Blackstone Bastion Settlement well; Charles promised to do so but said he would return with an army.
• Charles mobilized three thousand infantrymen, five hundred cavalrymen, and one hundred Armored Knights, then marched toward Blackstone Bastion Settlement with Tyler.
• The Book of Causal Paths explained that Tyler might die soon after the Queen, so it would gain power from him only if Charles kept him alive beyond his destined time of death.
• Charles told Yvenjieling that Bruce would guard Blackstone Bastion Settlement and ordered them to support each other, prioritizing the settlement even over the Howling Children of the Wasteland’s land.
• Charles asked Tyler to have the Sons of the Broken Blade swear loyalty, but Tyler denied being able to command them and teased Charles for failing to bluff him.

Charles took control of Blackstone Bastion Settlement after Tyler convinced the garrison to surrender, then began reorganizing its army while leaving its administration intact. As the settlement adjusted to Charles’s rule, Tyler led him to inspect its accumulated resources, warning that there was little to show for it.

• Tyler ordered Blackstone Bastion Settlement to open its gates, and after speaking with his deputy, persuaded him to surrender the fortress to Charles.
• Charles’s soldiers took over the gates and defenses, disarmed the garrison, and began reorganizing the settlement’s troops.
• Charles kept the administrative system in place while screening the soldiers, transferring selected troops elsewhere and dismissing more than a thousand unfit personnel.
• Charles sent officials from Charlotte to observe the settlement and familiarize themselves with its administration.
• Tyler led Charles to inspect Blackstone Bastion Settlement’s resources and said they had not accumulated much.

After returning to Isata with the resources he had gained, Charles sold them and sought to strengthen his forces by hiring Blood Ring Knights. He agreed to hire ten third-rank knights without magic mounts.

• Charles estimated that the supplies in Blackstone Bastion Settlement were worth about two million Magic Stones and promised Tyler an important position in Greenshade City.
• Charles left Bruce to oversee Blackstone Bastion Settlement, then returned to Greenshade City and sent some goods to the Crimson Caravan Alliance.
• Charles transported the remaining resources to Isata and sold them through a merchant association under Webster.
• Charles learned that third-rank Blood Ring Knights cost two hundred and fifty thousand Magic Stones each, or two hundred thousand without magic mounts.
• Charles ordered ten third-rank Blood Ring Knights without magic mounts.

Charles recruited ten third-rank Blood Ring Knights and assigned them to strengthen his forces. Meanwhile, the Moonshadow Queen’s death destabilized the Aventor Elven Court, and Charles suspected that the Giant Empire was also facing internal trouble.

• Charles brought ten Blood Ring Knights from Isata and assigned them as guards and officers under Yvenjieling, Bruce, and his own command.
• News of the Moonshadow Queen’s death spread after Kaland Riel and Felenlos returned her procession to Elegy City.
• The half-elf nobles on the Thirteen-Person Regency Council pushed for greater access to knowledge and the creation of a noble rank of count.
• Resentment between half-elves and pure-blood elves grew, and some radical half-elves began plotting to use war to force change.
• In Greenshade City, Charles asked the Book of Causal Paths why the Giants and orcs had not acted, and wondered if the Moonshadow Queen had killed a fourth-rank Giant.

After the Moonshadow Queen died destroying much of the Giant royal capital and gravely wounding its fourth-rank Storm wizard, the Orcs rebelled against Giant rule. The Orc Emperor captured a northern fortress, but his generals and shamans urged him to consolidate and learn the wizard’s condition before advancing further.

• The Moonshadow Queen fought the Storm Giant wizard in the Giant royal capital, then died in a crescent-moon explosion that devastated his soul and left much of the city ruined.
• The wounded Giant King’s weakness made the Orcs’ fourth-rank Berserker suspect an opportunity to break free of Giant rule.
• Several major Orc clans declared independence, established the Orc Empire in their territories, and clashed with Giant forces across the north.
• The Orc Emperor led an elite force to capture a large northern fortress and made it the Orc Empire’s border.
• The Orc Emperor considered advancing north to kill the Giant wizard, but his generals and shamans advised him to gather intelligence and clear Giants from Orc territories first.

Charles chose to attack the Splitfang Tribe first, hoping to test the orcs while Tyler tried to persuade the gnoll tribe Zorge to surrender. He promised Tyler independent command in a future battle if he succeeded, leaving the campaign and negotiations about to begin.

• After learning that the orcs were fighting the giants, Charles decided to unify the disputed region by attacking Zorge.
• Tyler advised Charles to strike the Splitfang Tribe first, arguing the orcs were the greater threat and Zorge could likely be persuaded to surrender.
• Charles agreed to attack the Splitfang Tribe and asked Tyler for intelligence about its strength.
• Charles assigned Tyler to travel to Zorge and persuade the gnolls to join his ranks while the army marched against the orcs.
• Charles promised Tyler he could command troops in the next battle if he convinced Zorge to surrender before the Splitfang Tribe was defeated.

Charles mobilized a large army and marched toward the Splitfang Tribe, while Tyler departed to meet Zorge the gnoll. The Splitfang chiefs assembled their warriors after Charles claimed he was investigating missing soldiers, and his army reached their old nest.

• Charles deployed three thousand infantry, fifteen hundred cavalry, two hundred Armored Knights, and three third-tier Blood Ring Knights against the Splitfang Tribe, while ordering Bruce and Yvenjieling to stay vigilant.
• Charles's army assembled and departed within three days, and Tyler praised its discipline and equipment before riding away toward Zorge the gnoll.
• The Splitfang chiefs panicked when they learned Charles was advancing, then gathered their battle-capable orcs to prepare for defense.
• Charles's envoys told the Splitfang Tribe that his soldiers had gone missing in their territory and that his army had come to investigate.
• Odu asked the other chiefs whether they had attacked Charles's soldiers or caravans, and Charles's army arrived at the Splitfang Tribe's old nest.

Charles confronted the Splitfang Tribe over a stolen caravan, then fought the orc clan chief after he charged. Charles left the clan chief badly burned and terrified.

• Charles reached the Splitfang Tribe's lair-city and demanded that its leaders discuss the missing caravan.
• The orc clan chief denied robbing Charles and rode out to meet him, believing Charles would not attack his creditor.
• Charles asked to inspect the city, but the clan chief refused and threatened him.
• The clan chief charged Charles, and Charles summoned an Astral Spirit Guard to block him.
• Charles used Gravity Well to hinder the clan chief's escape and Blazing Sun Focus to burn him badly.