"How would I describe the Sacred Phoenix Empire. It is the Empire built on Chi, Steel, Faith, Magic and Orbal. The Imperials are rather arrogant people from a certain point of view, as they view themselves as the greatest civilization that was ever created on Azeroth.
They don't really hold much interest in expanding their territory through conquest. The sole exception was the Lordaeron Continent after it was overtaken by the Undead Scourge and the southern parts of the Azeroth Continent, where it was taken from the Gurubashi Troll Tribes.
All other territorial gains of the Fire Nation, which then evolved into the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom and later Empire, were achieved through diplomacy, negotiations, displays of power, or strategic marriages between the Phoenix Emperor and some of his wives.
The Empire is a land of endless possibilities; it is a land where one could rise from peasant to the status of highest nobility that would put all former human kings to shame, but it was also a land where one mistake would see all those possibilities come to a sudden and often very painful end."
- Quote by Barathen Wrynn from the book "Jungle Troll War"
***
"Codex: The Imperial Throne, Three Halls and Nine Departments
One of the greatest reforms that was created by the Fire Lord Aenarion Septim, which wasn't limited only to the Fire Nation, but also mimicked by the Azerothian Kingdoms, was the System of Throne - Three Halls and Nine Departments.
This system made the entire government more efficient, as it was a complete overhaul of the civilian system of governance of the Fire Nation. The Imperial Throne stood as the supreme authority in all, with the Office of the Grand Chancellor just the exertion of the Emperor's power.
The Three Halls is the collective name for the 'Halls' of the Fire Nation: Imperial Cult, Psijic Order and Onmitsukidō.
Meanwhile, the Nine Departments were the:
Department of War Affairs - Responsible for overseeing the Imperial Military and coordinating Military actions.
Department of Domestic Affairs - Responsible for domestic affairs such as Healthcare, Education, Social Welfare, and many other things.
Department of Foreign Affairs - Responsible for maintaining the relationship with other states.
Department of Territorial Management - Responsible for the development of the territory of the Fire Nation, implementing the new technologies, and keeping up the standards of the Fire Nation in all provinces.
Department of Justice - Responsible for overseeing the judicial system of the Fire Nation.
Department of Homeland Security - Responsible for the internal security of the Fire Nation and oversight over the Police Force.
Department of Finance and Treasury - Responsible for the finances of the Fire Nation, collecting taxes, overseeing the monetary policies of the Ban currency, and storing and protecting treasures like gold, precious gems, and money.
Department of Mechanicus and Magic - Responsible for the development of technology, magic, and Orbal.
Department of the Grand National Archive - Responsible for maintaining and protecting the Grand National Archive of the Fire Nation, which stores all pieces of knowledge obtained by the Fire Nation
Each Department is headed by the Secretary, who in turn is appointed by the Fire Lord. All Secretaries have a seat on the High Council, and only the most skilled people could become the Secretaries of one of the Nine Departments of the Fire Nation."
- Reforms of the Aenarion Septim: Civilian Governance by Iroh Septim
***
Stormwind City
When Aenarion saw the destruction of the Avatar of Hakkar the Soulflayer, it was clear that this confrontation had ended. Together with the demise of the Avatar of the Loa of Blood, the Evil God also destroyed all of the Wind Serpents and killed all Gurubashi Trolls in the vicinity to save his hide.
Aenarion knew that the Avatars were very precious for beings like Demigods and Gods, because if the Divine Beings wanted to create Avatars that were even remotely useless and had some sort of combat prowess, they needed to invest a lot of Divine Power into the creation of Avatars.
So, the loss of the Avatar meant an irreversible loss of the Divine Power that was used in the creation of the Avatar. Right now, depending on the exact amount of the Divine Power that Hakkar the Soulflayer lost in the destruction of the Avatar, he shouldn't be a threat for some time.
Aenarion flapped his wings as he headed down toward the Valley of Heroes, where he sensed that his wife was located, together with the rest of the Fire Nation troops, in great numbers.
At the same time, Stormwind's soldiery was moving forward, and they started securing the perimeter and clearing the battlefield. The entire vicinity of Stormwind's capital was littered with thousands of corpses of the Wind Serpents, and they needed to be carried away.
When Aenarion landed near the troops of the Fire Nation, all of them gave him a salute as they immediately returned to work. There were no ceremonial greetings of the monarchs or anything, as the Fire Nation was working on certain sets of rules while on the battlefield.
In times like these, things like bowing or saluting were not really needed...
The Fire Lord of the Fire Nation followed the Chi of his wife and headed to the forest, but not deep into the woods themselves, as he soon found Esdeath, who was healing a severely injured Troll.
She wasn't doing it alone, as there were several healers on the scene, many of them were members of the Crownsguard, as they were all collectively healing the dying troll. If Aenarion had to guess, then this one troll was for sure the High Priest of the Gurubashi Tribe.
In the hierarchy of the Trolls, two castes were at the top of the pyramid.
High Priests and Warlords.
One communicated directly with the Loa, while the others were responsible for the readership of the Tribe, with the strongest Warlord acting as the Chieftain of the entire Tribe.
Yet, for the Fire Nation, the High Priest was more valuable due to the information on the Loa they held. Aearon knew that the value of the High Priest wasn't just for the Fire Nation, but also for Stormwind and Quel'Thalas.
The High Elves were not lucky enough to capture one of the Amani Trolls' High Priests alive for interrogation, and like one said, Troll was Troll.
Even though from the High Priest of the Gurubashi Trolls, the High Elves wouldn't be able to find out something useful about the Amani Trolls, they would still consider the High Priest of Gurubashi as a priceless treasure trove due to his knowledge on Loa.
And the Loas were the greatest dangers to anyone who would have wanted to conquer or exterminate the Trolls.
"He should survive... we thank you very much for your effort, Your Highness."
One of the healers said to Esdeath as they finished healing the High Priest of the Trolls, while the troll in question was under the constant watch of the Crownsguard as he was taken into their custody.
"It seems that you are getting better at healing..."
Aenarion commented because for him, it really seemed that Esdeath was getting more and more proficient with the healing of others, but that could also be just as well only his own illusion.
"Ts... annoying ability. At least the time I spent practicing the Healing Arts on the injured is paying off."
His Winter General's wife muttered because she had learned how to heal, mainly because she wanted to attain automatic self-healing when she was near any source of water. If she attained such a degree of skill, she would be able to fight indefinitely in almost any kind of situation.
"Well, at least you got better in it. Even though it's not your specific taste of tea..."
Aenarion said, actually a bit proud of his wife that she learned how to heal properly...
She, as a Waterbender, had a very strong predisposition for healing, and even though she was considered one of the most powerful Waterbenders in history, Esdeath had a very different problem when it came to healing.
Because she was a total warmonger and battlemaniac, she couldn't use the water for anything else aside from the offensive and defensive purposes. Healing with the Waterbending was coming to her extremely hard, and it was pretty challenging for her to execute even some of the more basic healing techniques in the past.
For Esdeath, this was considered the greatest failure, and she was training as much as she could to master the Healing Techniques of the Waterbending. She even went as far as to practice on the injured soldiers to provide healing and willingly learned from the other healers of the Fire Nation.
For a person with her pride, it was certainly...
A feat.
On itself.
"It seems that you have caught a big fish, my dear Winter General..."
Aenarion said as he observed the body of the High Priest of the Gurubashi Trolls when the members of the Crownsguard were securing the body.
"Well... the last time someone was able to capture a Troll High Priest alive was apparently during the time of the Troll Wars... Around two thousand years ago, the Arathor Empire was founded. Since then, nobody has been able to capture one of their High Priests, not to mention one that could directly summon the Avatar of their Loa."
The Fire Lord nodded, hearing that, because indeed... it had been a very long time since someone caught a High Priest. Generally, the trolls did everything they could to secure their High Priests.
The High Priests could freely channel the powers of the Loas and could also summon the Loas if there was a need for that. Due to that, their role and purpose in the trollish society was that of the highest order, and every single Troll that rose to the High Priest was inextricable to the trolls.
"Are you going to handle the interrogation personally?"
"I will bring him to the headquarters of the Onmitsukidō... if he won't talk, then I will try new torture techniques on him together with Azula."
Aenarion cringed a little, as both of his wives were rather sadists and their hobby of torturing their enemies was not the most healthy one around. But who was he to judge, when he rather enjoyed burning his enemies to ashes...
"He is a zealot. He won't talk either due to his devotion to his God or fear of him. Considering the fact that we are talking about the Evil God, it would be the combination of two, so you won't get anything from him through the conventional methods."
The Fire Lord knew that people like the High Priest of the Gurubashi Troll won't talk. No matter what torture he would undergo or what Esdeath and Azula would inflict on him, it won't change the fact that he won't talk willingly.
Even unwillingly.
His fate at the hands of Hakkar the Soulflayer would be far worse than anything that Esdeath and Azula could do to him. Not to mention, if he divulged some secrets to the enemies of his God, then the anger of the Loa of Blood would be extended to the closest relatives of the High Priest.
Hakkar the Soulflayer wasn't known for his forgiving nature.
"I think we should call someone from the Quel'Thalas to read its mind and extract its memories. That would be the safest and fastest method of obtaining the information that we need from the mind High Priest."
Aeanrion said as he could see his wife pouting because she was rather eager to have a prisoner for the interrogation, but now, it seemed that her fun was being cut short.
Nevertheless, Esdeath understood that it wasn't time to play around as they had far more pressing matters on hand.
In the air, there was a feeling of unease and tension hanging over the delegation of the Fire Nation to the Stormwind with the Fire Lord and one of the Queens, who were attacked by the Gurubashi Trolls.
During that time, the Trolls were attacking Stormwind, which was clearly making the situation even more complicated. The Stormwind would declare total war on the Gurubashi Trolls, and Aenarion, as the Fire Lord needed to decide on their next course of action.
"So, what shall we do?"
Esdeath asked as they together observed how the troops of the Fire Nation and Stormwind, hand-to-hand, were cleaning the battlefield and picking up the corpses, transporting them to one place.
The Wind Serpent corpses would be used either as a source of food or as materials, while the corpses of the Gurubashi Trolls would be burned down by the Firebenders. What couldn't be processed was also being burned by the Firebenders.
"We need to declare war on the trolls... despite my own unwillingness to enter another conflict, it seems that it's inevitable."
Esdeath looked at her husband with a deep look, and despite her warmongering tendencies, she understood that the Fire Nation was oversaturated with war and right now, the Fire Nation wanted peace.
Dragging the Fire Nation into another war wasn't something that the Fire Lord wanted.
At the same time, both Aenarion and Esdeath understood the implications of what had happened. Aenarion could see that once this news reached the Fire Islands, the Royalists and Partas Clan would start making a mess of the entire situation.
Especially Esdeath's father, Ezran Partas, was probably the biggest warmonger that Aenarion had ever seen, and he would for sure press extremely hard for as brutal a military retaliation as possible against the Gurubashi Trolls.
So... doing nothing and just supporting Stormwind wasn't an option.
And there was another thing that was giving Aenarion headaches and also prompted this entire meeting, despite his reluctance to declare another war.
The territorial gains for the Fire Nation could be tremendous because, sooner or later, the Fire Islands would grow a bit overcrowded, and people of the Fire Nation would need more territory for further expansion.
And much of the lands of the Southern Azeroth was uninhabited, sans the Gurubashi Trolls, but if they killed the trolls, then the lands would be free for grabbing. Now, through this, Aenarion obtained reasoning... not reasoning, he had a duty to declare war on the Gurubashi Trolls.
"Call here, Captain-General Jiang, and order Captain Fan to create a communication line back to the Homeland."
Aenarion said as Esdeath went to call back Captain-General of the Crownsugard and also relay the orders for Captain Fan, who was Captain in the Air Force of the Fire Nation, that was the captain of Grimoire Heart.
The personal flagship of the Fire Lord.
Which was a very high prestige.
Soon enough, the Captain-General of the Crownsguard arrived in front of the Fire Lord as he knelt on one knee.
"Your Majesty."
Captain-General Jiang Wei stated that he was waiting for the next orders.
"Mobilize the troops and coordinate with Stormwind's garrison. We would soon be declaring war on the Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance, and Stormwind would be doing the same thing. Your task is to create a safe landing zone that would be used as the forward base for the air fleet."
Captain-General Jiang Wei of the Crownsguard nodded his head as he went to carry out the orders of his lord. Soon enough, Esdeath returned with the Orbal device, which seemed like a very odd-looking phone, and he had Captain Fan of the Grimoire Heart on the line.
"Captain Fan, relay the message back home. Notify the entire Elder Council that they are to convene within the Royal Palace and wait for my next call. Notify War Minister Qin and Lord Commander Solar to prepare for the full-scale mobilization of the Royal Military."
Aenarion ordered to the Orbal device and then cut the call. It was really a wonder that they managed to progress so much with the technology after such a short time, with just a few suggestions from him.
Yet, Aenarion also underestimated the already developed technologies of Azeroth and the fact that this world, while being a high-magic world, had technologies that were capable of spaceflight.
Meanwhile, Goblins, Gnomes, and Dwarves were reached technological levels that were very advanced, and after some help, they were able to refine and polish their technological level to a much higher degree.
***
Stormwind Keep, One Hour Later
After one hour, Aenarion finally returned to Stormwind Keep and met with King Barathen Wrynn, as both monarchs of both nations were sitting across each other in an empty room.
Esdeath went out to oversee the troops, while King Wrynn sent his wife Varia to calm down the local Nobles who were within the city, and she was also summoning the Great Nobles of the Stromwind to the capital for the declaration of war.
"How are your losses?"
Aenarion asked the fellow King, as King Barathen Wrynn looked very serious and very angry at the same time.
"A few hundred, but most of them are civilians who were caught outside by the ambush of the Wind Serpents. I must thank you very much for the help that the Fire Nation provided to Stormwind. This help won't ever be forgotten."
King Barathen Wrynn was aware of the cruel reality that if not for the intervention of the Fire Nation, the losses of Stormwind would be much higher. Perhaps even large parts of the capital would fall...
The power that the Gurubashi Trolls brought was...
Terryfing.
"Something around eighty... fortunately enough, the forces of the Fire Nation are accustomed to situations like this one. But the question lingering in the air is... what shall we do with the situation at hand?"
The Fire Lord looked at the King of Stormwind and said seriously, because it was clear that war was imminent. Aenarion knew that Barathen Wrynn was strongly against the war, because it would mean that they would need to physically enter the territory of the Trolls.
And that was walking into their trap.
"This entire situation is a mess..."
Aenarion heard and he found himself nodding to the statement, because it was true.
It was a mess.
"I will be forced to declare all-out war on the trolls, and we would be fighting on their terms... in their dammed forests... this will be a catastrophe."
Will Stormwind win the war between them and the Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance?
Yes, the answer was...
Will it be easy?
No, the answer was...
It would come at a terrible price, because trolls would fight with everything they got, and they were experts at guerrilla warfare.
They were natural in guerrilla warfare, and they would turn the entire forest and jungle against Stormwind.
"If the Stormwind marches against the Gurubashi, then the Fire Nation will march with the Stormwind side by side. With the Chi Masters, we will be able to identify the presence of Trolls hiding in the jungles, and with our Air Fleets, we can destroy their forts and major gathering places and break through the defenses straight to the Zul'Gurub."
The Fire Lord said to the King of Stormwind that with the participation of the Fire Nation, the entire world would proceed much more smoothly. With the addition of the Chi Masters into the fray, it was highly possible that they would be able to avoid most of the traps.
At the same time, Chi Masters would be able to scour the entire area, and thus they would be able to find hiding Gurubashi Trolls.
Simultaneously with the Air Fleets of the Fire Nation, they would be able to find and identify all of the major strongholds of the Gurubashi Trolls and bombard them into oblivion. Both of them understood that with the addition of the Fire Nation into the equation, they could avoid the most significant losses for Stormwind.
"We should convene the War Councils and decide the more precise plans against the Gurubashi Trolls. We already have had a certain kind of victory, because the trolls that perished here were most probably, with 99% certainty, the strongest elites of the Gurubashi Tribal Alliance."
With that being said, both rulers agreed on the next steps and what would follow afterwards, and they would need to convene a joint War Council between the Generals of the Fire Nation and Stormwind.
***
Some time later, Grimoire Heart, Strategy Room
Aenarion the Fire Lord was sitting comfortably on his throne and listening to the reports of the Officers from the military, while Esdeath and Captain-General Jiang were sitting next to him in close proximity.
Two hours have passed since the attempted attack by the Gurubashi Trolls on Stormwind with their decapitation operation, which has failed.
Splendidly, at that one needed to admit.
Not only did they achieve nothing, but they lost all of the participating Gurubashi Trolls, which numbered something around ninety Elite Level trolls. And those Elites were Elites among the Elites... on top of that, they also lost a few Hero Level trolls.
And what was even worse, they summoned their God, the Loa of Blood, Hakkar the Soulflayer, who lost his whole Avatar.
Entirely.
Still, the fact that the Fire Nation was standing in front of a very heavy decision was rather solid.
"And that concludes my report. With the current number of troops here, we can build a proper forward base with Stormwind in one week. At the same time, I would like to propose increased cooperation with Stormwind in this, as it would strengthen the ties between the two nations."
As the officers who spoke finished the report, Aenarion showed a rare smile, because at least something was going according to the plan right now. They managed to build a forward base within a short span of time.
With the help of the kingdom of Stormwind, they would be able to build it even faster and could start sending their troops to Stormwind. Certainly, the distance between the Fire Islands and Stormwind was big, but with the Orbal-powered Airships, it wasn't anything that couldn't be conquered.
The Airships that were used by the Royal Air Force were state-of-the-art pieces of technology that were being constructed with the most advanced innovations of the Orbal Technology that the Fire Nation had at their disposal.
At the same time, due to the experiences, the Fire Nation's factories were able to build a lot of Dropships and smaller vessels up to the geniue Battleships that were no smaller than the Griumoire Heart.
Especially the Gargantua-Class Battleships were monsters of steel and Orbal that were only for destruction.
Their firepower was extremely devastating, and the Battleships were even armed with the installed Shield Generators, which Fire Nation's Engineers created together with the High Elves of Quel'Thalas.
One could say that the Gargantua-Class Battleships were flying fortresses, and one would need a lot of manpower to bring them down from the skies. Much less said about entirely destroying the already mentioned airship.
"Has the Elder Council been convened already?"
The Fire Lord asked one of the adjutants who was in charge of maintaining contact with the Homeland. Soon enough, the controller informed the Fire Lord that the Elder Council had already met in the Royal Palace and was awaiting the next instructions.
Soon enough, they activated the small Orbal Device that was creating a holographic projection of Aenarion to the Elder Council. Everyone from the Elder Council was in full attendance, and not a single seat was empty.
Grand Chancellor Iron Septim, Ministers of the Departments of the Fire Nation, High Sage of the Elemental Temple that was now transitioning and transforming to the Aeldari Church, Lord Commander Solar of the Imperial Military, High General of Imperial Army, Grand Admiral of Imperial Navy, and Sky Marshal of the Imperial Air Force.
Then there were his wives, Azula, who was in the Elder Council as the High Justice of the Department of Justice, and as his wife, and June, who was the Supreme Commander of Onmitsukidō and was sitting next to Azula.
Aside from them, there were also representatives of the newly established Psijic Order present, the new Magic-oriented organization of the Fire Nation that was established with the help of the High Elves, who were teaching their people Magic.
Contrary to the regular meetings of the Elder Council, where only the people with a seat on the Council were allowed to participate in the meeting, this time it was different. Several tens of people were standing all around the room and looking at the round table as the Elders of the Fire Nation were waiting for the Fire Lord to start the meeting.
Due to the wonders of Orbal Technology, they could communicate even across such huge distances as the one between the Fire Islands and Stormwind.
"Exactly, two hours, thirty-six minutes, and fifteen seconds, the delegation of the Fire Nation to the Kingdom of Stormwind was attacked by the decapitation strike team of the Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance."
Aenarion said as everyone quieted down and unpleasant feelings hung in the air.
Everyone knew what would follow, and some people, namely Azula and Esdeath, were already grinning at the prospect while the people from the Royal Military were also looking rather pleased.
War Minister Qin was eager to see the machines and technology that they had been developing for the past years in the combat, finally, and all over the place, across the entire Elder Council, aside from the nervousness and stress, there was...
Anticipation.
"The Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance is not only a threat to the inhabitants of the continent, but also to the Fire Nation. The power of the Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance cannot be underestimated... most of the Gurubashi Trolls that are living in Azeroth have been united by the Tribal Alliance under the leadership of their Evil God, Hakkar the Soulflayer. The Fire Lord and Queen Esdeath have been attacked, and a lot of our men fell during the defenses of the Stromwind City against the threat of the Gurubashi Trolls."
Aenarion continued his speed as everyone watched and listened to every single one of his words in absolute silence, awaiting what would come next. Some of them already knew that the Fire Lord would be declaring war on the Gurubashi Trolls, and most probably they would be fighting side by side with the Stormwindians.
"Such a kind of aggression cannot be committed and cannot be ignored. Many of you know that I don't want another war after the end of the Great War that lasted one hundred years, and now, after experiencing the short time of peace, we are marching once again to war."
Aenarion stopped his speech as he looked around the members of the Elder Council and other people who were participating in the meeting, including the representatives of the existing Great Principal Clans.
Due to his abolition of the old nobility and creation of the new Aristocracy, there would be 7 Great Principal Clans, though only three families were elevated to such a Rank right now.
Partas, Fēng, Shihōin.
Not to mention, all Great Principal Clans must be related to the Royal House one way or another. Old Fire Clans had too much power, too much authority over the nation and the ruling Clan could barely control them at all.
This won't happen with the Great Principal Clans as Aenarion envisioned that all Principal Clans would be something akin to Branch Families of the Royal House and be technically just an extension of the Royal House.
It was working rather well, because Aeanrion was already married to the Heiress of the Partas Clan, and their children would inherit the Partas Tribe. June was a member of the Fēng Clan, from a branch lin,e and was a relative of Mai Fēng, who was a member of the direct line.
It would be Aenarion's and June's child who would inherit the Fēng Clan.
The Shihōin Clan was a rather problematic aspect. They were very powerful and influential, but they were mostly hermits who were focusing on perfecting the art of Killing and martial arts.
It was just Aenarion's relationship with the Heiress, Shihōin Yoruichi, was...
Weird?
She wasn't someone who wanted to be tied down to anything, and she was roaming through the Fire Nation or just lazing around him.
"This won't be just a war. The threat of the Gurubashi Troll Tribal Alliance, led by their Evil Gods and evil entities, transcends the definitions of traditional war. If Stormwind falls and Trolls emerge as victorious, then who would be their next target? Dawrves? Gnomes? Us?"
Aenarion asked as he looked around and measured the reactions of the people of the Elder Council and those present.
"The evil and danger of the evil that the Gurubashi Trolls represent, I, the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, under the witness of the Aeldari Gods, by their Grace and by the Grace of Asuryan the Phoenix God, declare Holy Crusade against the evil filth of the Gurubashi Trolls. We will fight with Stormwind, side by side, till the last troll is killed and till all of their lairs of corruption and evil are entirely rooted out. Let the Holy War begin. All Hail to the Fire Nation."
Overwhelming, deep, and very disturbing silence not only in the Strategy Room of the Grimoire Heart but also in the entire Elder Council room.
Until suddenly, one man started clapping loudly.
It was Patrairch of the Partas Clan, Ezran Partas.
"Glory to the Fire Nation!"
Suddenly, more and more people were joining him as they all started performing a salute to the Fire Lord as the Holy War began...
Aenarion was technically speaking the Chosen One of the Aeldari Gods.
The Living Saint of their very own faith was spreading like a wildfire in the dry forest.
Many were already believers in the Aeldari Pantheon.
And now, their faith would be compelling them to march on the battlefield and wage a war that was unlike any others.
As this war...
They would be propelled by religious ambitions as well as secular ones.