L'anthologie Dystopique des Héros

Chapter 1: Introduction

Imagine a world of magic. Here, there were six continents that were distinguishable by geographic size and climate. They were Europe, Asia, Africa, Ishgar, Alakitasia, and Giltena. But what did they all have in common? All six continents had billions of guilds; grey, light, and dark. And in each guild, there were billions of mages. Like ordinary people with no magic attributes, mages were different in many ways. Some were good and aspired to use their powers in the benefit of their communities. In the very dawn of time, these kinds of wizards united to form organizations called light guilds, led by powerful guildmistresses/guildmasters. However, there were evil and neutral mages. They united to form dark and independent guilds. There is one key difference between the six continents in this magical world you envision, aside from size and climate. 3 of them were made of a variety of kingdoms and city-states that squabbled against each other over land and resources. These were Europe, Ishgar, and Africa. The final three by contrast, were each made of one kingdom that shared a ruler. In Alakitasia, there was the Alvarez Empire. It had a sister realm called the Roman Empire, encompasing Asia and Giltena. The central government that ruled over the empires was very centralized, with power stemming from the Emperor. In the Roman and Alvarez Empires, the Caesars were like kings, only more powerful. They had the power to veto laws passed by the legislative House of Senate and the Judiciary. The incumbent Caesar of Alvarez and Rome was a middle-aged man with blonde hair called Spriggan II. He was a very kind ruler, but at the same time bore a lot of secrets. One of them was that when he was prince of Alvarez and Rome, Spriggan had a younger brother. His name was Claudius I. As children, the two brothers would pretend to be soldiers and fight all morning, until it was time to go to church in the afternoon. Alvarez and Rome were both polytheistic countries that worshipped a multitude of gods and goddesses, each representing a natural aspect of the self and the environment. Of these, twelve were the most popular called Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hades, Artemis, Ares, Athena, Hestia, Eris, and Hera. 

According to traditional folklore-passed down from generation to generation in Rome and Alvarez, a mythical being that represented nothingness called Chaos appeared. Then something went BOOM! A ginormous blast created several offspring, one of which was the Earth, Gaia. This phenomenon was traditionally called the Big Bang. She and her siblings each had offspring of their own and the process continued until the Titans arose. Chronos was not only a Titan, he ruled as their king. His parents were Titans of the Earth and Sky while he was Titan of Time, The Cosmos, and Life and Death, as well. He was married to a sea nymph named Thetis and together, they were expecting to have several children. However, a soothsayer warned that their eldest child would overthrow him like Chronos did to his father, the Sky Titan. So, he swallowed his pregnant wife whole. Chronos soon vomited his wife and their children, the 12 Gods and Goddesses. Led by Zeus as a teenager, they overthrew him and launched a preemptive strike on the Titans. After 10 years of fighting, the Titans were wiped out except for Prometheus, a Titan who supported Zeus and his siblings. Unfortunately, he had a quarrel with Zeus over interference in human affairs. Prometheus stole the Forbidden Flame from the top of Mt. Olympus and gave it to the first humans. In anger, Zeus had him captured, tortured, then chained to the top of a rocky butte while eagles feasted on his liver, for all eternity as man built the first civilizations.

For generations, Zeus was widely known as the king of the pantheon of deities that people and even the royal families of Rome and Alvarez worshipped. He was married to Hera, Queen of the Gods and Goddesses and they all lived on the top of Mt. Olympus in the southern Roman Empire. Aphrodite was the Goddess of Beauty, Poseidon of Horses; Earthquakes; the Sea; and Storms, and Apollo of Music and Healing. The less known deities were the God of the Taxcollector and Blacksmith-Hephaestus, God of the Dead-Hades, Goddess of the Hunt-Artemis, God of War-Ares, Goddess of Wisdom and War Tactics-Athena, Goddess of the Household-Hestia, and Goddess of Discord-Eris. Out of all the deities, Zeus had the most churches dedicated to him in Rome and Alvarez. Every night, Spriggan and Claudius prayed to Ares and Zeus for advice in war and government, when they would take their father's place as co-emperors, should anything happen to him. Sadly, tragedy would strike. Their father left for war one morning and his generals approached the princes with sad news. He had fallen in battle against the city-state of Seven, in Ishgar. By tradition, Spriggan was to be inaugurated as the new emperor of Rome and Alvarez. His brother would rule as Imperial Prime Minister, also known as Grand Vizier. 

Spriggan was crowned Emperor Spriggan II on the feast day of Zeus then appointed Claudius as Grand Vizier on Athena's feast day. As emperor, he would defend the Roman and Alvarez Empires against foreign invasions by Ishgarian city-states, namely Athens and Sparta. They were forced to pay 1 million drachmas in war reperations, crippling their economies. While the two city-states suffered, Rome and Alvarez prospered economically. For centuries, there would be no more attacks against these two empires. However, there was a cold war between them and the Athenians and Spartans that lasted until the Athenians ended hostilities against Rome and Alvarez, to fight the city-state of Troy in the Trojan War.