Vermilion's Kiss

Prologue - The Beginning

The Age of General Crisis began in the early 17th century when Thirty Years War in Central Europe heightened. The effect of the war had triggered a shift on the global economy, thus, countries, nations, empires and kingdoms from all over the globe started a power struggle. Wars were fought. Famine was all over the lands. It was the First World War.

The First World War marked the climax of the Dutch Revolt. It pushed the disbarment Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It triggered the Great Turkish war and caused the demographic collapse of the Ming Dynasty. Not a single continent was spared. From Europe to Asia, to North and South America, the war spread like a plague. During this era, our great kingdom, later to be known as the Kingdom Pendragon, was conceived.

The roots of the Great Kingdom of Pendragon could be traced in an archipelago in South East Asia (now, generally known to be a part of Pendragon's center of Science and Research, Avalon). In the mid 16th century, before the Age of General Crisis began and the First world war began, a small country was put under the Viceroyalty of New Spain with the Governor General Miguel López de Legazpi acting as the Viceroy. It was called La Isa del Poniente. During the colonial reign of Spain, many Spaniards migrated in the country to directly monopolize the resources needed for the Galleon Trade. The country became the a military camp of the spaniards.

With these, the insulares (natural born Spaniards) and peninsulares (Spaniards born in the country) occupied the seats of aristocracy in the country. One of which is the son of an English merchant and a Spanish aristocrat, Arthur Pendragon.

Meanwhile, an english-spanish aristocrat name Arthur Pendragon rose prominence in Spain. He was the son of a British Duke and a Spanish Noble. He was a prodigy at a young age. As a result, Arthur was privileged to study in the University of Cambridge and Oxford University. Due to his brilliance in strategic military planning, he was personally invited by King Philip III to join his military ranks in Madrid as the Captain of King Philip III's royal fleet. He immediately rose to fame as he successfully led his fleet towards victory during several encounters with the French and Ottoman Army.

On 1631, a conspiracy was made between the officers of the Spanish army to oust the recently promoted General Arthur Pendragon. It was due to the jealousy rooted from the overflowing favors that Arthur received from the King himself. He was accused of plunder and was exiled that little archipelago in southeast asia, to live peacefully as a low-ranking officer.

Contrary to the beliefs of Arthur's enemy, Arthur never intended to give up his seat of power. A day before his exile, he sent a telegram to King Charles I of England posing his resentment to the Spanish Empire and pledging allegiance to English Monarchy. Silently, he was given an order by the King of England to instigate a mutiny against the colonial rule of Spain. The little country became his plotting ground against the tyranny of the country that betrayed him. He was a given a fleet of soldiers known as the Order of the Yellow Rose. The fleet was disguised as merchants who intend to trade with the small colony of Spain. But the fleet was not enough for Arthur. He knew he needed more manpower. He strengthened his threshold by igniting the patriotic spirit of the natives, emphasizing the advantage of independence. For several years, he and the Order of the Yellow Rose were training them for warfare in the outskirts of the northern mountain range.

Furthermore, he saw that the Tokugawa Shogunate pose a grave threat in his plans for ousting the Spanish Colonial rule in the country. He feared that the Japanese Empire will see the transition between the upcoming revolution and independence as a window of opportunity to seize power over the country. With the money provided by the English Monarchy, The Order of the Yellow Rose planted fabricated evidences -- a decoy pointing that a plan for a foreign invasion in Japan is brewing under the alliance of Spain and Portugal. The Tokugawa Shogunate feared the alliance and instituted Sakoku, a policy wherein foreigners were expelled out of Japan and no one is allowed to enter or leave their country. This rendered the country closed in isolation.