Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 143: The Pangea Plane

CH143 The Pangea Plane

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[A.N: Fair warning — this Chapter is an info-dump. You don’t have to read it; it’s mostly a guiding textbook for myself, filled with geographical details about the Pangea Plane and some scattered lore to help with consistency. Posting this forces me to stick to it instead of constantly changing things on the fly — which has been slowing down my releases.

[If this isn’t your thing, feel free to skip to the next Chapter. Otherwise, enjoy.]

The planet-plane known as Pangea was massive — significantly larger than the Earth of Alex’s previous life.

Despite that, only a quarter of Pangea’s surface was landmass.

Still, this quarter equated to approximately six hundred million square kilometres — at least three times the landmass of Earth.

Pangea was divided into three continents:

Arun, Terra, and Cryonis.

Of the three, Arun was indisputably the main continent, accounting for seventy percent of the total landmass and approximately ninety percent of all land-walking fauna and sentient life.

Terra and Cryonis were distant seconds, contributing twenty percent and ten percent respectively.

Geographically, Arun sat at the centre. Terra lay far to the south-west, while Cryonis was positioned due north. That said, none of the continents could be considered ’close’ by any stretch of the imagination.

Only individuals at the Legend Rank or higher possessed the strength or incentive to travel between continents—whether by sea or air. The journeys were perilous beyond measure, and the environmental instability on both Terra and Cryonis rendered cross-continental teleportation inefficient and risky.

Terra was a savage land — a vast jungle island reminiscent of Earth’s Australia.

Like Australia, Terra’s environment was punishing in the extreme. Its topography, geology, and ecosystem were all hostile to civilised life. The land teemed with toxic plants, venomous insects, man-eating flora, and untold primal horrors.

If a planet could intentionally design a continent to repel visitors, Terra would be the result.

Intelligent life was virtually non-existent there. The land belonged to the wild, untamed, and ancient forces of nature.

Cryonis, on the other hand, was an eternal tundra — a vast realm of perpetual snow and ice.

It was so cold that some Grand Mages speculated parts of the continent may reach absolute zero, the theoretical temperature at which all motion ceases.

Even mages with high affinity for Ice, or creatures born of elemental cold, struggled to survive there.

Only beings made of essence ice — pure manifestations of cold itself — could thrive in Cryonis. These entities were so perfectly adapted to its unnatural cold that merely venturing fifteen nautical miles away from the continent would kill them due to the ’rise’ in temperature.

In truth, each of Pangea’s three continents existed in near-total isolation from one another.

And it made sense.

The majority of intelligent life — including Alex and the majority of the plane’s key factions — resided on Arun.

And for good reason.

Arun alone was already a powder keg of political tension and endless conflict.

Noble houses, sectarian powers, and organisations constantly vied for dominance. Many rose and fell within the span of a single year.

Despite this internal chaos, the geopolitical balance of Arun had remained largely stable. The major Empires and ancient superpowers at the heart of the continent had managed to persist through generations of bloodshed.

Historians and scholars believe this long-standing geopolitical stability — particularly among the major powers — is largely due to the Era of Planar Exploration and Exploitation.

During this era, the major empires became so powerful and so evenly matched that mutual deterrence emerged. Their strength balanced each other out.

Each major power was capable of exploring and exploiting other planes, harvesting rare resources that made geographical advantages within Arun largely irrelevant.

Because of this, every major force continually strengthened itself with off-world resources. And since no empire had clear insight into the true depths of another’s planar assets, full-scale wars between them were seen as unnecessarily risky.

Thus, the royals, nobles, and ruling organisations of these empires chose to maintain the status quo.

Instead of battling each other, they allowed and even encouraged internal conflicts — noble rivalries, house wars, regional strife — to keep powerholders sharp and competitive.

Those who couldn’t keep up — those who failed to continue harvesting resources from other planes — would be swallowed by stronger powers. In this way, the empire’s strength was preserved... or grown.

Grown, until one day an empire’s power would surpass a critical threshold — when its nobility and ruling houses would finally feel confident enough to challenge another empire head-on.

Across the vast 400 million square kilometre landmass of Arun, alongside countless unstable minor factions, there exist five stable major powers that have stood the test of time throughout the Era of Planar Exploration.

To the north of the distorted quadrilateral-shaped continent lie two of the oldest empires:

The IronHammer Empire, dominated by dwarves

The Elarion Empire, ruled primarily by elves

The IronHammer holds the western stretch of the northern territories, while the Elarion Empire occupies the central and much of the eastern north.

Although dwarves and elves are the majority races, both empires are home to a wide range of intelligent species:

Gnomes, fairies, beastkin, sapient flora such as Treants, and even beastfolk with sentient intelligence live as respected citizens within these empires.

Moving along the eastern coastline, from the far north stretching well south and biting a bit into the continent’s interior as it went down — bordering nearly all the other major factions except IronHammer — lies the Nearmarch Confederacy.

This confederation state was formed when a cluster of smaller eastern nations banded together in an economic and defensive pact, both to protect themselves from larger empires and to coordinate against hostile neighbouring minor powers.

The Nearmarch Confederacy operates similarly to Earth’s ancient Greek union of city-states — decentralised, yet united by mutual interest.

To preserve the union’s stability, the member states exert careful pressure on one another, ensuring no individual member becomes too strong (which could threaten the collective), or too weak (which could become a liability).

It’s a delicate alliance, held together by layers of political manoeuvring, military cooperation, and the constant pressure of shared existential threats.

To the far south lies an empire that spans the bulk of the continent’s southern region — stretching from the west to the central south. Much of the south-east, however, belongs to the Nearmarch Confederacy.

This empire is known as the Eternal Valkyrie Empire, or E.V.E.

EVE is unique.

It is governed by two co-equal monarchies, a rare dual dynasty system that shares sovereign authority equally across the empire.

Moreover, it is the only major state on the Pangea Plane governed this way — and notably, it is also the only matriarchal human civilisation in the known world.

There are many ongoing debates about whether the Eternal Valkyrie Empire (E.V.E.) can even be considered a human civilisation.

After all, humans make up less than forty percent of its population.

The rest is composed of traditionally matriarchal races — Dryads, Succubi, Drows, Foxkin, Nagas, and more.

Even the two ruling royal families aren’t entirely human.

One royal house is made up of Amazonians, while the other is composed of half-human, half-Drow nobles.

Technically, Amazonians are still classified as humans — albeit extremely tall, well-built, and fiercely feminine humans. And the half-Drows, by virtue of their mixed blood, do carry human lineage.

Because of the racial makeup of its citizenry and its ruling elite, the Empire bears a distinct female-centric identity.

Most high-ranking governance and managerial positions are held by women.

That said, this doesn’t mean men have no place within EVE’s hierarchy.

In fact, aside from the Grand Marshal — a title held by a powerful warrior from the Amazonian Kaelwryn Royal Family — the majority of upper military command is dominated by men.

Similarly, many key administrative positions in government fall under the supervision of the Drow-led Velratha Royal House, and men serve prominently there as well.

In essence, EVE runs on a dynamic balance — a cultural model where men lead the charge in war and conflict, while women govern, cultivate, and manage the spoils.

To the more patriarchal societies of other human nations, this system may seem unusual, even bizarre. But whatever one’s opinion of EVE’s matriarchal doctrine, its power is indisputable. The Eternal Valkyrie Empire stands shoulder to shoulder with the continent’s other great empires.

The fifth and largest empire by sheer geographical size is, without question, the Virellian Empire.

It spans the central region of the Arun continent and extends into the upper third of the southern region, bordering the Eternal Valkyrie Empire.

From the western coastline to the eastern borderlands shared with the Nearmarch Confederacy and other minor powers, the Virellian Empire is the largest nation on the Arun continent—at least on paper.

In practice, however, much of its land is hostile or inaccessible.

The Ironmourn Desert to the north separates it from the IronHammer and Elarion Empires. The Turika Mountain Range serves as a natural barrier with the Eternal Valkyrie Empire. The DragonMourn Highlands form a difficult border against the Confederacy. And within the empire itself lies the Dankrot Forest, an unforgiving stretch of wilderness teeming with danger...

Altogether, nearly forty percent of the Virellian Empire’s claimed territory is uninhabitable to most of its citizens.

This effectively reduces its overwhelming lead in landmass... to a tenuous first place in landmass rankings.

The Virellian Empire was founded by the legendary hero who led the Pangea Plane to victory during the great war and first Interplanar battle against the Infernal Invasion.

Under the command of that hero, Emperor Commodus Ludevicus, and his historic retainers, the Virellian Empire expanded rapidly during the early years of the Era of Planar Exploitation.

They seized vast territories, marching further and faster than any other power before the rest of the continent could react.

Had it not been for the harsh terrain hemming them in on all sides, it’s likely the Virellian Empire would have conquered the entire continent during the reign of the Founding Emperor.

But that dream never materialised.

The Empire’s expansion eventually stalled.

That gave the other continental powers time to stabilise, organise, and fortify themselves — resulting in the delicate balance of powers that persists to this day, thousands of years later.

Within the Virellian Empire, House Fury held its central and most strategic territories to the northwest of the Empire, extending slightly into the north-central regions as well.

Though the Fury family also controlled territory to the south of their northwestern stronghold, it was this northwestern expanse — ruled over by the bulk of the family’s noble lines — that served as the heart and stronghold of House Fury.

This was especially true because Ashen Castle, along with its surrounding City of Ashes, as well as the private fiefdom of the family head, Earl Drake Fury, was located within this region.

In recognition of both this strategic location and Earl Drake’s Legendary-rank combat prowess, he also held the prestigious imperial title of Northern Guardian of the Virellian Empire. It was his duty to defend the empire’s northern border against the primal and bloodthirsty Wildkins, who often invaded from the Ironmourn Desert.

Then again, even without the title, the Fury family would have been forced to defend against Wildkin incursions. Most of these northern assaults happened to funnel directly through Fury-controlled territory anyway.

But the Ironmourn Desert wasn’t the only source of danger for the region.

To the east of the Fury heartlands — not far from Ashen Castle — lay the infamous Dankrot Forest, a sprawling wilderness that stretched deep into the north-central parts of the Empire.

The forest was rich in untapped resources, but those resources were either guarded or nested within beast territories.

Dankrot was home to a great number of magical beasts, including those at the Legendary-equivalent rank of Class 6, capable of tearing apart even seasoned warrior troops. Even someone like Earl Drake himself would have to approach with caution.

Yet, that wasn’t the worst of it.

If the forest only contained Legendary beasts, the Empire would have tamed it long ago.

The true reason the forest still remained unclaimed was the persistent rumour — one neither confirmed nor denied by the Empire — that there existed beasts above Class 6, the Legendary rank equivalent, deep within Dankrot’s core.

While the Empire had never publicly admitted this, their unofficial stance and cautious policies might as well be taken as a silent confirmation.

Despite the danger, adventurers still braved the forest in search of rare resources unavailable elsewhere.

From time to time, the Fury armies stationed across nearby territories would conduct military exercises within the forest — partly for training, but mostly to keep the beast population along the forest’s outer rim in check.

After all, no one wanted a beast tide.

Overpopulated beast domains often triggered mass migrations — devastating surges of monsters overflowing into human settlements.

Such tides had occurred frequently in the past, before the Furies settled in the region — particularly around what was once the Dankrot Plain, now the home of Ashen Castle and its surrounding city.

Since the Furies began regular clean-up operations, however, there hadn’t been a single recorded beast tide.

This curious peace led many to speculate about an unspoken agreement between the Empire — or perhaps just the Fury family — and the Overlord-class beasts that ruled the core of the forest.

In this mutually beneficial arrangement, the Empire or Fury family gained access to valuable beast remains and resources along the periphery and fringe of the forest, while the Overlord Beasts at its centre ensured the balance of the forest’s ecology remained intact.

This informal pact had become so deeply entrenched in the Fury family’s tradition that every scion of every noble line was expected to lead at least one expedition into Dankrot Forest in their lifetime.

It was not a law or an enforced regulation.

It was simply expected — a rite of passage.

A successful harvest from an expedition was one of the surest ways for a young noble to earn merit and reputation within the family.

The larger and more valuable the haul, the greater the renown.

And now, under Earl Drake’s calculated guidance, Alex would also take part in this family tradition — leading a modest troop force into Dankrot Forest.

He had already shown the Fury family his individual combat prowess in the duels three days ago.

Now it was time to prove his strength as a commander.

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