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This section surveys Gaul's legacy and its fall. After recovering from the Nightzmora Khagan's blow, Gaul became Terra's most powerful country; Gaulish was the diplomatic lingua franca and the Livre dominated trade. The Empire fell in 1031, its remains carved up by neighbors.
In 833, Comte Ousmane was tasked by Emperor François with converting the capital, Lingones, into a nomadic city within twenty years—the first such project on Terra. He faced obstruction from the mayor and conservative nobles, bypassing municipal red tape with the Army's seal and military channels. Commoners opposed the disruption and the loss of the old city's character, so Ousmane used phased construction. Over 40,000 buildings were demolished and over 90,000 built or reconstructed; the project took twenty-five years, and Ousmane was demoted. Lingones became a model for nomadic cities, and its architecture spawned "Style Empire."
Gaul first bundled running water, sewage, electricity, and heating into widespread urban living, nurturing a rich cultural era dubbed the "Belle Époque," alongside Gaulish Realists who highlighted the poor.
After the fall, roughly 30 million Gaulish speakers lost their country. Exiles formed Gaulish neighborhoods, and "Restorationists" promoted a cultural, chosen identity as Gaulish, influencing ideas of self-determined identity across Terra.
War came in 1029. Corsica I demanded Leithanien become an allied state; the furious Witch King executed Gaulish Messengers and "molded" them into a statue. Gaul declared war in August 1029, aiming to reshape Leithanien into an ally against Ursus and Victoria. Despite rapid initial advances, the Witch King's Originium Arts halted Gaul. Victoria and Ursus intervened in 1030, forming a three-nation coalition. After failed negotiations, the Battle of Four Emperors erupted in October 1031; vastly outnumbered, Gaul was defeated, Corsica I's flagship destroyed, his body never found, and Lingones razed.
Victoria gained most from the division of Gaul, laying groundwork for its dominance; Leithanien was devastated; Ursus gained technology and a confident Tsarevich Vladimir. The war's widespread military Originium use caused a surge of Oropathy, making the Infected a "modern crisis."
Gaul, like most ancient Core nations, suffered a devastating blow from the Nightzmora Khagan at the start of the last millennium, then rebuilt and annexed surrounding city-states to become Terra's most powerful country. Gaulish was the diplomatic lingua franca, and the Livre was the most prized currency in trade. All this ended with Gaul's fall in 1031, when her empire crumbled and neighbors carved up its remains. This chapter skips the causes of the downfall and the Battle of the Four Emperors—both treated later—to focus on the subtle, lasting effects Gaul still has on daily life.
In 833, Comte Ousmane, one of the les épéistes, was appointed by Emperor François to convert the capital, Lingones, into a nomadic city over twenty years—the first such conversion on Terra. The plan proved far more complicated than the Emperor envisioned. By tradition, a project of that scale belonged to "les enrobes", the domestic officials, but the frustrated Emperor chose a military man to bypass bureaucratic delays. Ousmane's memoirs recount the mayor's repeated refusals to meet, his alignment with conservative nobles, endless delays to proposals, and paperwork returned on the last possible day. The Emperor dismissed complaints, so Ousmane stamped documents with the Army's seal and delivered them through military channels—"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Commoners also objected. Lingones became a giant open-air worksite filled with drilling, jackhammers, and dust, forcing Ousmane to extend the timeline and build in phased zones; transport between old and new sections became hugely profitable. Older residents complained the city lost its traditional friendly character of narrow alleys and little houses; tall buildings, tree-lined boulevards, and center roads over a hundred meters wide replaced it, with ground-floor glass windows displaying expensive goods—Lingones became like a giant shopping mall and amusement park. After completion, an influx of new residents diluted local resentment, and the city became a model for all new nomadic cities. Over 40,000 buildings were demolished and more than 90,000 built or reconstructed; construction took twenty-five years, and Ousmane was demoted for the delay, though he welcomed the time to travel and write memoirs. Other nations followed suit, and Lingones's architecture became known as "Style Empire", influencing neighbors even after the Empire's fall.
Gaul was not the first with running water or heating, but the first to bundle these inventions and make them widely available, affording large-scale urban renovations. While ordinary Gaulish citizens sat in heated rooms with boiling tap water, lesser Ursine nobles still watched their fireplaces. Freed from daily chores, citizens shopped, visited galleries, and attended growing numbers of social salons; a wave of novels, paintings, and plays celebrating modern life led people to call their era the "Belle Époque". Other artists, the Gaulish Realists or Critics, focused on the poor, arguing the well-to-do should not ignore those excluded from modern Gaul's beauty, and deeply influenced later artists.
After the fall, nearly 30 million Gaulish speakers lost their country. Most stayed under Victoria or Leithanien; many emigrated, forming Gaulish neighborhoods in nomadic cities. Some, the "Restorationists", traveled between countries seeking support for reviving Gaul. Racially diverse and from all classes, they were united only by Gaulish identity, which they saw as transcending region, time, race, and bloodlines—rooted purely in cultural thought. Victoria's cultural cleansing in occupied Lower Gaul temporarily suppressed the movement there but enraged exiles elsewhere. Restorationists changed how people understood identity: rather than belonging simply by ancestry, people could discover or choose identity, and some whose families had lived abroad for generations joined even with little knowledge of Gaul. A Gaulish student told the author, "Losing their homeland reignited their patriotism. I say this because I feel the same way."
Though the Terran City Calendar puts this century at 1001–1100, Londinium salons argue the true 11th century began with the Gaulish-Leithanian-Victorian-Ursine conflict of 1029–1031, the War of the Four Nations, which erased one empire and elevated another to dominance. This "New Victorian Century" view fueled Victorian national pride until Parliament hanged the Lion King in 1072.
Dark clouds loomed in 1029. The author still holds a family letter urging him to leave Leithanien for Iberia. Victorian-Gaulish relations had deteriorated since Columbia's independence, with battleships ramming each other and artillery exchanges; Corsica I and Tsar Ivan feigned friendship while Gaul's blockade of Ursus deepened tensions. In Leithanien, the Witch King, now a madman said to summon Catastrophes at will, had once sent a Messenger demanding other nations surrender their crowns, then slit his throat when he changed his mind. His long reign and reforms enraged the Kurfürsten, and many watched his spire, waiting for Leithanien to plunge into war.
In summer 1029, Gaul's Imperial Messenger carried Corsica I's proposal that Leithanien become an "allied state" under a Gaulish "guarantor", and "invited" the Witch King to become his brother-in-law. The furious Witch King executed every Gaulish Messenger in Leithanien and "molded" them into a twenty-meter statue presented to the Emperor. This shocked the Core and sparked war calls in Gaul, as Corsica I had hoped; the Grande Armée mobilized under his command. Gaul declared war in August 1029.
Corsica I's strategy rested on three assumptions. First, the Kurfürsten's enmity toward the Witch King had boiled over—his weakening of them and allowing Siracusa's autonomy sowed discontent—and the Emperor believed many nobles had already negotiated the price of betraying their king, as Leithanien had done in Bolívar. Second, rivals were distracted: Victoria, shaken by the frontier's independence, hesitated to intervene, and Ursus's armies were assembling against Kazimierz, whose campaign knights were ready to pin them down. Third, the balance of power had shifted; in private letters Corsica I admitted Gaul's golden age was over—the vassal system around Lingones was a trap, and a corrupt bureaucracy was draining the Empire—but he could not show weakness. He needed Leithanien as an ally, ruled no longer by a powerful monarch, and planned war to end the Witch King's reign and shape Leithanien into a suitable partner.
The misjudgment was not pure arrogance: Victoria's and Ursus's eventual intervention shows the vision was not far-fetched. But war is not a docile beast; even a genius like Corsica I could not steer it alone. The Grande Armée quickly broke the supposedly impregnable western defensive line, concentrating its forces in a single advance with trusted marshals on the flanks. Fine casters, including some from Kazdel's Royal Court, countered Leithanien's Originium Arts. By December 1029, Leithanien had lost several nomadic cities and four Kurfürstenkreise, and Gaul captured Arts spires. Then the Witch King resonated with nearby spires, unleashing Arts that tore apart the vanguard like a Catastrophe, while Großherzog Leopold and loyal Kurfürsten counterattacked. Corsica I admitted he had underestimated the land's most formidable caster.
By 1030 a stalemate set in, then the tide turned: Frederick III of Victoria and Tsar Ivan moved at almost the same time. Suing for peace while attacking, the coalition forced Gaul onto the defensive between winter 1030 and summer 1031. Corsica I refused retreat, waging a revolutionary high-mobility war that leveraged Gaulish training, equipment, and command—but at rising casualties. Failed ceasefires led to the Battle of the Four Emperors in October 1031, in Lower Gaul's central valleys.
Fought in the presence of four monarchs—Corsica I, the Witch King, the Lion King, and the Tsar—the battle saw vastly outnumbered Gaulish forces defeated. Corsica I's flagship was destroyed, the Vieux Vanguard fought to the last man, and his body was never found. Gaul's preemptive strike exploited the coalition's disorganized command, but reinforcements were intercepted and decimated by the Victorian fleet under the Iron Duke, later the "Empire's Death Knell". The coalition then razed Lingones after its defenders refused to surrender; the war ended with the Empire wiped from the map.
The aftermath: millions of refugees perished in the wilderness or unsanitary camps. Restorationist nationalism, redefining "what it means to be Gaulish", proved as significant as the fall itself. Victoria, annexing Lower Gaul, gained the resources and technologies underpinning her later dominance, though post-war spoils intensified struggles among her Dukes—the events of 1019 led to 1031, which paved the way for 1072 and Victoria's path toward the summer of 1098. Leithanien, devastated, saw the Kurfürsten under Leopold secretly study Gaulish technology to counter the increasingly mad Witch King. Ursus gained Gaulish Originium technology for industrial reform and fleet-building, while Tsarevich Vladimir, emboldened by fighting in the war, would expand the Empire over the next forty years. Widespread military Originium products caused a surge of Oropathy among refugees and veterans; the resulting Infected crisis forced control measures and produced the first public resistance movements of former military personnel and the Infected, transforming the Infected issue into a "modern crisis".
EPIGRAPH
The Emperor is dead—there were no legal proceedings, no trial, and no plans for the future. The Londiniers have fallen into a state of blind confusion and fervor. Crowds run wild in the streets, surrendering to their most primal urges, severing all ties with the past. The revelers, drinking throughout the night, sweep through every corner of the city like a gust of wind. Many shops are looted, and the streets are littered with broken glass and beer bottles. A Gaulish student remarks that even Lingones has never been this chaotic, not even in 1031. Nobles who support the Aslan royal family privately compare Victoria to Gaul, saying the country now looks doomed to fall. I've been staying at the school for the past few days, using the time to clean out years of accumulated clutter from my office. I even found several things I brought back from Gaul in my youth. When I was just a regular lecturer, I would often show these items to my students during lectures on social change, to showcase Gaul's accomplishments. But now, as I look at these yellowed newspapers, photos, and flyers, I can't help but think about myself. If my life were to end tomorrow, would I leave anything worthy of praise? Outside, the crowds continue their celebrations. I too remain sleepless, though not from joy, but from worry.
—Written in the turbulent year of 1072
There's no need to elaborate on Gaul's history—like most ancient nations of the Core, Gaul suffered a devastating blow from the Nightzmora Khagan at the beginning of the last millennium. Thereafter, she slowly rebuilt and gradually annexed surrounding city-states, eventually growing into a powerful empire. At one time, Gaul was the most powerful and influential country on Terra. Gaulish once served as the diplomatic lingua franca, and her currency, the Livre, was the most prized in trade. Yet all these once-great achievements vanished with the fall of Gaul in 1031. Her mighty empire crumbled, and her neighbors swiftly carved up its remains. More than half a century has passed, and it feels as though Gaul is far behind us—but things are not so simple. I have no intention of analyzing the reasons for Gaul's downfall or recounting the Battle of the Four Emperors here. I will cover both of these subjects later on. Instead, this chapter focuses on the subtle, yet lasting effects Gaul continues to have on our daily lives.
The first time in my life that I felt profound humiliation was in Lingones. At the age of sixteen, I was visiting family in the grand capital of Gaul. At a party hosted by my uncle, I attempted to mingle with the local socialites, but they dismissed me outright, simply because I wasn't from Lingones! I may not have inherited a title, but I am still noble, no? How could they treat me like that? That's when I realized what makes this city unique—there are only two types of people here: Lingonians, and everyone else. Later, as I encountered one obstacle after another during the city's reconstruction, that memory from my youth resurfaced again and again. Each time I felt like giving up, it reminded me that I couldn't abandon this chance to take charge of Lingones. —Mémoires du Comte Ousmane
In 833, Comte (Count) Ousmane received a daunting mission from Emperor François of Gaul. The ambitious young soldier, one of the les épéistes, was appointed to oversee the conversion of the capital, Lingones, into a nomadic city over a period of twenty years. This was an immensely important assignment. The project would make Gaul the first nation on Terra to turn an ancient city into a nomadic one. The Emperor had full confidence that Gaul, with her advanced technology, vast wealth, and ample resources, could see through such an ambitious project. However, the plan was far more complicated than the Emperor had envisioned.
Ousmane's first challenge was navigating his fraught relationship with the Lingonian nobility. According to Gaulish tradition, a project of such magnitude should have been managed by "les enrobes", government officials in charge of tax administration and other domestic affairs. However, the Emperor had grown frustrated with bureaucratic delays. A military man, he believed, would get things done quicker. According to Ousmane's recounts on his early struggles in his memoirs, the mayor of Lingones repeatedly declined his requests for a private meeting. Instead, he aligned himself with the conservative nobles at court, refusing to provide any assistance. The city planning proposals submitted by the Comte's office faced countless delays, and all paperwork requiring the mayor's approval and/or city funding was returned on the last possible day. Ousmane had to hold meeting after meeting with his team, discussing potential roadblocks and planning the next stages of construction.
When he complained about city hall's obstructionism, the Emperor was dismissive, "They're responding to all your submissions by the deadline, aren't they? The mayor has a busy schedule, you know." Seeing that the Emperor was unwilling to intervene in noble squabbles, Ousmane took matters into his own hands. He began stamping all documents with the Army's official seal, and delivering them through military channels, avoiding municipal red tape. As Ousmane later remarked, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
It wasn't just the nobility who had issues with the project—many commoners were also vocal in their opposition. During construction, Lingones was transformed
into a giant open-air worksite. Large work crews moved through the city; the cacophony of drills and jackhammers, combined with swirling dust, disrupted life for everyone in Lingones. To mitigate the issue, Ousmane had no choice but to extend the project's timeline and divide the city into zones for phased construction. Transport between the old city and the newly constructed mobile sections became one of the most profitable businesses during this period. The vehicles shuttling between the two areas nearly form two uninterrupted, straight lines.
Additionally, many older Lingonians complained that Ousmane had completely changed the city's traditional, friendly character. The old Lingones was filled with narrow alleys and lovely little houses where neighbors on the second floor could greet each other through their windows. Vehicles only traveled on the city's main thoroughfares, and the spaces between buildings were largely enclosed areas. In the new city, however, tall buildings and tree-lined boulevards replaced the cramped, old city streets. Some of the roads in the city center were now more than a hundred meters wide. The ground floors of the new buildings featured large glass display windows, showcasing expensive clothing and crafts that symbolized the arrival of a new era. Basically, Lingones had transformed into a giant shopping mall/amusement park. However, after the nomadic city was completed, the influx of new residents quickly diluted the resentment that had built up among the locals, and people began to enjoy life in the vast new city. Lingones has since become a model for all new nomadic cities.
In the end, what the Emperor initially envisioned as a simple relocation turned into a grand-scale reconstruction project. More than 40,000 buildings were demolished, and over 90,000 structures were built or reconstructed. The construction took twenty-five years, five years longer than planned; Comte Ousmane was blamed for the delay and demoted to a lesser position in Lingones. However, Ousmane was more than happy to accept his new role, as it gave him plenty of time and energy to travel this great land and write his memoirs. Following the reconstruction of Lingones, other nations also began relocating their old cities onto nomadic plates. The grandiose floor-to-ceiling windows, extravagant bronze decorations, and magnificent marble buildings of Lingones came to be known as "Style Empire" in architecture. Even after the fall of the Empire, this style, and Gaulish culture in general, continued to influence neighboring countries.
Imagine a city without running water, sewage systems, or electricity. The streets are crowded with workers hauling water, night watchmen manually light street lamps one by one before sunset, and every household must leave its chamber pot at the door for a special crew to pick up. I don't think I need to go into any more detail here. My point is: the conveniences we enjoy today didn't appear overnight.
Gaul wasn't the first place to introduce running water to homes, nor was she the first country to provide heating. However, Gaul was the first to bundle these new inventions together and make them widely available. With her robust economy, Gaul could afford the cost of large-scale urban renovations and pipeline installations. While an ordinary Gaulish citizen could sit comfortably in a heated room, boiling tap water and sipping coffee on a cold winter's day, a lesser Ursine noble would still be preoccupied with watching their fireplace to ensure it didn't
set the house ablaze. These improved living conditions nurtured a rich cultural life. Without the burden of daily chores or worrying about missing the daily water delivery, Gaulish citizens could participate in a variety of different activities. What was once a privilege enjoyed only by a few nobles had now become available to the masses. People could go shopping, visit art galleries, or attend the ever-growing number of social salons.
A wave of novels, paintings, and plays celebrating modern life emerged in Gaul. The people of that time period dubbed their era the "Belle Époque". However, this was still a tale of two cities. A separate group of playwrights and artists focused their works on the lives of the poor. They argued that the well-to-do should not ignore the suffering of those unable to enjoy the beauty of modern Gaul. These artists became known as Gaulish Realists or Gaulish Critics, and their work deeply influenced future artists across the land.
After the fall of Gaul, nearly 30 million Gaulish speakers found themselves without a country. Most stayed in their homeland, becoming citizens of Victoria or Leithanien, but many chose to seek a new home abroad. Gaulish neighborhoods formed in numerous nomadic cities as exiles settled there. Some Gaulishmen harbored deep resentment and bitterness over their homeland's collapse and longed for its revival. These individuals, who called themselves "Restorationists", often traveled between countries in search of support for their cause.
The Restorationists were racially diverse and hailed from all different social classes, united only by their shared identity as Gaulishmen. They frequently spoke in public about "what it means to be Gaulish". They viewed their Gaulish identity as transcending region, time, race, and bloodlines, rooted purely in cultural thought. To them, identifying as Gaulish meant embracing Gaul's past culture and recognizing its sophisticated way of life and former dominance. When Victoria implemented a policy of cultural cleansing in the occupied region of Lower Gaul, the Restorationist movement within Victoria was temporarily suppressed. However, this act enraged Gaulish exiles in other regions, who became even more active in spreading their message.
Gaulish Restorationists operating across Terra deeply influenced how people in many areas understood their own identities. Previously, most people considered themselves part of a nation simply because their ancestors had lived there. The idea that people could discover, or even choose their own identities had never occurred to them. Some people whose families had lived abroad for generations also joined the Gaulish Restorationist movement, even if they barely spoke the language and/or couldn't distinguish between Gaul and her former vassals. Restorationists often left a strong impression, brimming with passion and energy. "Losing their homeland reignited their patriotism. I say this because I feel the same way," a Gaulish student told me during a Restorationist speech at school.
EPIGRAPH
Soldiers! As you sharpen your blades, polish your cannons, and prepare to give your lives for the glory of the Empire, I—Son of Gaul, your Emperor—bring you news that fills me with profound sorrow and rage. Not long ago, the Witch King of Leithanien finally tore off his false mask of wisdom, revealing his true face of barbarity and cruelty. He has murdered Gaul's righteous sons and daughters, desecrating their noble souls with vile sorcery. He believed his brutality would intimidate your Emperor and shake our Empire. The Witch King does not realize that his once-grand spire now casts only the shadow of a foolish clown. This clown mocks Gaul's vigilant warriors; he sees us as cowards. He thinks that decades of prosperity have made us soft, or perhaps that Victoria and Ursus have bound our hands, leaving us unable to strike back. Yesterday evening, as I passed through the camp, some of you asked me, "Is it true, Your Majesty? Will the great Gaul submit in silence? Will her warriors wait to see what others do before deciding whether to bow to a clown?" I say to you, "Never!" Sons and daughters of Gaul, I command you to march at once! We will not wait for a better moment—we need nothing more than the fire of vengeance in our hearts. La Grande Armée will march on Leithanien now and crush these arrogant fools! When the merciless Imperial Army encircles his spire, the clown will realize he is standing on his gallows. Nothing will save him from the Empire's wrath. Our enemies have trampled not only Gaul's dignity but also the best chance for two great nations to forge a lasting friendship and stride together into a new era of prosperity. Soldiers, Gaul has long extended the olive branch, but the vile sorcerer swatted it away. This clown, calling himself the "Witch King", has dragged his people into an unnecessary war, and every drop of blood spilled on Leithanien's soil will rest on his hands.
—Corsica I's speech before battle, August 1029
According to the widely-accepted Terran City Calendar, this century began in the year 1001 and will conclude in 1100. However, the salons of Londinium argue that the true start of the 11th century occurred between 1029 and 1031, during the Gaulish-Leithanian-Victorian-Ursine conflict, also known as the War of the Four Nations. This war drastically reshaped the geopolitical landscape of the Core, erasing one empire from the political map and elevating another to a new level of dominance. For nearly seventy
years following, most social and political issues could be traced back to this great conflict. In post-war Victoria, this "New Victorian Century" view became very popular, fueling a sense of national pride—until 1072, when Parliament hanged the Lion King.
In any case, when we look back at 1029, we see that dark clouds loomed overhead. Even those who paid little attention to such matters could sense that a great and brutal war was rapidly approaching. I still have a letter sent by my family in the year the war broke out, urging me to pause my studies and leave Leithanien to seek refuge in Iberia. Relations between Victoria and Gaul had rapidly deteriorated ever since Columbia's independence. Clashes had become frequent, with high-speed battleships ramming each other out on the barrens, and artillery fire exchanges near nomadic cities. Corsica I and Tsar Ivan Evgenevich of Ursus maintained a façade of cordial friendship, but Gaul's blockade of Ursus, which cut her off from the Core, deepened tensions between the two nations.
What's more, the political situation in Leithanien, the Empire east of Gaul, had already begun to worsen. The Witch King had consolidated his power base, but Leithanians no longer spoke of him as a wise and decisive ruler; he had, in fact, become a madman said to be capable of summoning Catastrophes at will. Once he sent a Messenger to the other nations, demanding they surrender their crowns, and then sent an assassin to slit the Messenger's throat before he even left Leithanien just because he changed his mind. The Witch King's unusually long reign and the reforms he imposed on Leithanien had already enraged the Kurfürsten, and his brutal rule terrified the populace. Many eyes were fixed to the top of his spire, waiting for Leithanien to stray off course and be the first to plunge into the abyss of war.
Amid these ominous signs, we entered the summer of 1029. Gaul had repeatedly sent Imperial Messengers to Leithanien, hoping to bring her into their sphere of influence. This time, however, the Imperial Messenger carried a personal letter to Leithanien, which was already showing signs of internal strife. Corsica I "invited" the Witch King to become his brother-in-law. He officially proposed that Leithanien become an "allied state" of the Empire, promising at least one hundred years of stability and prosperity under the protection of a Gaulish "guarantor" (i.e., the Emperor himself). Such an audacious demand would have angered even the most mild-mannered ruler, let alone the crazed Witch King. Furious, the King in the Spire executed every Gaulish Messenger in Leithanien—whether or not they had anything to do with the Gaulish imperial household—and "molded" them into a twenty-meter-tall statue, presenting this "thank-you gift" to the Gaulish Emperor.
The Witch King's retaliation shocked the entire Core and sparked intense calls for war within Gaul, exactly as Emperor Corsica I had hoped. The Emperor's Grande Armée quickly mobilized along the Leithanien border, with the Emperor himself taking command at the front. Before setting out, Corsica I, hailed as "the youngest military genius in imperial history", promised the soldiers that justice would be served, that the Witch King and his spire would burn in the furious flames of the Gaulish Empire.
In August 1029, Gaul completed her military preparations and officially declared war on Leithanien.
Gaulish military leaders, particularly the marshals closest to Corsica I, were well aware that the Empire had geopolitical rivals spanning the entire Core, and Leithanien was not the most immediate threat. Despite the lack of a friendly history between the
two nations, forging an alliance with Leithanien was critical to Corsica I's strategy at that time: in doing so, the two powers could join forces to prevent Ursus from advancing further south into the Core, and compel Victoria to shift its own focus southward, where it would inevitably clash with the Iberian forces, who were determined to expand their power onto the land.
The prevailing view holds that Corsica I's strategy in 1029 was based on three key assumptions.
First, the mistrust and long-standing enmity between the Kurfürsten and the Witch King had reached a boiling point. Even if the Witch King had not gone mad, his drastic measures—severely weakening the power of the Kurfürsten and allowing Siracusa to become fully autonomous (independent, actually), etc.—had already sown lasting discontent within the court. While the Leithanien nobility would not hesitate to fight for their spires, they were not as eager to defend The Spire. The Emperor believed, rightly or wrongly, that a significant number of Leithanien nobles had already negotiated, with Messengers, the price for betraying their mad king—just as Leithanien had done in Bolívar.
Second, Gaul's other rivals, particularly those still engaged in military skirmishes with the Empire, were dealing with their own problems. Though the frontier's independence had been secured for a decade, its aftershocks still reverberated through Victoria. The King and Parliament were both hesitant to launch yet another military intervention without sufficient preparation. In the north, Ursus's armies were assembling for a new offensive against Kazimierz, where the campaign knights were fully prepared to pin down the Ursus forces on the battlefield. As a result, the Emperor and his marshals believed that neither Victoria nor Ursus could effectively intervene in Gaul's campaign.
Third, the balance of power in the Core had already shifted before the war began. Gaul's pride would never allow Corsica I to admit this publicly, but the young Emperor expressed his concerns to his closest advisors. In private letters, he acknowledged that Gaul's golden age was over. The vassal and city-state system centered around Lingones was turning into a painful trap, and a bloated, corrupt bureaucracy was eating away at the Empire's lifeblood. Gaul was losing her dominance in the core region, and more than ever, she needed an ally. However, the Emperor could never show weakness. That would only invite exploitation. The Emperor chose Leithanien, but his plan hinged on one crucial condition: Leithanien could no longer be ruled by a powerful monarch like the Witch King. The reins of the alliance had to be firmly in Gaul's hands. Therefore, Corsica I planned to end the Witch King's reign through war, using military force to shape Leithanien into a suitable ally.
It is clear that Gaul's last Emperor and his marshals made a grave miscalculation regarding the war. However, this misjudgment should not be attributed solely to arrogance. The eventual intervention of Victoria and Ursus indicates that Corsica I's strategic vision was not entirely far-fetched—Gaul had a genuine chance to reclaim her dominance through this war. And Corsica I, it can be assumed, harbored even greater ambitions beyond that. Of course, history has given us a final answer: war is not a docile beast that can be easily controlled. Even a military genius like Corsica I could not steer its course alone.
At the outset of the war, the Grande Armée advanced eastward under Corsica I's command, quickly breaking through what the nobles of the spires had boasted was an "impenetrable" western defensive line. Corsica I's military brilliance was on full display. Instead of dividing his forces across multiple fronts, he consolidated the bulk of his army into a single advance, appointing his most trusted marshals to command the flanks. While Leithanian scouts were still attempting to pinpoint Gaul's primary line of attack, the Grande Armée had already pierced deep into Leithanian territory like a piledriver spear, opening a gateway for further incursions.
Foreseeing the Witch King's counterattack, Corsica I deployed Gaul's finest casters to the front lines, including even a few from Kazdel's Royal Court, to counter Leithanien's lethal Originium Arts. By December 1029, in just four months, Leithanien had lost several important nomadic cities and four Kurfürstenkreise; Gaul even captured several of Leithanien's finest Arts spires. It was at this point, after four months of self-imposed isolation, that the Witch King finally cast the shadow of his twisted horns over the Gaulish army. Though he did not personally appear on the front lines, the Witch King resonated with several nearby spires, unleashing devastating Originium Arts that tore apart the advancing vanguard like a Catastrophe. At the same time, Großherzog (Grand Duke) Leopold and the other Kurfürsten loyal to Leithanien launched a counterattack, forcing the Gaulish legion to halt its advance. While Gaulish and Sarkaz casters mitigated some of the damage, they were helpless against the Witch King's overwhelming power. Corsica I was forced to reassess his strategy, admitting in his correspondence that he had underestimated the most formidable caster on this great land.
By 1030, the war had reached a stalemate. Then, the tide began to turn against Gaul. The reason was simple: Gaul's rivals had stopped onlooking. Frederick III of Victoria and Tsar Ivan of Ursus moved their armies at almost the same time, recognizing that this was the best moment to intervene. Victoria and Ursus sent Messengers to Corsica I, suing for peace, while their armies joined the conflict in Leithanien and launched assaults on Gaul's border strongholds. Between the winter of 1030 and the summer of 1031, the three-nation coalition applied relentless pressure on multiple fronts, forcing the Gaulish legion to abandon its offensives on key Leithanian cities and switch to a defensive posture. The war had now spread beyond Leithanien and engulfed the entire Core.
As the war was slipping away from Gaul, Corsica I refused to retreat. Confident in his martial skill, he led Gaul's forces in even fiercer attacks and maneuvers against the coalition forces. The Emperor hoped to annihilate the enemies' main forces and drive Ursus and Victoria out of the war. This method of warfare was revolutionary in an era when "high-speed" warships were not all that fast. It allowed the Grande Armée to leverage its advantages in training, equipment, and command structure. However, this strategy, over an extended period, was bound to increase the Empire's casualties. Corsica I was dealing a high-stakes gambit, believing he still had a chance to win.
Gaul had several chances to cut her losses and sue for peace, but the belligerents remained entrenched in their positions, and every attempt at a ceasefire failed. Just a week after final negotiations collapsed, in October 1031, the historic Battle of the Four Emperors erupted in the central valleys of Lower Gaul.
The Battle of the Four Emperors was the decisive engagement of the War of the Four Nations. The battle was so named because it was fought in the presence of four monarchs: the Emperor of Gaul, the Witch King of Leithanien, the Lion King of Victoria, and the Tsar of Ursus. The Gaulish forces, led by Emperor Corsica I, fought the combined armies of Leithanien, Victoria, and Ursus. Gaul, vastly outnumbered, was quickly defeated. Corsica I's flagship was destroyed, the Vieux Vanguard fought to the last man, and the Emperor's body was never found.
At the outset of the battle, the Gaulish forces exploited the disorganized command structure of the coalition and launched an effective preemptive strike. However, their reinforcements were intercepted and decimated by the Victorian fleet. Gaul's main forces ultimately collapsed against the coalition's superior manpower and firepower. The interception was masterminded by the Iron Duke, who would later be known across Victoria as the "Empire's Death Knell". Shortly after this decisive victory, the coalition forces razed Gaul's capital, Lingones, after its defenders refused to surrender. The war concluded with the total destruction of the Gaulish Empire, wiping her from the map.
TO LINGONES
Khail Ivanov
Ivan Evgenevich (vor Golentsky)
Herkunftshorn Erzherzog von Leopold
TO URTICA
Frederick III
Duc de Lavione
Corsica I
Jean Francois Moulin
Herkunftshorn
Duke of Wellington
Emmanuel de Liberi
TO ARGANTRE
BATTLE OF THE FOUR EMPERORS 17-21 OCTOBER 1031 1 18. OCT. 1031. 3 20. OCT. 1031. Gaulish Leithanien Forecasted Catastrophe on 21. OCT. 2 19. OCT. 1031. 4 21. OCT. 1031. Victorian Ursine Herkunftshorn's Art
Map of the Battle of the Four Emperors. October 17-21. 1031.
"Corsica I was indeed a military genius, but perhaps he was overcome by his unquenchable ambition. Marshal Moulins's defensive line failed to stop Tsar Ivan from joining the main battle, while Marshal De Liberi's troops were intercepted by the Duke of Wellington and were deviated from the original direction. The "trap" Corsica I designed became his own tomb. Before him stood the Witch King's mobile Arts spires and the main Victorian fleet, personally commanded by Frederick III. Behind him, a brewing Catastrophe was about to unfold."
Lingones, once hailed as the "Capital of the World", was shelled to smithereens by the coalition forces. Millions of refugees perished, either in the harsh wilderness or in refugee camps plagued by unsanitary conditions. The "Gaulish Restorationists" wove their fervent desire to restore Gaul into a new political ideology which redefined "what it means to be Gaulish". This new nationalism was every bit as significant as the fall of the Empire itself; it would have a lasting influence on all future political movements.
After the war, the victorious nations reached an agreement to divide Gaul's nomadic cities and territories. Victoria, which annexed the prosperous valleys of Lower Gaul, emerged as the greatest beneficiary of the Empire's collapse. Gaul's resources and technologies laid the groundwork for Victoria's eventual rise to continental dominance in the new era. However, the rivalry between Victoria's Dukes remained unresolved, and the distribution of post-war spoils only intensified the political complexities and power struggles among them. It can be said that the events of 1019 led to those of 1031, and that 1031, in turn, paved the way for 1072, ultimately shaping Victoria's path toward the summer of 1098.
As the main battlefield of the War of the Four Nations, Leithanien suffered devastation and was left in a state of deep despair. The Kurfürsten, under the leadership of Großherzog Leopold, secretly studied Gaulish technology, searching for clues in ancient Originium Arts to counter the Witch King. On the other hand, the Witch King's madness worsened after the war. He became increasingly obsessed with Originium Arts and more brutal in his rule—some even say he foresaw his own downfall during this time.
Ursus greatly benefited from the war, gaining knowledge of Gaulish Originium technology, which provided the foundation for further reforming of her industrial production. Emulating Gaul, Ursus began constructing a powerful fleet. More significantly, the frail and introverted Tsarevich Vladimir gained a newfound confidence after personally fighting in the war. Over the next forty years, he would grow the Ursus Empire to where his hands pointed, fulfilling his vision.
The widespread use of military Originium products during this massive, far-reaching conflict resulted in a surge of Oropathy cases among refugees and wounded veterans. After the war, the escalating Infected crisis triggered severe social upheavals, forcing governments to implement measures to manage and control the growing number of the Infected. For the first time, resistance movements led by former military personnel and Infected emerged in the public eye. Looking back nearly seventy years later, it becomes clear that the War of the Four Nations marked a major turning point which transformed the Infected issue into a "modern crisis".