An Introduction to the World of The Mantonovan Chronicles

A thousand years ago (then), a revolt in Agarado allowed several hundred slaves to wrest their freedom from the tropical Empire of Sol and escape to the temperate north. Their descendants have prospered and have become the Free Countries: a loose alliance of kingdoms that now worships Earth. 

The Empire of Sol was a cruel theocracy, ruled by a priesthood whose teachings reflected its climate: hot, fierce and unforgiving.  They teach that:

“The world was water, and Sol boiled away much of the water to create land. He warmed the land, making it fertile. The water that He boiled away is carried in the clouds that travel across the sky to do His bidding and shed themselves to keep the land damp and good for crops.  He made people to tend the land, and to them He gave the land, telling them to use it well in His honour.  He gave them much land, too much for them to tend, and He ordered them to go out and find others who did not worship Him and cause them to work upon the land in service to the masters of the land, the servants of Sol.  It is said that when the entire land He has given is used properly, then shall He lead His devout to new lands and cause them to strive again until the entire world is brought into use in His name.”

In the north, sunlight is gentle, warming the backs and shoulders of the population without burning them, so Earth wears a gentler mien: Sol’s power is so much less in the north and its effect is purely passive, like water and air, not worthy of worship. The opening verses of the Code of Earth state:

“In the beginning, there was sea. The sea receded and gave up land, and Earth gave the land life, causing corn to grow and beasts to graze. Earth summoned men from the mountains, and to these, he gave the land to hold for It, giving them this command:

“This land is yours to hold and to people.  Hold it in My name and by My code, and it will prosper.  If it is held other than in My name, so shall the seas rise again and cover the land, destroying all in it and on it.”

The first four books of the series tell of the struggle of those slaves who fought for their freedom and gave birth to what would develop into the Free Countries. 

The chronicles also relate the tale of now, a thousand years later, when the Free Countries face another existential threat. For two hundred years, the Despotate of Ozane - a populous slavocracy with a vast army - has threatened the western border of Bulwark, the most western Free Country.

Free Country weaponry, however, is born of nations with an ethos that encourages initiative, invention and innovation. In Ozane, deviation from fundamental orthodoxy is brutally suppressed by the despot. Free Country weapons, martial training and skills are therefore so superior that an Ozane invasion cannot succeed. Ozane is too vast for the Free Countries to hold, however, so it's a stalemate.  Now, however, an Earthwarden has just reported a new and terrible power emanating from Ozane.