Quadripartite Alliance

Quadripartite Alliance (四国同盟) or simply known as the Four Kingdoms is the successor of the Tripartite Alliance after the Sorcerer Kingdom's inclusion into the military pact.
==Background==
The alliance retains the original founding member states, the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharuth Empire, and the Slane Theocracy though this new incarnation, officially recognizes the induction of its fourth member, the Sorcerer Kingdom. The Sorcerer Kingdom at first acting as an independent ally, to the alliance, despite being a nation of non-humans. It's relationship with the Alliance was publicly to ensure the continued survival of civilization, supporting a world of coexistence between all races, humans, demi-humans and heteromorphs. 
Underneath the benevolence of the Sorcerer Kingdom, however are maligned intent by the heteromorphic minds to eventually subsume the Tripartite Alliance, and put the nations under the control of its sovereign the Sorcerer Kingdom. To avoid showing their hand, the Sorcerer King Momonga and his minions have slowly ingratiated themselves to the cause of the Alliance, and subtly providing lucrative trade goods and noble deeds, via its representative the protagonist and his team Darkness. 
Through their actions, the Sorcerer Kingdom created a cooperative relationship with the military pact which eventually led to the unanimous agreement of two-thirds of the alliance acknowledging the vital military and humanitarian aid provided by the non-human nation since the emergence of the Cracks and horrors of the Chaos Beasts and Contaminated Beasts. 
The Alliance initially underwent this change after the Sorcerer Kingdom and Re-Estize Kingdom signed a treaty, giving the former the rights to the city of E-Rantel, making the protagonist the Territory Guardian of the base of the Alliance. In response to this, a confrontation between the armies of King Ramposa III and Crown Prince Barbro erupted over seceding of the Re-Estize Kingdom's rights of E-Rantel to the Sorcerer Kingdom. The density of living beings in one localized caused new Cracks to appear in the city, bringing forth not only Chaos Beasts but a new type of monster that began to spirit many within E-Rantel away. When the chaos subsided, all four nations had seen to severe losses in not just their military strength but their infrastructure and personnel. 
The Sorcerer Kingdom while sustaining its own losses, was the least harmed, militarily speaking, and in the political vacuum left by the tragedy, managed to use the opportunity rise in power.
==Chronology==
===Mass for the Dead Arc===
In the aftermath of the Calamity of Cracks or Incident that occurred in E-Rantel, the Tripartite Alliance had been weakened. Besides the innumerable civilians that lived in the fortress city, and had gone missing due to the appearance of invisible monsters, the Re-Estize Kingdom, had lost its Warrior Chief, king and crown prince to the monsters that attacked the city. As for the Baharuth Empire, many of its knights had been killed in the event, though managed to recover due to most of its assets being outside the city. And as for the Theocracy, the entire Sunlight Scripture was deemed lost, including its captain and deputy. The Sorcerer Kingdom including suffered the loss of its Territory Guardian, its adamantite adventurer team Darkness, and half of the members of the Pleiades.
The tragedy saw to a vast restructuring of personnel and policy spearheaded by the Sorcerer Kingdom. To supplement the lost military strength, the Sorcerer Kingdom began to deploy greater numbers of undead to guard the city. Along with a "Resident Dispersal Migration Plan", with improvements to the construction of a defense network for the migration candidates, establishment and security of supply routes and details of the migration schedule. Due to the greater military aid received by Re-Estize Kingdom, and the revival services to the Baharuth Empire, from the Sorcerer Kingdom, two of the members of the Tripartite Alliance had come to see the Sorcerer Kingdom as indispensable to the survival of humanity. 
Unknown to the Alliance, both nations, were close to be turned into puppet states as part of the Puppetization Plan enacted by the Sorcerer Kingdom. Due to its stronger ties to the Alliance, the undead king coined the new association as the Quadripartite Alliance. However, the Sorcerer King and his court knew that only the Theocracy had yet to submit itself to the benefits of the Sorcerer Kingdom and was regarding its actions carefully.Mass for the Dead Chapter 16: Name of God
After the real protagonist and his team safely returned back from beyond the Crack, the homunculus resumed his role as Territory Guardian. Despite being found out by Momonga to being actually a creation from the Sea of Possibilities. The protagonist was allowed to keep his position in E-Rantel by the upper echelons of Nazarick so as to be used as bait for Enhela, who had the same origins as the protagonist and was now targeting the latter.
At the meeting of representatives of the Alliance, being mediated by Saint Clementine and Pluton Ainzach allowed a cured Gazef Stronoff to speak on behalf on the Kingdom. The Warrior Captain's absence was disclosed to the members that he had been indisposed after being contaminated by the miasma, and was only recently cured through the research efforts of the Sorcerer Kingdom. The lack of transparency of the Sorcerer Kingdom, gave Enhela who was at the meeting the means to cite the other nation for its failure of cooperating with the members of the Alliance. However the protagonist took the blame for his nation, citing it was his failure to convince his superiors to trust the Alliance. In the end the mediators supported protagonist's choice of keeping his nation's research a secret, and Enhela while professionally disagreed, personally understood the reasons for the Sorcerer Kingdom keeping it under wraps.
The Warrior Captain the "first" to return from the "other side" of the Crack, rescuing King Ramposa III and Brain, proposed a launch of a rescue mission for those still trapped in the Chaos Zone. Given that Gazef was presumed to be dead for months after vanishing after the invisible attack, many of the representatives such as Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, Nimble Arc Dale Anoch and Leinas Rockbruise supported the plan as they had many of their countrymen there. Enhela who was present at the meeting inquired on how the protagonist was able to venture into the Chaos Zone, as it was believed that Gazef survived due to being cured and given an immunity to the toxic environment of the Chaos Zone.
There it was revealed that the Sorcerer Kingdom had developed the adaptive equipment and later an offer was made to mass produce the items for the operation. Blue Roses and the Kingdom pledged their support, as did the two members of the Four Imperial Knights. Enhela to the confusion of the protagonist also pledged to provide aid from the Theocracy, and revealed the ones who will be leading the force of the Sunlight Scripture on the expedition: Ian Als Heim and Nigun Grid Luin. The priest revealed his own immunity to the Chaos Zone, claiming it to be the result of the Theocracy's own research, but sadly would not be participating in the rescue as his constitution had limits.
When the adaptive equipment was finally mass produced for the use of the Alliance's rescue mission, a prep rally was hosted to celebrate the bravery of the volunteers and to recognize the contribution towards the Sorcerer Kingdom.Mass for the Dead Special Event: Achievements for Tomorrow, Variations of the Past
On the day of the operation, a force of adventures, knights, and priests assembled to delve into the Crack. Whilst they fought Chaos Beasts and rescued as many people in the realm, the protagonist received a disturbing update from Momonga that Enhela may have showed his true colors as there were reports from summons that the major cities of the Kingdom and Empire were now engulfed in miasma.Mass for the Dead Chapter 17: Eve of the Storm
A month later the situation with the Cracks had calmed down. However, the political spectrum had changed. One being that King Rampossa III had passed away in the chaos, leaving Prince Zanac to assume the role of King and was in talks to have the Re-Estize Kingdom become a vassal state of the Sorcerer Kingdom. The Empire had suffered a number of casualties which was continuing to rise, despite the Emperor's shrewd efforts. And in the Slane Theocracy, the Deputy High Priest Enhela, had gone missing to whereabouts unknown.
The Sorcerer Kingdom was said to have suffered damage as well but despite the losses managed to stay strong and assist its neighbors. Thanks mostly to the Sorcerer Kingdom, the military forces of the Alliance had been strengthened through cure for the contamination. Not only that, the state of the Alliance is unknown, but it was said that there were some plans to have the reinforced forces be used for foreign campaigns, as apart from E-Rantel, the other countries were still in a miserable state. Even members of the Theocracy had come realized the necessity in the heteromorphic nation. With the state of the world being more unpredictable, it became apparent that the only way to overcome this predicament was for the four nations to truly unite with E-Rantel at the center. 
Unbeknownst to the other nations in the Alliance, their reliance of the Sorcerer Kingdom, signified that Momonga's puppetization of the three nations had been accomplished.Mass for the Dead Chapter 19: The Battle to Conquer Nazarick
A year later, the Alliance as predicted was more reliant to the Sorcerer Kingdom. Rescue operations into the Chaos Zone were still being conducted, and with it the necessity of Chaos Adaptive Equipment which only the Sorcerer Kingdom could supplied. Because of this the other nations curried favor with the representatives of the Kingdom such as Prime Minister Albedo and the Territory Guardian of E-Rantel, which further strengthen the Sorcerer Kingdom's influence over the Quadripartite Alliance.
Representatives from other nations in the Alliance, such as King Zanac of the Re-Estize Kingdom and Emperor Jircniv of the Baharuth Empire found themselves ins constant company with the members of the Sorcerer Kingdom. During a inspection of the Empire, Emperor Jircniv received a letter from Cardinal Raymond expressing apologies for the absence of the Deputy Pontifex Maximus Enhela, claiming his duties greatly occupied him in the homeland. Whether the Theocracy were aware of Enhela's death and were intentionally covering it up, remains unknown.
One of the topics that the remaining representatives of the Alliance conversed about was the successful decontamination of those rescued from beyond the Crack. Along with their cured status was the added benefit of the victims gaining strength comparable to Gazef Stronoff, which the representatives believed would be a boon their military strength. Alas many people within their government were fearful of the new strength these people gain, creating tension.
Hence Jircniv unexpectedly brought the group to the Grand Arena, where he wished not only for them to partake in some relax time, observing a revived Go Gin fight as well as new fighters in the arena, but a possible solution to their quandary. With the help of the main promoter, Osk, the emperor suggested that the newly cured show their newfound strength in the arena. Where they could lessen the fear of their abilities and also gain respect and admiration from the public. 
The idea was taken with great fervor as a good way to acclimate the people with their new defenders. The delegation was then treated to a match of two members of Silver Thread Bird against two female rookie fighters. To the shock and surprise of many in the crowd the match ended in the victory for the rookies. While the fight was an unexpected surprise, Albedo and the protagonist, along with undercover Nazarick agents in the arena suspected that there was more to the pair, and decided to keep an eye on the two.Mass for the Dead Part 2 Prologue: Pilgrims from Beyond
After the inspection of the Baharuth Empire, all the representatives of the Quadripartite Alliance held a conference at E-Rantel to discuss the success of the inspection. The decision of the next location of the Alliance's inspection was shifted to the Re-Estize Kingdom, after Cardinal Raymond apologized that he and his nation would be unable to participate. Once again queries were asked about on whether Deputy Head Priest Enhela would be attending on the next inspection, though the cardinal only said it was currently impossible as Enhela was busy handling affairs in the homeland. 
The Theocracy appeared to not be attend the next inspection as not only Enhela was occupied, but the Pontifex Maximus was poorly suited to traveling. Prime Minister Albedo offered some condolences as she herself would be busy soon. This line of conversation though opened the topic of that perhaps another representative of the Sorcerer Kingdom could be sent in her place, such as the king of nation. 
This produced some interest among the representatives of the Alliance, as the King of the Sorcerer Kingdom had yet to ever attend one of the meetings. Interest was gained, by the prompting of the Theocracy in an effort to deflect his country's political internal affairs, from the other representatives offering invitations and seeking to curry favor with the mysterious monarch. Due to the peer pressure, Albedo had to tell them that the Sorcerer Kingdom would take their invitations into consideration.
The development was relayed to Momonga and Demiurge who agreed that the Sorcerer King must make a public appearance with the humans to maintain their trust and legitimacy as a leader of a nation. However the Sorcerer Kingdom was not willing to put their leader out in the open, given the appearance of the Mercenary Knights, an unknown group. Hence plans were made to have a body double take Momonga's place at the Alliance's meetings. A response was still passed to the Alliance that the Sorcerer King was still currently busy with the affairs of state, but promised to appear in the future to the excitement of the other leaders in the Alliance.Mass for the Dead Special Event: Father and Son Play the King of the Undead 
==Strength==
The forces of the alliance is composed of the combined armed forces of the Kingdom, the Empire, the Theocracy, and recently the Sorcerer Kingdom. Due to the Sorcerer Kingdom's stellar reputation during the ongoing crisis with the Cracks, it has the most political clout among the alliance, which two of the original membership conceding to its whim and demands due to the strong ties and impression of power it wields. Effectively all if not most of the human nations are puppet states to the Sorcerer Kingdom.
The Alliance gains additional military power after the Sorcerer Kingdom shared the cure to decontamination against the miasma, as beings who were cured gained impressive power and strength. 
== Trivia ==
* So far, the term has been used only by Gazef, the protagonist and Momonga. But eventually becomes canon and is used by the other characters in the game.
== References ==
Category:Terminology
Category:Mass for the Dead Terminology
Category:Groups and Organizations
Category:Military Forces