Babelia : Feast of Lords

**Babelia : Feast of Lords**is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Interra, in Babelia, and follows the perspective of several characters.

## Main Arc

### Sinister Omens

Astrid Den Anfan, Svanhvit and Nuadha, reminiscing about Babelia's glory, are approached by the enigmatic Crowe that offers them a chance to return to Babelia. Whilst suspicious at first, they accept, and Crowe indeed returns them to the distant glory of their past. There, Svanhvit confronts Bodvildr - the woman she knew would kill her - in an attempt to prevent her previous fate.

However, Bodvildr's desperate attitude, and the fact Svanhvit nearly kills her during their encounter, deeply shocks the valkyrie, who realizes something is wrong about Babelia's essence. While Svanhvit heals Bodvildr alongside Astrid, french knight Roland, also coming to Babelia, notices the same thing, warning his comrades as the sixteen chosen civilizations gather to Babelia in order to choose a sovereign to rule over the world.

### Fairytales and Discord

Theodorus von Noachia, Babelia's self-appointed chancellor, welcomes all civilizations inside the massive tower, and asks for a vote to be made to decide of the world's sovereign. However, tensions are quick to erupt - especially as Nergal and Esoteris, elder dragons and brother and sister, take the feud to a personal level, preventing any kind of understanding from being had.

Meanwhile, Erunie Haruma, a humble servant girl, is contacted by the enigmatic Einna, a mysterious young woman obsessed with fairytales and endings, who dubs Erunie to be her "fairytale princess". A perplexed Erunie resumes her duty, but as she intervenes in Babelia's main councilroom and Nergal lashes out as her, threatening to rape and kill her, she is saved by mysterious stranger Gawyn Belten's timely intervention.

### The Stolen Crown

Majority vote dubs Gawyn knight-defender of the crown - with quick persuasion on his part and an alliance between African envoy Loa Nightwood and Augustine from Gawyn's band. However, debates quickly turn sour as Babelia's crown is stolen, leading to many leaders believing this to be a personal affront, and factions being dispatched to find it.

When arrogant English sovereign Alois Islington threatens to kill servants *en masse* as they are the main culprit, Esoteris defends them, saving the life of young Lovatar and recruiting her by her side. When Maimouna, envoy of Allah, manages to find the culprit, ambitious thief Loreanni, with the help of her djinn the Old Man, Esoteris also shows mercy towards her, taking Loreanni prisoner and saving her from execution.

### The First Tournament

A fighting tournament is organized by Theodorus both to entertain the sixteen delegation and to showcase the power of the various nations; however, it becomes quickly shown that the mysterious essence that interferes with the world's structure keeps attempting to bring tragedy, by slightly twisting events and bringing out the worst in each individual.

As such, Celtic champion Lughna Tuule's famed willpower is stripped from him against Baelia, Alexandrian Demon Noble, almost leaving him an empty slave if not for Morrigan's intervention; Nergal butchers Chinese prince Fenghuang and leaves him comatose; and Yovan Kaitan, who has been ordered by distant deities to prevent Gawyn's ascension, mistakes these orders by attempting to assassinate Gawyn, resulting in him almost dying in retaliation from Gawyn's champion Oligan.

After numerous battles, the finale is canceled as finalist Nergal is put unconscious by Baelia's spiteful act upon being defeated, leaving Esoteris, the other finalist also exhausting from fighting Roland's mysterious powers, unable to battle him. To prevent further damage done, Theodorus wisely calls it a day and appeals for the end of the tournament.

### England's Ascension

However, as all of Babelia wakes up the next morning, Alois has now become Babelia's ultimate sovereign - and while nobody knows how or why, Alois's authority seems legitimate as he is protected by Babelia's spells. The young, tyrannic monarch quickly uses his powers to bully Esoteris and attempt to kill Lovatar and Loreanni, before dying - killed by the Old Man under Maimouna's orders.

This leaves a deep mark of distrust between Babelia's inhabitants, worsening the mood - even more as Gawyn takes advantage of the power vacuum in order to gain English bodyguard Julius Abberline's trust, as Julius is now officially Babelia's regent. However, Julius refuses the throne, and the quest for the crown is once more set into motion.

### Schemes in the Dark

As people spread out, Svanhvit, aggravated by the events and bloodshed she is forced to witness, prays for Babelia's unseen enemy to manifest. Crowe appears and grants her wish - making the abominations known as Ainqitae manifest in the world. Esoteris manages to defeat one of them heroically, causing many nations to rally around her as a rightful queen.

Meanwhile, Maimouna allies with Roman Empire envoys Schala and Dunya in an attempt to hinder Gawyn's ascension. They manage to convince Julius to renounce his support to Gawyn, while Mahu Wukanda, leader of the African delegation, clashes with Loa and thus abandons her support of Gawyn's organization. Despite the Silver Phoenix's best efforts and attempts to reconcile with Maimouna's group, he quickly loses his position.

### Erunie's Journey

However, Erunie, who has joined Gawyn, has not given up yet. When confronting the mysterious Einna, she learns that the latter is responsible for Babelia's state : Einna is a Tragoedia of Nihilism, an Atlantean Knight of the Round whose abilities allow her to manipulate the opposite of narration, in order to ensure Babelia is destroyed, true to her beliefs that humans deserve no happy endings.

Erunie challenges her, and keeps investigating, finding Dove, a mysterious Djinn responsible for many of Babelia's events, including Alois's reign. Dove agrees to bolster Erunie's powers, making a pact with her and offering to connect her with the memories of her future self. Erunie starts to plan, her determination to help Gawyn with his objectives rekindled.

### Into the Narrative

Neige, another French paladin, suspicious of Theodorus's own motives, goes on to investigate him. She finds out that Theodorus, much more aware of the situation that he pretended, attempts to manipulate Babelia into an endless stalemate, in order to prevent either Einna from consuming Babelia into nothingness, or Gawyn from simply conquering it. Despite her distaste of Theodorus, Neige agrees with the end result.

During that time, Baelia, plotting with her summoner Ptolemaios, kidnaps Julius and offers to bring back Alois, in exchange for Julius's precious artifact, Ambition of the Seven Stars. Julius accepts and supports Baelia as a rightful heiress to the throne, but Baelia herself refuses in exchange for a 'future favor', and asks for a second tournament to be organized as a compromise.

### The Second Tournament

A second tournament is organized, this time testing its champions' spellslinging prowess and tactical insight. Mahu shines as one of the battle's participants, successfully defeating Svanhvit, Esoteris and Neige; but she is defeated by Erunie, who was allowed to participate as an independant challenger through Baelia's 'favor', during the final round.

However, Erunie's victory is short-lived. Nergal - whose fury has slowly grown from being constantly pushed aside and, according to him, denied his rightful place - leaves Babelia in a rage, escaping Einna's domain. While it seems impossible at first that Nergal would break through Einna's abilities, Erunie quickly understands that Einna willingly allowed Nergal to exit Babelia in order to reduce the rest of the world to ash, thus silencing the hopes of a "happy ending".

### The Very Final Conflict

Einna's domain still prevents its other champions from leaving Babelia, leaving Erunie to formulate a complicated plan - using Neige's hidden abilities and Baelia's psychic manipulation to control a slumbering beast dwelling in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to fight Nergal and force him back to Babelia. The beast eventually succeeds, leaving Nergal to face off against Esoteris and the rest of Babelia's champions.

Ultimately Nergal is defeated and dies before he can destroy Babelia. Einna is unfazed by the dragon's defeat - but is however deeply shocked when Baelia and Esoteris, once Nergal's bitter enemies, cry at his death, and Baelia risks her life to rescue him from death. As Erunie explains that Babelia's champions will never accept tragedy as an outcome, a moved Einna concedes, releasing her cursed hold over Babelia.

This chain of events ultimately allows Babelia to choose a leader - Erunie, the young slave turned strategist, whose brillant actions allowed the world to be saved, and a neutral character who promises to watch over all countries equally - while still allowing Gawyn and Svanhvit to fulfill his aims by changing the world's storyline, creating a Timeline where Babelia perdures eternally.

## Characters

* **African Alliance**
	+ Mahu Wukanda
	+ Loa Nightwood
* **Ancient Kingdoms**
	+ Nergal
	+ Erunie Haruma
* **Celtic Tribes**
	+ Nuadha
	+ Lughna Tuule
* **Chinese Empire**
	+ Fenghuang
	+ Kuraku Jiang
* **Holy German Empire**
	+ Theodorus von Noachia
	+ Aelitha von Fuedrick
* **Indian Kingdom**
	+ Nitara Samsaran

* **Japanese Shogunate**
	+ Hane Yawarakai
	+ Ouroboros

* **Kingdom of Allah**
	+ Maimouna
	+ The Old Man
* **Kingdom of England**
	+ Alois Islington
	+ Julius Abberline

* **Kindgom of France**
	+ Roland
	+ Neige
* **Men of the Sea**
	+ Atonga Noawai
	+ Yovan Kaitan
* **Northern Horde**
	+ Esoteris
	+ Loreanni
	+ Lovatar
* **Roman Remnants**
	+ Schala
	+ Dunya
* **Seekers of Alexandria**
	+ Ptolemaios
	+ Baelia
* **Sun Empire**
	+ Caedes
* **Viking Stronghold**
	+ Svanhvit
	+ Bodvildr
	+ Astrid Den Anfan
* Others
	+ Einna
	+ Gawyn Belten
	+ Dove
	+ Crowe

## Trivia

* This storyline bears many parallels and homages to the A Song of Ice and Fire books and the Game of Throne series, from which it holds inspiration.