The sky was violet as the sun was setting. Sky carriages had fleeted the parking space in an orderly fashion.
The extravagance of the carriages signified it belonged to the noble elites. Those with a certain level of power, the point one percent of the Qira world had graced the opening.
They were all eager to meet the new queens, for the first time. After all they would be the ones ruling after the Great Emperor himself. In three years the political landscape of the realm would shift soon to be completely different from the one they knew. Some of these Noble court men were alive during the eras of the past queens before they passed. They know what they benefitted from gaining early connections with them. And what they lost from not making connections with the right ones. Though that was not the fault of the current nobles but of their predecessors who lived during the time of the early eras of the old queens.
Now it was their turn to turn their gray fates white, or maintain their positions before the stormy years ahead.
This was no mere politics game. This was life and death. Every dweller of the court were competing for the right connection and contracts. The balance of power throughout the new era depended on their sheer ability to strike the best contracts with the best queen before the others can.
There were only so little connections the queens could give access.
Only those who were fast enough to secure a good position at this very moment before a rival, could thrive and succeed.
The coming of the new queens meant the rise and fall of new powers houses that could last an entire era before the next In'er is born. That could take several thousand years!
Time and nature was unpredictable in the Qira world. Powers rose and fell at any moment. In this harsh world were new born High Qiras form factions very regularly and clans rose in ranks to revenge against bigger stronger ones. It's either compete or die!
Alliances were the only way Qira could survive and remain in power. That was the foundation of the Empire structure due to the huge power imbalance in magic and ability. In the past Low Qiras associated with High Qiras for survival. Likewise High Qiras liked to form groups or associate with stronger High Qira bloodline to form Clans. And Clans had ranks and competed with themselves. The more powerful the leading family of the clans were, the bigger it became. But it also lead to large scale wars as a result of clashes with other Clans. Weaker clans could not survive long unless it became more associated with stronger clans, or allied with a stronger force. Large Clan heads were organized to form the lower courts. And then each court was ruled by a king, who protected the Court from other foreign civilizations
Even on a civilization level there were still ranks and imbalances of power, high threats of invasion, colonization and competition. When they higher civilization clashed it affected every other civilization whether they were involved or not, mostly the very bottom. No empathy was shown towards people of weaker civilization. Each civilization seek to exploit the other in one way or the other for selfishness and to get ahead. The devastating way of life could not be overstated considering that these were civilizations of cannibals and blood magic. So groups and coalitions were formed to coordinate and creating some ground rules. A collection of kings formed the upper court.
The upper court was also partially formed under the covering or association of Bloodlines. These were families so powerful that they could destroy civilizations in minutes. They didn't mix with anyone but themselves. They gained power by taking resources and enslaving. Because no one could fight back. Kings found it easier to become allies under bloodlines forming covenants —offering their undying servitude, offering slaves, unwavering obedience and resources as gods, in exchange to not be killed and for protection from other Bloodlines.
Bloodlines were the real manifestation of chaos. In early period they roamed around destroying and toying with anything in their path. They didn't mix so they felt no empathy for creatures weaker than them and were only loyal to their own bloodline. When portals were first discovered, they only saw it as opportunities for more land to take and destroy. They saw the world as a playground, casualties merely background happenings. However they soon discovered each world had its own bloodline equally as hostile.
Out of touch with reality Bloodlines were obsessed with domination and proving who was stronger, they began to fight each other. Ripples of their actions destroyed everything and everyone around them. The weaker bloodlines died off, leaving only the strongest to fight again.
Driven by ego, more portals were discovered and with more portals more clashes.
The cycle went like that for eras. Never ending. The stronger the bloodlines became so lethal their clashes, they didn't know peace. As the peaceful ones died off and the most blood thirsty survived.
To the point that it became harder for worlds to inhabit life long term.
That era ended when a force began beating the bloodlines one by one into submission. He did not kill them all. But the stubborn ones did die.
From fear of him, for the first time Bloodlines joined together forming the first High courts. Some bloodlines joined to protect themselves from him, others allied to fight against him. The few who were wise enough, decided to ally with him instead. They formed the Council, only five bloodlines.
There was nothing the rebelling bloodline could do. The In'er killed them off one by one until the last remaining members of bloodlines were so ingrained with the fear, they abdicated to him.
He destroyed the organization of the former High Court and rebuilt another one with Bloodlines member he handpicked himself for a new High Court under his power. There all Bloodlines were checked and could not fight so brazenly.
For the first time, the worlds knew peace.
As new worlds were discovered, In'er followed the same fear tactics making them submit and those who survived, joined the High Court.
That was how Naqil was created. Through the fear of In'er. It is said that Naqil still stood today because of that same fear that In'er would always exist and reincarnate. It made people of different powers level communicate with each other without biting the other or trying to eat each other. Bloodlines were very real and still just as hungry for power.
Bloodlines could still die off, if they weren't associated or allied with the right members of the Royal Court.
The Royal Court belong to the association of the children or offspring of the In'er. They were stronger than the Bloodlines, but far weaker than the In'er themselves. They were mostly given military ranks, if they were wise enough, given posts in the governing sectors. If they had a mother with a title they would simply inherit that.
The In'er usually lived longer than their children. So by the time a new In'er came to power, the Royal Court would have been replaced with new members and no siblings, but nephews and nieces.
In Emperor Najeer's case, the Royal Court was filled with his cousins.
Royal born weren't given any lands for the sake of governing like the High Courts or queens. But they had some exceptional privileges and unimaginable wealth they could pass down. Power only passed from In'er to In'er. And from In'er to queens, and queen to the High Court. From there on.
Bloodlines were artificially given worlds to rule. Seeing as the High Court was built on power, members of the High Court desired affiliations with the queens and the Royal Court, to gain upper dominations. If you dominated the High Court the realms were practically yours. But that also meant danger for those with not as much influence. No position in High court was guaranteed!
Large scale wars could not happen in Naqil in this era, but that didn't stop hidden attempts to step on each other, bloodlines still found ways to end other bloodlines. They were just more discreet with a lot of political backing to cover it up. So each era was a race for Bloodlines to maintain their position in Court hierarchy early, lest they may find themselves at the bottom or worse extinct. One mistake and you could find yourself with a Royal decree that would force your bloodlines to dilute with other Qiras weakening the next generation. Skipping you all the way down to the upper Court! All because of one mistake from one generation.
If the Emperor gave a decree who could go against it! Only madmen!
Joining the Upper Court was the worst fear of every High Court member.
The High Court bloodlines who already had representatives in the Royal Harem were already far ahead in the Hierarchy. Establishing connections with promising queens, this was the only chance for the other bloodlines to thrive. However one needed to be careful in this regard, as allying with a powerless queen could have its own consequences..
A luxurious black sky carriage pulled up on a lot. Not far from the event hall.
The window opened revealing a woman with pink hair in a pink dress. Her hair was elaborately styled as golden jewelry pinched and dangled all over her.
She didn't care that she was attending a Qira event, only glad she was able to leave her residence without being struck by lightning.
She had tried to escape on the way getting here. But for some reason, there were a lot of guards around. And in her air carriage as well.
She sensed so much power radiating from the silver masked soldiers sitting in front of her. New guards sent from the Emperor himself to all the queens. In this current state they could break her in half. This was a game she would not win. More so she could not tell if these guards were male or female with their faces covered. She narrowed her eyes staring at the opposite end of the carriage. No seriously… wait. She noticed a pink wristband on one of the armoured hands. That one has got to be a girl. Or, a fashionable man.
Whatever. This was getting to exhausting.
As Valyha peeped out of the opening, she noticed the dresses some of the females were wearing.
A gasp left her mouth shielding her face with a gloved hand, retreating back into the vehicle "Oh my goodness."
"What, anything the matter your highness?" Hiriah said. She was seated behind her. The other maidens were in escorting sky carriages behind theirs.
"I'm under-yhujjjyh," Valyha whispered.
"Sorry, I didn't quite get you. You're under what?"
"I am under dressed," Valyha panicked as she began to feel alarmed. "I cannot go out like this!"
"Oh but you have to. if you miss this I'll get executed alongside you," Hiriah began to sweat seeing her very own coffin appear before her eyes. It was white and stylishly gold.
"I rather die," Valhya said faintly.
"You better not your highness. You just better not."
"its been ages since I attended an event not being the center?" Valhya said. "I simply cannot lose my dignity!"
"Please don't do this to us your highness." The maidens who were in the carriage with Valhya clasped their palms, begging.
Guard remained deathly silent.
"We'll be executed."
"They will blame us,"
"Mercy your Highness!"
"Mercy!"
Valyha listened to their pleas crossing her arms stubbornly. "Absolutely not… wait" her eyes widened as she realized, "hold on," her voice rolled in a mature seductive tone.
Only now did she just realize, the implications of retreating. No. She couldn't let that man have the last laugh. If she got executed because of a non-appearance today, that designer would definitely know he won. He would gloat with the feeling of righteousness, looking at her dead body grinning with a victorious I-told-you-so face. The last thing her spirit would hear is 'you should have taken my dress'
"Anything the matter your highness?" Hiriah raised a brow.
"No, no, no. such an error cannot take place" Valhya shuddered. That designer cannot win!
She must do the opposite of lose.
A grunt left her mouth as she gazed out the window with dark eyes. "I'll have to sacrifice what dignity I have left, to put on a show for these mosquitoes," she murmured in a slur.
"What do you mean by that?" Hiriah said in a somewhat excited tone. It seemed her queen had changed her mind.
Valyah winked, switching to an entirely different aura in seconds, "watch and see." everywhere seemed to lights up around her as she smiled.
The maidens blinked.