Way Back Home

This story takes place in Halliner, Aestral Empire, on the 25th of December, 2115. It is christmas day, and the citizens of the city have put up a giant christmas tree as well as a market.

The Eorith Continent is a continent spanning thousands of kilometers. It has a slight circle shape, with rugged coastlines. The continent has many mountain ranges, deserts, tundras, forests, fields, and other types of environments, making it extremely diverse. Due to the waters surrounding the continent not seeming to lead to any other landmass, no true attempt to cross them have been made.

The Aestral Empire is an Empire in the Northern part of Eorith. They are a super-power with advanced technology and a large army, yet is somewhat of a hermit-state. Their government is a Monarchy with an Emperor, and the capital is Halliner, a city which thrives on its culture. The city is made up of 1800s European-style buildings, with ornate, slightly gothic or victorean decorations, and people who enjoy modern technology such as busses, screens, streetlamps, yet the feel of an older nation. The Aestral Empire's Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Empire, consist of 4 main branches;

1. The Aestral Imperial Army is the army of Aestral. It numbers over 650 000 soldiers, 1 200 000 reserves, 4500 tanks, 8000 other various armored vehicles, 120 000 trucks, and more. It is one of the most technologically advanced armies in the world, and fields 800 "Spiders", which are 4-legged mechs that crawl low to the ground, with massive 120mm smoothbore cannons that launch APHE or APFSDS rounds at over 2000 m/s. A single spider can wipe out around 40 tanks before being taken down.
2. The Aestral Imperial Air Force is the air force of Aestral. It has 120 000 active personel, with 1500 Air Superiority Fighters, 600 Strike Fighters (bombers), and 900 transport planes. The air force is almost unrivaled in terms of sheer excellence, over the whole known world.
3. The Aestral Imperial Navy is the navy of Aestral. It has 80 000 sailors and 9 patrol boats, 3 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 1 battleship and 1 Aircraft Carrier, aswell as 35 Strike Fighters and 40 Air Superiority Fighters.
4. The Aestral Imperial Special Forces Command is the main command that manages all special forces operations. Aestral has 5 different special forces, each with their own purpose. The 1st is the "Heaven's Lance", an aerial assault group that jumps from transport planes and causes chaos behind enemy lines, it numbers 500 operatives. The 2nd is "Frog Squad", an amphibious landing squad that assaults the beaches, it numbers 8000 operatives, making it the biggest Special Forces group. The 3rd is "Sub-Terranian 5", a Special Forces group that specialises in fighting in the caves and mountains of the Forleth Mountain Range, a mountain range that cuts right through Aestral, it numbers 60 operatives. The 4th is "City Rumblers", a special Spider force that is comprised of the 12 best Spider operators, it destroys cities and fields alike, and is feared throughout the entire continent. The 5th is "Strike Group 1", the most elite special forces in the world, it's deployed to kill HVTs, and numbers only a single squad of 4 people, making it the smallest Special Forces by far.

The Aestral Empire still has nobles and aristocrats, as it works on the Feudal System, where farmers are at the bottom, then commoners, then priests, then aristocrats, and finally the Emperor. The Aestral Empire upholds the traditions of christianity, like christmas, because the nation itself is christian. Most of the people in Aestral are farmers, but some are commoners. Only a few are priests and aristocrats.

The Ghastan Kingdom is a small kingdom that borders the Aestral Empire to the south. It's doesn't have a large army, but the army it has is well-equipped. The Ghastan Kingdom's Capital is a city by the name of Estrahelmer, and it has had a long-standing rivalry with the Aestral Kingdom, going back over 2000 years. The Ghastan Kingdom is landlocked so it doesn't have a navy, it's army instead is composed of 2 parts.

1. The Ghastan Grounded Combat Force is the army of the Kingdom of Ghastan. It numbers 200 000 personel and 90 000 reserves. It has 1500 tanks, 9500 various other armored vehicles and 12 000 trucks. The Ghastan Army also has 20 Spiders.
2. The Ghastan Aerial Combat Force is the Air Force of Ghastan. It has 20 000 personel and 900 Air Superiority Fighters, 300 Strike Bombers, and 90 Transport Ships.

Ghastan is an open nation that will accept any other nation except Aestral with friendliness. This has caused it to get an Alliance with its much bigger neighbour, the Federal Republic of Nyalenth.

The Federal Republic of Nyalenth is a large state that borders Ghastan and Aestral. It is a large power, with its capital being Youra. Despite it having been neutral for 600 years, it just revently entered into an alliance with Ghastan, and both said nations began building fortifications along their borders with Aestral. Nyalenth's Armed Forces consists of 3 parts:

1. The Armed Ground Forces of Nyalenth is the main army of Nyalenth. It consists of 340 000 personel, 670 000 reserves, 800 tanks, 6500 various armored vehicles, 68000 trucks. It's not as well-equipped as Ghastan, but it can hold it's ground.
2. The Armed Aerial Forces of Nyalenth is the main Air Force of Nyalenth. It consists of 150 000 personel and has 2700 Air Superiority Fighters, 1600 Strike Bombers, and 5 Stealth Recon Planes, as well as 5600 transport planes.
3. The Armed Nautical Forces of Nyalenth is the main navy of Nyalenth. It consists of 46 000 personel and has 120 patrol boats and 12 destroyers to protect the coastline.

Nyalenth has been considered neutral by both Ghastan and Aestral, and it's hasn't had relations with any of them. They are a republic formed from 600 different tribes of people to protect themselves better from outside invaders.

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The Nyalenth-Ghastan War Against Aestral: In 2112, the Ghastan Kingdom formally declared war on Aestral, and Nyalenth followed suit. What followed were 3 years of war where 312 736 people (civilian, military, etc) have died, and over a million have been injured. The fighting is brutal, with Aestral pushing against the Ghastan and Nyalenth fortifications every few weeks, gaining often just a few meters of land.

In Aestral, the war has had an effect mostly on smaller cities and rural towns, as the larger cities of Aestral keep updated on the war through the state-run news, which say only 120 000 people have died. The quality of life in Halliner has barely been affected.

In Ghastan and Nyalenth, the whole population is struggling as most of the resources the nations produce go towards the war. Their news are ran by companies providing good facts. The quality of life all-throughout the nations have been affected.