The World Tree

By the time I turned 12, the industries in both Alta and Nicea were booming, and the army was motivated and disciplined. Our roads were built anew with concrete and the majority of the roads in the capital were paved with brick. We expanded the harbor and experimented with new shipbuilding techniques in the docks.

One problem was the nobles in charge of other cities requested us to provide them with some of the facilities that Alta and Nicea were benefiting from. I turned them down by citing the prevalence of spies and the vulnerability of our technology so that they won't have the means to resist me later on as I plan on stripping most of the nobility of their lands and revoking peerage rights. I needed to centralize the country as soon as possible, and I needed to get rid of any possible opposition, that's why arming the nobility was the worst idea for that future.

This economic growth is followed closely by a scientific revolution and a rise in art and cultural output, as well as immigration from other countries. The immigrants were usually followers of the Goddess of Light, who were not favored due to their religion and had to flee. In the past, these people wouldn't try to immigrate, but rather endure as that was what the church used to advise, but I changed the mindset into one that encourages the thinking of the well-being of the community and thus the self. I welcomed them all with open arms as we needed manpower for any future projects and for the expansion of the country. At the time, the Holy Order of Alta had around 2.5 million population, 700 thousand of which reside in Alta and Nicea. Other countries around us have a bit lower population, but due to their lax religions, they can form easier diplomatic ties and can get together to oppose bigger threats. That's why Medes hadn't taken over Anatolia, because this coalition of smaller countries can punch way above their weight together with the support of the King of Egypt who is the biggest rival of Medes. This was also the reason why there was an unspoken balance of power in the region and it was relatively peaceful with only minor skirmishes in the borders.

Another important aspect of this immigration wave is that it will weaken other countries as the believers of Goddes of Light are artisans, merchants, scholars, and craftsmen, who were forced to endure a vile tax policy by their overlords. These people will fuel my civilization at the expense of others.

They will also be the reason for a conflict and give me a solid justification to wage war and expand, a casus belli. To hasten that process, I decided to stimulate them by proceeding with a plan that I was preparing for the last ten years, the biggest scam in the world.

Before that, I need to talk a bit about why this will cause such a stir.

The Knights of Alta were founded on the land that was used to be controlled by a dying empire. The Knights, led by the Great Grand Master Cala conquered the city of Alta and named the country after the city. The ruling class, the knights, and the major houses were all a mixed race of Elven and Humans from Formenyalië, a land in what is today Northern France, whereas the majority of the nobility was native to the land. The country corresponds to modern Turkey's Northwestern parts, mainly the Eastern Thrace and the surroundings of Istanbul. The people of the country have long switched their religion to the Goddess of Light's religion since they used to follow a similar faith, however, the religion of the Goddess remained a minority religion in most places. In Europe, people believe in their pagan gods, whereas the people of Medes, my old world's Iran, believe in the God of Fire Atar, and the majority of the people in the Middle East and parts of Anatolia believe in the God of Moon Syn. These beliefs were by no means unified even in their homeland as there were large minorities of other religions across the whole region and even unrelated and unique religions in different parts. The bottom line is, all of these religions are in a vulnerable position, and the religion of the Goddess of Light is much more centralized and true to their doctrine than the rest and the newcomer to the region, meaning it is the underdog and has the most potential to obtain new believers.

In the holy book of the religion of the Goddess of Light, in the tale of the Great Migration, a prophet talks about a vision of a past where there was a massive tree that sheltered the first believers of the Goddess of Light, a unified tribe of elves, humans, and dwarves, from the deadly snow of the Northern lands and their demonic pursuers who wanted to enslave them. The prophet talks about how the light shining between the branches of the colossal tree warmed the believers and how the roots spawning from the ground made a shelter for the believers to protect them from the cold. The sap of the tree was medicine for the sick and the barks of the tree enabled the first believers to build ships and travel away from the land of the demons under the guidance of the Holy Light of the Goddess who showed them the way. In the end, the Demon King burns down the tree in his rage and madness as he couldn't catch the fleeing believers of the Goddess of Light. The burned tree was known as the "Ilualda" or the "World Tree".

The majority of the people would sympathize with the sufferings of the first believers of Light, as everyone is running away from their own demons in a way. That's why the motif of the World Tree is important as it embraces all the sufferers of authority and takes care of them like a benevolent mother, feeding them with her own milk, and sacrifices herself for them in the end.

For 10 years I was working on making a World Tree of my own. I tried many different trees to see if such a massive tree could be made and most of them could've been fine candidates, however, I chose a type of birch tree as my World Tree model. Birch juice was one of the things every kid I know enjoyed while growing up in a post-soviet environment and even parents who lived in the Soviet Union and the Balkan countries were fans of it. The tests I did with smaller versions of the tree proved useful and the birch juice from the tree can indeed be said to be a divine beverage.

This year, on the day of the Theophany, I plan on taking the biggest step in securing my casus belli as well as soaring the motivation of my troops and people to the skies.