The Universe of Paradon and Swordmasters
History of Paradon.
I briefly touched this subject when i related about the origin of swordmasters but i will now explain the history of Paradon further.
Paradon was one of the countries that bordered against the lands held by the Master. The Master was a extremely powerful mage and summoner able to call forth vast hordes of creatures that did his bidding. His goal was world domination (what else?) but unfortunately for him he found Paradon on his way. Not that the people were so powerful but they had the advantage or the terrain being surrounded by several mountain ranges. The only way into Paradon were several narrow passes which were heavily defended. They managed to keep the hordes at bay for many centuries but ultimately fell by betrayal from within and were forced to flee.
It wasn’t until several centuries later that they managed to retake their ancestral lands and drive the hordes back across the mountains. They didn’t do this on their own though but the countries that had held the hordes back since the fall of Paranor were more than happy to help as this meant that they would once again have a buffer between them and the Master.
Things could have ended in stalemate once again if it wasn’t for two things. The first was King Garth the first, who is regarded as one of the greatest kings. Not only was he a great leader he was also a good general and with the Master’s forces still on the run it was a great moment to break the stalemate and push the borders back. So instead of digging in he went on the offensive and pushed their enemies before him. Unfortunately while this was a excellent tactic it also led him to suffering terrible losses. This led to the second event that changed Paradon’s history.
With the horrendous losses that plagued the army near the end of the campaign there weren’t that many men left to produce children. The women who were left behind soon noticed that there were a lot of women and only a few men. After some debating they decided to set differences aside and share the available men in order to get children. If one wanted to get a child but didn’t have a man or a man unable to produce then they would go and search for a man who could. If that man was already married the woman would ask his wife for permission to ‘borrow’ him until she became pregnant. Strangely most wife’s didn’t seem to mind and in fact saw it as a honor that their man was so highly regarded that women were seeking him for stud services. If you had to pick a man why not the best one around?
This change in attitude had one other major effect though and that was that women soon began to join the army as soldiers. This was at first laughed away by the male soldiers and officers but after the female unit came to the rescue of their male counterparts and kicked bottom they were forced to change their opinion. Women soldiers weren’t accepted right away but after a few decades even the most stubborn male was forced to concede that the female units were just as good or even better that the male.
As the battle continued to rage the men and women who made up Paradon’s armies kept pushing the enemy back. They would sweep forth and take some land and then dig in and waited out the counterattack. After a several decades they would slowly build up their forces and once again push back the border a few miles. They would keep doing this until the Master was defeated.
Of course this never went easily and from time to time it was the Master’s forces which overran the Paradonian positions. For this reason the frontline was kept very deep and in some places it was more than 50 miles deep with defencive walls and forts. Cities which were build in the zone were more like giant forts than cities and when attacked everybody was expected to fight. This led to a different mentality between the north and the south. The north was fiercely independent and the people living there trained for combat from the moment they were born. The south became much more laid back and frivolous which often led to scorn from the northerners who felt that they were dying so that they could have a easy carefree life. This problem was solved by queen Isolde who made joining the army mandatory and rotated the armies all over the kingdom. A army had to do a 5 year tour on the front and then rotated to the south where they could relax and wind down.
This not only pacified the north but it also brought the people back together. It also had the benefit of having combat veterans on the southern border. While these borders were usually peaceful occasional wars did happen. This usually happened when the ruler of a kingdom became either insane (which happens with inbreeding) or decided that they wanted to rule the world. Although Paradonians never started a war they always were the ones who ended it. This also mend that the country wasn’t expanding to the north but in other directions as well.
With these combat troups in the south some interesting habits appeared. As walking around quietly around people who just spend 5 year fighting is a big no no they adapted to wearing little bells to their clothing. Also combat veterans who are to high strung are marked, they are not allowed to carry weapons and must wear a red patch on the arm. One red patch means be ware, two patches means leave the f*ck alone.
As time past there was of course the emergence of swordmasters and after a long and hard war the Master was finally defeated. By that time almost the entire world was under the influence of Paradon and as they looked at the stars the stars suddenly looked back.
While the technology of Paradon was still pretty well middle ages the new enemy had spaceships and technology light years ahead of what Paradon had. The only reason Paradon won that war was because of the swordmasters. This war was the first and the only time they cut lose with their full power and beat the crap out of the enemy force.
Universe of Paradon
This not only saved the planet but also opened the way to the stars. As they traveled and explored the stars they discovered many wonders and worlds. Most of these worlds were uninhabited and were swiftly colonized but some weren’t. Some worlds were very hostile while others were not and although they never set out to start a war and conquer this happened more than once. Travel between systems goes through wormholes that can be found in most if not all systems. Some systems have multiple wormholes while others have just one. Most of these wormholes are stable but some are not and these last are the most dangerous ones. They tend to ‘wander’ around meaning that either the entrance or exit or both may disappear from one system and go to another. The distances these unstable holes cover can be enormous. Sometimes they shift a system over or a galaxy or in rare cases a dimension.
While Paradon has known a long time of peace and prosperity they are once again caught up in a fight for survival. The enemy this time is a truly horrible opponent who will not rest until the human race is wiped from the universe. This alien race evolved from Lizards and their reason for exterminating humans has to do with a prophecy that foretold that humans would be the downfall of their race. This prophecy was ignored at first but when a religious leader discovered it decades later he found a way to gain power. Using the prophecy he instilled his followers with fear and started a holy war against humans. This worked great for a while and history might have run a different course if a lone cruiser hadn’t discovered a planet full of humans. When they returned with news that humans were real all hell broke lose and a fleet was formed to destroy the humans.
As the humans were in a pre-industrial era this didn’t prove hard to do and immediately ships were send out to find more planets. Now millennia later they populate hundreds of worlds and they have wiped out countless societies.
But not all worlds are hostile to Paradon. Several worlds are on friendly terms with Paradon and there is a lot of commerce between them. As most worlds held by Paradon are located in a rather quiet corner of the region nobody has any clue to how many systems they hold and queen Elisabeth likes it that way.
In the few wars that they fought they always defeated their opponent completely and totally so now everybody tends to leave them alone. Paradon and especially Elisabeth plays a major role in the politics in the region.
The major force in the region is the League which is a alliance of several hundred systems. Because of there are hundreds of systems the central government is usually bogged down in ceaseless bickering. The real power is held by corporations and several government agencies who work very hard to maintain the status quo.
There is also the Homeriën Empire. This empire is ruled by emperor Isaac the third and he rules over a few dozen worlds. Their military is considered to be excellent and second only to Paradon. They also keep to themselves a lot and it is nearly impossible to gain access to their home world. All contact with the outside goes through a few planetes and to go anywhere else without permission is considered suicide.
Then there is the Andros Cluster. This is a cluster of several dozen of systems that are located in very close proximity to each other. Each system is fiercely independent and often a political nightmare. Wars tend to break out without warning and it is a pirates paradise. Dispite this there is a lot of commerce being done here and if you know what you are doing a lot of profit can be made. Although there is a lot to be had here none try to conquer the Cluster. Those why tried learned that although it is easy to take it it is very hard to keep it.
The Worlds and their inhabitants.
As you can see there are a lot of worlds in this particular universe. Curiously most of the worlds are populated by humans. The reason for this is unknown and there are many theories which try to explain this. Most popular is that at one point the human race was capable of interstellar travel and populated vast regions of space. They even had the power to revive ‘dead’ worlds and make them capable of sustaining life. This golden era lasted millennia until countless worlds were populated. Then for some reason the technology failed in a most catastrophic way and they were stuck wherever they were at that time.
With all technology gone the societies soon began to crumble and most became victim of total anarchy sending them back into the middle ages or even the stone age. Some managed to cling to some sort of technological level mostly thanks some individuals who were familiar with pre-industrial societies. They managed to save a few worlds from total anarchy and in a few centuries these slowly started to florish again. These worlds were mostly the newly or recently colonized worlds that didn’t have much technology to begin with. Almost all the others were hit much harder and some even died out.
If this theory is true is unknown but it is one that is more seriously considered by the people.
Also read Society of Paradon II, Society of Paradon I, Swordmasters and Military of Paradon for more details on the Paradon universe.
