Further Beyond: Ascension

[Winner of the Royal Road 2025 April Writathon]The Halaklands are a messy collection of feuding, squabbling, and warring petty kingdoms, clans, and realms. The Halak peoples are themselves a haughty, stubborn, disagreeable people who take great pride in their prowess as warriors. As the old saying goes, 'Each Halak man is his own king, his family his own kingdom', these people are fiercely independent folk. Add to this already chaotic tapestry a cadre of foreign influences from wesstern empires, proselytisation from missionaries, and magical beasts. Thus is the situation Josias finds himself in within the court of his swordsaint grandfather's kingdom. The mightiest realm of all the Halaklands and the most prominent realm within it that considers itself christian. Yet even within his realm, chaos threatens to break out of the floodgates. Day by day his grandfather's health weakens and with that, so too would his influence. While many realms declare themselves as friends to Goria, many more look to them without such kindness. Threats abound both from outside the kingdom as well as from within. Surely the neighbouring clans would look to disperse Goria's power in the midst of such chaos. All this while struggles within the realm between those who have embraced the new ways and those clinging to the old could prove to be a major problem. With all of that, only one question remains. Will there be a hero that emerges to save his people? Or will the Halaklands descend further into chaos? --- What to expect from the story: - A strong MC but with some progression still involved. - A slowburn story focused on setting and inter-personal relations - Classic epic fantasy. No RPG mechanics. However some influences from Xianxia may or may not be present. - Eventual kingdom building but still far away in the story