
by TheWizardOfOsu
The Dominion needs soldiers. Soldiers with power, strong enough to protect it during the ever-present territorial conflicts. But its leaders want soldiers without power, unable to challenge their authority.Finn, one of the many orphans marooned by the ongoing wars, draws the short straw in such a scenario: power. Enough to be drafted, but not enough to excel, especially without the luxury of time. With only three years in an academy and enemies without and within, Finn must rise above the societal machinations, survive the wars, and establish his own dominion.Book one is complete! -------------------------------------- What to expect: - Slow burn progression - A massive, gradually revealed world and conflict - Ancient mysteries, forgotten civilizations, and sealed gods - Combination magic/power system- No Gen AI clankers -------------------------------------- Release schedule: 5 chapters / week. Target chapter length: 1500 - 2500 wordsBook one is complete! I will be taking a 10-14 day hiatus after posting chapter 48 (7/24/2026) to do a few things: bulleting/planning events for book 2, a cover comission, an edit pass on existing chapters, setting up a patreon, and hopeully a bit of R & R too! You can get more detail (with slight spoilers) in the author note for ch 48.
No streak history
Rank updated 13 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Entry forecast updated 13 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Overall Rising Stars shadow rank
deep field · ~#445 of 7,531 · 395 below #50
By genre
beats 99% of similar stories
beats 22% of similar stories
beats 49% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
At this conversion, the Sci-fi Rising Stars bar (≈1 new followers/day) costs about 123 views/day — the story currently gets ~129.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.