The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Huajing City is known as the number one scenic spot in the Polar Mountains. Even those who are most hostile to the Polar Mountains have to admit that if they haven't visited Huajing City, it's like they haven't been to the Polar Mountains.

The reason why Huajing City has such a reputation is entirely due to the special geographical environment of Huajing City and the unremitting efforts of the successive city owners of Huajing City.

Huajing City was built in a valley, and the surrounding mountains are all extinct volcanoes, but the underground lava of these extinct volcanoes has not stopped their activities, but has been continuously producing geothermal heat for so many years. In the valley, so that the spring seems to be fixed in the valley.

In the beginning, the builders of Huajing City considered the special environment here, so they transplanted a large number of rare flowers and plants from the south, and the successive city lords continued to increase the number of flowers and plants, and the magic is that no matter where they come from Flowers, no matter how different the growth environment is, can survive without exception after being transplanted here.

For a long time, these flowers and plants have continued to accumulate, making their number reach an astonishing number. The variety includes almost all plant species in the world, and even some extinct plants can be found here. For this reason, even scholars The botanists in the city will come to this legendary city in the heart of the polar mountains for their research.

In the beginning, the area of ​​Huajing City was not particularly large. It only occupied a small area in the middle of the valley, and it was built with a city wall. Most of the surrounding land was mainly used to grow food. At first, it was a rare place in the polar mountains. There are several places suitable for growing food, and the builders of the city at that time even used extremely tragic means of war to break out of the siege from more than a dozen large tribes and obtain this valley.

Therefore, in order to prevent the valley from being taken away again, the first few generations of city lords focused on the military development of their territories. Most of the city buildings were in the style of military castles, but as Huajing City and the surrounding large cities And the marriage of the tribes established a solid alliance, making these big cities and tribes the defensive circle of Huajing City, and the armed forces of Huajing City itself became insignificant.

The more important point is that the huge military expenditures accounted for more than 70% of Huajing City's finances, which seriously interfered with the development of Huajing City, and the officers and soldiers at that time were also extremely domineering, causing very bad influence and public grievances in Huajing City.

Therefore, when the external military threat disappeared, the city lord of Huajing City began to deal with internal problems. The forces were completely dismantled, and then the organized military units were directly disbanded, leaving only one armed force of the City Guards. Later, the city walls of Huajing City were torn down on the grounds of hindering the expansion of the city. This made Huajing City the first city in the polar mountains without city walls.

Perhaps it is precisely because of Huajing City's practice of reducing its armed forces and dismantling the city walls that the surrounding city-states and tribes feel that Huajing City is no longer a threat, so even if there are various disputes in the surrounding areas, they avoid Huajing City. And Huajing City also took advantage of this special political environment to portray itself as a completely harmless image. This harmless image made all the city-states and tribes in the surrounding areas choose Huajing City without exception if they wanted to conduct military negotiations or political negotiations. As a place of negotiation, over time it has become an absolute neutral zone in a practical sense.

Although Huajing City seems to have no military power, and only a centurion can easily capture it, in fact, no matter how much people look down on Huajing City, they will not underestimate the strength of Huajing City, because Huajing City is in At the same time as I disarmed the armed forces such as the army, I also got the support of another force, which is the power of the natural shaman.

Shaman is not a supernatural thing native to the polar mountains. People in the polar mountains initially admired natural forces such as ice, snow, storms, and lava, and only worshiped these primitive forces without forming a systematic belief. Shaman's natural beliefs were introduced to the polar mountains from the south with caravans, and the tribes began to build pan-shamanic beliefs with the power of nature they admired.

The reason why it is said to be pan-shamanism is that each tribe does not recognize the core natural way of shamanism, they even more respect the development and mastery of various natural forces by shamanism, and integrate their own primitive priest rituals, forming the current The original priest system of the northern tribes.

Although shamanism did not become the main belief in the polar mountains, it was not repelled and suppressed like the missionaries of the Church of True God, which allowed shamanism to form a certain scale in the mountains, and finally formed the present natural shamanism.

In terms of overall power alone, the Natural Shaman Society probably ranks outside the top ten in the polar mountains, but in terms of deterrence, the Natural Shaman Society can definitely rank in the top three, because the Natural Shaman Society is It is the organization with the most extraordinary power in the polar mountains, and it has a very good relationship with the priests of various city-states and tribes. If necessary, these relationships can be used to influence some decisions of the decision-making level of the polar mountain city-states.

When the natural shaman society was first established, it did not have a fixed headquarters. When it was necessary to discuss and make decisions, the city-state or tribe where the great shaman was located was usually used as the meeting place. If they didn't choose well, naturally the shaman would be inadvertently involved in a big dispute involving seven city-states and more than a dozen tribes, and lost nearly half of its members.

In this great dispute, the members of the Nature Shaman Society suffered heavy casualties, but the number of city-states and tribes that were killed or injured because of the Nature Shaman Society was also astonishing. The Polar Mountains saw the strength of the Nature Shaman Society, but also The natural shaman will be full of vigilance. If the natural shaman does not make a clear statement at this time, then what awaits it will be the same situation as the Church of True God.

Therefore, the great shaman at that time decided to change the tradition of not having a headquarters, and finally, after discussion, he chose to establish a headquarters of the natural shaman society in Huajing City, which is an absolute neutral zone, and at the same time, he also showed his identity to the city-states and tribes in the polar mountains. Neutral attitude.

In this way, the natural shaman society was included in the strength map of Huajing City, and its influence was doubled in all aspects due to the addition of the natural shaman society.

The Flower Spirit Festival is the most important festival of Huajing City, and also the most important festival of the Nature Shaman Society. The time of this festival is not fixed, and it is usually counted from the day when the first black storm in the snow field ends, until the next black storm Appears to end.

During the days of the festival, shamans will go to the streets and use their own power to promote the growth and release of flowers and plants in and around the city. The whole city will be filled with the refreshing fragrance of flowers. People from various city-states and tribes in the mountains will live here until the end of the festival, and this period is naturally the most populous day in the entire Huajing City, and what is interesting is that after ten months, the entire polar mountains will erupt a birth tide , so the various city-states and tribes in the polar mountains prefer to call the Flower Spirit Festival the Feast of Conception.

Because it involves the issue of population and fertility, the Flower Spirit Festival is no longer just a local festival in Huajing City. The city-states in the entire polar mountains also regard the Flower Spirit Festival as their own important festival. Even if there is no way to go to Huajing City to celebrate the festival in person, I will try to buy some fresh flowers sent from Huajing City to decorate my home.

However, this year's Flower Spirit Festival has become a little bit wrong. First of all, the first black storm in the snow field lasted several times longer than in previous years. There is still no sign of stopping after more than ten days. People from other city-states and tribes who were in the city for the festival were all stranded in Huajing City. So many people lived in one city for a long time, which inevitably affected all aspects of the city, such as prices, hygiene and so on.

During this period of time, not only the locals in Huajing City are extremely dissatisfied with their lives, but also people from other places who come to celebrate the festival are full of complaints. There were many disputes among people. Within ten days, the city guards of Huajing City handled no less than one hundred fights between locals and outsiders, and the number of people arrested was as high as more than 1,700. Some were beyond the reach of the City Guards, which numbered only 1,500 men.

Secondly, a battle broke out between Bishan City and the Haider tribe, which is only a few mountains away from Huajing City, and the battle shows no signs of subsiding. Instead, it is expanding rapidly, attracting allies from each other, and the two sides are already at the border between the two places. An army of nearly 30,000 people has been assembled, and a big battle will start at any time.

You must know that in the polar mountains, due to various conditions, only a few hundred people participated in the battles between most city-states and tribes, and even large-scale battles were only a few thousand people, and only a very small number really affected the polar groups. The war in the mountain situation is counted in the tens of thousands, but the number of people like 30,000 is still rare, and more importantly, the time they chose to start the war is really beyond everyone's expectations.

Although there are no express regulations, all the city-states and tribes in the polar mountains have adopted a default method, and regard the festival time of the Flower Spirit Festival as a peaceful time for the entire polar mountains, and all battles, big and small, stop during this time Come down, not to mention the start of the war, even the ongoing war or battle will stop, the two sides will pass the festival safely, and what to do after the festival.

This kind of non-stipulated default peace time has lasted for hundreds of years, and it has already become the habit of everyone in the polar mountains. However, Bishan City and the Haider tribe have broken this habit and started fighting during the Flower Spirit Festival. , This made everyone who heard the news shocked and wondered if it was true.

After the news spread, different city-states and tribes sent people to verify it, and the news reported back without exception indicated that this matter was true. As for the reasons given by both sides of the war, they were also very good, that is, the first black man this year. The storm hasn't ended yet, so the Flower Spirit Festival hasn't started yet, and they didn't break the tradition by going to war at this time.

The city-states and tribes have no way to refute the arguments given by the warring parties, because what they said is the truth, the Flower Spirit Festival has indeed not started, and judging from the current situation of the black storm in the snow field, it may last for ten days. possible.

For Huajing City, this sudden outbreak of war is really a prelude to a disaster, because the scale of the war is so large that the civilians in the territories of both sides have to leave the battle site to avoid the flames of war. Find a leveler place to live for a while, and go back after the war ceases.

But now the black storm on the snow field has not stopped, and it is still intensifying. The polar mountains are also within the coverage of the black storm. Although there are mountains blocking the intensity of the snowstorm, it cannot be compared with the endless snow field, but it is definitely not ordinary people. Tolerable range, so the usual method of avoiding the flames of war is useless at all. Living in a place without shelter from the wind and snow can only wait for death, so those refugees on both sides of the war who escaped the flames of war can only find a suitable place to take refuge.

As the city closest to the two warring parties, Huajing City is basically the first choice of refuge for refugees from both sides due to its favorable living environment. However, Huajing City has been overwhelmed by the surging refugee wave at this moment. The overall bearing capacity has reached its limit because of the foreigners staying here and preparing for the holidays. Now that so many refugees are pouring in, the continuation of Huajing City has basically reached the brink of collapse.

For this reason, Huajing City had to convene all officials and Vera Thothmuller, the great shaman of the Nature Shaman Society, to hold a meeting in the city lord's mansion to discuss how to solve the current crisis in the city.

However, when these managers were discussing countermeasures, the city guards who were in charge of maintaining order had already made arrangements first. They mobilized a large number of carts and filled them with soil, and surrounded the entire Huajing City. , combined into a simple city wall, which blocked the refugees from approaching, and Huajing City, which had no city wall for hundreds of years, also had a city wall again, even if this city wall was not standardized.

At the same time, in order to be able to defend the city wall, the city guards also temporarily recruited a large number of soldiers in the city, including locals and foreigners, to form a militia team to assist them in defending the simple city wall built by the circle of carriages to prevent There are refugees crawling over.

The action of the city guards made the already tense situation in the city even more tense. Various rumors began to spread in the city, and everyone began to hoard food and buy weapons. The subjects became refugees outside the city, which made them have no time to estimate the public security and other issues in the city. For a while, crimes such as robbery and murder continued to occur in this city covered in flowers, and the whole situation began to collapse into the chaotic abyss.