- "A Magnitudine, Vires; from size, strength"
- —The Kingdom of Sea's motto
The Kingdom of Sea is one of the long-lasting kingdoms of royalty that have existed in secret since the earliest ages of mankind.
History[]
Early History[]
Though the formation of the Four Legendary Kingdoms is largely unknown, the primary cause of their forming came from the super-ancient beings who once existed on Earth, who revealed great knowledge of the world such as medicines or technological innovations to a small selection of people. One of these groups were the original members of the Kingdom of Sea.
Among the things the Four Legendary Kingdoms learned was the coming of five trials which would determine for the super-ancient beings if intelligent life still existed on Earth and were worthy to continue living. Along with the other kingdoms, the Kingdom of Sea vowed to maintain the necessary knowledge for completing the trials so that their descendants would be considered worthy, and be able to overcome the greatest trial of all; the Omega Event.
Each of the original Kings were given territories befitting their title. Over the centuries, the Kingdom of Sea's territory expanded greatly in comparison to the others Legendary Kingdoms, though while it came to possess the largest territory, it had less land but more ocean under its control.
While information and components relating to the first two trials, the restoration of the Golden Capstone and the rebuilding of the Machine, would largely become lost over the years, the Kingdom of Underworld maintained the necessary knowledge for the Hydra galaxy trial. As the third trial was the completion of a series of ritualistic challenges to activate a signal to alert the super-ancients that intelligent life still existed on Earth, the Four Kingdoms would hold practice challenges during passing-bys of the Hydra galaxy, which they would come to call the Great Games of the Hydra. The Kingdom of Sea would provide their own four champions during each of the three Great Games in the earlier millennia of their rule.
One of the three Immortal Weapons of the Trial of the Cities, the Trident of the Sealords (though in fact being a mace rather than a trident) came to be held by the Sea Kingdom for generations. Notably being wielded by Poseidon during his reign, the Mace was buried with him in his tomb, becoming lost to the royals of the Kingdom of Sea.
Before The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
During the late 20th century, Garrett Caldwell inherited the title as the King of the Kingdom of Sea.
Towards the 21st century, members of the Kingdom of Sea used its agents in the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force to undergo a mission led by Colonel Marshall Judah to restore the Golden Capstone for the first trial involving the Tartarus sunspot. However, since there could be a reward for the nation that completed the trial, 1000 years of absolute power, the Kingdom of Land was using their own agents in the Catholic Church to oppose the Kingdom of Sea for that power. Ultimately, Judah failed and the power was inadvertently granted to Australia.
Soon afterwards, the Kingdom of Sea once again also had their own agents working on restoring the Machine to complete the second trial, the Return of the Dark Sun, this time with Wolf leading the CIEF to locate the necessary components and knowledge. Once again, however, the Kingdom of Sea's agents failed in their mission.
In 2016, eight years after the completion of the second trial, the Star Chamber within the Underworld opened, allowing the nine Golden Spheres to be retrieved. As this heralded the third trial, the Diverting of the Hydra Galaxy, King Anthony "Hades" DeSaxe of Underworld alerted the other Kingdoms of the development, with the fourth Great Games of the Hydra set to begin within the next month. Having been anticipating that the Chamber would open for nearly twenty years, Caldwell finalised the selection of his Kingdom's four champions (most of whom had been preparing for the Games for years) to participate on their behalf in the Games; Barrett Johnson, Jeffrey Edwards, DeShawn Monroe and Shane Schofield.
Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown[]
A few days before the Great Games were set to begin, having learned that the Kingdom of Sky had used its agents in the Chinese military and space administration to orchestrate a secret mission to send a lunar rover the moon, in order to examine an altar on the moon crucial to the Trial of the Mountains, Caldwell and the Kingdom of Sea began preparations to take the data the rover recorded following its splashdown into the Indian Ocean.
Whilst Caldwell himself waited at Diego Garcia, a squad of loyal Navy SEALs led by Vulture Six set off in an aerosub near the site of the impending splashdown. After the Chinese commandos aboard the Wuhan-II confirmed that they had retrieved the rover's rangefinder and camera, Vulture Six's team moved in and ambushed them. Once they had taken the rover's equipment and killed the commandos, the SEALs scuttled the Wuhan-II and headed back to Diego Garcia.
While en-route, however, a gull wing-equipped Jack was able to glide over the aerosub as it passed near the Cocos Islands, and after landing on it empties a canister of knock-out gas into the aerosub's air pressure system. Once the SEALs had passed out, Jack took the camera and lander before leaving the aerosub to resume its course. Once the aerosub returned to Diego Garcia, the Kingdom of Sea's agents found that the only things left inside were the groggy SEAL troopers.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
Many notable members of each of the Kingdom of Sea journeyed to the Underworld with a few of their trusted servants to watch the fourth Great Games of the Hydra; among the the Kingdom of Sea's representatives were King Caldwell and John Marren. Along with the members of the other Kingdoms, the representatives of the Kingdom of Sea watched nonchalantly as the Champions struggled through the Challenges and the some of them, and their support teams, died.
That night, members of the Kingdom of Sea joined the other Royals in attending a banquet hosted by Hades, mingling and discussing the Games thus far. When Lily West took note of the coats of arms that each Kingdom had represented, Iolanthe Compton-Jones explained the meaning of the Kingdom of Sea's coat of arms and its motto to the Oracle.
After all of the members of the Four Kingdoms once again watched with interest the outcome of the Fourth Challenge, Hades decided to hold a luncheon so that all four of the Kings could dine with their remaining Champions before the Fifth Challenge began. As such, Caldwell was joined by the three Champions representing the Kingdom of Sea who remained; Edwards, Monroe and Schofield. When it was over, Caldwell surreptitiously gave Schofield (and presumably his other two Champions) a syringe containing a hyper-oxygenated blood additive, in order to give his Kingdom an advantage in the subsequent Challenges if they needed it.
After the Fifth Challenge, the members of the Four Kingdoms and the remaining Champions proceeded to the Summit Temple to watch as the first five Golden Spheres were set into place within the mountain's obelisk. Before proceeding on to the second phase of the Great Games, Hades, as the Underworld's host, made several announcements regarding the ascension of several of the member of the Four Kingdoms, including Caldwell's decision to promote Marren to the rank of Duke.
The gathered Royals watched the final Challenges as they took place in the observatory, but soon their last two Champions, Edwards and Schofield, perished in the series of one-on-one fights. Ultimately, Jack West Jr of the Kingdom of Land remained standing, but the older members of the Kingdom of Sea were among those nodding in approval when he requested Hades allow him to bring Cerberus to him, knowing that the final Challenge was about humility, thus winning the Kingdom of Land victory in the Games.
Caldwell and the rest of the Royals in the Sea Kingdom soon went back to the Summit Temple in order to watch Orlando receive the Mysteries while the Hydra galaxy was diverted. However, when the minotaurs suddenly turned against the Four Kingdoms, Caldwell, the other members of his Kingdom and the other Royals began fleeing down to the helipad in order to try and escape from the Underworld. Though the minotaurs had only wanted Dion and Zaitan, when Caldwell and the other Kings' guards opened fire on them, the minotaurs began attacking all the Royals indiscriminately. In the carnage, most, if not all, of the Royals from the Kingdom of Sea were killed, including Caldwell, though a few members may have been able to get about the one helicopter that managed to get away.
The Three Secret Cities[]
Following Caldwell's death in the Underworld, a successor for the title of King of Sea was soon found in the next in line of succession, Caldwell's son. Annoyed at the disarray Jack had caused their Kingdom, as well as the others, the Kingdom of Sea soon agreed with the other Kingdoms to have the Governor of the Royal Prison of Erebus, Yago DeSaxe, hunt down Jack, the defected Hades and the rest of their friends in retaliation.
The Kingdom of Sea soon got its retribution when Yago captured Hades in New York and Jack in London. When Caldwell joined a conference call with the other active Kings (Xi and Orlando Compton-Jones), Yago thanked Caldwell and his Kingdom for allowing him access and resources in their realm.
When the Kingdom of Underworld decided to allow Dion DeSaxe to inherit his father's throne, Caldwell and the other two Kings attended his coronations via videolink in accordance with the Four Kingdoms' tradition that they be present for the ascension of a new King.
When the time for the ritual for the Trial of the Cities at the Altar of the Cosmos arrived, Caldwell represented the Kingdom of Sea to witness Orlando complete the fourth trial. However, as Caldwell gasped upon witnessing Sphinx stab Orlando with the Sword of the Rock, he and Xi were killed as they were shot in the back by Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza, leaving the Kingdom of Sea in disarray and without a King once again.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
Following Sphinx's coup d'etat, the assets of all of the Four Legendary Kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Sea's, fell under his control. The royals of the Kingdom of Sea most likely did not support Sphinx and his planned regime, but did not attempt to defy him as he began undertaking the Trial of the Mountains.
As Jack prepared to go after Sphinx in the Supreme Labyrinth, he tasked Pooh Bear and Stretch with finding out what the Four Kingdoms had planned for after the Omega Event.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
As Sphinx worked his way through the Supreme Labyrinth, he had Sir John Marren begin organising the Four Kingdoms to take shelter under the Storm Cellar Protocol, with the royal families of the Sea Kingdom heading to a bunker at Raven Rock to wait out the period following the Omega Event as Sphinx began preparing the world for his regime.
However, Marren was kidnapped by Jack's allies and killed during an altercation at Raven Rock, allowing Stretch and Pooh Bear's team to obtain the master list of the Four Kingdoms and their loyalists. Once they had the list, Stretch and Pooh Bear rolled a Siren bell into the Raven Rock shelter and ring it, sending the families of the Four Kingdoms within into the siren sleep.
After the Omega Event had been averted and Sphinx's forces defeated, the world's governments began investigating the shadow royals and arresting the members of the Four Kingdoms, including their servants and sympathisers, ending the millennia-long reign of the Kingdom of Sea.
Members of the Kingdom of Sea[]
Note: the following lists all members of the Kingdom of Sea since the Four Kingdoms' introduction, their current status within their ranks reflects the circumstances of the novel of their latest appearance.
- Royals
- King Garrett Caldwell † (formerly)
- King Caldwell † (replacing Garrett, formerly)
- Servants
- Great Games Champions
- Lieutenant Barrett Johnson †
- Major Jeffrey Edwards †
- Warrant Officer DeShawn Monroe †
- Captain Shane Schofield (forced participant)
- Former Kings
Goals[]
Like the other Legendary Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Sea is ostensibly dedicated to fulfilling the tasks and trials made by the Super-Ancient Beings to test the worthiness of intelligent life on Earth on behalf of all humanity. However, as time has moved on, they have became more obsessed with their maintaining their status and rule over the world from the shadows. Over the millennia, the Kingdom of Sea has seen fit to raise and fell entire empires to suit their needs, and using their influence to control entire nations within their territory from behind the scenes.
While the Four Kingdoms do still see fit to have the trials successfully completed, to them it has become more about receiving the rewards, power and status that comes with them. Indeed, few among their ranks see any need to do the hard work themselves, using their servants and unknowing/unwilling proxies before moving in to reap the rewards and glory. For the first two trials, the Kingdom of Sea used the Commander-In-Chief's In Extremis Force to seek out the Golden Capstone and attempt to rebuild the Machine on their behalf, though whether or not those in charge of the CIEF for the two operations even knew of the Sea Kingdom's existence is unknown.
For the Great Games of the Hydra, the Kingdom of Sea used proxies used as Champions to fulfill the trial, but they ultimately failed (or in Schofield's case, allowing himself to be briefly killed with the intention of being revived later). After the Great Games concluded with several members of their royal families killed, the Kingdom of Sea worked in unison with the other Kingdoms to organise the arrest of those they considered responsible, Jack West Jr and Hades. For them, this goal took precedence over the completion of the Trial of the Cities, leaving Orlando's team to do the work.
After Sphinx's coup d'état, the Four Kingdoms fell into line as the Trismagi took control of their resources, preferring to obey him or otherwise stay out of his way while he completed the last of the trials, out of concern for losing their positions. Even so, they still expected to maintain a fair amount of control and influence in the world once the Omega Event was averted.
Trivia[]
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