The Four Legendary Kingdoms are the long-lasting kingdoms of royalty that have existed in secret since the earliest ages of mankind.
History[]
Early History[]
The exact nature of the formation of the Four Legendary Kingdoms of Land, Sea, Sky and Underworld is largely unknown, however the primary cause of their forming came when the super-ancient beings who once existed on Earth revealed great knowledge of the world (such as medicines or technological innovations) to a small selection of people, who would become the original members of the Four Kingdoms.
Among the things taught by the Four Kingdoms by the Super-Ancients was the coming of their five trials, which when they occurred in later years would determine for the ancients if intelligent life on their homeworld still existed and if they were worthy. The Four Kingdoms 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, though these territories have expanded greatly over the centuries, so much that the Kingdom of Land runs much of the planet's continents, while the King of Sea, though possessing the largest territory, has less land but more ocean under his control. It was established early on that the Kingdom of Underworld would be given the Underworld as part of their territory, and that it would be their duty to maintain it for the third trial, the Diverting of the Hydra Galaxy.
The majority of information imparted to the Four Legendary Kingdoms would be entrusted with some of the organisations made to serve them, such as the group that served the Kingdom of Land which eventually became the Catholic Church. The original Trismagi were assigned by the Four Kingdoms to act as guardians for three ancient cities that were the primary repositories for the information regarding the Omega Event and a critical element in the Trial of the Cities. The Invisible College was established to recruit brilliant individuals, such as Isaac Newton, whom the Four Kingdoms believed to be able to contribute their the causes
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 did its duty and 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. They would hold three Great Games in the earlier millennia of their rule, and the Four Kingdoms would ensure that the champion of the Games would have his name go down in history.
Even though the world never knew of their existence (though few people, such as historians like Mae Merriweather, would suspect the truth), occasionally some of the Kings became known the world over for their deeds, such as Rameses and King Louis XIV. To the common folk, some of them would even appear to be as gods (such as Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) or their vessels (Jesus Christ) due to their use of the advanced knowledge and technology they used that had been gifted by the Super-Ancients, to the point that their existence became more mythological and outlandish than real-life.
The Deus Rex line of the Kingdom of Land ruled over their people publicly, albeit through members of the royal family who were further down the line of succession. Occasionally, the line of succession for the Four Kingdoms diverged if the next person in succession was thought to be unworthy, such as Louis XVI being passed over the title and someone else in the royal family receiving the title of King instead.
Isaac Newton wrote a book on the Four Kingdoms, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, but because they were an extremely secretive group, only five copies were published.
For millennia before the present era, few members of the Legendary Kingdoms other than the Kings were aware that sacrifices were required for certain ceremonies such as the Golden Capstone's use during the Tartarus event and for the Trial of the Cities' final ritual on the Altar of the Cosmos to be successful. Despite this, they left this responsibility of maintaining this knowledge to their agencies such as the Trismagi and Catholic Church, who in turn made it the Oracle of Siwa's responsibility to play the role of supreme initiate during these events.
The Four Kingdoms each had control over the governments of the nations they ruled, using their influence to get leaders elected who would further their own goals (even if said Presidents or Prime Ministers were unaware they were puppets). The "billionaires club" Majestic-12, formed within the last few centuries, was comprised of several of the richest men in the world, though they were in fact subservient to the Four Kingdoms and meant to serve as one of their agencies.
Before The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
During the late 20th century and early 21st century, the Kingdom of Land used its agents in the Catholic Church to undergo a mission led by Father Francisco del Piero to restore the Golden Capstone for the first trial. However, since there could be a reward for the nation that completed the trial, 1000 years of absolute power, the Kingdom of Sea used their influence in the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force to oppose them for that power. The leader of the Americans' mission, Colonel Marshall Judah, was reporting directly to the President on the situation, so he may have been unaware of who the true masterminds of the mission were.
During this same period, the Kingdom of Land, led by King Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov, attempted to locate the Machine components to complete the second trial. Though the Kingdom of Sea once again also had their own agents working on restoring the Machine (Wolf and the CIEF, though whether they were also unaware of their puppet-masters is unknown), the Kingdoms of Sky and Underworld did not take part. The King of the latter, Anthony "Hades" DeSaxe, stated that if humanity had lost the knowledge for completing the trials and failed as a result, then they did not deserve to exist.
Between 2008 to 2016, each of the Four Kingdoms began their preparations for the fourth Great Games of the Hydra, knowing that it would soon be time for the third trial to begin, and started grooming or selecting candidates who would take part in the Games on their kingdom's behalf.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Four Kingdoms' Elite Royal Guards, General Garthon Rastor soon began to desire to let the Omega Event occur rather than be prevented in the final of the Ancients' trials, and was gathering a number of followers loyal to him rather than the Four Kingdoms. Realising the threat that Rastor posed, the Four Kingdoms decided that the General needed to be removed before he could act. After having Rastor's wine drugged, the unconscious General was taken to the Royal Prison of Erebus to be imprisoned. However, due to Rastor's notoriety, he was not placed on the Wall of Misery like the other prisoners, and instead kept in a hidden dungeon.
In September 2016, the Star Chamber within the Underworld opened, allowing the nine Golden Spheres to be retrieved and heralding the beginning of the third trial. Hades alerted the other Kingdoms of the development, and within two months their final preparations for the fourth Great Games were completed.
Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown[]
A few days before the Great Games were set to begin, having used their agents in the Chinese government and space administration to orchestrat a secret mission to send a lunar rover the moon to examine an altar on the moon crucial to the Trial of the Mountains, the Kingdom of Sky dispatched a crew of loyal commandos to retrieve the rover after it splashed down in the Indian Ocean. the Wuhan-II to retrieve it. However, the Sea Kingdom had a squad of loyal Navy SEALs led by Vulture Six ambush the Chinese commandos and steal the equipment for themselves. Vulture Six's squad would soon lose the rover's camera and laser rangefinder, resulting in neither of the two Kingdoms getting the altar data.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
Many notable members of each of the Four Kingdoms journeyed to the Underworld with a few of their trusted servants to watch the fourth Great Games of the Hydra, including all four of the Kings (Hades of Underworld, Orlando Compton-Jones of Land, Garrett Caldwell of Sea and Kenzo Depon of Sky). Several of the observing royals made wagers with one another regarding the outcomes of the Challenges and fates of the Champions, and watched nonchalantly as the Champions struggled through the first two Challenges and the some of them, and their support teams, died.
When Iolanthe Compton-Jones used the interim between the Second and Third Challenges to check on Jack West Jr and his support team (having brought them to the Underworld against their will), she was surprised to learn that they had never even heard of the Great Games through all of their experiences during the previous two trials. The royal proceeded to inform them about the Four Legendary Kingdoms, and the Games' purpose as a ritual to prevent the Hydra galaxy from destroying the Earth in a trial set by the Super-Ancient Beings.
Hades, knowing that Lily was one of the present-day Oracles of Siwa, decided that her bloodline was noble enough to warrant her a place among the royals of the Four Kingdoms and took the reluctant young woman to join them as they watched the Games.
The royals continued to watch carnage unfold with enthusiasm during the Third Challenge, being only appalled when Jack opted to rescue a minotaur before exiting the arena.
That night, all of the royals attended a banquet hosted by Hades, mingling and discussing the Games thus far. Lily, having been dressed up by Iolanthe to be presentable, was uneasy as the members of the Four Kingdoms glanced at her upon arrival, since she was also being sized up as a prospective wife for the young men. As she looked around the dining hall, she took note of the coats of arms that each Kingdom had represented, which Iolanthe explained 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, and some of the closest members of the Kingdoms to the Kings also attended.
Whilst watching the battle race of the Fifth Challenge, all of the royals were caught off-guard when Jack initiated a plan to free his and Schofield's hostages after learning they would all be executed. When Jack was brought back before the Royals after sending his friends on, Vacheron apologised to them for the Champion's abominable actions that defiled the Great Games and prepared to execute him. Schofield, however, used his reward for winning the Fifth Challenge to have Hades spare Jack's life, and all of the royals were astounded at the turn of events.
With that, the present 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.
The gathered royals watched the final Challenges as they took place in the observatory, until only Jack remained standing after a series of one-on-one fights. When Jack was faced with Cerberus in the final Challenge, his request to Hades to bring his warrior was met with amused astonishment from the younger royals, but it was the older members of the Four Kingdoms who understood that the final Challenge was about humility and all nodded in approval as Hades affirmed Jack was a worthy Champion of the Great Games.
As they returned to the Summit Temples, several of the royals congratulated Orlando for his Champion's victory as though he himself had been the one who'd undergone the Challenges, and prepared to watch as he became the King of Kings who received the Mysteries regarding the final two trials. However, when the minotaurs suddenly turned against the Four Kingdoms and began assaulting the mountain, Jack took the opportunity to prevent Orlando from entering the recess, believing that the world would be better off dead than living under the rule of someone as self-serving as him.
While Hades and Iolanthe opted to join Jack in his future attempts to complete the remaining trials, the rest of the royals and their servants quickly 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 the Kings' guards opened fire on them, the minotaurs began attacking all the Royals indiscriminately. In the carnage, many members of the Four Kingdoms were killed, including Caldwell and Depon, with only one helicopter containing Orlando, a few of his retinue and a few other stragglers from the other Kingdoms managed to get away.
The Three Secret Cities[]
Following the deaths of several royals in the Underworld, including the Kings of Sea and Sky, the Four Kingdoms were furious with the disarray that Jack had caused them. All four Kingdoms agreed to have the Governor of the Royal Prison of Erebus, Yago DeSaxe, hunt down Jack and imprison him as punishment. In addition, with Hades having failed in his Kingdom's overall duty to secure a King of Kings and his decision to align with Jack, it was decided that Hades would have all of his titles, wealth and properties stripped from him and imprisoned at Erebus as well.
Even as successors for the titles of King of Sea and Sky were found in Caldwell and Xi, Orlando was more focused on claiming what should have been his as the King of Kings, and set out to complete the Trial of the Cities. At the same time, the Kingdom of Underworld continued to seek out an heir to Hades's forcibly-abdicated throne, unaware that Dion, who had not perished as first thought in the Underworld, was still alive to claim all of his father's assets and title. However, outraged by the upsetting of his plans and the injuries he had received, Dion had the Trismagi Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster help him hire the Knights of the Golden Eight to exact his own revenge on Jack, Lily and Alby Calvin.
Sphinx, having once been in line for the throne of the Kingdom of Land until his father's abdication, quickly realised that Jack had provided an opportunity for anyone to take advantage of the Four Kingdoms' disarray to seize power for themselves, and quickly arranged alliances to help him topple the ancient hierarchy into further chaos.
Soon the Four Kingdoms got their retribution when Yago captured Hades in New York and Jack in London (having come to arrangement with the Knights of the Golden Eight). Orlando, in the midst of his crusade to empower the three Immortal Weapons, joined a conference call with Xi and Caldwell to hear Yago's confirmation at the execution of the warrant on Jack and Hades, and after thanking Orlando and Caldwell for their Kingdoms' allowing him access and resources in their realms, pledged his service to the Four Kingdoms.
With the Knights of the Golden Eight having captured Lily and Alby for him, Dion made his survival known to the Four Kingdoms and his claim for ascension. Soon the Kingdom of Underworld held his coronation at a royal estate in Naples, with the other three Kings attending 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, Dion, Caldwell and Xi traveled to the Rock of Gibraltar to witness the trial's completion by sacrificing Lily with the empowered Immortal Weapons. As Orlando proclaimed his right to be the King of Kings, Sphinx stabbed him with the Sword of the Rock as part of his coup, while Caldwell and Xi were killed as they were shot in the back by Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza, leaving all but the Kingdom of Underworld in disarray and without a King.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
Following Sphinx's coup d'etat, the assets of all of the Four Legendary Kingdoms fell under his control. The royals of the Four Kingdoms most likely did not all support Sphinx and his planned regime, but none attempted 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, wherein the royal families would head to a specified bunker to wait out the period following the Omega Event as Sphinx began preparing the world for his regime. The royal families, while irked that Sphinx's underlings were ringing the Siren bells over major cities worldwide without care, rushed to get the bunkers they had been assigned to retreat to, making preparations for their estates and assets to be maintained in their absence. Several other royals who had not received any word about being invited to a bunker fretted that they had upset Sphinx in some way, and waited anxiously for any news.
Stretch and Pooh's team intercepted multiple calls between the royals of the Four Kingdoms as they rushed to the shelters at Xian, Hohensalzburg Fortress and Raven Rock, and determined how crucial Marren was in the organising of the royal families. After the royal banker arrived at Salzurg, he was quickly snatched up by Pooh Bear and Stretch and whisked away before anyone else from the Four Kingdoms realised what had happened. Despite their attempts to strongarm Marren, the royal banker refused to give up the master list of the Four Kingdoms and their loyalists to them, believing that their centuries of planning could not be stopped.
As they were en-route to Washington, D.C., Marren was somehow able to surreptitiously alert the Four Kingdoms to his predicament, who proceeded to have their plane remotely hacked and re-routed to land at Raven Rock. The royals at the bunker remained inside as some of their loyal soldiers and Sphinx's bronzemen extracted Marren, who gleefully boasted to hid captors that they would soon be at the Four Kingdoms' mercy. But, having anticipated the situation, Stretch blew up their plane, distracting the soldiers and allowing them and Marren to be taken down while control of the bronzemen was seized from a Golden Knight. With the royal banker dead, Stretch and Pooh Bear were able to claim the master list, and for good measure, 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 were defeated, the world's governments began investigating the shadow royals and arresting the members of the Four Kingdoms, along with their servants and sympathisers, with the master list proving a huge help in these efforts, although much shock and outrage occurred as a result. Jack also provided assistance in these matters, secretly using his new ability to command others without question to weed out more agents and sympathisers and convince them to confess to their actions, ending the millennia-long reign of the Four Legendary Kingdoms.
Members of the Four Kingdoms[]
Kingdom of Underworld[]
- Anthony and Yago's Father (former King) †
- King Anthony DeSaxe / Hades (formerly, disavowed following defection) †
- King Dion DeSaxe †
- Zaitan DeSaxe †
- George Khalil
- Yago DeSaxe (Governor of Royal Prison of Erebus) †
Kingdom of Land[]
- Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov (former King) †
- Sphinx's Father
- Orlando and Iolanthe's Father (former King) †
- King Orlando Compton-Jones †
- Iolanthe Compton-Jones (formerly, disavowed following defection)
- Orlando's Daughter
- Lord Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster XII (Trismagi, formerly in line of succession for King)
Kingdom of Sea[]
- King Garrett Caldwell †
- King Caldwell †
Kingdom of Sky[]
- King Kenzo Depon †
- Tenzin Depon †
- Renzin Depon †
- King Xi †
Unidentified Kingdom[]
- Ludovico Family
- Zampieri Family
Ancient Royals[]
- Rameses (of Land)
- Rameses II (of Land)
- Zeus (of Land)
- Poseidon (of Sea)
- Theseus (of Sea)
- Neptune (of Sea)
- Hades (of Underworld)
- Eurystheus (of Underworld)
- Sebastian I
- Isabella Clara Eugenia
- Louis XIV (of Land)
Servants[]
All Kingdoms[]
- Invisible College
- Sir Isaac Newton †
- General Garthon Rastor † (formerly)
- Governors of the Royal Prison of Erebus
- Yago DeSaxe / the Slave King † (formerly)
- Royal Banker John Marren †
- Knights of the Golden Eight † (formerly)
- Trismagi
- Lord Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster XII (formerly)
- Sir Bjorn
- Sir Inigo Defenestra
Kingdom of Underworld[]
- Monsieur Vacheron †
- Chaos †
- Fear †
- Mephisto †
- The Hydra †
- Cerberus
- Minotaurs (formerly, freed from enslavement)
- Geoffrey Moles †
Kingdom of Land[]
- General Conor "Redbeard" Beard
- Dr. Harold Barnard
- Catholic Church
- Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza †
- Unnamed Pope †
- Father Felix Rasmussen †
- Brother Bertie de Montreuil † (formerly)
- Chloe Carnarvon †
- Longworth †
Kingdom of Sea[]
Kingdom of Sky[]
- Geoffrey Yang † (presumed)
- General Lau Lieping
Unidentified Kingdom[]
- Roland Rubles † (formerly)
- Jennifer Fraser
Great Games Champions[]
Representing Underworld[]
- Zaitan DeSaxe †
- Sachin Singh †
- Wasim Nasiruzzin †
- Ravi Mano †
Representing Land[]
- Jack West Jr (forced participant)
- Gregory Brigham †
- Victor Vargas †
- Mauricio Corazon †
Representing Sea[]
- Shane Schofield (forced participant)
- Jeffrey Edwards †
- DeShawn Monroe †
- Barrett Johnson †
Representing Sky[]
- Renzin Depon †
- Tenzin Depon †
- Jason Chen † (forced participant)
- The Gorkha †
Goals[]
Ostensibly, the Four Legendary Kingdoms are 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. Though this may have once been the case in the ancient past, 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 Four Kingdoms have seen fit to raise and fell entire empires at their leisure to suit their needs, and using their influence to control entire nations 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 most of the hard work completing the trials themselves, using their servants and unknowing/unwilling proxies to make undertaking the trials easier for them before moving in to reap the rewards and glory.
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[]
- During The Six Sacred Stones, Iolanthe had suggested that America had been attempting to create a royal lineage through a succession of familial Presidents, however in The Four Legendary Kingdoms it is revealed that the latest king of Sea was from an American-born lineage. Of course, she was likely trying to conceal the existence of the Kingdom of Sea, and thus the Four Legendary Kingdoms.
- Additionally, the fact that the recent Kings of Sea were Americans may explain the U.S.'s desire to obtain the Third Pillar from the Japanese during the Second World War, since it would follow that they would want a talisman (as Iolanthe had already implied) to rival the status of the Kingdom of Land, which was the only Kingdom to possess a Pillar.
- As revealed in The Three Secret Cities, anyone who causes harm to or otherwise wrongs a royal member of the Four Legendary Kingdoms is sentenced to the Royal Prison of Erebus. With Jack having killed Carnivore - no less than one of the four Kings - in The Five Greatest Warriors, it is unclear why the Four Kingdoms did not order Jack's imprisonment in response to the events at Easter Island, unless Iolanthe never divulged the exact circumstances of Carnivore's demise.