The war was over, decided not by a spectacular final siege or a chivalric duel of kings, but by the devastating, cold logic of logistics and firepower. Two days after the full, panicked flight of the Imperial remnants from the Marble Pass, an Imperial delegation arrived at the boundary of the Scofield quarantine zone. It was a humiliating contingent, meticulously stripped of all military pretense: Grand Magister Theron, pale and defeated, representing the fractured Mage Corps; General Marcus, broken and aged, representing the extinct military; and the Emperor's personal emissary, a trembling, low-ranking diplomat named Lord Ellias, whose purpose was solely to concede the collapse of a thousand-year reign. Emperor Alaric himself refused to appear, unable to face the man who had shattered his world, clinging to the last shredded vestiges of his pride within the besieged Capital.
They were ushered through the new, fiercely orderly streets of Scofield, past the humming Central Forge and the stark, uncompromising concrete housing. To the Imperial delegation, it was a terrifying vision of efficient, ruthless modernity—a place where the chaos of war had been instantly replaced by the clockwork precision of industry. The delegation was taken to Max's command center, a space dominated not by maps of old battles, but by schematics of new engines and complex infrastructure plans.
Maximilian waited for them alone, impeccably dressed in the severe black uniform of his new regime. He had been fully healed, the power of the Adamantine Suit now integrated into his very being, giving him an aura of absolute, unyielding authority that required no shouting. He did not offer them seats. He did not ask after his late father. He simply handed the diplomat a single, concise document—the Treaty of Valum, which served as both a formal surrender and the declaration of a new world order.
"The Everwinter Empire is dead," Max stated, his voice calm and precise, cutting through the silence like a scalpel. "This document is your final, irreversible mandate. You will sign it, you will comply, or you will face the consequences that your conventional armies have already suffered."
The Terms of Capitulation: The Unmaking of an Empire
The diplomat, guided by a deeply frightened General Marcus, scanned the articles. The terms were not harsh in the traditional sense of mass execution or public humiliation of the nobility; they were devastating in their totality, systematically stripping the Empire of every asset required for its future existence and consolidating that power under Max.
Political Dissolution and Territorial Claim: "Effective immediately, the political entity known as the Everwinter Empire is dissolved. The concept of the Emperor's divine right is nullified, and the feudal structure abolished." Max had written this sentence personally, savoring the finality of it. To replace the ancient order, he declared: "The entire western region, from the Great Divide to the Western Sea, is hereby claimed and unified into the new, sovereign state of Scorpia. This territory includes all current infrastructure, resources, and former Imperial assets within its boundaries." Max named himself the interim leader, the Pro-Consul of Scorpia, a title deliberately chosen from a lost republic, signifying a temporary, powerful dictatorship focused entirely on rapid technological and industrial reconstruction. He was not a king by divine right, but a leader by technological necessity and conquest—and his word was now absolute law within the boundaries of his new nation.
War Reparations and Economic Seizure: To fuel his ongoing industrial projects and pay the immense cost of his technological development, Max demanded a crippling financial penalty. "The remaining Imperial treasury shall deliver thirty thousand pounds of gold and fifty thousand pounds of silver as immediate war reparations. This payment must be completed within forty days and will be used to compensate the victims of the Empire's aggression." This demand was specifically calculated to consume the Empire's last financial reserves, ensuring it could never fund another army or rebuild its economy. Furthermore, Max claimed all patents, formulae, and blueprints related to Imperial technology, essentially seizing the intellectual future of the continent.
Grand Magister Theron finally broke the agonizing silence, his voice a defeated, pleading croak. "Thirty thousand pounds of gold? Pro-Consul, this will bankrupt the remaining Imperial provinces! The people will starve! You leave us nothing but famine!"
Max looked at him with cold, dispassionate indifference, the man's panic barely registering. "The resources will fund the roads, the hospitals, and the factories that will feed and house the people of Scorpia. The Empire chose stagnation and magic when it could have chosen progress and industry. You chose to fight a war of annihilation with swords and spells; this is the inevitable price of failure. Your economy was built on exploitation, not innovation. The era of the Imperial purse is over."
Technological and Military Disarmament: The terms went further than just gold. "All remaining Imperial siege weapons, airships, and any existing stocks of high-grade Mythril ore must be immediately surrendered and delivered to Scofield. All Imperial military factories and foundries within the remaining provinces are to be shuttered permanently, and their heavy machinery delivered to Scorpia for reprocessing." This was the final nail in the coffin of the Imperial war machine, ensuring Max's technological supremacy could never be challenged again.
The Final Clause: Max then delivered the most chilling, unwritten clause, though he made the diplomat record every word: "Any violation of this treaty, any attempt at rebellion, any failure to deliver the required assets, or any threat—real or imagined—to the new state of Scorpia will be met with the immediate and decisive deployment of the MSW-1 against the Capital itself. I will not send an army to fight; I will send a device to erase. The era of the Emperor is over. The era of Scorpia begins now."
The Aftermath of Submission
The delegation, paralyzed by the sheer scope of the defeat, the annihilation of their army, and the final, unspoken threat of Max's ultimate weapon, signed the Treaty of Valum without protest. They departed immediately, carrying the document that signified not just a military defeat, but the death of their civilization and the birth of a terrifying new power.
Maximilian watched them go, not with triumph, but with the cold, calculating satisfaction of a scientist who had successfully completed a vast, complex experiment. The territory was his, the wealth was secured, and the political opposition was neutralized. The time for building had finally arrived.
Meanwhile, back in the remnants of the Capital, the political chaos Max had orchestrated was in full swing. Emperor Alaric, receiving the devastating terms, knew he had no choice but to sign. The knowledge that a weapon existed that could instantly erase his entire city with no defense was the final, insurmountable pressure.
The immediate reaction among the Caligula family was predictably self-serving. Count Volder, seeing his opportunity, immediately used his influence in the mage corps to start securing his own position, maneuvering to be named the new leader of the devastated Western Province, even though Max had clearly claimed it. He believed Max would need a 'local administrator' and Volder intended to be it, completely disregarding Max's claim to full sovereignty. Lady Lucretia, successful in her efforts, vanished from the Capital entirely, taking her sons Byron and Cedric and the last of the family's portable wealth to a remote, foreign duchy, unwilling to face the vengeance of the man she had scorned.
The Pro-Consul of Scorpia now stood alone, the undisputed master of a resource-rich, newly consolidated state, funded by the treasury of his defeated enemy, and protected by technology no one could match. His word was law, his power absolute, and his focus was entirely on the future. He had dismantled an Empire in weeks; now he would build a nation in years.
With the Empire officially dissolved and Max established as the Pro-Consul of Scorpia, the focus shifts to his use of power.