Unless they are sitting on top of Uranium, then it get's dicey.

That's okay; the uranium tiles don't reveal themselves until you've advanced pretty far up the tech chain!

Surely the newly-discovered uranium resource on the river tile bordering my capital, which has drank from for over 2300 years, shouldn't cause any long-term problems.

I'm sure there's no connection to the nation's history of unexplained wars and constant, seemingly random changes in social policy.

Surely, me murdering literally everyone has nothing to do with this

I could tell right here that I love you sense of humor. Of course, that was my first readthrough...

Ey, good to know! Since the story takes a few pages to get things set up, I was really trying to strike a balance between exposition and entertainment here.

A rock on a piece of string ... no wonder they lost THE WAR! 8O

o"o Oh Dinnlan you're nothing but a resource puddle. 8D

Hey, don't Knock the Rock. :)

:v You're right, I once played "Concurs" with someone and they hurt like hell.

is there a proper name for that weapon he's swinging?

It's a flail, but with such a short handle and long cable it would take a while to get moving at a dangerous speed without slowly feeding the cable through your off hand as you spin it up. Is it ideal? Not at all. Is it deadly? You bet.

Totally. These days I'm playing more Stellaris than anything else. Oh, you grabbed that planet with Betharian Stone before I could? Have a Claim. You're welcome. Depending on which run I'm playing, you might even have it better in my utopian paradise. Or you might get assimilated into the hive mind. Either or.

Ya know, having the giant bug-thing pull the cart (instead of the traditional horse) is a good, visual way to display to the audience what kind of world this is. You can already tell by the clothing, type of weapons, and form of transportation that this story takes place in a Medeival-type place. But once I spotted the giant beetle, I'm like "nah, 'life is just a fantasy. Can you live this fantasy life?'"

Rival nations with no army but tons of resources? Ah good times.

Looking at the map on DA, I would be nervous if I were Akalos. Soon Beletan will be hankering for a seaport and decide Akalos would make a nice "New Beletan". Or the Peshtul Confederacy as "East Beletan"? Remember what it took to stop Hitler.

Well, Germany had plenty of seaports. A better analogy of the era would be a bit further east.

It's just too bad that Dinnlan wasn't able to fight as well as the Finns did when their Stalin came a-knocking.

I wrote fanfics using this analogy
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44602613/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44092660/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44273302/

Yeah, I know I forgot the yinglet accent but I am afraid to update them and risk losing my likes.

xxD Love the civilization analogy

Fun going back through these from a decade into the story. "A little loyalty doesn't hurt" sounds like a throw-away line, but it really establishes a key part of Kass's character.