The Cycle War

For the past 300 years, a war between the nation of Philae and the Heh'n Empire has been raging. This war goes through its moments of brutal warfare and tenuous ceasefire, earning its moniker The Cycle War. The origins of this war are muddy and marred in speculation, accusation, assassinations, and retaliation. One thing that is undecidedly agreed upon by both sides is that The Eternal Queen Empress of the Heh'n Empire is the one who struck the first blow and is the one who holds all the power in the war continuing or not, as Philae has switched to a more defensive posture.   Philae has a standing army known as the Philaen Guard who are equipped for war though no one is truly ready for it. During active wartime, the Commander of the Philaen Guard, a member of the Philaen Council, assumes power over all of Philae and has the ability to invoke rules and regulations that force all citizens to assist in the war effort, regardless if they are in the Guard or not. Philae is known to hire mercenaries to fight on the war front or to pay assassins to take out high-value targets. It is rumored that Philae has a "secret weapons" program in which certain special individuals are forced to fight in the war.   The Heh'n Empire has the Imperial Army and the Queen's Holy Knights a special regiment made entirely of warriors who wield divine power (Paladins) granted to them by The Eternal Queen. During times of war the Holy Knights act as general and captains for the Imperial Army, leading the soldiers into battle with the blessing to her highness behind them. All able-bodied fighters are forced to join the Imperial Army unless they have artisan genius or arcane instinct. Mercenaries are not really a thing in the Heh'n Empire, all though there were a people known as the Children of Blood, that lived on an island in the middle of the Heh'n Empire, that were paid handsomely to fight alongside the Imperial Army. They were met with much disdain by the soldiers, for they fought in a crude and gory way, using blood to amplify themselves and their abilities.