POLITICS

And its not exactly a kingdom. It is a political border that transcends multiple dimensions. He controls interests, and these are largely around a certain area, but direct, government control is something he doesn't need to necessarily fret about. He exerts influence through Heck City and his orders are carried out by a vast, intricate network of seers working as his communications network. They run messages, and communicate his will to his agents in the waking world, who then do his bidding and manage his vast empire.

Henry is effectively a co-emperor with 3 other powerful rulers that have divided up the land in an alliance called The Tetrarch, like Diocletian, Maximian, Constantinius and Galerius. He is Diocletian. The alliance is no longer advantageous to him. One of his co-rulers was believed killed in The Gideon's attack, making an opening for him to strike before the others can react. Naturally, the other co-rulers have similar designs. All of them battle behind the scenes, politically, with proxy wars fought through the blood sport of Murderball enabling them to take territory. The extent of the victory in the games is proportionate to the amount of souls culled among the losing population, adding to the gigantic money pile of the CEO-god-emperors.

They are essentially allies against enemy axes elsewhere about the globe, but at the same time they covertly battle each other for dominance. Their armies do not come out against each other, but are sent on brutal and pointless campaigns against their enemies, and that is where previous generational tactics of maneuver are utilized, in grinding military campaigns that are intractible and stalemated.

In Heck City he is wildly blonde, with a huge mass of blond curles and a sharp, thick bears of also wild hair. He runs around in a military jacket. He's short, animated, almost too animated. Zha Dzan is his protege almost, his most trusted seer it turns out. All of the flouncing around she does in Heck City is to spread his propaganda, and spread his influence, in a series of panegyrics, as this is one of her powers which makes her so useful, a PANEGYRIC POWER she sends out in hypnotic speeches sending tendrils and waves out across Heck City, annexing it room by room into Henry's sphere of influence, engaging as his champion in a cold war of propaganda.

Henry's goal is domination, but he is in turn influenced and dominated by the parasites. They are viewed nominally as passive, not sentient. And maybe they are, but they do have goals, and they have ends they want to achieve namely, they want to plunder the Gideon. They want its technology, they want the threat of annihilation removed once and for all.

They advise Henry that taking the space station will advance his interests, and it will, sort of. But it is far more useful to THEM than it is to him. He is merely looking to increase his holdings, but they are looking to dominate the planet. He is therefore sinking resources into something that is only sort of interesting to him. War is no longer profitable, there hasn't been a war in a hundred years, it's a time of peace.

But he is being goaded into war, into mobilizing his private army. When The Gideon destroyed a dome, it obliterated his closest rival, cutting off the head of the snake, leaving his foe in dissaray. There is now no one to block him, leaving him to act with impunity. Or so he thinks.

There are scattered bands of mercenaries, unattached now that their paymasters were killed in the fire that destroyed the dome. There are rumors that things have survived and there is a staging ground at Rolando, the last bastion of the shadow cabinet of those destroyed, so they start to gather there. It also happens to be the last pocket of organized resistance for Henry to wipe out, so he focuses there in the end, laying siege to the city.

There Knights like Born on the 4th of July make their last, doomed stand. Until a young, inexperience heroine can inspire them to hold out, and salley forth, and take the victory from the foe. The truth is that they are not good men. They do their job for pay, the morals and such are totally absent. They will hate and slaughter whoever you tell them the enemy is. They can be inspired to good deeds, and do good. They can be inspired to adhere to a code of honor.