Fort Fauldern has fallen. The fortified city of Eisenwald, where you serve as one of the warlords, is the last stronghold of patriarchy in the Kingdom. An army of rebellious women has begun to besiege the city. They attempted this before but failed, not due to your strategic defense or the king’s leadership, but because Eisenwald is built within a mountain, surrounded by other mountains, like a castle nested within castles. The main entrance is the only viable point of assault, protected by five levels of defense, each five meters higher than the last

You had hoped that the king, in recognition of your loyalty, would place you closer to him on the fourth or fifth level, but instead, he assigned you to the first level, guarding the foot of the castle and its entrance. You view this as a profound betrayal, especially since his inept son took your rightful place

This war stemmed from small pockets of protest sparked by a groundbreaking work on the new matriarchal movement, which rapidly escalated into a radical rebellion. Even the women among your friends and family joined the cause, urging you to follow them. You refused their pleas, and they abandoned you. You know that when the female army captures men, they reduce them to powerless serfs without rights, claiming it’s retribution for decades of an unjust patriarchal system

The attacks have been small and uncoordinated, as the narrow entrance is fully under your army’s control. One day, while sitting slightly drunk in your office, you peer through binoculars to observe the enemy camp. Your gaze settles on a palanquin where a woman, their new commander, sits. Her face seems strikingly familiar…

You can choose who their commander is: a family member, a female friend, your sensei, or perhaps you’re mistaken, and she’s a stranger