The Gra Valkas Empire (グラ･バルカス帝国, Gura Barukasu Teikoku) also known as the Eighth Empire, is an island country that, just like Japan, has been magically transferred against the will of its citizens to the New World. Originally located on a very Earth-like, magic-free, human-only planet called Yggdra, the Gra Valkas Empire has been entirely relocated to the waters 5,000km west of the Mu continent, very close to the island kingdoms of Paganda and Irnetia, sometime before the arrival of Japan. Characterized by its chauvinist and militaristic culture, totalitarian rule and brutally imperialistic foreign policy, the Empire invaded and subjugated all its neighboring nations with the clear intent of eventually conquering the entire New World and all its peoples. Its many military successes have been possible thanks to its level of technology well above the average of the New World countries, roughly equivalent to that of Earth near the end of World War II (the similarities to pre-1945 Shōwa period Japan are remarkable).
According to the method of geopolitical and technological categorization employed by the international community of the New World, the Gra Valkas Empire is classified as a country outside the civilization area, which means that it is located in that peripheral region of the planet that contains all the nations with the most primitive level of science and technology and weakest military (rather ironic considering that, following some research, it was discovered that the Empire is actually one of the most technologically advanced nations in the entire New World). After defeating the Leiforian Empire, the fifth strongest nation in the New World, the Gra Valkas Empire was awarded the title of new superpower by the Holy Milishial Empire and recognized as a driving force of global politics.
In 1642 CC the Gra Valkas Empire was the instigator of the first global conflict of the New World's current age, the New World War, and the third hostile nation Japan was forced to face at war since its magical relocation to the New World.
History[]
Prior to the transference, Gra Valkas was once one of the two strongest countries in their home world of Yggdra with only one rival country, the Kain Divine Kingdom . Before being transferred to the New World, there was a global war between them and the Divine Kain Kingdom and they were gradually winning thanks to abundant resources, overwhelming production capabilities, the most advanced technology, and superior military strength.
However, because of the sudden world transfer phenomenon, their mainland found itself in this world. Although they lost huge swaths of land because they had recalled most of their forces in order to prepare to invade their enemies prior to the transfer, aside from any forces that were stationed on overseas military bases, the empire still retained the vast majority of their military. In addition, their rival, the Kain Divine Kingdom, had disappeared.
After arriving on this strange planet, the empire fell into chaos for a short time but, when they explored east, they found plenty of lands populated only by natives with laughably poor equipment. In light of their unbeatable superiority, everyone in the empire was overcome with delight.
At first, the neighboring countries were all aggressive towards them, but they were far too weak and quickly fell under imperial control. But then, while dealing with all these minor countries, they discovered that this world had so-called “civilized areas” where stronger countries cooperated with one another. Since they had no idea how powerful these countries were in this completely unknown world, everyone advocated a careful approach where they tried to peacefully form international relationships.
Basically, diplomacy was preferable to blindly stabbing in the dark.
However, they went to the country after country, and, despite being so-called “civilized countries,” they were much weaker than was rumored, yet they still looked down on anyone outside the civilized areas. The empire’s efforts at diplomacy simply never moved forward. When one of the imperial royalty was in one of these small countries as a peaceful diplomat, he was mocked with “You barbarians don’t understand this world at all.” He lost his patience and angrily objected. They responded by killing him.
After this incident, no one in the empire advocated for peaceful interactions in this world any longer. Just like in their old world, they would rule with force and aggressively expand their territory. However, this new outlook on foreign relations may lead to their downfall after arrogantly declaring war on the entire New World due to the appearance of Japan.
Chronology[]
Pre New World War[]
After their arrival to the New World, the Gra Valkas Empire dispatch every spy to every nation, intending to gain as much intelligence as they can to determine their next movements. After a member of the royal family was killed, they immediately move to subjugate all Kingdoms in their vicinity.
By the time Japan succeed in defeating the Louria Kingdom in the Eastern Hemisphere, in the Western Hemisphere, Gra Valkas Empire launches an invasion and conquered the Paganda Kingdom with a single warship, Grade Atlastar. Enraged, Leifor dispatched all of its fleets to retaliate but all of their fleets are decimated once again by Grade Atlastar. Additionally, the captain of the ship immediately set course to the Leiforian capital and with a single punitive strike, they manage to kill the Emperor and forcing the empire to surrender.
New World War Arc[]
The Gra Valkas Empire spent three years fortifying its hold on its conquered territories, building the massive Lars Filmyna base, Fort Ratte Almay, and multiple air bases in Leifor. in 1641, it demanded the Irnetia Kingdom become a vassal, and invaded when it refused. That same year, the Holy Milishial Empire invited it the the 1642 Eleven Country Leadership Conference. The Gra Valkas Empire decided it would use the conference to declare war on the entire world.
Technology[]
Grade Atlastar arrives on Port Town Cartalpas
Most of the Gra-Valkas technologies are shown on the military side, so the full capabilities of their technologies are still unknown. Most of what they possess, however, can be gauged at around early-mid World War II levels of technology, with some even venturing into early Cold War.
The development of infantry weapons remained at early World War II levels for the Gra Valkans, they have yet to create their first assault rifles and their infantrymen are mainly equipped with bolt-action rifles, automatic firearms mainly exist in the form of heavy machine guns. In comparison, on Earth the Germans designed the world’s first assault rifle in 1938 and deployed the finalized design in service in 1943. While the Russians created their first automatic carbines as early as 1915, which can be considered a precursor to assault rifles. It’s also hinted that MANPATS such as the German Panzerfaust or Panzerschreck were not yet invented by the Gra Valkans.
They already possess significant knowledge of aviation technology, as evidenced by the Antares fighters and many other aircraft that perform much better than ones produced indigenous countries in the New World. The concept of forced induction is also well versed by the Gra Valkans, and their aircraft engines are often fitted with turbocharger in order to improve engine performance at higher altitudes. However, they are not capable of mass producing helicopters, missiles or jet fighters. It is revealed that their new jet engine is only in the theoretical research stage, while their autogyro is just experimental.
One aspect of their technologies that is particularly advanced is their usage of proximity fuses in their anti-aircraft cannon shells, which increased their effectiveness 20 fold. The Japanese found it quite surprising that the Gra Valkans possess such advanced designs compared to their technology level on average, as these proximity fuses are superior to even late-WWII American designs.
Electronic wise, the Gra Valkans have developed their own radar and radios, but more advanced concepts such as computers, GPS, night vision etc. are simply beyond them. Guided weapons were still a very new concept to them; these were assumed to be gliding bombs that were dropped by aircraft and manually guided to the target by an operator which still in experimental, proof-of-concept stage. Most of their electronics still rely on vacuum tubes, as they have yet to create their own transistors or integrated circuits, so instead their efforts are focused on shrinking the vacuum tube as much as possible.
Like most civilized countries in the New World, the Gra Valkas possesses relatively advanced communication technologies, such as the aforementioned radio as well as television, when they can miniature some of these comm devices and equip them on vehicles. Gra Valkas also seems to have a certain understanding of electronic warfare, however, their overwhelming dominance over opponents as well as the general lack of electronics on the New World makes them rarely have to use this form of combat. As a result, they were shocked when Japan jammed the radar and radio waves, leaving them unable to communicate over range.
Unlike most of the New World nations, submarine warfare is not an alien concept to the Gra Valkans, as they do possess technologies such as sonar, torpedoes and depth charges. However, their sonar system is a fairly recent invention and possesses a multitude of drawbacks, their ships must slow to a speed of 5 knots in order to operate them to prevent ambient noises from interfering too much, and its limited power and sensitivity greatly limited its range. This type of underwater detection is virtually useless against modern day sound-suppression technology.
Strangely, the concept of Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD) in general just doesn't exist in the minds Gra Valkans. Not only do they possess no knowledge of nuclear physics (During the negotiation between Asada Taiji and Gra Valkas diplomats, it is revealed that Gra Valkas doesn't possess nuclear weapons as Gra Valkas officials were unfamiliar with the term, although this could be just misunderstanding because Asada used term nukes, compared to term atomic bomb that first described this type of weapon on Earth), but they also have not developed any concept of chemical or biological warfare, which are concepts well versed by Imperial Japan during WWII and even saw widespread usage during the First World War, both of which are major contributing reasons to the banning of chemical and biological weapons on Earth.
When Prince Gra Cabal was brought to Japan, he was surprised to see that Japan was able to build high-speed railway and skyscrapers, things that are still considered almost impossible to achieve in Gra Valkas. Gra Cabal mentioned that the Empire use tram as primary public transportation. Subway trains are still on the development stage while high-speed trains, such as the commuter line or Shinkansen cannot be made due to problems that commonly occurred on the Empire, which is speed and vibration where the engineers were never able to solve the problem. On what Asada replies that Japan made lot research on vibration dampening to solve this issue, mentioning Shinkansen unparalleled safety record.
During the visit to Mu to negotiate the release of Prince Gra Cabal, it was noted that Mu's automobile technology was estimated to be 50 years behind Gra Valkas.
Despite all of their achievements as well as their general sense of superiority over the natives of the New World, the Gra Valkans share the same crippling weakness of extremely close-minded ideology, preventing them from reaching their true potential. Despite possessing more than sufficient resources and knowledge, the Gra Valkens' shortsightedness greatly hindered their scientific progression, a mentality hatched by their superpower status in their old world of Yggdra as well as the New World. Having no power that can truly rival them, the Gra Valkened prioritized mass producing tried and trusted designs over developing new technology that can potentially improve said designs. This mentality only deepened in their minds after their arrival on the New World, due to how primitive the nations surrounding them are. This sense of superiority also blinded the Gra Valkans, many outright refuse to accept the possibility that their technology is not the most advanced in existence.
"Continuing, His Excellency is especially worried about the country Japan. In the recent battle, we were able to take care of Japan’s cruiser quite easily, but their anti-air armaments were far more effective than our proximity fuzes. In this single area, their technology surpasses ours, so if they were to seriously focus on researching anti-ship guns, it’s not unthinkable for them to arrive at large caliber cannons. In other words, if we give them a certain amount of time to develop their technology, they could create a force that rivals our own." — Gra Valkas' narrow-minded and ignorant outlook when they stupidly assume that Japan is going to "lower" themselves at their level of outdated warfare.
Unfortunately, this small-mindedness inadvertently put the Gra Valkas Empire in grave peril. Their insufficient understanding of the world combined with their lack of awareness or misconception about more advanced developments resulted in them often straight up underestimate their opponents by judging them based on their own flawed understanding, rather than exercising caution and hypothesizing that competitors may possess advanced powers that they lack counter to. The most typical example is Japan: they actually believed that the Japan Coast Guard's Shikishima-class is a cruiser instead, leads them to seriously underestimate Japan, believing that Japan has yet to develop sufficiently large anti-ship cannons, totally ignoring the possibility that Japan may possess an alternative to big guns.
Furthermore, despite being being presented with the superior technology of Japan through the video about WW2 by Japan diplomats, as well as obtaining intelligence on Japanese weapons supplied to Mu, the Gra Valkas continued to deride it all as mere propaganda. In their minds, they have achieved the highest levels of technology possible. If they cannot breach the figurative ceiling, then it simply cannot be done. For example, when discussing the possibility of the AEGIS system, the head of the Information Technology Department dismisses it as fabrication. Because when their own vacuum tube technology as a reference, if the Japanese is to create a computer as powerful as they have described then it would it have to be housed inside a sizable building. The Gra-Valkas cannot even fathom the idea of shrinking a vacuum tube to the size of coin. As they are ignorant of alternatives to the vacuum tube, such as the transistor and the integrated circuit, they cannot comprehend the fact that Japan possess technology that far exceeds what the Empire have.
Even when Japan caused serious damage to them, they still assumed that Japan possessed the same technology as them, such as large-caliber naval guns and torpedoes (just a little more in performance), think weapons like anti-ship guided missiles are an exaggeration, resulting in them not being ready to deal with them effectively. However, continuous loss against Japan, is making them rethink their mindset about Japan and start to think how to counter Japan's advanced technology. Unfortunately for the Empire, this puts them in a position where they must catch up to their rivals, who are already 70 years ahead, and are continually advancing.
Due to their status as a wartime nation, Gra Valkas rarely developed their own technology to increase their economy. Since it was assumed that Gra Valkas scientists and engineers are mainly in the military, they prioritized their development for the military rather than their own economy. Advancement in civilian technology was put at a low priority.
The advancement of Gra Valkas technology is a responsibility of Imperial Advanced Technology Research Institute. Recently, due to the possibility of the extreme threat of JSDF guided missiles, the Advanced Technology Research Institute created the prototype radar jamming device to deal with these new threats. However, this new technology was based on the assumption that tactics against guided missiles based on radar and thermal guidance were 100% effective and that guided missile technology had not advanced in response. In the end their jammers failed diverting the anti-ship missiles from reaching their targets.
Military[]
Gra Valkas aircraft insignia
Gra Valkas military is at the early-WW2 level as their electronic technology seems to be on the level of the United States, but with a design philosophy similar to Japan during WW2.
Like all enemies of Japan, they believe heavily in overwhelming their enemies with a massive number instead of investing in developing advanced and high-quality military force. However, they do understand the concepts of modern warfare, as they were shocked when Japan took out their airplanes on the runway to prevent others from taking off, radar and communication stations before destroying their anti-aircraft batteries and military structures.
The Gra-Valkas Imperial Army is composed primarily of motorized infantry divisions equipped with bolt-action rifles and supplemented by small numbers of tanks and armored cars. It also has a paratrooper force, although it is neither well trained or well equipped. An elite branch of the infantry are the Assassination Units, highly trained special forces meant to engage in strikes against key military or civilian targets, or counter special forces from other countries. The country has a single completely mechanized division, the 4th Armored Division (Gra Valkas) consisting of medium tanks (similar in style and features to Type 97 Chi-ha tanks), supported by light tanks, armored cars and scout motorcycles. The armored forces are often used as spearhead offensive forces aimed at enemy key positions. Despite being a modern, mechanized army, the soldiers still engage in barbaric activities such as looting, rape and pillaging conquered territories. The officers even turn a blind eye to the atrocities.
The Imperial Army possesses artillery that can range up to 22 km, surpassing some modern stationary Field Artillery that are commonly reaches only up to 15 km without rocket boost support (this was probably achieved by making large caliber guns). The artillery was once used to suppress Mu's Artillery defenses, surpassing even some modern cannons without rocket support on the munitions. However, this comes with the downsides of being difficult to transport and they are ineffective against aerial assault. Furthermore, the Japanese Type 99 155 mm Self-Propelled Howitzer surpasses it using standard HE-FRAG rounds which has the range up to 30 km and having the advantages of far out-ranging Gra Valkas' artillery by using rocket boost support which has the range of up to 38 km and being mobile, allowing them to dodge should Gra Valkas Artillery is firing.
GVE Antares Fighters fighting HME's Alpha-3 Fighters
The Empire has no dedicated air force, but both its army and navy have their own aviation services. Their Army Aviation is mostly composed of their mainstay fighter, the Antares, and is supplemented by twin-engine bombers and the Sirius dive-bomber. Their main goals are to achieve air superiority, launch aerial assaults, bombardments and support the ground forces/surface fleets. They do have a long-range, ultra-heavy bomber with six engines called the Guti Maun for high-altitude carpet bombing. The existence of Guti Maun is said to be a "technological paradox" compared to their current capabilities, much to Japan's surprise, because, apparently, this aircraft has possessed capabilities that were thought to be beyond the (assumed) general technological level of Gra Valkas. The Navy's air service consists also of Antares fighters and Sirius Dive-Bombers, but exclusively uses Rigel Torpedo-Bombers. as well.
The Imperial Navy is the most powerful force in their armed forces, fielding nearly 800 warships by the Great Naval Battle of Baltica and well over 1100 warships by the Great Naval Invasion of Japan of all kinds, from high-speed destroyers to giant battleships and aircraft carriers. Gra Valkas pursued a doctrine that looked like Japan during World War 2: whereby submarines and aircraft would attack and wear out enemy fleets before battleships and heavy cruisers arrived and completely destroy the enemy in a "decisive battle". However, there are some differences: Gra-Valkas considers submarines to be a support force, but when needed, they can also separate combat independently. As for their submarines, they are armed with unguided torpedoes with an effective range of 5-25 km. However, since they are unguided, they are normally fired in a spread pattern in order to increase the chances of hitting and sinking the target. As a result, the Gra Valkas fleet is under the impression that a submarine can be located by using the trajectory of incoming torpedoes. However, this concept doesn't apply for Japanese submarines with their guided torpedoes.
It has been revealed that aircraft carriers were actually rendering battleships slowly obsolete back in Yggdra. But after the transfer, battleships became relevant again as the weapon of terror and no aircraft or wyverns in the New World can pass through the air defense network to deal any damages to the naval force. At the same time, the navy has drastically increased the production of destroyers, making them exceedingly numerous in all their fleets. Since they are easier to produce and capable of besting most of the New World maritime forces, the Gra Valkas believes mass production of destroyers is all it needs to conquer the world. However, all these concepts are quickly becoming obsolete as the navy cannot deal with the jets and especially, the guided missile arsenal of Japan.
Despite the aforementioned renewal of interest in battleships, the Gra Valkas has committed significant industrial power into increasing its carrier forces, to numbers more than double its inventory of battleships. Prior to invading Japan, the Imperial Navy had over one hundred aircraft carriers, including fleet carriers and oil tankers converted into light carriers.
As part of their planned conquest of the entire world, the Gra Valkas have constructed naval bases on uninhabited islands all over the New World, as well as forcefully occupying some island countries to create others. This means that even though their ground forces can only reach the 2nd Civilization Area, their naval forces-and naval air power-can reach the entire known world.
Similarly, it has bullied numerous countries into allowing them to build airstrips in them, particularly in the Third Civilization Area. Enough were established that it could effectively fly any aircraft over 20,000 km to the Riem Kingdom.
The size of the Gra-Valkas Armed Forces, especially the navy, has amazed even advanced nations like Japan, arguing that their overwhelming numbers - 10 to 1 ratio - can cause difficulties and threats to the JSDF. The Japanese Prime Minister even had to assess the threat from Gra-Valkas as "the first comprehensive military crisis since Japan transfer to the New World" (WN). The threat of Gra Valkas is large enough to make Japan seriously resist, unlike previous rivals such as Louria or Parpaldia. However, during the New World War, this fleet has been drastically reduced to less than 400 ships and all aircraft carriers lost. This would be considered as a tactical and total defeat.
In terms of tactical thinking and strategy, the Gra-Valkas military are still in the mindset that the brute force is needed and that the victor would be decided by whoever has the most guns. As a result, they are slow to comprehend that being able to strike from beyond visual range is a huge advantage, thereby making their concept of ship-to-ship combat as obsolete. For example, Caesar had erroneously believed that since Japan's military forces are much fewer in number compared to his forces, he had planned to split his fleet into smaller battle groups. While Japan focused all of its forces on one group, the other groups would decimate Japan. This tactic might have worked during World War 2, but with the invention of beyond visual range capability and guided missile technology, Japan does not need to send all of its forces to deal with a single battle group. A few guided missile-destroyers, submarines or a flight of aircraft armed with long-range anti-ship missiles and guided torpedoes have proven sufficient to deal with larger threats.
According to Fleet Admiral Caesar, the higher-ups of the military and government administrations have little to no tolerance to failure despite how reasonable it is and have no idea of what is going on the front-line to make rational judgment. This is clearly shown during the Great Naval Battle of Japan in which Caesar wanted to retreat but couldn't since he knew full well that all his superiors would not want to hear his excuse no matter how reasonable they were. However, there are some officers in the military who understand when to withdraw when the situation becomes untenable. After losing more than half of his formation, Guti Maun Super Heavy Bombing Regiment Operation Director Ahlie Trigger knew he had suffered a tactical and total defeat and ordered the survivors to turn back. Unfortunately for him and the remaining bombers, they wouldn't make it back to base.
Additionally, their military cannot distinguish between those who are more veterans on the field than those who raise their rank through internal affairs. A notable event was evidenced during Altaras Strait Ambush where Oort becomes a Fleet Commander only through an internal test and lack of field experience, which causes the Chain of Command to become easily disoriented when JASDF ambushes them.
After the total defeat during the Gra Valkas Campaign on Japan, Gra Valkas now has only one Imperial General, Siegs left. With Caesar killed in action and Mirkenses is missing in action, the last Imperial General is now put under pressure to prepare for a desperate defensive war.
Economy[]
Neither the LN and WN versions mention much of the Gra-Valkas economy or its characteristics. However, based on Gra-Valkas possessing a huge army and being able to conduct operations on different fronts, it can be seen as very powerful and effective.
After deciding to declare war on the whole world, Gra-Valkas directed the mass production of warships to supply the fleet, showing that their industrial-scale was very large and powerful, can be surpass the mighty powers in the New World like the Mu or the Holy Mirishial Empire, even shocking an entire modern industrialized nation like Japan, when Japanese government officials commented that Gra-Valkas' shipbuilding speed could exceed the maximum capacity of their naval shipyards.
In the view of some of the citizens of the Gra Valkas Empire, war was seen as an opportunity to boost the country's economy and make a profit for itself, as in the case of El Chirgo - an employee of the Carsline, Inc. - bribed Ordaika to gain priority for new military contracts, or Guini Marix, known as a belligerent senator, constantly calling for war to profit from the arms industry. However, these endeavors to promote war economy to earn great profit would be extremely short-term and highly detrimental in the long run if the Gra Valkas keeps losing the war or worst being subjected to attack by the JSDF in the future in which all assets of corporations like factories, research facilities or offices within the country would be bombed to the ground and their profit would never be able to cover all damages. Moreover, it also highly possible that the Japanese would never let GVE corporations like Carsline or Gales to survive either in which they would confiscate all their assets in they are intact for themselves or distributing it to Japanese corporations. Unfortunately, the general ignorance toward Japan's true military power is making all GVE corporations to sink their investment toward futile business ventures.
Moreover, their economic growth remains stagnant due to their status as a wartime nation, the development of their homeland was considerably slow as they mostly put their budget into military campaigns rather than economic development itself. Should the Gra Valkas Empire fail in the invasion of Japan, the Empire could fall into an economic crisis for the first time ever since the Empire was built. The current invasion on Japan alone was worth around almost 2 Trillion Yen, combining the price of Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers, and Cruisers altogether alone excluding Aircraft in World War II's prices or around 37 Trillion Yen, adjusted for inflation rate from Early World War II to present. Should it was included in military operations, fuel, arsenals, etc., the cost of the military campaign to Japan alone may rise up more than twice the total price of the Great Fleet warships.
It is described in Vol 6 that a petrol shortage is occurring in the Empire.
Since the country spends primary in military sector plus their mindset of strictly military superiority, conquest and exploitation, they almost spend extremely little to nothing in non-military sector to sustain and growth their economy. As a result, the Gra Valkas Empire is on the verge of losing their futile war against the Japanese. This will cause their entire economy to collapse and they will fell to the economic crisis for the first time in their history.
Politics[]
Gra Valkas practices imperialism and expansionism like the Parpaldians and some Superpowers in the New World. Being a top power in their old world and managing to dominate several countries in the New World, making the Gra Valkas extremely arrogant and condescending to the point that they hastily declare world domination in the new world with little consideration or thought of the consequences. In terms of general diplomacy, their methods are straightforward and brutish. Either submit to their rule or be destroyed. Conquered countries are kept in line by heavy garrisons of troops and naval artillery. It is unknown how the Gra Valkas integrated conquered territories. In the New World, they use them primarily for military bases.
Gra Cabal, the Crown Prince of the Empire, claims that the Empire considers it is duty to conquer lesser advanced countries and 'uplift' them to higher standards of living. Whether or not this is true is unknown, but he was willing to suggest Japan and the Empire conquer the world together and not fight each other.
At this point, the Gra Valkas Empire has little to no allies except the Riem Kingdom who aims to backstab Japan just like how they backstabbed the Parpaldia Empire and some others who has fear of Gra Valkas. As a consequence, their economy did not flourish well as they are focusing on war rather than developing their own economy due to their status as a war nation.
Gra Valkas has a brutal and uncompromising policy in situations where the members of the Royal family are harmed in any ways by nations, they deem as hostile. Besides bringing destruction to any country that responsible for the death of any members of the Royal family, if any royal members are held hostage by a hostile nation, the Gra Valkas will issue warning to that nation to release them or face destruction. If the hostile country refuses or threatens to kill the royal family member, the Gra Valkas will send their fleets to destroy that country either way. This shows that the Gra Valkas never negotiate with their enemies and even deems that the Royal family members are somewhat expandable for the sake of conquest and fear-mongering tactic of the Empire. Furthermore, by threatening a country with desolation, the Gra Valkas expects that the countries that hold the royal member hostages are more likely to release the hostages rather than risking their countries to suffer decimation.
Despite knowing that the invasion of Japan was impossible and that his attack on the base at the Nahanath Kingdom was suicidal, Caesar decided that it would be good propaganda to inflict damage against the Japanese while dying in combat. However, after seeing his remaining ships being decimated by a missile strike, he ordered them to withdraw while sending the Grade Atlastar into a kamikaze run against the Japanese defenses. In the end, he was unable to inflict a single casualty and died with his crew in the ship's bridge.
The Empire has a Senate, although it is not yet clear how this Senate interacts or directs the nation in relation to the Emperor.
State Organizations[]
Government Offices[]
Emperor[]
The political center of the Gra Valkas Empire. It is installed at Nivels Castle. Centering on Gra Lux, people of the ministerial class such as the Imperial Secretary Kurtz and the Deputy Imperial Secretary Ordaika are active.
Office of the Sovereign (Imperial Office in the Web Novel)[]
A department that organizes matters related to the Emperor's family such as Gra Cabal.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs[]
The department responsible for diplomacy, including the colonies of the Gra Valkas Empire. Since transfer, its Eastern Affairs Division has seen the most work. Negotiations with the empire are not done at Ragna, the Imperial Capital, but at the former Leifor capital, Leiforia.
Information Bureau[]
The department that organizes information gathering for the empire.
Finance Ministry[]
Information Bureau Engineering Department[]
The department that scrutinizes the information obtained.
Advanced Technology Laboratory[]
The department that develops new weapons for the empire.
Conquest Office[]
A governing body set up in a colony. Each colony is named by district, and the names of the districts came from the former government such as Leifor District, Irnetia District, and Hinomawari District.
Parliament[]
Imperial Armed Forces[]
- Imperial Army
- Imperial Army Air Corps
- Imperial Navy
- Western Fleet
- Central Fleet
- Eastern Fleet
- Home Fleet
- 1st,2nd,& 3rd Submarine Fleets
- Submarine Special Operations Group
- Imperial Navy Air Corps
Foreign Relations[]
Japan[]
Like all Empires, Gra Valkas looks down on Japan because of the small size of the JSDF and Japan's pacifist nature, despite having little to no information about Japan's military capability, making the same mistake of the Parpaldians. Gra Valkas spies deduced that Japan was heavily reliant on food from the Qua-Toyne Principality early on, and speculated that they could destroy the country easily by implementing a naval blockade.
However, due to Japan's far superior anti-air capabilities during the Battle of Folk Strait, the Gra Valkas believed that Japan was modestly (but still inferior) technologically advanced and would, if left unchecked, develop weapons easily on par with their own. This itself was a misunderstanding, as the Gra Valkas had in fact engaged a lightly armed Coast Guard ship during the battle and not a true warship. It was a fact they refused to accept.
Furthermore, despite being shown the superior technology of Japan through the video about WW2 by Japan diplomats, the Gra Valkas smears at Japan as they think they're bluffing to them and regards their advanced technology as pure propaganda. However, after their failed invasion on Mu, the Gra Valkas begin to take the Japanese seriously and realize that the Japanese are the only thing that stands in their way of world domination. They assembled their entire navy force to attack Japan.
During the attack on Japan, it is shown that the Gra Valkas Navy were willing to sacrifice a portion of their fleet to distract Japan to make sure their attack on Tokyo goes smoothly. However, due to their indoctrination and pride, their core mistakes remain the same as they believe numbers can overwhelm even countries with high technology.
After their catastrophic loss in the doomed invasion of Japan, the Gra Valkas deeply cursed themselves for being deluded for underestimating the Japanese and regarded Japan as a far superior enemy. By this time, the GVE feared the Japanese so much that any attacks by the JSDF were enough to send them into panic frenzy.
Mu[]
They declared war on all the Second Civilized nations including Mu itself. According to Dallas, their technology and civilization were around 20 to 30 years behind Gra Valkas Empire. Like Japan, Gralux took them quite seriously much like Japan due to their strong foundation in mechanical technology in which if left unchecked they could develop military tech rival GVE army.
Holy Milishial Empire[]
At first, they see the Holy Milishial Empire as the greatest threat to their conquest after one of their fleets was decimated by the Ravernal Flying Battleships along with the reputation of being the strongest country in the New World. However, because Emperor Gralux argued that HME's technological nature is ineffective and lacks the ability to develop efficiently, plus losing a vast amount of military assets in the failed invasion of Mu and Japan, they changed their minds and regarded Japan as the greatest threat.
Vassal States[]
Up until now, the Gra Valkas Empire is known to have occupied/forcibly cooperated with countries such as:
- Leifor (recently liberated)
- Irnetia Kingdom
- Paganda Kingdom
- Riem Kingdom (state of anarchy)
- Groot Knightland
- Qaiz Kingdom
- Hinomawari Kingdom (recently-liberated)
Gra Valkas' relationship with the above countries is quite different, depending on how cooperative and useful they are. For example, Leifor has been reconstructed, consolidated and - to some extent - modernized due to its "gateway" role to the outside world, while country like Hinomawari are considered "secondary" in overall foreign policy due to their smallness and harmlessness. The Empire has a certain cooperation with these countries, although the "cooperation" here is coercive and is purely for the benefit of the Empire, rather than a "win-win" relationship. The best example is when the Empire ordered the Riem Kingdom to openly attack Japanese facilities and assets as a decoy and a meat shield for the Empire's expeditionary force that ultimately led to the downfall of the Kingdom.
Any nation that is colonized or forcibly cooperated must consent to the establishment of the Conquest Office as a plenipotentiary overseeing all its domestic and economic activities.
The Empire goes even further as it appears to be planning a large-scale assimilation campaign against conquered peoples/nations. Dallas outlined - at least in part - that plan: it included sending the people of the Empire to live in the colonies and "crossbreeding" with the natives, created a class of "half-breed" raised in the spirit of the Empire. To encourage local people to cooperate, a number of incentive and reward policies will also be put into use. All aimed at creating an indigenous population loyal to the will and goals of the Empire, while gradually eradicating inferior natives through cultural assimilation and genetic admixture. It would allow the Empire to forge a foothold in new lands and more effectively resist the onslaught of enemies, such as Japan.
Trivia[]
- The names of the Gra-Valkas Empire characters/weapons are named after the celestial objects in the universe. For example, the Antares fighter is named after the star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, 520 light-years from Earth. Also, the names of some of the ships of the Gra Valkas empire are named after the star and the constellation it belongs. Example is the Orion-Class battleship Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is a Red Giant that belongs to the Orion constellation.
- For some unknown reason, the Gra-Valkas Empire's weapons were quite similar in appearance and specifications to Japanese weapons during World War 2, with some slight differences, suggesting that there is some connection between Japan and Gra-Valkas in the past.
- The name Ragna (Gra Valkas Imperial capital city) is derived from the word Ragnarok, the "End of the World" according to Norse mythology.
- Judging from Gra Cabal's bad experience in eating Japanese Azuki bar, it is clear that popsicles do not exist in GVE or Yggdra.
- The HME stated that Gra Valkas Empire is smaller than expected, indicating like WW2 Japan, Gra Valkas empire is a powerful island country.