Arajit Kingdom
The Arajit Kingdom is a central piece of lore in The Bird That Drinks Tears. Founded by the Hero King, it lasted 700 years across 31 monarchs. Project Windless is set during its founding.
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The Arajit Kingdom was founded by the Hero King, a legendary Rekon warrior, approximately 1,500 years before the events of The Bird That Drinks Tears novels. It is the only kingdom in the world's history that was ever founded by a Rekon. The Hero King had no original intention of ruling; the nation grew around his achievements during the First Great Expansion War, and he accepted responsibility for the people who rallied to him.
The kingdom's symbol is the black lion. In Project Windless, players take on the role of the Hero King during this founding period, experiencing firsthand the mythical age that later generations remember only through stories.
The Hero King originally wielded twin star-forged blades, weapons made from Stariron at the Final Forge. During a battle against the Nhaga, a Nhaga warrior swallowed his entire sword arm. Rather than simply losing the limb, the Hero King had the Last Blacksmith forge his twin swords into a single double-bladed weapon called Baragi.
Baragi became the symbol of Arajit's royal authority. Possession of the sword was proof of the right to rule. Its eventual loss undermined warrior loyalty to the crown and accelerated the kingdom's decline.
The Hero King's biological children were all Rekon, and Rekon live by their Calling, a lifelong aspiration unique to each individual. Every one of the Hero King's children departed to pursue their own Callings rather than inheriting the throne. Human subordinates took over governance of the kingdom instead.
This transition from Rekon founder to human rulers is one of the defining ironies of Arajit's history. The kingdom endured for roughly 700 years across 31 monarchs, all of them human after the founding generation.
The events in this section take place generations after the founding era depicted in Project Windless. They are drawn from Lee Yeong-do's source novels and describe what eventually happened to the kingdom the Hero King founded. The game itself does not depict these later eras.
The kingdom reached its height under the 21st monarch, King Geugyeon ("Bridge of Extremes"). Under his leadership, the Nhaga were pushed south of the Line of Limit, a geographic boundary beyond which the Nhaga's cold-blooded physiology prevented them from surviving. This campaign secured the northern lands for Arajit and established the border that held for centuries.
Arajit's decline began with the loss of Baragi, which eroded the symbolic bond between the crown and its warriors. The kingdom finally fell under the 31st ruler, King Gwonneung ("Power King"), who insulted the Kitalze hunters. Their response was a curse: "There is no king now, and there shall be no king in the North until a king apologizes for this insult."
By the time of the novels, the Arajit Kingdom is long gone, remembered as a lost golden age. Many humans in the northern cities still dream of reviving it.