Enough about Theron. He depresses me. The first arc of the story is his childhood, his rise to power, and his betrayal of Brenon and Mihonil. The second arc takes place between a hundred and a hundred fifty years later, after he's taken over.

Theron takes over by creating an army of the Dead and slaughtering everything in his path. He then turns all of those corpses into the Dead; using a combination of Omnismithing and arcane magic, he creates zombies with lifespans. He leaves a few people alive, but for the most part, they're all zombies. Then he rearranges the scenery, and sinks the capital city below the ground. (Yes, this is actually just Vagrant Story without the ass pants.) Theron, as the new Voyance, sets up court in the Undercity and does a few things to obliterate all magic use within the borders of his country.

The city spread out; the Dead don't need to worry about exhausting natural resources, and the living are considered second class citizens.