The rising star of the South, the princedom of Yarzat, had, in less than a generation, become the subject of every court's whisper and every merchant's gamble.
It was not every day that a state, scarcely more than a provincial backwater half a decade ago, could double its dominion, transform itself into a thriving commercial hub, and force even the great powers of the continent to respond to this evolution.
There had been a time, not so distant, when all trade flowed inevitably through Romelia. Roads paved in her stone, seas patrolled by her fleet, commerce bent to her rhythm.
But those days had withered, and with their passing came a sobering truth: the tide of wealth and power had turned, and it now swelled toward Yarzat, a realm barely a quarter of Romelia's current size.
