Are those nobles really that stupid? They scramble to expand their so-called opportunity, yet the reports I've read say otherwise. Half of them, especially those ranked below Father, can't even keep their own regions alive.
Hunger festers in their villages, homeless litter their streets, bandits roam unchecked along their borders. Roads crumble, trade stalls, and disease gnaws at the poor.
And from those same reports… I've read how they treat their people. Tax rates driven sky high, overseers and stewards twisting laws to line their own pockets. Farmers stripped of seed grain, craftsmen forced into debt, widows and children crushed under levies.
And still, they sit here dreaming of more territory. What use is grasping for new soil when the ground they already own crumbles beneath their feet?
No wonder the reports say people from those regions keep coming into Armand. Fleeing hunger, fleeing cruelty, finding safety under Father's rule.
