“Often people from long-lived races were surprised by how much a nation that was predominantly composed of short-lived people might change in a timespan that might have been a short while for them. Indeed, a few decades might only be a short while for people who lived many centuries, but it was often enough time for dynasties to change and generations to pass for those who only had those decades to live.” - Garth Wainwrought, Dean and Founder of the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 690 FP.

As Cal’s journey came to an end, years swiftly passed by, yet the world was not at a standstill. Things kept happening, set on the courses they had set themselves for, and changes occurred to the places she had once visited, and at times, influenced during her brief stay. Whether the changes wrought were for good or ill, only time would tell…

The Coalition of City-States celebrated an increased flow of prosperity and trade due to an increase in merchant traffic from the Empire in the years that followed. Port Serda and Horststadt especially benefited, as they were located where they could profit the most from the increased trade. Governors Horst and D’ssard even cooperated and funded a new, larger road that ran between their cities to make travel faster and smoother to further capitalize on the influx of merchants from the Empire.

That same increase in profits led to a long overdue joint project, funded by Jonkver and Horststadt, to carve a road through the Salir Woods that allowed for more direct travel from East to West in the Coalition. The roads present before then were circuitous, as they looped to the North or South to avoid the woods, so the creation of a new direct road would be beneficial for travelers that headed further inland, especially those bound for Paradise, which lay on a direct line past Jonkver. The increased trade helped Jonkver regain a measure of its past prosperity after a couple centuries of decline.

As for the southern end of the Coalition, the construction of the city of Nuo Posuin, intended to serve as the “capital” for the Coalition as a whole, brought plenty of opportunities to people in the surrounding regions. While those who lived in the rather prosperous neighboring region of Dvergarder had little interest - other than the handsome profits they made supplying the materials used for the construction - those in the poorer city-states of Xeluvo, Ajille, Seru and Isvel which also bordered the location of the new capital flocked there in the hopes of finding a better future.

Out of those states, Xeluvo was especially troubled, as many of their downtrodden lower castes sought to escape and migrate for greener pastures. The increasingly draconian measures adopted by the local government only gave rise to more resentment, and eventually, that piled up resentment boiled over and were no longer controllable.

In the 4th month of the year 693 FP, a massive rebellion broke out in Xeluvo, as the lower castes could no longer tolerate those who stood above them. Rumors claimed that the pirates that ruled the seas near the port city and had always been at odds with the government incited the rebellion. Whether it was the truth or not was uncertain, but it was known that the pirates in question had supported the rebellion wholeheartedly, and even helped them topple the government of Xeluvo.

As the other City-States concluded that the rebellion was an internal matter of Xeluvo, they had not intervened on the behalf of either side, and simply watched the ongoing events with their hands folded. After a grueling two months of fighting, the rebels won, and the entire governing council of the city was strung up by the harbor using their own guts as rope by the angry people.

When the rebels chose the retired leader of the pirates, old Zendala Gamba-Kibwe, then already well in his seventies, as the new Governor, few of the observers were surprised. What did surprise them was how in the following years, the old former pirate governed diligently and competently, and rebuilt the ailing City-State rapidly over his tenure as Governor.

Other than the Coalition of City-States, turmoil could also be found in the Kingdom of Ezram, or rather, the territories that used to be part of the kingdom. At the year 380 FP, the northern territories that balked at the central government’s commands for a military muster officially announced their secession from the Kingdom.

The new nation, which called itself the Nordic Alliance, formed a buffer between what remained of Ezram to its south-east, Paradise to its west, the Coalition of City-States to its north-west, and the orcish plains to the north. Indirectly, they also severed many of Ezram’s best trade routes to the west, a situation made even worse by the second splinter nation that broke off that kingdom around the same period of time.

Over the past decade, the south-eastern parts of Ezram had been plagued by rebellion formented by the terrorist group known as the Sons of Theodinaz. Things came to a head when the terrorists officially gained control over those regions, and then joined the neighboring Kingdom of Iznuguod, a member of the Union of Free Nations, to form a realm of their own.

When the Sons of Theodinaz and the Iznuguod royalty that supported them declared the revival of the Holy Kingdom of Theodinazat 381 FP, their ascendance proved to be short-lived. The very next year, armies from both the Union and from Knallzog to their south marched at the nascent nation, and thoroughly decimated their forces without preamble. The nations still recalled the hateful methods of the Holy Kingdom of the past, and had no desire to see its resurgence.

Ezram came out as the ultimate loser of the conflict, with the nation reduced to barely a third of its former size, roughly the state it was at half a millennium ago. The regions that seceded and declared themselves as the resurgent Holy Kingdom were parceled out and divided between Knallzog and the Union, and Ezram was far too diminished to protest the proceedings.

As for Knallzog themselves, other than the short conflict with the Holy Kingdom, the dwarven kingdom welcomed a comfortable peace and prosperity. Renewed trade with the Al-Shan Empire brought additional riches to the Kingdom’s port cities, and the addition of a teleportation gate - construction finished at 679 FP - in the capital meant that diplomacy and exchange of knowledge was brought several steps forward.

Together with the Elmaiya Empire and the Lichdom of Ptolodecca far away in the southern continent, Knallzog were amongst the first to send out chosen members of their military - usually younger officers with promising futures - to a newly found academy in Paradise. Those that returned with a graduation certificate from said academy were without exception, hardened much like a veteran who had faced years of warfare would be, and they received greater opportunities from their nation in exchange.

The occasional visits of the local living legend Aelfried the Undying to said academy further incentivized those who saw the greater opportunities afforded the academy graduates, and before long, it became a norm for the nobles to send their youth over as long as they were interested in the martial path. While many such noble youths quit out of their own will because they could not stand the harsh training they received, the passion that had been lit amongst their ilk never diminished.