Slowly, but deliberately, the sun peeked out from the horizon, still hesitant to show itself this far north. It was the first sunrise the city of St Drolem in the last three months, the end of winters depth. Arch-chancellor Taniss Cyk watched the light slowly encompass the landscape, first through the thick stone houses, then to what passed for the industrial sector, and finally illuminating the oil fields, where men had worked all through the dark winter to draw the thick crude from the ground. It was no coal mine, but it kept the lamps burning and with a little extra effort the military found use for it. 

Turing from the balcony back to his advisers Arch-chancellor Cyk decided he had kept them waiting long enough, "Gentlemen, it has been over sixty years since the unification of this democracy and yet it seems we haven't changed a thing. Today we change that. I have sent a courier to our southern rival, The Irodien Empire in hopes of establishing open trade between our peoples. If successful certain opportunities shall then be open to us, and now that winter is at an end we will be able to send ships to the more distant great powers as well."      

The rest of the council remained in Drakun, overseeing the latest batch of enlistees. Most were young men, proud and desiring glory, a few were older, men who had failed to find their calling but still desired purpose, and finally there were those who simply had nowhere else to go. None truly knew what to expect from enlistment, but they would give it their all. Within a few months these men would be soldiers, or employed as menial laborers.