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The struggle started without much fanfare as a minor conflict between neighboring kingdoms, a dispute over borders which had been fought for centuries. Before long it had escalated to war, a war which drew the surrounding nations into it like a hungry beast and which eventually spread to engulf the Westlands. Not a noble war, such as bards sing of, but a long, bloody, painful struggle, a back and forth tug-of-war which did little but drain the participants of their lifeblood. In the end, there was no noble victory, no setting things to rights. The participants drew back to lick their wounds, to rebuild, and an uneasy peace settled over the West. That peace didn't bring any happiness with it, however. Mirtar, the breadbasket of the Westlands, had seen some of the worst battles of the war. Once fertile fields lay fallow, the peasants that tended them slaughtered. Struggling to rebuild, Mirtar barely has enough to feed its own people, never mind export food to any other nations. Winter comes, and it brings the looming shadow of famine. Kingdoms empty their already drained coffers to ship goods from afar, but the Winterking will have more than his share of lives this year, and wolves howl in the hills.
For you, the misfortunes of the war are more personal. Unlucky enough to come of age at its start, you were drafted at the tender age of 15 into the Royal Army of Athar. Now, 5 years later, the war is over and the army, indeed Athar itself, doesn't seem to need you. Like a lot of veterans, you have found your military training inadequate preparation for civilian life. With the war and the food shortages, jobs are scarce, and few people are hiring or taking on apprentices, especially adult ex-soldiers. You drift from town to town for a while, until you run into an old army contact, Lieutenant Jeman Var. Jeman is looking for men for a job, specifically men he can rely on. He has been hired by a powerful merchant baron to find out why some of his shipments are going missing en-route, and he can pay handsomely. With your meager savings running out you sign up, and head to the city where the goods go missing: Korrinport; and begin a journey which takes you far from home, and draws you into a conflict even the war didn't prepare you for - a web of conspiracy and deception, where you must choose your friends wisely and your enemies even more so.
The scars of war are slow to heal....
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