We recounted how the reign of Katolis had managed within a year to recover a good part of its past stability thanks to the will of King Ezran, the ability of his advisors and a fair dose of luck. However, let us not delude the reader that such a situation of relative peace was common in all human realms. Indeed, it can be argued with reasonable confidence that Katolis was a fortunate exception within a period of general chaos.

Since the Expulsion of Men from Xadia, hundreds of small kingdoms had formed west of the Rift, fighting each other for over a millennium. Only in a relatively recent period (1178 h.c.) did human populations reach a fragile balance thanks to the foundation of the Pentarchy. It was a body halfway between an alliance pact and a religious body, which for the sixty years in which it remained active, had actually taken very few decisions worthy of note, because of the need to obtain unanimity for each binding act.

However, the ideological importance that this body possessed had been such as to effectively prevent any further internal warfare to human kingdoms... until the Battle of the Storm Spire. After all, the Virenian invasion is in every way considered as a civil war between humans, but fought on external territory. On the one hand, the victorious kingdoms, Katolis and Duren, allied with the Elven neighbors, had managed to keep their military and social fabric intact. On the other hand, the defeated kingdoms had suffered both the loss of much of their military strength, and, more importantly, the complete loss of confidence in the Pentarchy, which was no longer reconvocated-even if it was officially abolished only six years later by the Treaty of Shafiz.

We must also think of the power vacuum created by the assassination of three-fifths of the human rulers by Viren of Katolis.

It is not surprising, therefore, that within a year, of five flourishing kingdoms in the midst of a period of economic and cultural growth only the shadow remained.

It is not surprising, therefore, that within a year, five flourishing kingdoms in the midst of a period of economic and cultural growth remained only the shadow.

The country that suffered the worst immediate consequences was undoubtedly Del Bar. We must keep in mind that, unlike other nations, Del Bar did not have a particularly stable royal authority. A kingdom of over two-thirds mountains, Del Bar was in practice a confederation of more or less willing mountain tribes, fierce and warlike. Led by a king strong enough to impose his authority on the tribal leaders, the Delbarites were a formidable force. However, a weak king would find it very difficult to enforce his laws on his vast realm.

Unfortunately, at the time of the Battle of the Storm Spire, the king was weak.

Vasso III, the second son of King Florian, inherited the throne soon after Viren's assassination at the age of fourteen. Supported by his brothers, and especially by Sigmond, the eldest son but excluded from the succession as a bastard, King Vasso had enthusiastically joined the Virenian campaign, sending almost all of his personal troops to Xadia.

Only when the news of the defeat reached the capital Friburg, poor King Vasso realized that he was left without soldiers and protection.

Meanwhile, however, his brothers had not remained inactive. Under the guise of war on the Elves, they had each assembled armies... armies that were not loyal to anyone but themselves.

As soon as the news of the defeat was confirmed, the Princes of Del Bar rebelled against their brother, marching with their armies on the capital. Sigmond himself, the Black Prince, beheaded the young Vasso and hung his head on the city walls.

Within a matter of days, the whole country was enraged by a fierce struggle for power. I do not intend to dwell too long on the Delbarian Civil War. The reader who wants to learn more can read "The fight of Power in the Del Bar at the beginning of the thirteenth century" by Magister Aldonius. I will just briefly summarize the situation as the protagonists of this fight will interact more than once with King Ezran in the following years. On the one hand, the forces of Sigmond, the Black Prince, King Florian's eldest son and bastard. As skillful with his sword as he was ruthless, Sigmond had earned his cause the proud tribes of the southern Del Bar. Skilled general, within a few months he transformed a mass of mountaineers into a disciplined and ferocious war corps, the famous Black Guard.

On the other hand, Prince Vigimer, Florian's third son. He did not have the strength or charisma of Sigmond, but he compensated with cunning. He had been appointed treasurer by his brother Vasso, and had secretly moved the royal treasury to the city of Vonda. As soon as he heard of Sigmond's intentions, he abandoned his brother to his sad fate and used that gold to finance a mercenary army. A cultured and refined man, Vigimer easily gained the loyalty of the merchant cities of the Delbarian coast, as well as their rich coffers.

Vigimer and Sigmond's forces met for the first time west of Ferniburg. In what was later called the Battle of the Red Hill, Sigimond suffered a severe defeat that forced him to retreat to the mountains to regroup. But the real winner wasn't Vigimer.

As the two princes fought, King Florian's brother Kalines seized the capital and was crowned King of Del Bar. His army, though not numerous, was formed by the remnants of the regular army of the Kingdom, which saw in Kalines a restoration of the royal authority of Florian. At the same time, Kalines was cunning in gaining the support of the kingdom's third force in addition to the merchants of the West and the tribes of the South, namely the countryside of the Delbarite Plain. Throughout the rest of the year, and much of the following, the three belligerents remained in a stalemate. So let's leave them while they are trying to trucidate each other, and move our eyes south, to the Kingdom of Evenere.

The island of Evenere, seat of the homonymous kingdom, is geographically isolated from the continent, and this division is also found from a cultural point of view. The Evenerean dialect is different from any other human language, and so are its inhabitants, now as then.

Unlike in all other kingdoms, the evenerean monarchy had been for centuries a more honorary charge than full of effective power. Not that the king did not have his functions-for example, only the sovereign could participate in the meetings of the Pentarchy. However, the government of the country remained mostly exercised by the powerful Hereditary Vizier -a ruler in anything less than in name.

As a result, the assassination of Queen Fareeda did not cause any major setbacks in government matters. His daughter Vilaasi ascended to the throne, and everything suggested that she would leave, like her mother before her, the power in the hands of the expert vizier Celaava. But the new queen had other plans. Somewhat imitating Prince Sigmond's actions, he took advantage of the defeat at the Battle of the Storm Spire to strengthen his authority, accusing Celaava of being responsible for the defeat. In what was in fact a coup d'état, Vilaasi managed to arrest Celaava, try him, condemn him and make him blind before exiling him. The entire operation was carried out quickly and efficiently, sparing Evenere the fate of Del Bar. However, it was not an action without consequences for the entire continent.

Evenere closed in on himself further, as Vilaasi needed to strengthen his authority and could not risk making external enemies.

As a result, when the Great Western War subsequently broke out, Evenere declared himself neutral, but provided economic aid to both alliances, in a masterpiece of duplicity. Also on the question of whether or not to peace with the Elves, Vilaasi carefully avoided pronouncing until the end of the conflict, providing asylum to both dark magicians and elves. The queen's was a dangerous game, which would have serious consequences-for the time being, however, Evenere managed to contain the crisis.

Having said that, let us now move north. However important, the role of Evenere and Del Bar remains relatively marginal in our history. It is between Katolis, Duren and Neolandia (besides, of course, Xadia), after all, that the main actions of the reign of King Ezran took place.