For the Empire of Katolis, 1245 marked the beginning of a period of prosperity like never before. The economy grew, the population increased, and living conditions generally improved, thanks to the prudent policy of King Ezran.

The laws issued by the imperial government in those years are many, all significant, and I can only mention here the most important ones.

According to tradition, the human calendar was created in Elarion and counted the years since the fall of the legendary city. It was, however, imperfect: the first day of the year slipped against the vernal equinox at a rate of approximately one day each century. After more than a millennium, this had caused a phase shift of almost two weeks compared to the astronomical year. To solve this problem, on January 1, 1246, the Imperial Calendar came into force, developed by the High Magician with the collaboration of the best astronomers and mathematicians on the continent. With the new calendar, a new Era also began: the Era of Peace. A high-sounding name, and perhaps a little too optimistic, but considering the emperor's mentality, this should not surprise us modern too much.

The year count was reset: 1246, H.c. (Human Calendar) became the year 1, a.p. (after the Peace). To solve the time lag, at the beginning of that year twelve extra days were added, the so-called Days of Callum. Within a few years, the Imperial Calendar was also adopted in Del Bar and Neolandia, while Evemere, isolationist as always, kept using the old count.

In 1248, or year 3 of the new age, the old Lord Nissem died at the venerable age of eighty-six. It was not easy to choose his successor, but in the end, King Ezran appointed in his place Melker of Banther, a brilliant theorist whose innovative ideas had already caused a considerable stir in the kingdom. Lord Nissem had turned out to be a competent adviser, but he was still tied to an archaic legislative mentality: on the contrary, Lord Melker was a reformer. To tell the truth, his ideas often proved to be too innovative for the time (he even proposed that the king should be considered sovereign by the will of the people, and not by divine right: an absurdity, even for a modernizer sovereign like Ezran) and most of his projects never saw the light of day. However, his ability as a Counselor cannot be questioned: it was he who directed the drafting work of the Codex Katoleanus, a collection of all laws ever enacted in the history of the kingdoms of Katolis and Duren. It was a titanic undertaking, which required over a decade of work, but it represented a great step forward for imperial law, resolving the hundreds of conflicts that over the centuries had arisen in Katolean jurisprudence.

During this period many public works were also financed, some of which are still visible today. The capital was embellished with new buildings: in addition to the aforementioned Temple of Justice, libraries, hospitals, orphanages for the children of the fallen in the war were built. The patronage of Lady Rayla graced the streets of monuments: famous the great Memorial of the Guard, an elaborate bronze sculptural group that represented the Imperial Guard during the famous charge of the Battle of the Black Sun, sadly lost during the Troubled Period decades later.

The capital itself doubled in size becoming perhaps the second-largest city on the continent after Lux Aurea: the expansion of the administration, job opportunities, and the pro-elfic policy of King Ezran caused hundreds of men and Elves to move to the shadow of the Rock of Katolis from across the kingdom, and even from Xadia.

It was, therefore, necessary to build a new wall, the so-called Imperial Walls (as opposed to the ancient Royal Walls), which, being twelve kilometers long and twenty-five meters high, interrupted at regular intervals by forty-eight towers, represented, for the time, the most impressive fortification in the world.

Ezran even wanted to equip the city with a sewerage and water system, but because of the engineering complexity of the enterprise during his reign, he was able to complete only a small part of it (the so-called Ancient Cloaca and the Raylian Aqueduct date back to this period).

The movement of goods and people was facilitated by the construction of new roads, the most important of which was undoubtedly the Xadian Way, which directly connected Lux Aurea with Ferniburg, the capital of Del Bar, passing through the Rock of Katolis.

It was an impressive number of projects, each costing thousands of phoenixes, but the emperors could afford it: the nation had never been so rich. Peace allowed both a reduction in military spending and an increase in trade (which, compared to the times of King Harrow, had tripled), and a series of excellent harvests further improved the situation.

The new roads also facilitated the many journeys of the Emperor, who repeatedly set out with his court both within the kingdom, holding hearings and administering justice even in the most peripheral points of the Empire, and abroad, making numerous diplomatic visits to the Storm Spire, Del Bar, and Neolandia. In June 1248 (year 4 a.p.) he even visited Evemere: it was the first time that a ruler of Katolis set foot in the most mysterious of the human kingdoms.

It was a productive encounter. Lord Vrigel negotiated a new trade agreement, the High Magician was able to study the unique fauna of the Evenerean marshes, and Queen Vilaasi taught Aanya how to hunt with the falcon: a pastime that soon became the favorite of the Empress.

The diplomatic mission was also enlivened by an unexpected marriage: that of Lord Soren, Exarch of the Guard, with the noble Aviliisa, second cousin of the queen. As the reader may remember, she was the same noblewoman the council had proposed as a possible bride to Callum at the time of the Grand Senate. For the occasion, and in recognition of his merits, the Emperor gave Soren the castle of Mullen, a mile away from the capital. Aviliisa, like Lady Rayla, proved to be a great patron of the arts, and Mullen Castle (or, as it became known at the time, Exarch Palace) was embellished with paintings and sculptures, many of which are still visible today.

Only a mourning saddened the diplomatic mission: the faithful Bait, the glow toad of the Emperor who had been at his side since childhood, died on the day of the summer solstice, at the venerable (for his species) age of seventeen years. Ezran insisted that his body be returned to Katolis, to be buried in the royal mausoleum in the Valley of Graves. Not even Branthoc, the dog of the legendary Orphan Queen, was granted such an honor.

In 1250, the fifth year of the new Era, the Grand Senate was convened again: and this time, Neolandia was also invited to participate. Many elves turned their noses, but once again Lord Policar was up to his fame, and no diplomatic incident occurred.

In short, the years from 1246 to 1256 (or, according to the new calculation, from year 1 to year 10) were a period of prosperity from all points of view. The Empire of Katolis was the richest and most powerful nation in the West, in the midst of a period of economic and cultural growth that would have had no equal in its history.

And yet everything risked collapsing once again. The gods had prepared a final trial for King Ezran, and it would have been perhaps the more difficult of his entire life.