Sometimes against all odds, a small number of people without any real connections find themselves in a position to shape the future. Now is one of those times. After a thousand years of peaceful interactions between the Northern Lands and the Empire following the Northern Rebellion, the Empire is gearing up for war. Rumors tell a hundred possible tales of the why: the newly crowned Emperor is greedy; he's fighting for the hand of a Lonnari pearl-woman; there is no new Emperor and to prevent his twin sons fighting over the crown the aging Emperor is claiming a second kingdom; the Emperor never had twins you dolt; Northerners assassinated the Emperor.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that a war is brewing.