The City of Dran

Historians are divided about the reign of Aeshan Croyse, for some it is the a golden era, three decades of abundance as Arc recovered from the effects of Lyniacus. For others, the prosperity came too little too late. Whilst they struggled to explain what had befallen Arc, the city's enemies, particularly Dran did not hesitate to exploit the city's weaknesses. In the decades that followed the end of the horrors of Lyniacus, Arc's empire fragmented significantly and the Five Houses of Dran for the first time demanded seperation from Arc, and even began to recruit allies within the empire to achieve this. Aeshan was not the forceful diplomat that Raana Croyse had been and lacked the determination to face down or even militarily defeat the rising lords of Dran. Instead, Aeshan conceded to the Dranian rulers that they could have greater autonomy in the empire. For seven years he even allowed a period of joint rulership, creating an imperial council of the two cities which collapsed when Dran's demands for imperial taxes and trade routes to be diverted away from Arc were rejected. The collapse of the imperial council did more to foster resentment between the two cities that almost any other factor. In reality, the weak situation that Aeshan inherited meant that Dran would always have been likely to contest Arc's power and it ensured that Arc struggled to meet the challenge. The fragmentation of the empire was therefore yet another legacy of the creature Lyniacus.

When Yagand Varraline came to the throne, the war that his father had fought against Dran seemed to be a distant memory. Despite the worst fears of Arcites, Dran had not split the empire, in fact the removal of Dran from the empire had been beneficial for Arc. Not only had the most divisive of the cities in the Arclands ceased to wield any power within the empire, but other city states (Gol, Harenis, Wardenhal and Hothis) rallied to Arc's banner out of a sense of familiarity, but also because their leaders weren't foolish enough to assume that Dran's promises of economic and cultural rejuvination were possible outside the empire. The careful planning of his father's generals had brought about an unexpected economic benefit, the opening of the Prayadine caravan route between Arc and the newly settled lands of Veska. The lands in the east had always been avoided because of the presence of the great, hideous giant creatures, the Gorins. As Veskans slowly fought back the vile creatures, learning the secrets of Gorin Stones, great plains opened up for the cultivation of wheat, maize and for the rearing of cattle. Arcite generals and diplomats recognised that this massive source of food and wealth would would cancel out the insurrection of Dran and reduce its rebellion to an irrelevance.