A great era of peace and tranquility appears to be ending in Yevia, as northern forges continue to be worked hard and long into the nights. Various northern realms are not only raising new banners and training legions of men. The darkness of human hearts is only kept at bay for so long as yet another era of warfare and destruction is rearing it’s head in the cold vastness of Yevia.
Fleets across the continents have been laid down, and the once rare and astounding Carvel has been propagated across the coasts and adopted by many realms. Entire forests are being felled to create these large and imposing future tradeships and the vessels designed to escort them across the seas.
Set low against the southeastern shore, where the waters of the southern seas begin their long reach toward the Berlengas Archipelago, the town of Eimonsbach has long occupied an outsized role in the ambitions of the Most Serene Republic of Pestin. With a population numbering only a few thousand souls, it is neither grand nor ancient, yet it serves as Pestin’s sole colonial foothold in this corner of the continent, and the linchpin through which southern trade must pass.
Eimonsbach’s value lies in its position. From its modest harbor, ships depart southward toward the scattered islands of Berlengas, carrying timber, ironwork, cloth, and coin, returning, when fortune allows, with tropical spices and raw materials otherwise distant from the Pestinese heartland. Roads from the interior converge here, and customs houses, warehouses, and counting rooms cluster tightly along the waterfront. For Pestin, Eimonsbach is less a town than a hinge; without it, the southern seas would prove costly and insurmountable.
That importance has not gone unnoticed.
In recent weeks, Eimonsbach suffered a night raid carried out by the notorious pirate flotilla operating across the southern waters of Weslif. The attack came swiftly and with savagery. The merchant town on the edge of the world has never had need of walls, or many soldiers to protect it. Under cover of darkness, several shallow-draft vessels slipped past the outer anchorage, striking storehouses and moored ships before an ad-hoc organized resistance could be raised. By dawn, multiple warehouses had burned, cargo lay scattered or stolen, and several merchant hulls were left damaged or sunk at their berths, while some were succesfully stolen.
The loss was not catastrophic, but it was deeply unsettling. This was no random act of coastal banditry. The pirates avoided the poorer quarters and struck almost exclusively at maritime infrastructure trade goods, shipping records, and vessels bound for the south. Such selectivity has fueled quiet concern among merchants and magistrates alike, who now question whether the raiders act on more than rumour and chance.
Publicly, the origins of these pirates remain uncertain. They are spoken of as men of the southern seas, familiar with currents, tides, and harbor routines, but unclaimed by any banner. Privately, however, whispers circulate along the docks and in counting houses: that the pirates possess safe harbors somewhere to the southwest, and that their movements suggest protection or tolerance beyond what chance alone would allow. No proof has surfaced, and no accusation has yet been made aloud. The truth—if there is one—remains buried beneath fear and discretion.
For the people of Eimonsbach, the raid has sharpened an old awareness. Life here has always balanced opportunity against exposure. The town stands far from Pestin’s great cities, its defenses modest, its prosperity dependent on ships that must sail long distances through dangerous waters. Hurricanes, disease, and isolation were once the chief threats. Now, predation joins that list.
Following the savage attack on Eimonsbach, Pestin has begun a rapid call for a first in it’s realm; a professional army. The massive force is being raised, with thousands of men being drawn to the Duke of Pestin-Grad’s flag as many in the countryside have heeded the call to come to his ducal keep. Never in it’s history has such wealth begun to freely move through the cities from the hands of the powerful to the likes of the smith, the artisan, the paupers now hired.
The roads stir with activity, as throngs of merchants, farmers, and all manner of those of good and ill-repute can feel the coins flowing from the Republic’s coffers. The long process has begun, but the north may yet quake before the coming shadow of the northern state. Already men in numbers have been reported to be departing the shores of the north for destinations unknown.