On the first day of Year 301 AF — three hundred and one years after a Lizardman named Krug walked out of a swamp — a signal arrived from the east.
It was none of the expected channels — no military signal, no Divine Communion, no message carried by runners or transmitted through relay stations or delivered by the intelligence network that Kreth's former operatives had expanded into the continent's most thorough surveillance system.
A trade signal.
A merchant caravan — forty wagons, 200 guards, 60 traders from seventeen different species — appeared at the eastern border of the Sovereign Dominion and requested passage. The request was relayed through the border garrison, up the chain of command, through the Grand Ordinator's office, and into Zephyr's divine awareness in approximately four hours.
The caravan was Korthane's.
[INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT — KORTHANE CONTACT]
[Date: Year 301 AF, Day 1]
[Contact Type: Trade caravan, 40 wagons, 200 guards, 60 traders]
