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Roughly four days hard travel from Nulam, along a lonely road that travels far into the Wilderness and is usually entirely empty except during the Spring when the Guild Caravan travels it, the City-State of Madaan is perhaps the most troublesome of the villages neighbors. Ever since the city was conquered 43 years ago by the army of a powerful Bandit-Prince with aspirations of rule, Madaan has slowly swallowed up many of the surroundings villages and towns that occupy the area around it. Now a small militaristic kingdom, ruled over by the armies that have gained it so much territory and their Prince, Madaan still aches to expand yet further. While infrequent tribute of grain and wheat has kept the cities armies from the village in the past, the current Hetman can feel the pressure beginning to increase and worries of war and conquest continue to grow.
This likely would have happened some time ago, but some seven years ago the cities original Prince died and rule of the city state turned over to his son. Randal Saeris II ascended into an kingdom in a region where few kingdoms survive past the death of their original conquerer, able to feel his armies slip from under his control, and found himself wanting a war. A real war; not just taking control of some undefended village. So the son led his armies into the lands of the Delenshi, living up to his father's legacy by fighting the good fight and actually managing to barely hold his own against the forces maintained by the neighboring city-state. He also managed to kill off a fair amount of his officer core in the process, and gain a much tighter grip on his empire, which probably ensures that Madaan's new rulers are here to stay until some other conquerer shows up on their doorstep.
While the war served its purpose of quelling discent, it also left Madaan's armies in ruins and it has taken five years for the leader to fully recover (exactly how much recovery has taken place is disputed) from the exploit, and now he is once again looking to expand his boundaries. Most of the avenues open to him are taken up by much more powerful neighbors, but it seems like Randal has cast his eyes on the villages along the River Sarine (including Nulam). So now the leader is stockpiling food for a lenghthy campaign in the Spring, further cementing his hold on his various holdings and training conscripts, and drilling his heavier and more experienced troops.
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