Once a kingdom of bountiful opportunities and joyous celebrations, the Kingdom of Savania was at what seemed to be a pinnacle of success. Domestic industry was flourishing, and the Savanian export for fine textiles was on the rise, leading to an overall economic boom. As well as economic success, the social and political systems were finally at a point of balance, after years of internal conflict and the threat of civil war.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">War.</span><br/><br/>When King Alois II fell gravely ill, even the mutter of that word could get one thrown in jail. Mainly because it was slowly, subtly happening. Savania was a kingdom that was known for neutrality, but once the king had fallen ill, matters became slightly more difficult. Countries began to grow hostile as the king fell deeper into illness, namely the Kingdom of Asnye. It wasn't necessarily that they were brash and burning Savanians on stakes, but there was obvious agitation there due to the thought that the next reigning king would not be as neutral a leader as Alois II. Savania responded back to the hostility though, giving Asnye all the more reason to be wary. It was, essentially, a childish back-and-forth argument.<br/><br/>When King Ethan of Asnye had mentioned the extension of peace, Prince Bastiaan had originally thought of a written treaty. In his years, he would have never guessed that the extension of peace was his daughter. The idea of marriage in itself was something of an inevitability. He was to be the next reigning king of Savania, and as such he had certain responsibilities to take a wife and groom an heir to be the next king. That aside, he had always expected to have some sort of say in it. Instead, of course, his father had told him that<span style="font-style: italic">this</span>is what he would do and<span style="font-style: italic">this</span>is when he would do it. Needless to say, this talk marriage was already beginning to leave a bitter taste in his mouth.