Delving deep into the history of the Stolen Lands, especially with the rather impressive archive in Pitax, which it seemed Irovetti had been assembling for years, revealed a possibly more horrifying history than anyone could have imagined. This region seemed to simply devour anyone who came to claim it; fire, famine, rampaging beasts, terrible storms, war, internal strife, banditry, arcane disasters... the list goes on, and on, and on, spanning hundreds of years. And never, seemingly, the same cause twice. There were some similarities between some, but every new lord and lady who attempted to stake a claim in these cursed lands met a different, disastrous end. That they had survived multiple attempts so far meant that, whatever was coming for them, it was not going to be subtle, or pretty.<br/><br/>But the days turned into weeks, into months; before they knew it, eight months had passed, and not a sign of this impending doom. Things were, in fact, the most peaceful they'd ever been - banditry had been all but eliminated, crime was at an all-time low, trade was booming, the population was growing steadily, small villages were becoming towns, towns becoming cities... the entire kingdom seemed to be the most prosperous it had ever been. Despite his insistence, it was hard to keep people on edge for that long, especially when no threat presented itself, and even the most disciplined started to let their guard down, bit by bit.