Hundreds of years ago, there were seven cities of the Galanoi, amicable trading partners and sometimes allies of the Arthe people before their Fall. Three generations ago, before the war with the Lituuram to the south, the Grand Counsel had moved to absorb remnants of the Galanoi to the north into their realm in the name of stability. The stability they had in mind conveniently also involved adding them to the Arthe tax rolls. But while the generals toiled in the southern bloodbath, the Farristos were diligently working to pacify the new northern frontier of Arthia, the province of Kailakus. After five or so Farristos had gone through the position, each building upon what the last had accomplished, they believed they were ready for more, and that the province was finally stable.

It did not take much to bend the ears of the Grand Counsel to new lands and new taxes. The lands to the north of Kailakus were not as dangerous as they had been a century ago, but they were still for the most part, lawless. Merely petty "kings" ruling over the remnants of a dead tribal confederation. The lands to the north offered fertile farmland, and there was Norikus as well. The "City of Iron", its potential and wealth was clear. It sat on a large iron deposit in the mountains, and bringing it under Arthe control would be highly profitable, and increase their own supply of the metal dramatically.

And so, the cycle repeated similarly to last time, with Arthe armies marching north to expand their influence. This time, they did not quite find dilapidated cities and empty villages. This would be much slower. The Galanoi here were much fiercer fighters than their cousins to the south a century ago. They were determined to not simply let a foreign power come through and set up tax offices. And so the ensuing campaigns were brutal affairs, with repeated uprisings after the Arthe forces would leave the area. Finally, after nearly seventeen years of campaigns, the City of Iron's king himself, Lougoubelrix, surrendered to the Grand Counsel members outside his villa. Similarly to the treatment of Kailakus, Norikus would be the seat of a new province governing all of this recent conquests, and assigned a Farristo, the title here lost on the the city of Norikus, but it would not matter to the Counsel.

Map of Expansion