When the Plague hit Daal-Tet, it completely distorted the rigid government structure. Combined with practices that expanded, rather then curbed, the death count, the nation fell into chaos and disorder.

The province to the North faired slightly better. With its proximity to the Radeti, it had better knowledge of medicine, and as such faired far better. With the major road connecting the Radeti and the Arathee going through it, the villages could still communicate, and as such, they lasted through the plague far better then the rest of Daal-Tet.

The Arathee adopted their standees policy toward neighboring villages: an encouragement to join, but nothing held against those who didn't. At first, only a few villages joined. Why go back to paying taxes? They could use the grain themselves, far more then some distant capital!

For several years, these free villages lived happily, and enjoyed their newfound wealth. Some villages began eyeing smaller neighbors, to try and expand and form a kingdom of their own. The threat of these larger villages prompted more smaller settlements to join Arath, for protection, but they were still the minority.

Years went by, and bandits began springing up in greater numbers, lured in by towns hoarding wealth, and their ranks swelled by farmers still living in the same squalid conditions. While the cause of the influx of bandits was the independent towns, they effected the Arathee significantly, Especially along the road between Radet and Arath, as many of those who travelled on the road were quite rich. Still, unlike the towns, the Arath had experience dealing with brigands, and so more towns flocked to them.

During this time, adding to the Arathee converts, the larger of the independent towns began engaging in conflict with each other by this point, about half of the territory in the region is considered Arath'a, and as such it is considered part of the Arathee lands.

[Expanding into the territory between me and Admortis. Tech Going to be getting more road tech this week, to help with communication, and the above mentioned road to the Radeti. Expect those pesky warring towns to be taken care of as well ;). Expect another post detailing after effects of plague in my main areas soon.]