While it is hard to pick a single world to describe the aftermath of the famines, there are a great many words that quickly discarded.

Peaceful. Tranquil. Stable. Fair.

The Arathee concentrated their efforts on their mountain homeland, and while old rivalries between clans flared up, suffice t action was take that order was maintained.

Out in the deserts, it was a different story. Mounted raiders plagued both pastoral nomads and small villages alike. Even larger towns and cities found themselves worrying about weather the could withstand the next attack.

And so fortifications were built. There was already a loose network of watchtowers, but these were upgraded. More towers were built, and existing towers were upgraded with the new invention of cement, better able to hold stones together. Even on the border with the Vraichem, long time allies, watchtowers had to built. At both sides of the pass that split Arath in two, small walls were built across at strategic points, with large archways to accommodate the heavy traffic that flowed through.

While the walls of the smaller desert cities were by no means as extensive as the defenses of the mountains, they were attacked a hundred times for every raider that preyed on the mountains. There are even some reports of builders hurrying to finish a section of wall even as skirmishes were happening less then 20 paces from where they worked.

While the chaos is a thing if the past, these defenses remain, albeit not in the best shape. Cities expanded back outside of the walls, towers are now perches for birds, and the primary use for the gate across the pass is as a vantage point for the King to watch Annuel celebrations and festivities that take place on the large open plain directly in front.