Foreword: We've discussed this in PMs prior to now, I'm not mean enough to do this otherwise!

The Unone had been the dominant political force in Radet-Ashru for nearly two centuries, yet despite their best efforts the city-states remained disparate.

The artkash of the Naotik refused to bow, the political minds of Teltras were weary of handing over any authority to a distant capital and the Matriarchs of Santu perceived their own enlightened rule to be the best form of governance. In the south, the peaceful Ket remained disinterested in the affairs of the northerners whilst the nadisun of Panaeolus feared that taking a side could potentially provoke war, and thus committed to neither.

Yet not all refused to join with the Unone. The Radeti of Noon had elected Radetiya to respresent them in Unone for generations, and more recently the enclave in the old Ongin city of Melia had joined the confederation as a means to better access their cultural homeland in trade and movement. The Konome too had voluntarily aligned themselves with the Unone in the end, the fiercely Iyacratic (see: democratic) citizenry keen to have their voices heard on the Radetiya council.

To those that had not joined the Unone, there seemed to be little reason to do so. Having abolished the position of Null'ba and thus released Radeti from slavery within their borders, the other states knew that acknowledging Unone would merely mean forfeiting what slaves still 'secretly' existed within their borders, a pointless enterprise.

The Unone needed to provide the holdout states incentive to join them.

The Radeti dhows had not been designed for the relatively calm waters of the inland see once termed Nadigi - the Ancestor's Edge - and so moved slowly on their voyage south. Having invited kashi from all over Radet-Ashru and even Noon to take part in the raid, the host of some 1200 veteran warriors on three dozen vessels had representatives from all the Radeti peoples, each kashi eager to win themselves slaves and booty.

The journey took many days after leaving the southermost city of Hunada behind, but they eventually arrived at their goal: the lands of the people that once called themselves Diplotians. The Radeti fleet fanned out along the coast as it came into sight, dividing into its constituent states as some made move to come ashore at the nearest settlement whilst others would move further east and west before making their landing.

Map. Rough map of route taken and areas subjected to raids.