In the decades of peace following the First War when Merchant City was still young and the Merchant King was still establishing her power base she turned her eyes to the Whisper Mountains, shrouded in their everlasting winter. They represented an impassable barrier that separated her trade empire from more than half of the continent. To get goods from the west she had only two options; go south and accept the questionable safety and high tolls of Archemia. Or travel by sea. The northern Glassier Sea was the safest and quickest but only traversable for two months of the year, being frozen and treacherous the rest of the time.   (more…)