The Sovereign Imperium was bleeding, but it was no longer bleeding from the borders.
Across the vast, soot-stained expanse of Zephyr's continent, a massive, counter-intuitive military reallocation was taking place. The heavy infantry divisions—the iron-clad legions that had held the Korthane Hegemony at bay for a century—were being pulled back from the eastern frontier. They were not retreating from an invading army. They were retreating inward, deployed to guard grain silos, escort cinnaite shipments, and suppress the rioting Tremor Cultists in their own cities.
The Arbiter's economic warfare had turned the geography of the Imperium inside out.
Harsk Fenward, the Second Hero of the Eternal Forge, stood on the high observation balcony of the Ghost School training yard, watching the macro-collapse of traditional warfare. He closed his eyes, filtering out the distant, rhythmic pounding of Ashenveil's drop-forges.
He focused instead on the micro-reality of the yard below.
