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FROM THE SEAS COME THE SPOILS, AND THE TIDES BRING NEW ARRIVALS

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“Adrift were we, but now free from the shackles of the old world are we born anew.”
–Constantine Thalassar

In the southern reaches of Astrya, not far from the great city of Caldris, there lived a seafaring family by the name of Thalassar. They were neither lords nor great merchants, nor did their name carry the weight of the ancient houses of the Southern Kingdom. They were, however, a family accustomed to the sea, with enough wealth to maintain their vessels, their households, and the men and women who had chosen to sail beneath their colors.
For generations, the Thalassar had made their living upon the waters. Trade, fishing, privateering, and the occasional venture beyond the safer routes had become as much a part of their lives as the land itself.
That life would come to an end with a dream.
The dream came to the mother of Constantine. Its meaning was never fully understood, nor was its every detail spoken of beyond the family. What mattered was the certainty it left behind: something terrible was coming for the Thalassar family, a doom that could not be escaped by remaining where they were.
To most, such a dream might have been dismissed as nothing more than a troubled night.
The Thalassar did not dismiss it.
With what possessions they could carry, the family gathered those closest to them and prepared to leave Astrya behind. Constantine and Aurelia Thalassar led their kin and followers aboard their vessels, joined by Martin and Helen, as well as those who had bound their fortunes to the family: Lucian Narvian, Decimus Cethegarne, and Uriel Sinon.
There was no grand fleet behind them, nor an army waiting upon the shore. They departed with what ships, provisions, coin, weapons, and loyal hands they possessed. They left behind familiar waters, familiar shores, and whatever future might have awaited them in the Southern Kingdom.
The voyage proved far more difficult than any among them had imagined.
Storms found them in open waters. Winds drove their ships from their intended course, provisions dwindled, and the sea seemed determined to test every soul aboard. There were days when the sky offered nothing but black clouds and endless rain, and nights when the ships creaked beneath waves large enough to swallow them whole.
Yet the fleet endured.
Through storms and calm alike, through uncertainty and exhaustion, the Thalassar and their companions continued, carried onward by little more than their determination and the belief that whatever awaited them could not be worse than what they had left behind.
Then, after weeks upon the sea, land appeared upon the horizon.
Alpher.
An island far removed from the shores of Astrya, its coasts unfamiliar and its interior unknown to them. To the Thalassar, it was not a promised kingdom or a land of riches. It was simply land.
Land enough to begin again.
Their vessels came ashore with sails worn and hulls weathered by the journey. What remained of their provisions was unloaded alongside their possessions, weapons, and whatever else had survived the voyage. There were no banners of conquest raised upon the beaches, nor claims of lordship made.
Only the quiet beginning of something new.
The Thalassar had left Astrya to escape a doom foretold in a dream.
Upon Alpher, they would build a life of their own.
And in time, the family and those who had followed them would come to discover that leaving the old world behind did not mean leaving its troubles behind with it.