As the hot summer sun dries out the desert, the caravans travel in dust and thirst. Oases along the Winter Route shrink, and guides who claim to know the locations of secret springs command a high price.
Bright spears and marching lines are sighted along the roads, passing by the farmers who work in their fields and await the harvest.
This ends Cycle 2 and begins Cycle 3…
As the days lengthen, the oases are noisy with the passing caravans. Beyond the desert, the green hills are rainbows, flowering with life. Changes planted, whether by design or chance, are beginning to take root…
Nineteen centuries ago:
With the melting of the snows, the rivers rise, the summer routes become passable again, and caravans make their unhurried ways along the trading roads.
The game begins…