The Sunset Islands were beautiful in the way that doomed places often are lush, peaceful, carrying no visible signs of the approaching catastrophe. The garrison commander who met us at the harbor was a woman named Captain Sarah Tidecaller, whose competence was immediately apparent in the way she'd organized the island's defenses.
"The situation is worse than our initial reports suggested," she informed us as we reviewed the military preparations. "Our interrogation of the captured scouts revealed that this isn't just a conquest expedition it's a testing ground for new conversion techniques they want to use against larger targets."
"What kind of new techniques?" I asked.
"They're calling it 'Progressive Enlightenment.' Instead of immediate conversion, they're experimenting with gradual i
