A quarter of a century had passed since the starlight of the Primordial Crucible washed across the earth, and the world had blossomed into an era of unprecedented flourishing. The settlements of the Verdant Reach were no longer isolated sanctuaries carved from the floodwaters; they had expanded into a vibrant network of stone-paved roads, river ports, terraced hillsides, and thriving townships. New Hearth had become a great seat of learning, where scholars and craftsmen traveled from across the oceans to study the union of agriculture, natural science, and the history of the Great Awakening.
In the quiet archives of the New Hearth Great Library, the morning light poured through stained-glass clerestory windows, casting warm mosaics of amber, sapphire, and rose across long tables of polish
