Doc\u2019s return from the Tsarrus brought both joy and sorrow. His children were growing up fast, and he\u2019d missed their earliest years. When he finally made it back to Furden and his family, he soaked in the love of his wives and the excitement of his children. Doc finally had something he\u2019d always yearned for: a full family.<\/p>\n
But things were still moving toward confrontation. The Church of Apoc was mobilizing the entire nation to stand against Doc and his \u201cfalse religion.\u201d Doc and his allies weren\u2019t ignoring the growing threat, instead making plans of their own. Everything kicked off when the Emeritan government tried to seize Doc\u2019s businesses and assets. The plans were pushed forward, and the western states declared secession, making a new government in Western Emerita.<\/p>\n
Even worse, that wasn\u2019t all. The church again tried to assassinate Doc, but failed to account for who was in the carriage they\u2019d targeted. The Driver brothers\u2014 who\u2019d been driving and guarding it\u2014died in the explosion, as did Sequoia, Ayla, and Ginger. Ayla\u2019s gifts from Doc brought her back, but that still left the others dead. That heralded a long-standing Dwarven proverb: \u201ca good man went to war.\u201d Bereft of his wife, Harrid took up arms, guiding his templars to be the bulwark of Western Emerita against the army of Eastern Emerita.<\/p>\n
Even with the military legends of Lee, Grant, Jackson, and Pershing leading Eastern Emerita, they found themselves devastated. None of them had faced Mother\u2019s children united. Led by Rosa, the dryads were on every battlefield, crushing artillery emplacements and giving Western Emerita a steep advantage. In the end, Eastern Emerita petitioned for peace and retreated across the Big River.<\/p>\n
But not all was settled\u2014the Pontiffica was still alive, having crushed War\u2019s new Voice. Knowing that the gods were moving, the Voice of Darkness would begin to lay his own plans. Emerita might\u2019ve found an unsteady peace, but the world was in for something it had never seen before.<\/p>\n