The formation of the Tempest Federation sent shockwaves across the Continent of Sugbu, rattling the foundations of ancient power structures. With 200 kingdoms, the political landscape was a complex web of shifting alliances, ancient rivalries, and entrenched power blocs. The newly formed Federation, with its focus on economic independence and technological advancement, was an audacious challenge to the status quo, threatening the very foundations of the established magical and mercantile empires.
The most powerful existing alliance was the Grand Conclave of Mana, a coalition of six dominant Elven and Human kingdoms that controlled the vast majority of mana crystal mines and arcane academies across Sugbu. They viewed magic as the ultimate power and industrialization as a crude, dirty, and inferior path. Their leaders, often ancient Arch-Mages and powerful Merchant-Kings, were deeply entrenched in the mana-crystal trade, a monopoly that the Tempest Federation's coal-powered innovations threatened to disrupt. The Grand Conclave was heavily, though secretly, influenced by the Black Hand, whose deepest roots lay in controlling arcane resources and information.
Another significant alliance was the Ironblood Pact, a militaristic confederation of four powerful Human and Orc kingdoms known for their formidable armies and control over strategic choke points and traditional trade routes. They viewed the rise of etabsam's "Iron Serpents" as a military threat, fearing that the newfound industrial might could be easily weaponized. They too had their own dealings with the Black Hand, often relying on their shadow network for intelligence and black market weapons.
The leaders of these established alliances scoffed at the Tempest Federation, publicly dismissing it as a "collection of struggling city-states" or a "foolish experiment." But in private, their concern was palpable. The Weaver, the enigmatic leader of the Black Hand, saw the Tempest Federation as the single greatest threat to their continental dominance.
"The banker prince moves with alarming speed," The Weaver rasped in their hidden chamber, watching magically projected news from Sugbu. "He has united the desperate. He has found a new source of power beyond mana crystals. He threatens our very livelihood."
The Weaver decided it was time to deploy a new, more dangerous asset against Mark. This was not a mercenary or a corrupt noble. This was Arch-Councillor Vorlag of the Grand Conclave of Mana.
Vorlag was a Human Arch-Mage, ostensibly a brilliant scholar and a respected leader within the Grand Conclave. But in truth, he was a cold, calculating fanatic, deeply loyal to The Weaver and the Black Hand's vision of continental control. He believed magic was the only true path to power, and that technology like Mark's steam engines was a perversion, a dangerous, uncontrollable force that would inevitably lead to chaos. He also had a personal vendetta against any who threatened the mana crystal monopolies, as his own family held significant shares in the largest crystal mines. He harbored a chilling, almost fanatical devotion to "order" and "stability," which, in his view, was maintained only through the Black Hand's unseen control.
Vorlag, under The Weaver's direct instruction, began subtly manipulating events. He sent envoys to the Ironblood Pact, whispering warnings of etabsam's military potential and suggesting preemptive strikes. He planted rumors of unrest within the Tempest Federation, exploiting minor disagreements among its diverse members. He began a new campaign of industrial espionage through his vast network of arcane scholars and mages, attempting to uncover the secrets of etabsam's steam engines, not to replicate them, but to find their vulnerabilities, to weaponize them against Mark.
He also had a more insidious plan for Mark himself. Vorlag believed Mark's magic was raw, unrefined. He planned to subtly corrupt the mana-conduit systems Ellaine was developing, turning Mark's own innovations into tools for his downfall. The true conflict was shifting: from internal corruption to a war of ideologies, magic versus steel, tradition versus progress, all orchestrated by The Weaver and their powerful, zealous agents like Arch-Councillor Vorlag. The Tempest Federation had united the hopeful, but the continent's established powers were preparing to crush them, with the Black Hand providing the invisible fist.