The Empire's elite were finally beginning to face a hard truth: the age of impunity was ending. Every action-no matter how well hidden behind privilege or title-now carried consequences.
Understanding that truth was one thing. Accepting it was another.
For the most zealous Princes, power outweighed the Empire itself. And if preserving their dominion meant igniting a war at the Empire's very heart, so be it. They would burn it all down before letting it slip from their grasp.
