Recaps

Victor helped finish the war against the Grand Duchy, then returned to Two Rivers Territory and prepared for its growth, including Veronica’s pregnancy, new immigration, and expanded farming and infrastructure. The arc ended with Victor finding Blue Lake Bay Outpost growing through copper mining and settlement.

• Hurst’s secret guard routed the Northern Alliance Army’s command, but Victor rallied the surviving forces with Alex and defeated the Duchy Army, while Grand Duke Mora escaped and Count Colt was found dead.
• Alex returned north to rebuild the Iron Birch Family, and Victor took command of the coalition, captured Silver Maple City, and freed the serfs held at the Garden.
• Marquis Gelorge elevated Alex to Duke Iron Birch and Victor to Marquis Golden Sunflower, then Victor transferred authority to Alex and sailed north.
• Victor met Benjamin and learned the extent of the Iron Birch Family’s losses before planning to relocate 200,000 serfs and expand Golden Sunflower Territory.
• Victor returned to Two Rivers Territory, welcomed Veronica, granted fiefs to his officers, and learned that she was pregnant.
• Victor announced Veronica’s pregnancy, arranged for visiting nobles, and examined Count Edmund’s unusually large order for paper.
• Victor inspected agricultural training and settlement work, then proposed diversion dams to manage river levels and support transport and irrigation.
• Victor visited Blue Lake Bay Outpost, where copper mining and immigration were underway, and approved its progress.

Victor expanded the territory’s administration, military, intelligence, and education plans while overseeing the successful telegraph connection and its gradual expansion. He pushed sugar production and worker bonuses, then prepared to leave for the Raine Kingdom with Duke Alex in August.

• Victor promoted Riverside Village to Riverside Town, appointed Bob as mayor, and learned that coin production needed more capacity and copper supplies.
• Victor approved new coin exchange rates, ordered increased production and metal stockpiles, and planned an ore survey while authorizing medical research into an unusually developed boy.
• Victor proposed paid schools and noble education for his family and vassals, then directed Isaac to seek funding through Stanchiu rather than disrupt the Finance Department.
• Victor approved intelligence operations at the public hospital and a plan to resettle veterans, then assigned retired soldiers to nobles and tasked Saruman with creating Army and Navy War Departments.
• Victor approved the departments and their ministers, then celebrated Octavia and the researchers’ successful underwater telegraph connection and funded rewards and education for serf children.
• Victor and Powell arranged a gradual telegraph expansion, opened a low-cost trial line, and saw a merchant use it to bring a caravan to Wood Fort Town.
• Victor cautioned officials against expecting quick telegraph profits, then praised Sam’s crop trials and emphasized expanding Red Hemp and Long-Staple Cotton.
• Victor and Rabik managed the sugar rush by honoring contracts, limiting sales, disciplining merchants who tried to seize a shipment, and preventing uncontrolled bidding.
• Victor ordered sugar beet acreage doubled and proposed a merchants’ guild whose profits would fund bonuses for workers, including serfs, as he pushed to grow the industry.
• Victor inspected the beet fields and dam construction, required every sugar worker to receive at least one gold coin, and told Zarack he would leave for the Raine Kingdom with Duke Alex in August.

Victor resolved a dam-building problem, then traveled with Brando to Iron Tree City and joined Alex on a mission to the Raine Kingdom. At Beckman, Victor secured a deal to sell White Sugar through powerful nobles, while the kingdom’s welcome hinted that Vela’s strength might soon be needed for another war.

• Victor proposed making concrete blocks from cement and brittle local stone, helping Levant and Zarack resume the dam project before he left for Iron Tree City with Brando.
• Victor arrived in Sunset City, learned that pirates were attacking coastal villages, and authorized Viscount Sonanda to destroy them while he took Brando to Raine Kingdom.
• Alex told Victor that rebellions in the Central Three Counties had disrupted planting and proposed a canal linking the Central and Northern Regions, which Victor agreed to support with wheat.
• Victor and Alex traveled with the Vela nobles through war-damaged counties and sailed across the Tears of God Inland Sea, where Count Edmund explained the Kingdom Navy’s ship and faction disputes.
• Victor negotiated with Edmund to supply improved paper at a low price and learned that the Navy would share profits from trade between the Vela Region and the kingdom’s heartland.
• The fleet reached Beckman City, where Marquis Gelorge and other nobles welcomed Alex and Victor, and Victor recognized the kingdom’s interest in the Vela region.
• Alex introduced Victor to the kingdom’s high-ranking nobles, who asked to buy White Sugar and discussed selling it through the Golden Tree Trading Company.
• Victor negotiated White Sugar sales terms with Marquis Guilford and the other nobles, agreeing to give them a share of annual sales that rose with the volume sold.

Victor traveled with Alex and the Vela nobles to Golden Tree City, where they met King Carol I and began arranging support for Vela’s recovery. After returning home, Victor reunited with Veronica and newborn Charlie, supported Baron Rossi, and chose to remain in Vela with his family.

• Victor and Count Edmund traveled with Alex’s delegation toward the capital, and Victor warned Edmund that enslaved people could organize revolts.
• Viscount Lugan told Victor about widespread military corruption and the brutal suppression of a slave revolt before the fleet passed the final canal lock.
• King Carol I welcomed the Vela nobles, then hosted their audience at Blazing Sun Palace and offered residences and educational opportunities in the capital.
• Alex and the Vela nobles discussed recovery plans and trade with kingdom nobles while Victor searched for the source of hostile stares.
• Veronica gave birth to Charlie, and Victor hurried home from Golden Tree City to reunite with his family.
• Baron Rossi delivered Alex’s letter and gifts, and Victor advised Rossi to remain in Vela and helped him rebuild his territory.
• Victor gave Veronica Golden Court Tree Leaves and said he planned to stay in Vela with her and Charlie.
• Bruno sent the last passenger train east from Red Soil Town as workers discussed the town’s growth as a railway transfer point.