While the Night Elves were throwing themselves into massive construction projects, the Eastern Kingdoms across the sea were no less turbulent.
The first major event was the split of the Arathor Empire.
Boss Hu sighed deeply when he received the news. That once incomparably glorious unified empire had crumbled apart and vanished into the river of time. Perhaps another great empire like it would never emerge again.
Humans were an exceptionally short-lived race. Several decades or even a century passed in the blink of an eye to Elves and Dragons, yet to humans, it was an entire lifetime.
Emperor Thoradin and the batch of generals from the days of the Troll Wars, such as General Lothar, had long since passed away one after another. One generation replaced another, and then was replaced in turn.
When Emperor Thoradin had passed away, the Night Elves had even obeyed the Titan Divine Lord's orders and specially sent a delegation to offer solemn condolences.
From then on, the Night Elves lost interest in the Arathor Empire under its new emperor. Their once-close relations gradually faded into indifference.
Thoradin II had been fairly capable. Relying on his late father's prestige and the loyalty of his late father's old companions, he had kept the Arathor Empire unified, prosperous, and glorious, though he never again launched military campaigns of foreign expansion.
But people's hearts changed. The second emperor was one thing; the third and fourth might not be.
At last, the newly succeeded emperor lacked the prestige to control this vast empire and its many enfeoffed lords. The lords stationed beyond the capital began obeying proclamations while ignoring orders, keeping private armies and growing ever colder and more distant toward Stromgarde, the imperial capital. Only a nominal relationship of vassalage remained.
Thus, humanity's glorious era of unification