Noxus was weaker than ever.
If Karya had been even a little more accommodating, he might have been able to reach an agreement with Darius, turning the Frostguard Tribe's former temporary ally into one of his own.
But Karya had done no such thing.
Deep down, he didn't trust Noxus—or, more specifically, he didn't trust the Noxians led by Darius, who had lived through the height of the Noxian Empire's militaristic imperialism.
A person's upbringing and education had an enormous influence on their worldview. Even Karya, who had truly experienced life and death, was no exception.
So he had never believed the Noxians would be willing to cooperate.
In Karya's view, the Noxians would never give up their belief in supremacy. Given the chance, they would gladly wager everything on a desperate gamble to turn the tables. Choose them as allies, and you'd only end up stabbed in the back.
Of course, that didn't mean Karya was prejudiced against all Noxians. In fact, after meeting Rell, the current Grand Commander in name only, he'd taken a liking to the young girl.
Rell had been confined to a secret magic academy since childhood and subjected to inhumane training. She loathed many of Old Noxus's ideals from the bottom of her heart. When she destroyed the academy and led her classmates in their struggle to survive, she showed a side that was very "un-Noxian."
Karya could tell that she and Darius were nothing alike.
So, to Karya, offering the Jotunheim Trade Autonomous Region as a token of goodwill had another purpose: to remove militaristic imperialist relics like Darius from the heart of Noxus.
If Darius was truly willing to cooperate in good faith, the result would be a Noxus that gradually broke free of its old militaristic imperialism and became a normal