📖:Metal Crisis

By the late 14th century AC (during the reign of Darius and the early years of his successor), the Tarosian Kingdom faced a catastrophic, yet unspoken, economic threat: the depletion of Central Arial's accessible copper, silver, and gold deposits.

While the aggressive standardization of the 5g coin currency by Kayros in 917AC initially succeeded, it relied heavily on recycling ancestral tribal wealth and stripping shallow, surface-level veins. By 1150AC, the Kingdom hit a hard Bronze Age technological ceiling. Lacking the deep-shaft mining technology of the later Iron Age, Garont laborers could no longer safely extract ore, and the easily accessible "low-hanging fruit"—much of which had already been scavenged by precataclysm virian cultures—was entirely exhausted.

To prevent the collapse of the royal treasury and the subsequent fracturing of the Three Pillars, the Tarosian Secret Chancery was forced to initiate a highly classified, illicit trade network with the Deseria state in the Wild Desert.

The Geographical Reality

While Central Arial was stripped of its surface ores, the harsh, wind-scoured landscape of the Wild Desert naturally exposes deep, rich mineral bedrock. The drake and sord inhabitants of Deseria, forced to adapt to the unforgiving environment over centuries, developed specialized, deep-shaft mining techniques and structural supports that the Tarosians lacked.

The Mechanics of the Hypocrisy

Open trade with the "heretical" Outskirts is a direct violation of the Rightful Path and would incite religious outrage. Therefore, the exchange is conducted entirely in the shadows:

• Proxy Merchants: The Secret Chancery utilizes front companies, disguised as independent Garont trading guilds or neutral third-party caravans, to transport raw ore across the border.

• The Exchange: In return for massive quantities of copper, silver, and gold, Deseria demands contraband that the Kingdom publicly forbids: advanced Ikor medical texts, refined Catalyst components, and tacit agreements that the Tarosian Royal Guard will ignore Deserian territorial expansion along the eastern border.

• The "Tribute" Fiction: To maintain plausible deniability, the Crown officially records these incoming shipments as "rightful tribute" extracted from "subjugated eastern vassals," a lie that only the highest echelons of the Varros Clan know is false.

Strategic Leverage

This silent dependency grants Deseria some unspoken geopolitical leverage. Deserian trade barons are acutely aware that if they were to halt the flow of metal, the Tarosian Kingdom's currency would collapse within a generation, making them one of the few powers capable of checking the Crown's imperial ambitions without firing a single arrow.

Despite the leverage Deseria still is highly dependent on the Tarosian Kingdom and is afraid of the power they wield, therefore creating a high tension between them.