A great pestilence spread through the Shire, infecting one person in every three. Life in the Shire was thrown into chaos so that even Aravice’s great wealth was threatened. A few people recalled the prophecy of Sir Estia, and a few others began to wish that Sir Cata and Sir Veta were once more guardians of the Shire. But soon, after things returned to some semblance of normality, most people slipped back into their bad habits, encouraged by Aravice, who was keen to regain his own wealth and power.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful land that called itself the Shire. Its people were happy. They lived and worked on their own small pieces of land, growing their own food and trading the surplus with their neighbours. Many of them were also craftsmen, making and fixing things so that everyone could work well and live well. Even the simple things that they made were beautiful because they put all that they loved into all that they made. Occasionally a trader from distant lands would arrive with interesting things which the people from the Shire had never seen before. They traded their own simple things for these novelties, but saw them as niceties and certainly not necessities. Trade with the outside world was the exception, not the rule, which is why traders never became their rulers.

Like any other place, the Shire was threatened by evil. There were dragons and serpents raging in neighbouring lands, as well as the dragon-folk who served them, devouring crops, burning villages, and carrying off maidens. The Shire was kept safe from such ravages by the courage of two legendary knights, Sir Cata and Sir Veta, who were famous for their slaying of dragons.

All was well until Aravice, a wicked merchant, began to bring things from a distant place in the distant East, called Anchi. These included the usual strange novelties but also the things that were made by the folks in the Shire. They were not as beautiful as the things made by the Shire-folk, but they were functional and were much cheaper. People began to buy the cheap things from Anchi, making Aravice so rich that he soon had an army of merchants working for him. Many Shire-folk gave up their lives on the farm or abandoned the ancient crafts they’d learned at their father’s knee, in order to work for Aravice. This allowed them to purchase more of the things from Anchi, which they now desired more than the beautiful things that their parents had valued and enjoyed. Many of the things from Anchi, being made poorly, needed to be replaced often, increasing the wealth of Aravice and the dependence of the people of the Shire on the imports from Anchi. And the neglected farmland became rubbish heaps full of discarded trash.

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