Welcome back. Today we will point our attention to the economy – or rather, how one of its elements impacted history. The story should be surprising, and hopefully interesting. Without further ado – it began long ago…
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Dally, year 477 of Era II
Even though founded in the early days of the Second Era, the Kingdom of the Cape did not find as much impact in the Continent as other Eastern countries – it was largely isolated by dense forests, and at the time only bordered Revenith on land, and had a sea border with the equally young kingdom of Edae. Every ruler of the Cape wanted to find some way of gaining more power in the region – the development of farming, mining or industry, to name a few examples. However, the attempts were futile – the scarcity of resources for any of these and difficult logistics prevented any substantial progress. In consequence, the country constantly resorted to silent self-sufficiency. The situation would last for over four centuries.
It was only in the late fifth century that an opportunity for change would appear, even though the kingdom didn’t notice it at first. Sprouts of a weird plant, practically not seen before, were noticed in many places in the kingdom’s forests. It was a small brush that would have a few – usually no more than five of elongated juicy fruit. The plant was named panthae. Most people did not want to try the fruit, out of caution. Out of those who dared, nobody suffered any damage, but all deemed the fruit sharply sour and unpleasant to eat, and did not want to try it anymore. The plant became considered a mere useless weed by most.
However, a small minority would still look for ways to use the now ubiquitous brush. Some used it in cooking, others fed it to animals, and some even tried to use it as a building component. None of these attempts led to satisfactory results, and were abandoned. Finally, one of them led to a discovery – boiling the fruit in water along with tree sap created a thick juice that not only had a manageable taste and was quite nutritious, but also appeared to have good medicinal properties, and provide great help to people suffering from fevers and similar illnesses, as well as relieve the pain in people with chronic disease. The creator of the concoction – anonymous to this day – kept refining the procedure. The news of his finding spread quickly through the kingdom and all of Aedilër.
Soon, the demand for panthae juice was very high. The wealthy of all nations would order large quantities, sometimes just for themselves, and on other occasions to allow their workers to recover from their health issues and return to work, or even be able to work at an older age. This forced the Cape to increase its production far beyond a single local brewer. Soon, every village had at least one person capable of making quality panthae juice, and some even created brewing facilities with two or three dozen workers. In some cases, foreign nobles and merchants decided to hire a personal panthae brewer, who would come with a large supply of the fruit. The king created many laws governing panthae trade, that would, among others, forbid sharing the brewing procedure with foreigners, under threat of capital punishment, in order to ensure exclusive supply of the product. Additionally, many clearcut passages were created in the forests of the Cape in order to facilitate transport of the juice.
Panthae trade brought great revenue to the Kingdom. It not only brought great improvement by itself, but also allowed extensive investment into other sectors that created further income. Additionally, with the new funds, the king managed to create a large and modern army, eliminating any doubt as to the defensive potential of the Kingdom. Overall, in a matter of half a century, the Kingdom of the Cape turned from a small remote country to an important player not only in the region, but in the whole Continent, and managed to survive until this day.
That’s a good place to finish, thank you.
Aedilër 