The long, winter's war that had threatened House Duschan, witnessing sieges and battles grim and terrible, is done. It is now two months after the Battle of the Heights, where Our Joanna forged her final victory against House Orsini. No longer is House Duschan whispers of legend, drifting like the taproom smoke surrounding the whisperers. No more are the Northlands home to myth and story. Nay, Dear Friend, for all the world hear the trumpets peal, and the many voices cheer the name of Joanna. Once was she the loving daughter of an aged Prince, then Prince in her own right, and soon to be known to all the galaxy...as an Empress. The Fates have finally awakened from their long, long sleep, to discover Our Joanna, a rare gem upon a forgotten, "primitive" world in the far distant frontier of the known Galaxy. "When first a child awakens, the first light, the first flesh encountered, the first breast suckled, the first face beheld, is that of the Mother; all at once mighty, powerful, loving and beautiful. So too can be said of an Empire reborn in regards to an Empress. And like to a simple mother giving birth to her child; an Empire, great or small, the Mother must fend off meddlesome in-laws; hovering creatures replete with both noisy advice, and whispered, and dark, intrigue. Thus stands with Our Empress, yet only slightly in the shadows, do we see a mighty Captain-General, also Husband to Our Empress, towering in the shadows behind her, with his sword held drawn, and ready to enforce her true justice...and to see an Empire reborn...Her Empire...Our Empire..." Prince Andro, Vocator Prime, in the service of, Her Imperial Majesty, Joanna IV Thus continues my humble chronicle of a Galactic Empire reborn, which began with Empire's Sword... And again do I, Your Humble Narrator, stand as witness to the events unfolding... For I was there...