LIKED TO PLAY POKER. HE WAS NOT ALWAYS lucky, but he took the defeat like a man is supposed to. That is to say, he paid out without making a face. In the beginning there was the District. The Second Cape and the First Cape and the great woods and something else too. In the beginning was the war, and the war, it was lost. Certain areas caught the eye of the victorious nation, the great land in the east, areas that were highly desirable for future military exploits and just in general, and the country could keep its independence regardless. One area was handed over to the victorious nation, for a time. The District was located in just that area. Consequently, the people were evacuated and everyone was forced to move, and later during the years that followed it was as though the area was closed off from the outside world. It was during these tumultuous years that Baron von B., who happened to own almost all of the Second Cape and a significant portion of the woods and so on, sat down at the poker table.
