Seventeen: In Which a City Feels Restless in Dry Heat

During a summer of discontent, mordant pamphlets, theft and rainfall that was uncommonly low for the perpetually inclement citadel, restive groups formed and saw a chance. The conscript toll had been severe and rising for four years, and over a third of Sparta’s population was away losing wars. Most of the remaining population was engaged in wartoil, and was increasingly hungry and angry.