After the Asterleeds Independence War, one of the most pressing issues was the status of the original Byrnhalds.

According to the Asterleeds Council, if the goal was to dismantle the old hierarchy and build a city founded on equality, then the existing privileges of knights, nobles, and merchants had to be abolished. Knights would become indistinguishable from spear-wielding soldiers. Merchants would lose their favored status and monopoly over trade. Nobles would be reduced to hollow symbols-no different from actors on a stage.

As a result, many knights chose to return to Byrnhald, where they still held fiefs and signet rings and could maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Some nobles also went back to their homelands to manage their estates. Most merchants, however, opted to remain in Asterleeds, continuing their trade and using long-established networks to live a luxurious life.

One group, however, stood apart-the so-called fallen nobles. Having already lost power in Byrnhald, returning home would mean swift retribution. Yet staying in Asterleeds meant being reduced to commoner status-and possibly facing social exclusion. Many of them chose instead to conceal their identities, quickly liquidate their assets, and whitewash their pasts in order to reinvent themselves as merchants. In a way, it was a desperate but necessary means of survival.