In time, the Traldar recovered somewhat from the curses that plagued their land. With help from Elves and Dwarves who had migrated to their land, they were able to reclaim some of their territory and keep their enemies at bay. Eventually they began to call themselves Traladarans, as a natural evolution of time and outside influences had affected their customs and language. However, even though they had a long line of "monarchs" that stretched back to the time of Halav, the Traladarans, for all intents and purposes, were still a non-nation of independent villages that warred with one another or united as the mood struck.

By AC 900, the village/port of Mirros had grown into Traladara's largest and most politically influental settlement. At the same time, improved communication and trade had raised the standard of living greatly in the far off inland settlements, sparking a long dormant sense of national identity. Traladara's neighbors began viewing the nation with increased interest. The forest nation had never posed any organized threat, so none had erected any serious defenses against Traladara. But, the leaders supposed, what if a strong clan leader emerged that could unite the Traladarans as one people - or worse yet, they were conquered by a hostile foreign power?

The Empire of Thyatis decided to act first. They sent troops to Mirros, to "conquer" the city. They claimed all of Traladara as a Thyatian territory and sent a governor and garrison of troops to Mirros to oversee Thyatian interests. The only other steps Thyatis took to formalize their claim were to re-name the city to Specularum (the Thyatian translation of Mirros, "Mirror City") and levy a tax on all trade revenue. Aside from this, most of Traladara was mostly untouched and life remained virtually the same. Even though the people suffered an Imperial tax, the increased Thyatian influence resulted in booming trade and increased profits for the Traladarans.

The modern history of Karemeikos began in Thyatis in the small but unusually wealthy duchy of Machetos, on the eastern border of Traladara. Stefan Karameikos III inherited rulership of the duchy at the age of 20, but was not content with the predictable life of a duke in the Thyatian Empire. He wanted to rule territory shaped by his own hands and formed in his own image; this desciption fit neither the dominion of his ancestors nor the Empire of his friend, Emperor Thincol Torion. So he made a deal with the Emperor where he traded his ancestral lands in exchange for ownership of the Traladara region and a guarantee of autonomy.

So, in AC 970, Duke Stefan traveled to his new country, announced his assumption of rulership over Traladaran lands and put down the armed insurrection which resulted (led primarily by the Marilenev Clan). After things had settled down somewhat, he began luring ambitious, landless nobles from Thyatis to help him rule his new land in proper Thyatian fashion. The first three decades of Duke Stefan's rule were characterized by both good and bad results.

On the bad side, many of the Thyatian settlers who poured into the country, swearing loyalty to the Duke and receiving land grants were ruthless men who literally stole lands from Traladarans already living on them. Most notorious among them was the Duke's own cousin, Baron Ludwig von Hendriks, who enjoys a dubius reputation among both the Traladaran and Thyatian populace.

On the positive side, aside from most of the Traladaran "old-guard" in Mirros/Specularum, the majority of Traladarans regard the Duke, personally, to be a man of character and integrity. He used his tax revenues to build broad, good roads across the country, truly uniting the far flung villages into a single nation. He also built a substantial army using native Traladarans, Thyatian immigrants and even Callarii elves, to protect the Grand Duchy. In short, he began the long, slow process of building Traladara, a land of unfriendly villages and wolf-howls in the night, into a strong, modern trade nation.