Mark wants to use his new transportation technology in trade for military help in Altan. They believe there is a warrior race who could defeat the enemy of Altan (The Hoards”). The “Hoards” take over and maintain control of Altan by force. Altan people are desperate after having their treasures and resources drained away by the Hoards for decades. All will be lost if Mark and Charles can’t bring back help.
Atlans are enslaved and extorted by their enemies. The protagonists want to trade a new transportation technology to other kingdoms that would help win the Altans their independence.
Visitors from their country to neighboring countries end up being captured and sold as slaves to the enemy’s noble class. They are weary of visiting other parts of their world even with the technology they've acquired because they believe they might be captured or killed as escaped slaves. Altan has been a “Slaveland” for decades. Mark and Charles want to raise an army to fight for the Altan people's freedom. Anyone close to Alton had a perception about the country that they were a race of slaves. Marc knew that if he was going to get help, it would come from someone so far away they had never heard of Alton or met any Italians. Not only was the new technology, a bargaining chip, but in addition to being able to bargain with this technology, he was able to use it to go far enough away, that he and Charles would not deal with the stigma of slavery. Being able to come into the respect of whoever they were speaking to in a negotiation was vital to the success of their negotiations. If someone thought them weak, then their negotiating position would be compromised such that they might just be robbed of the technology and get nothing from it. a big consideration was that anyone reporting to be an ally for them would come to Alton and enslave them again. What they wanted was someone to come defeat the surrounding territories, and then walk away. How could they expect someone to conquer a foreign land, and then walk away with nothing? Mark had already thought about that. He considered offering the spoils of other nations as a reward for conquering them. He didn’t much care for the land that the hordes natively owned. But what was theirs to be offered from the horde's land? The Westerners lived in some of the most beautiful areas on the planet And anyone would be happy to take them if they could. That’s why the Westerners had it after all, because they were powerful enough to take it and keep it for themselves. No one could take it away from them. That was a part of the problem. How could he make Alton strong enough?