It is 432 BC. Athens has grown wealthy and influential enough to earn the hostility of Sparta, Korinthos, and the Boiotian League simultaneously. At a tense gathering of the Peloponnesian League, the fractures between city-states deepen past the point of diplomatic repair. The resulting conflict will determine which power governs the Hellenic world—but the factions aligned against Athens are not unified beyond their shared opposition. Each has its own territorial and political ambitions once the war begins. On the eastern horizon, the Persian Empire is watching the conflict with considerable interest and making its own preparations.