The period that came next, after the brief flowering of plenty, came to be known as the Junior Deprivation. Not as serious as the decade-long Senior Deprivation, that had seen whole cities depopulated and kingdoms crumbled, but enough that the people knew want and fear again. Some were grateful that things had not gotten quite so bad; others were fearful that the Deprivation would deepen and there would soon be nothing left of them. They increasingly turned to demagogues and charlatans who promised quick returns to prosperity, or a permanent banishing of the Senior Deprivation.

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