_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5" style="border:0px solid">While vampire society gradually embraced medieval aesthetics, Lucius quietly secured control of a resource others considered obsolete: fuel production. As territories abandoned technological infrastructure, he methodically acquired oil refineries, preserving both the facilities and the knowledge required for their operation.
The irony was exquisite. Orlov's territory, champion of medieval regression, relied entirely on disguised vehicles powered by fuel only Lucius could provide. His aristocratic rivals never questioned why he maintained these "historical curiosities" among his many collections, dismissing them as eccentric indulgence rather than strategic foresight.
"Another shipment request from Southern Reaches," reported the unassuming administrator who oversaw the hidden refineries. "Shall I apply the standard premium rate?"
Lucius nodded without looking up from the territorial reports on his desk. "Maintain the preferential rate for the Northern Dominion."
The pricing structure was deliberately calibrated—traditional territories paid significantly more than progressive allies, creating both substantial wealth and an elegant system of rewards and penalties that required no explicit acknowledgment. Each transaction reinforced dependency while generating resources for initiatives that would remain invisible for centuries.
Through this seemingly minor economic arrangement, Lucius established the financial foundation that would eventually fund everything from Dante's dimensional research to Seraphina's biological adaptations—all while appearing to his fellow Archdukes as merely an efficient resource manager rather than the architect of a millennia-spanning strategy.
The traditional faction never recognized that their rejection of technology had created their greatest vulnerability, nor that their ceremonial carriages—secretly powered by internal combustion rather than horses when outside public view—represented their unwitting participation in Lucius's long-term vision.
