How a simple question lead to a telling of a whole history

This past weekend while we were working on editing 'Sword of the Crown' we ran into a bit of a dilemma that began with whom a knight would swear fealty to. In the land of Merceria, the king has been actively reducing the influence and power of his nobles over the past few years, so knights now swear fealty directly to the king, but in the past knights used to swear fealty to their liege lord. Carol asked the simple question of when did this change. This led us to a series of questions all about the recent history of the land, then what happened almost one thousand years ago, when Merceria was founded. I do have timeline of events, but Carol wanted more specific details! Some days it is tough when your editor is your wife; she can be relentless in pursuit of the facts!
 
We spent over three hours detailing past civil wars, how the different realms were founded, what happened to the ancient races, and so much more! It has become apparent that although my readers will most likely never see it in its entirety, the history of Merceria and surrounding areas is a tomb that I will be writing this week. I am already thinking about the different short stories that will stem from so many events in the history books!