"Bible Times": Baron Saffron Spices up Things in Galilee (Part 1)

Galilee, 25 AD. The Roman Empire is at its height, Jesus Christ is performing miracles down the road, and Tan's just been caught stealing bread. Not the most auspicious start for a man about to style himself as "Baron Saffron" — the region's most ambitious spice dealer. His plan: build a condiment empire in the ancient world. His methods: questionable at best.

Tan's business model: undercutting, aggressive recruitment, and transport theft. When a local merchant introduces him to Mordechai, who controls the saffron trade with the weight of Roman authority behind him, the question isn't whether Baron Saffron's ambition outpaces his survival instinct but by how much. His chief enforcer goes by "the Iron Fist" and definitely gave himself that nickname. His mentor is an old shopkeeper he impressed by pretending to turn one loaf of bread into two. The empire is being built on bluffing and stolen donkeys.

Roman-occupied Galilee was a crossroads of trade, religion, and political tension. Saffron was worth more than gold by weight, and the merchants who controlled it wielded real power. Mordechai's estate, his personal guard, and the ever-present threat of Roman authority create a world where one wrong move could land you in a Galilean dungeon. Tan's approach to this world is to immediately make the most powerful man in town very, very angry.