This is a very brief summary of what appears to be going on in the Winds of War updates for the LARP game, Empire, by Profound Decisions. If you have no idea what any of those words mean I do apologise but I am also not going to explain because it would take forever and I did this to try and save time not use more of it up.

Ok, so all the Winds of War are out now, which gives us a chance to look at them and decide which ones we want to go for.

There are six winds of war this time, with four conjunctions, and only two chances for a battle. So the military council will have to make the decision of which ones they are going to use and which ones they are going to allow to go to waste.

First up. Fire and Hemlock.

  • Fun with the Vallorn! And Heirs of Terunael who are helping it along! Who aren’t just Navarr but are also Varushkans and Urizeni. Lovely team work folks!
  • And the people who live in the affected territories are going to have damaged resources for this event and in some cases for the next year. Which sucks, bad luck.
  • Anyone who sent military aid to Protect Therunin or Hercynia are going to be having some problems with their fighters, since they all got bashed around a lot. They might also get some thank you presents from the locals, though which might make up for it?
  • If you were there you get to ask for some super special traumatic wounds. There are also some options if you are a Briar and want to do something special, including possibly being a traitorous baddie if you feel like it.

Second, a part called The Game which is not confusing at all.

  • In Segura there is a weird archaelogical dig site that the Jotun there seem to be very interested in. If they are interested in it then we should probably be too. It’s only polite after all. The Jotun are apparently about half way chucked out of Segura by this point so it might be worth it to get them the rest of the way out.
  • There is also gossip and intrigue afoot. The reasons why this is interesting are apparently not super well known, and so someone is going to be coming to Anvil to talk to the Imperial Necromancer about it. That seems quite telling, to be honest, something’s up and it’s probably got something to do with dead bodies. Which is extra interesting when you add in the archaeological stuff going on!
  • If you live in Feroz now is the time to skedaddle since the land is getting given over to the Grendel and they are going to be in charge, which means penalties on what you get.
  • This one has got a conjunction! Specifically for the Indiana Jones groupies.

Third, Hexwood. Some place in Ossium that lives up to the creepiness of its name, apparently.

  • There is a big forest somewhere in Ossium that is both officially Forested, but also officially Haunted. There is also a bunch of Druj Miasma pillars everywhere which are probably not helping matters overly much.
  • There are rumours of a big army in there somewhere but no one seems to know where it is.
  • Could probably do with some spying and scouting, since no one knows what’s going on or where anything is, but there’s no official word on a fight happening there.

Fourth, Homeward Bounders.

  • More Jotun! They seem to be very busy at the moment.
  • But also! Yegarra! Human fighters for the Jotuns who seem to be very upset with the Empire, probably because of the Mournwold, which, to be honest, is probably fair enough.
  • Imperial forces are apparently just short of half way of forcing out the Jotun forces, however there is also a whole bunch of weird intrigue and stuff going on with the Not!Marchers who are fighting on the Jotun side. They might be trying for a chat at some point.
  • This one’s also got a conjunction, so people can go fight in it. But they also want people who can fight and who can look like Marchers to go along and help out. Which might be fun.

Fifth, Power of Three

  • Lots of back and forth here as people almost fall into traps and then don’t, and then need to retreat and get away, and so on and so forth.
  • It is Zenith and it is the Druj. There are miasma pillars, bring something along to help with that if you are going to fight there.
  • There are a bunch of prisoners who need to be rescued, they apparently have info on the Druj being even more shifty than normal and there is something that might be happening at the next solstice. They’re going to make a break for it whether or not we agree to help, so we should probably help to make sure they come home.
  • This one has a conjunction, it needs people who can stand up to miasma pillars.

Sixth, Hidden Turnings

  • More Jotun! And Yegarra! And just a lot of other stuff too!
  • The Jotun are coming and they’re killing a whole bunch of people on their way. So much so that the Thule are even saying that they will raise magics to prevent excess deaths, because apparently, they feel badly for everyone. The Ambassador to Otkodov should probably talk to them about that, whoever that is.
  • The orcs of Ossium have been coming to Skarsind to escape the Druj, all 8,000 or so of them, and they have been escorted by Freeborn. Which means the Freeborn are now right next door to fight in this battle if they want. But they are also exhausted because it has been a very long walk.
  • And now we get down to the important stuff. The Jotun have dug some really big runes into the sides of a pass that goes between Skarsind and Semersuaq. They’ve been helped by some of Cathan Canae’s giants, some kolboldi from Adamant, and also someone’s seen the Krampus hanging out there too. Apparently, they are going to bring down the mountains on the pass to create a permanent barrier there. Which would be bad. Especially as the only other pass involves getting the permission of the Thule to go by, and who knows how often they’ll allow it.
  • There’s a battle with a conjunction here, so people can go and fight in it. It’s also one with the option of playing as a human baddie. Though this one is more cold people of the north themed than the one in Bregasland.

So, there we go. There are four options that the military council might choose to make. Though really that will just end up being a choice between two n one day and a choice between two on the other day. But, in brief, the four options are;

  1. fighting the archaeologists with links to necromancy in Segura, more info to be found out as there is going to be news happening in the field.
  2. fighting the people in Bregasland who are not!Marchers but might have been several hundred years a go and who don’t like the empire much.
  3. saving the prisoners of the Druj in Zenith and finding out what the Druj are up to because they are being extra creepy and suspicious.
  4. fighting the Jotun in Skarsind who want to blow up the mountain pass and who are suddenly chummy with the Krampus.

This all means that there is a lot to pick and choose over. From the point of view of someone who has played no part in the military side of things at Empire, I have to say that I really hope we find out what all the gossip is. Everything this time around seems to be really interesting and rife with potential for angsty stories. There really isn’t an easy choice here. Everything seems to have a very obvious way that not going, or losing if it did end up being chosen and the empire armies didn’t win, would make everything go absolutely pear-shaped.

I mean, if the first one doesn’t get picked then there might be weird necromantic magic happening, which I imagine is not what most people hope for. And the second one has an invasion of Bregasland with angry people who look and act a lot like Marchers. That’s just a whole bunch of worries rolled up into one. And then there’s Zenith, which is always a problem, and the fact that if the people there are not rescued then they are apparently going to try a prison break anyway and if they die they think it will be better than staying as prisoners of the Druj. Which says a lot. And then, finally, we have the team up of the century, with giants, kobolds, and the blooming Krampus. And they are teaming up to explode a mountain.

You know, sometimes, it is quite nice not to be in charge and so not to have any responsibilities over important events. This is definitely one of those times. Good luck to anyone who is more important than me! I wouldn’t want to have to explain yourselves.