Winds of Fortune, E1 2023 (Part 3)

And we’re back again with more Winds of Fortune, we have three, two of which are Marcher focused and one which is all about Wintermark and the eternal known as Blood-On-The Snow.

Also, for anyone keeping track, none of these were titled with Taylor Swift song names.

At the Dog and Eel Show

Essentially this wind is about the fact that the Marchers are doing really well right now, even if one of their regions has been taken over by Jotun. They are doing so well, in fact, that there are new opportunities for the Marchers to decide how to spread around that prosperity.

1. The first option is to help Zenith get back on their feet after years of occupation from the Druj. By helping them get their farm land back into steady production Zenith would return to it’s place as primary food producer for Urizen, to the extent where Urizen would be able to keep the Citadel Guard supplied by themselves AND they would be able to supply an additional navy. The farmers of the Marches would also all receive a mana crystal.
2. The second choice would be to supply the bounders and beaters of the Marches, this would increase the defensive capabilities of the Marches quite substantially, any campaign fought in one of the three Marcher territories still held by Imperials would receive an additional 1000 points of strength to either the Imperial army stationed there, or a fortification. The Strong Reeds would gain 1000 for as long as they do not leave Bregasland.
3. Finally, this choice pushes Marches to consider their own personal prosperity and make improvements to their own farms. All farms would receive an additional 72 rings and for the next year it would cost one less wain to upgrade a farm.

In addition, there is some gossip.

Several hundred Mournwold Orcs were seen having a big meeting, it appeared fractious and half way through a group of about 50 left. It is not clear what this is about, but given that there has been a push to adopt the Mournwold Orcs into the Marches AND the Jotun have moved in next door in Liathhaven, there are a lot of reasons why they might be getting pretty excited about things. Apparently characters with the Beater archetype will get an info sheet in their player packs, so they are who to ask.

Let the Day Die

Another Marcher focused Wind of Fortune, this one is about ghosts.

As you may or may not know, the Mournwold is full of ghosts. To try and help the dearly not-so-departed move on a ritual was cast that allowed communication between the dead and the living to work better. The hope was that once people knew what was keeping these ghost from moving on things could get fixed up more easily.

That has sort of worked?

Apparently a lot of the ghosts are scared that they will be forgotten, so in one particularly haunted area the idea has been put forward to build a memorial orchard. This would help ease their worries and make them rest easier. At least for as long as the trees were left standing, if they were to ever fall then the ghosts would come back and this time they would be angry.

To build the memorial orchard a commission from the senate would be required, plus 20 weirwood, 10 white granite, 60 crowns, and it would take three months. This would change the quality of the local area from haunted to memorial. 

Watching My Mistakes

This Wind of Fortune is about Wintermark, and what the people of Semersuaq had togo through to survive the occupation by the Jotun.

During the occupation many of the Semersuaq people were given the Jotun’s choice, to become a thrall or be killed. Many chose to knuckle under and wait out their occupiers. While there has been some dithering about how bad a choice this was, overall the Wintermark community seems to have decided that ultimately it is forgivable but the people who did so need to speak to their priests so as to truly return to the fold.

The so-called “frayed” often feel shame, and are in turn shamed by those around them for making this choice, but the priests of WIntermark are encouraged to help them mend their skein. 

And then on the other hand there are all the cannibal cultists.

So there isn’t a lot of food out in the cold lands of Semersuaq. And sometimes people had to make horrible decisions to survive. And then sometimes people stopped seeing it as a horrible decision and instead began to welcome it. These people often caught the eye of the Eternal known as Blood-On-The-Snow, who is very, very enmitied. 

There are several options for dealing with this.

1. The first is the most basic, send in the law and let the law have them. It would have a significant impact on the people living there, however, the magistrates would be very invasive and disruptive. To represent this all of the military units within Semersuaq would face a 2 rank reduction for the next two seasons. But it would remove any threat of a major cult springing up in Semersuaq. Unfortunately, it would probably also please Blood-On-The-Snow because he isn’t any kinder to those that follow him than those that don’t.
2. The second option is a bit more subtle, send in the Silent Bell. The Silent Bell are the Imperial spies and investigators for religious trouble, they would be able to root out any cultists without the disruption that sending in the ordinary magistrates would. However, all the information would go to the cardinal who sent them, rather than being sorted out by the civil service. So it would be less efficient in that way.
3. The third option is to view it as a magical matter, and send the Shuttered Lantern to investigate. The Shuttered Lantern are the Conclave order who learn about the empire’s enemies and use their secrets against them. This would lead to many of the secrets of the cultists being given to the Grandmaster of the Shuttered Lantern, which might be to the empire’s benefit, but might also just be a long game plot of BLood-On-The-Snow.
4. Finally, the last option is to keep it in house and the Wintermark Assemmbly could raise a mandate to have the people and priests of Wintermark search out the cultists themselves. It wouldn’t catch every cultist, but it would act as a powerful sign that the empire will not take bargaining with this eternal lightly. That might persuade folks to refuse him the next time he comes calling.

Any and all of these choices can be taken, but only at the Winter Summit. Any later and things will change too much for the civil service’s guess work to be accurate. Also, if more than one of these choices is taken then things might happen that the civil service did not imagine.

In addition to thralls and cannibals abounding, there also seem to be a lot of scary beasties wandering around the snowy plains. 

Some of these belong to Blood-On-The-Snow, but many also belong to the Hawk Lord, Hayaak, who sent them after the Thule Magicians last summit. The Imperial armies attempted to save the magicians, and failed, and many of the creatures sent to kill them are still roaming around.

In order to battle these new threats there is an idea to build a special Hall to house adventurers looking for quests. This Hall would be a Sinecure and would provide the owner with 9 mana a season and would create a special paid option for Wintermark and Dawnish (because as if you are going to get a special monster hunting option without them turning up) adventurers with military unit resources. 

To build the hall a senate commission slot would be needed, plus 12 white granite, 3 thrones and it would take 3 months.

And that is it for tonight, see you tomorrow – oh dear it’s already tomorrow, well see you later today then!