Winds of Fortune E4 2023 Part 2

Hello everyone, this summary is going to cover the following Winds,

1. A Wisdom of Questions,
2. When Spring Comes
3. Rimbaud Eyes
4. Shining Like Fire
5. Hierarchs of Sea and Sky
6. Dog Days Are Over
7. Between Two Mounds

A Wisdom of Questions

This Wind of Fortune deals with the ongoing issues surrounding the Sword Scholars and their beliefs.  In particular, the focus is on whether or not they should continue to venerate Sulemaine, there is a mandate option that would create a schism in the Sword Scholar group. This will have a major effect on the congregations in the nation, reducing Liao and votes. The Temple of the Four Winds will be particularly badly effected and will cease to provide any Liao or votes. 

Highborn Opinions

Highguard have been upset by the veneration given to a woman who once killed their missionaries. As such, they have put forth a potential change to Imperial Law, which would prevent people from consecrating the tombs of individuals who have not been approved by both an individual virtue assembly and the total synod.

Dawn

Ser Dindrane de Cantharos of the Cathedral of Laroc in Astolat, has invited the House of the Wanderer to teach at the Cathedral, this has led to the possibility of a mandate pushing people to consider the individualism of Sulemain. If this mandate were passed it could cause problems with the discipline of Dawn’s armies, and even upset the social stratification of the nation.

When Spring Comes

This Wind was hinted at in the Wind that discussed the attacks by the Cold Sun Heralds, but it deals instead with the attacks by the heralds of Siakha, a Spring Eternal. The focus is mostly on the Marches for this, as they received the brunt of the attacks and also have received the offer of some boons from the Mother of Sharks.

The Drakes were billeted in Mitwold this past season, something that came in handy when the Cold Sun attacked. A lot of marchers assumed this was the threat they had been sent to deal with, but it was an incidental one, as it turned out. The heralds of Siakha came out of the sea in the midst of rain and storms and did their best to kill everyone they could find.

Overall the Drakes were able to protect most people in Mitwold from the Shark heralds, but not everyone is saved. The heralds attacked a foot-the-ball-match and killed many of the spectators and players, including the entirety of one team, the Wayford Wanderers.  In total, almost 30 lives are lost, but this is much less than the 3000 that might have died were the Drakes not around. 

Siakha was apparently impressed by this display of strength, and despite the fact she is under enmity and so working with her is treason, she has offered a series of boons to the Marches.

1. The general of the Drakes may call on Siakha once to gain the help of her heralds, if they do then the territory they are fighting in will have a casualty increase of 10% and any army in the same territory that falls below a military strength of 1,500 (or 2,250 for a Large army) will break. It would also be very obvious to anyone that this was done.
2. All fleets of Mitwold who were raiding the Jotun this past event return with double the amount of loot they would normally be expected to bring home. 
3. Siakha has offered to super charge the rituals Blood and Salt or Merciless Wrath of the Reaver, if the casters are Marcher and the person receiving it is too. Blood and Salt will give the owner of the fleet 2 more tempest jade, 4 if they raid the coast of Kallsea with the upcoming raid option. While Merciless Wrath will give benefits to military units to the tune of 2 extra tempest jade if they do an Independent Action, and if the MU works with a Marcher Army. The violent roleplaying effects last as long as the enchantment and includes the members of the MU or the crew of the fleet.

Obviously using these boons purposefully (so not the boost to productivity that happened to the fleets of Mitwold this past season, but the others) would get you in a whole heap of trouble if you were caught, but it is quite difficult to get caught for minor rituals. 

Bregasland

Bregasland was lucky enough to still be under enchantments to protect against invasion, so they were able to mostly dodge that problem. However, they have lots of them left so they aren’t going to be missing out too much.

House Greywater

House Greywater were some of the best defence the Empire had during Mathilda Fisher’s attempt to take over, and they lost out from it a lot, especially in comparison to some of the families who collaborated.

They are particularly upset as they feel they have been forgotten about and those who look down on them have been strengthened by the lack of esteem shown to them. It is also making the words of Bushell Sykes ring ever more true, that the type of Marchers who go to Anvil don’t take represent those who are stuck at home.

There are three families who are believed to have collaborated with the Yegarra and profited from it. There are three options on how to deal with this Disloyalty. All of these options will cause problems down the road, but at least they will be different problems? 

1. The Senate could say that the magistrates have done everything they can so live with it, this would upset the Imperial Loyalists who have lost so much keeping the Jotun out,
2. The Senate could send in the magistrates to round up the collaborators and perform a complete search of the territory for incriminating evidence, this would create upset in those allied with the collaborators, but the collaborators would be upset. It would also cause all the resources in the territory to take a -1 penalty to their production,
3. The Senate could do nothing, this would probably result in vigilante justice and cause a lot of problems. 

In addition, traitor Bushel Sykes was murdered and Amberlain Black, General of the Strong Reeds, and Asenath of the Granite Pillar are the suspects, as well as a Freeborn, a Marcher Priest, and another Marcher.

Mournwold Orcs

The Marcher Egregore has announced that the Marches can now accept the Mournwold Orcs into the Marches! Part of this is the natural conclusion of a lot of work by the Synod, but also the competitive nature of the Marchers who are annoyed the League got their orcs before they did.

There is now a mandate that can be passed to announce that the Marchers want the Mournwold Orcs to join the nation now, and that they will look to the details later. It requires no Liao.

A Conjunction

There is a  conjunction to go speak to Hap the Soft, the spiritual leader of the Mournwold Orcs. It will take place at 16:30 on Saturday. 7 people can come along and  Bloodcrow Knott, Bloodcrow Udoo, and some Imperial Orc Priests should come. Also, Sister Meredith and Aliss Thorn of the Marches should come or nominate someone to come on their behalf to help smooth things over.

Rimbaud Eyes

This Wind of Fortune is about the Apulian Orcs who have just joined the League. 

A massive amount of citizens from the League have chosen to move to Spiral, and there are several groups forming up who wish to vie for the new Senate seat. If the majority of the orcs in the territory had joined to an Egregore by now then the Apulian Orc option would be the clear favourite, but many of them are hedging their bets and have not yet joined up. This means there is an opportunity for a human citizen to win. The rules for whether or not you have the vote in this case require you to have a business in the territory and to have not voted in the past year in another territory.

The Apulian orcs are currently being played by NPCs, but over the winter the folks behind the scenes at PD will work on making up a brief for players to use. This is exciting as it is the first batch of non-Imperial Orc Orc characters available to players!

Because so many people are moving to Spiral, the Urizeni who still live there are making a great deal of money building protections from the Black Plateau for them. Urizeni citizens will gain an additional 2 crowns a season while this continues. Going forward, all labour costs will increase for commissions in the territory.

As for the Grendel Virtues, things are a bit complicated. Both the Pride and the Ambition assembly claimed that audacity was a part of their virtue, and for various reasons the Apulians seem most comfortable with it being assigned to Pride so that’s how it’s going to work for now. Both the Prosperity and the Loyalty assembly have also claimed that fidelity was a part of their virtue, though the Apulians see Prosperity as something very different and so they will be connecting it to Loyalty. 

Cunning does not seem to be claimed by any of the Virtue Assemblies, so they are just being quiet about it for now. But Retribution is being thought of as a version of Vengeance, which is a False Virtue, so they have accepted that they will have to leave it behind. Instead they are happy to pick up the League idea of Dead Reckoning instead.  

This brings up something else, the Urizen are expecting recompense for the loss of Spiral – but they have also cursed Kaliact with a curse that will ruin her. So is that not enough? 

Several assemblies have also asked the Apulian Orcs to speak with them to allow them to learn from each other. The Apulians aren’t too interested by this idea, and it doesn’t seem like any of the people moving there are either. No congregations are being set up amongst the influx of new people.

Shining Like Fire

This Wind of Fortune is about the effects of the Day Ritual that was cast on the Empire last event, well the effects aside from the whole being invaded by Cold Sun Heralds thing.

Overall people seem to be finding things a lot more easily, things that have been lost for years, sometimes generations, have been turning up. Other people have been realising things that they couldn’t see before, being too close to the situation. They might also have trouble holding onto secrets, Day has a resonance towards the truth after all.

Merrow

Merrow can increase their trappings if they wish. After roleplaying for 30 seconds Merrow can also discern magical auras as if they were using the detect magic spell. Plus, this event a Merrow may resist the negative roleplaying effect of an aura by concentrating on the calming feeling of being underwater and instead react to the distressing aura rationally or matter-of-factly.

Mines

Every mine in the Empire produces two extra ingots of whatever it is they usually produce, and in the downtime afterwards they will be able to upgrade their mine for one less wain of mithril and/or diversify it for free. Any mine with  Revelation of the Jewel’s Sparkling Heart cast upon it will find a deepstone every season for the next year. A green iron mine produces warstones, a weltsilver mine produces bloodstones, a tempest jade mine produces spellstones, and an orichalcum mine produces heartstones. More info can be found in the Farewell Wanderlust Wind of Fortune from Summer.

Mana Sites

Calculations and equations become easier to do under the effect of Day magic, as such mana sites are much easier to build. Anyone who wishes can email in and change their previous resource for a mana site for free, as long as it is in their nation. Mana site owners who haven’t upgraded before can also upgrade their sites for 1 wain of mithril rather than 2.

Mana sites in the League, Hahnmark and Casinea will receive a single Vitrified Occulus bead which can be used in the place of 4 mana for divination Day rituals. It can be phys-repped with a clear bead or marble, or small pouch of beads, or a small pot or pouch of glitter. 

Mana Sinecures

Some mana sinecures in the Empire can be improved thanks to the Day magic in the air, these are the Collector of Prosperity’s Boon, Custodian of the Claw, Custodian of Glass Point Cove, Custodian of the Pelican Tower, Guardian of the Prosperity of Afal, Dean of the Thorned Rose, Fallsheart Guardian, Guardian of the Cairn, Jade Custodian, Keeper of the Crystal Vale, Keeper of the Dour Fens, Keeper of the Golden Fields, Keeper of the Happiston Fields, Weigher of Worth, and Wisdom of the Tenebrous Path. To permanently increase the production by one crystal mana each season requires 20 ingots of weltsilver and 10 crowns. Increasing the production by two crystal mana each season requires 50 ingots of weltsilver and 25 crowns. The work will take only three months to complete.

But Day Magic Isn’t All Good

Day magic is highly dissonant with the idea of lies, so every shroud cast on an imperial territory or resources has been ended early. The only exceptions are ones with a higher than 100 magnitude or which are made permanent with illium. Likewise, any attempt to cast a shrouding ritual at less than 100 magnitude at the autumn summit will fail, but the mana will be used up. Also it will not be possible to create any illusions. 

Art cannot be made under the influence of Day magic, and passion is anathema to it. As such several great works and sinecures will have their production halved. These are, the Blood Red Quays Art Gallery in Sarvos and the Bloody Great Theatre in Temeschwar, Lorenzo’s Great Game, and The Azure Chorus at Braydon’s Jasse and the Crimson Drummers of Madruga, The Rose Towers in Dawn, have all been affected. 

From now on all Imperial commissions will require 50% higher labour cost.

The magnitude to cast an Empire-wide ritual has increased to 210, this is possibly because the Barrens are now part of the Empire.

Conjunctions

Friday – 19:30 –  The Grimnir of Wittal’s Grove must journey through the Sentinel Gate to Tromsa to retrieve the artefact, the Grimnir’s Glass, from the Jotun. If the Grimnir’s Glass is reclaimed then Redleaf’s Hall will commit to providing ten drams of herbs to the Grimnir of Wittal Grove each season. They would provide six drams of true vervain every season but would send marrowort for use at the Spring Equinox, cerulean mazzarine for the Summer Solstice, imperial roseweald for use at the Autumn Equinox, and bladeroot during the Winter Solstice.

Saturday – 17:15 – The Bailiff of the Grandmarket must travel through the Sentinel Gate to Upwold to face a group of bandits known as Drake’s Dozen as part of the responsibilities of their position.

Saturday – 20:30 – The Advisor on the Vallorn must travel to Sarangrave via the Sentinel Gate to find the artefact, The Vate’s Shelter, and retrieve it from a group of Druj and at least one herald of Yaw’Nagrah. The area is under the effect of the Druj Miasma. 

Hierarchs of the Sea

This Wind of Fortune is also about the effects of the recent Day enchantment, but this one is all about the various Eternals and their reactions to it.

Kimus

In the aftermath of the Day ritual Kimus has been sending their heralds to watch things all over the empire. 

If you use the Imperial Regio you can swap 2 ingots of weltsilver for a piece of mana for any of the following rituals;

1. Rituals of Revelation: Bright Lantern of Ophis, Clear Lens of the Eternal River, Eye of the High Places, Eyes of the Soul’s Past, Eyes of the Sun and Moon, and Hakima’s Glass.
2. Rituals of Force: Piercing Light of Revelation, Kimus’ Glaring Eye, Irresistible Stance of Force and Focus
3. Rituals of Perfection: Sign of Aesh, Crystaline Focus of Aesh, Alignment of Mind and Blade, Transcendent Mastery, Blades of Clear Sight, Arete and the Fields of War

Present the weltsilver with a request for help at the beginning of the ritual, the weltsilver will be consumed at the end. (Check with the refs if confused)

Kimus will also help magicians create magical artefacts to fight the Cold Sun, just go to the imperial regio, cast Hakimima’s Glass upon your object and say “The Unblinking Eye gaze upon this weapon, and grant a fraction of its power so that it may be used to turn aside a world without wonder”. The object must not already be magical and it will only be available before 19:30 on Saturday.

• A piece of jewellery ,5 ingots of weltsilver. The jewellery must be clearly marked with an eye motif, or set with a spherical gem or piece of crystal. Kimus will infuse it with the power to cast repel for a magician as if they knew it.
• Mage armour, 10 ingots of weltsilver. The magician who wears it and knows the repel spell will be able to cast it twice without using their personal mana.
• A rod,15 ingots of weltsilver. The rod will become the equivalent of a Stormweaver, and a magician will be able to cast repel three times a day even if they don’t know it and without using personal mana.
• Staff 30 ingots of weltsilver, casting repel four times each day, again without requiring personal mana or knowledge of the spell.

There will only be 9 of each of these items available and you should be aware that Kimus will be able to see through them. So don’t do anything you don’t want her to see!

Kimus will also be aware of every ritual cast at the imperial regio, the Archmage of Day will be able to ask about the rituals cast there this equinox. However to block this all the casters of the ritual need to be under a  Masque of the Blinded Weaver ritual – if you wish to do this warn the ref. 

If the conclave wishes to make this permanent, then KImus must be put under amity and have it requested of her. This could be done in one declaration.

Kimus can also help the conclave find something they desperately want. They must say “We ask the Thousand Eyes of the Sun and Moon to find…” and then the name of a specific item or location that they want Kimus to look for. It must be an object or place, not a person, and Kimus will announce it publically at the Winter Solstice. Also use a name that makes it clear what the thing is so there is no confusion.

Kimus has also offered to turn the Tower of Light and Shadow into a Day realm divination site, instead of a night one. This would allow the Penumbral Watcher to create Noonlight Sunwater and Nightdark Noonwater, both very powerful aids for divination. Kimus would also supply them with a Watcher’s Glass artisan item, and the Penumbral Watcher would receive a copy of the report from every Imperial Spy Network using a Day enchantment to boost their skills.

Kimus will also assist in creating a map of the Salt Flats of Sanath, this is a one off opportunity to create a magical spy network that uses no extra resources or senate motions. The Grandmaster of the Shuttered Lantern will need to instruct their order to act as the spy network. Every military unit assigned to this network will act as if it were 2 ranks stronger. 

Phaleron

Phaleron, in case you were wondering, is a giant library in the Day Realm. It helped protect the Canterspire Library from the heralds of the Cold Sun. 

Anyone who casts the ritual Gift of Knowledge to donate a text to the Library will gain a piece of parchment containing one or more facts that the Librarians of Phaleron think might be interesting to mortals. 

Phaleron is also offering the Conclave an opportunity to ask one of its Librarians (named librarians and their areas of interest are on the wiki) to do some historical research for the Conclave. The Librarian will then look through all the texts contained within the Library to find the information asked for. This must be done through a Declaration of Concord.

Phaleron has prepared an Arcane Projection detailing a ritual that can transform specific libraries into fortifications, this arcane projection will only be provided once and if lost or cast then it will not be provided again. It will lose all power if the Empire allows one of its great storehouses of knowledge to be destroyed when it could conceivably have prevented it. This currently means the Great Library at Hacynian, Holberg University, Diora University, the Grand Library at Canterspire, or the Lyceum. The Great Library of Canterspire, and the Great Library at Hacynian can both be targeted with this ritual.

Phaleron offers to share copies of every book it has that speaks of the Vallorn. The Advisor on the Vallorn must use Gift of Knowledge to send a copy of Sian Eternal’s book to the eternal along with 49 ingots of weltsilver. This will reduce the research time on finding a way to destroy the Vallorn by 3 months. 

Zakalwe

Sent heralds to help fight off the Cold Sun heralds and is now offering to help analyse the Empire’s defences for possible improvements. The Grandmaster of the Rod and Shield Conclave Order should announce in a Declaration of Concord that they want to work with Zakalwe to do this over the next season. 

The Imperial Warmage and Imperial Warcaster also have the opportunity to nominate an army each to be improved by Zakalwe, the General will also have to announce this in their orders. Zakalwe will not do this for a Varushkan army and he has not said why.

He has also asked that rituals to make an army act more savagely should be interdicted, if this is done then he will provide three tokens that make it easier to cast Clarity of the Master Strategist and Carve the Crystal Guardian every season. 

Sinokenon

Sinokenon has offered to appraise a problem or situation in the Empire and find a solution, the Conclave must pass a declaration starting with, “The Conclave requests Turning Mirror consider the matter of…” to direct their attention. 

Ylenwe

Ylenwe will offer support to the construction of a centre for mathematics and music at the Spire of the Canticle, this will have no mechanical effects. It would cost 30 wains of white granite, 15 wains of mithril, 135 Crowns, and take three months to complete.

Leviathan

The eternal has asked for a Leviathan Hall to be built in order to give his heralds somewhere to rest whilst they work for him, and perhaps answer the questions of curious individuals.  He names Tassato, Sarvos, Gildenheim, Miaren, Bastion, Meade, or Kalpaheim as suitable locations. It would be a folly costing 20 wains of white granite, 10 wains of mithril, and 90 Crowns, and take three months to complete.

Dog Days are Over

Dawn has conquered the Barrens and now it is time to celebrate, here are some opportunities.

There are so many tourneys happening in Dawn that there is wealth aplenty, for the next year, any Dawnish yeofolk will be able to upgrade their farm, forest, mine, or herb garden for one fewer wain.

There are not enough troubadours to spread the names of the glorious, as such every current troubadour will receive an extra four crowns each downtime for the next year.

Also, there is an opportunity to build a school for troubadours, it would need 16 wains of white granite and 8 wains of weirwood and 72 crowns in labour and take a single season to build. The person voted in to the position would be able to buy magical instruments for troubadours to use. The Assembly will also have the opportunity to nominate a creator of a piece of art or music to win a special magical instrument, one that will likely have an odd aura attached to it.

There is an opportunity to restore the throne room of the Castle of Thorns and then consecrate it with true liao. It requires 15 wains of white granite, 45 crowns and a senate commission for a fortification and will take three months to complete. Once complete the refurbished throne room would reduce the cost to upgrade Dawnish congregations by one white granite for a year and it would generate historical research into the early monarchs of Dawn.

The Shrine of Hope at Hope’s Rest has been consecrated with true liao. If the Dawnish commission a small church on the site then the shrine will provide a permanent benefit of one rank to every Dawnish military unit undertaking an adventure. The church would require 20 wains of white granite and 60 crowns and take one month to build. In addition the architect wishes to build statues of individuals who were part of taking the Barrens, each statue would cost 3 wains of mithril and 9 crowns, and nominating individuals could be part of the Senate commission.

Between Two Mounds

This Wind of Fortune is about the ongoing war with the Jotun and the recent opportunities that have arisen because of the Empire’s invasion of Tromsa.

Brass Coast 

Last season the Freeborn chose to raise an earthen mound over the bodies of the fallen Jotun at Fort Braydon. A ghodi (priest) of the Jotun has come to investigate it and wishes to build a memorial to the fallen there. They wish to use 9 mithril to create a bowl that will contain an always burning fire. The Freeborn Assembly could raise a mandate to prevent the ghodi from crossing the border.

There is also the opportunity to attack the ghodi, steal the mithril and ransom her and her companions. This will be up to the Dhomiro of the Cinnabar Hills who must send a winged messenger to Juanita i Roario i Riqueza to do so. 

Also, the King of Narkyst sends word asking why the Freeborn would bury the dead Jotun with honour, but then use dishonourable magic to kill more of them during the more recent fighting? Apparently, the Jotun thought well of the Freeborn up until recently and are confused at their dithering between honour and dishonour. 

Tromsa

The new Jarl of Tromsa, Jarl Igya Olgafsdottir has offered to send her champions to fight the Empire in the opportunity to allow the Empire the chance to capture Mathilda Fisher. 

The Jarl of Karlheim has asked the Generals of Wintermark to swear an oath before the Wintermark egregores not to permit their Imperial allies to despoil Mount Majastind. If the oath is taken, the Fight with Honour order will prevent any Imperial army in the same territory from raiding tombs, burial mounds, and shrines of Jotun ancestors. This would have long-standing diplomatic repercussions as Mount Majastind is the Jotun’s most sacred site and to damage it would make future peace impossible. 

On the other hand, the mountain is full of artefacts that someone could sell if they wanted to. Any of the generals of one of the seven Imperial armies present in Tromsa could submit an order to loot Mount Majastind.

The Jotun have arranged the return of hundreds of thralls taken from Sermersuaq, they appear to be in good health and have been carefully escorted to Olgafsdottirshal by members of the Jarl of Keirheim’s warband. This was part of a deal made between the General of the Green Shield and the Jotun. 

And that is it for now, I imagine there is still a lot to come but as I am up to date I am closing this post here!

I hope to see you on the field in a few days,

K