Hello everybody, this is a summary of the updates known as Winds of Fortune to the game Empire by Profound Decisions. This will be the last summary update. It is getting closer and closer to the event, and I need to get ready!
The Greatest City in the World
Last year a competition was started amongst the cities of the League to see who could use the most wains of building materials, the prize was bragging rights and future opportunities for the people of the city to spend more money on making things bigger and better.
The winner has been decided! By a significant margin, Holberg wins!
And now onto the opportunities that gives the city.
First there is an opportunity to further fortify their city walls by digging a giant ditch, this will not need any wains of material, but it will cost a heck of a lot. 500 thrones! It will not increase the upkeep costs, nor will it need a commission slot from the Senate.
Inside the city there is an opportunity to transform it into a “garden city”, however this would require 4 commission slots, take a year, and cost 50 thrones. This is only able to be done due to the rebuilding works currently ongoing in the city, so if it is not started by Autumn then it will not be possible. It will give the area the quality Uplifting.
Third, there is the chance for players to shape their own opportunities. If a Holberg priest raises a statement of principle naming some creative idea for commemorating their triumph and improving Holberg then the ingenious citizens of Holberg will devote time to looking for whatever opportunity exists to turn the idea into a reality.
Fourth, the Sand Fishers have found a Weirwood grove and would like investment from the Empire in order to work it. Basically they are looking for money to create a new bourse seat, one that will make 22 weirwood a season, it would cost 20 mithril, 60 crowns, and take a single season to build. The Sand Fishers also want it to be a National Position decided by Tally of the Votes. There is the option to negotiate on that, but players will need to jump through some extra hoops to do so.
Fifth, there is interest in building a memorial to the late Empress, Lisabetta. If anyone wishes to add to the effort, they can do so after the Winter Solstice.
I Remember You
Lots of people are coming to Anvil for this summit, let’s see who we can expect!
First up, the herbalists from Axos will be back (possibly for the last time) to sell their concoctions. They will be setting up shop in their usual spot outside the Forge on Saturday from 13:30 until the coronation. A person named Ilarch Kyther Deianeira of Kaban is also travelling with them but for the safety of travelling in numbers, not as part of their group. They intend on going to the coronation.
An Axou academic, Theodosia of Ipotavo, who possibly has the arefact shield of Vigilance, will also be attending and wishes to speak to Fintan Nighthaven, she will arrive on the field at around 16:00 on Saturday before making her way to the Hub.
One of the Heirs of Lepidus has found several songs that may have been written by Elayne Silverlark, Exemplar of Loyalty. They are lookng for people to write the tunes for these songs, and copies of the lyrics will be available at the Hub and at the Three Refrains. This person will return at Summer to listen to the results.
A Varushkan merchant, Iosef Kosta, has investigated a possibly blasphemous aura in the Commonwealth, they wil bring what they have learned to Anvil at 20:00 on Friday. After arriving on the field they will make their way to the Hub and then hopefully off for some food and drink for more discussions.
A Suaq Astronomancer is coming to speak about their craft and in particular the practical research elements. Annukka Juhaling will meet those interested at the Hub at 13:00 on the Sunday. She has specifically named Kespoena Archsky, the members of Saque Magiaue, Serenus Starsong, and the magicians of Storms End as folk she’d appreciate speaking with. She’s also interested to meet those who participated in a “unique ritual experiment” during the Autumn Equinox.
An Urizen stargazer, named Cassius, has been preaching doom as they travel from their homeland to Anvil. They will apparently arrive at the Brass Coast at around 19:00 on Friday.
A giant herald of Rhianos will be making their way to the Hub at 17:00 on Saturday and wishes for help with a mysterious illness they seem to have. Their names include, Archipelago the Rising Leviathan and Vast Moving Island of the Summer Seas.
A group of Thule businessfolk are coming to Anvil, they wish to speak about possible investments. They expect to arrive at 10:30 on Saturday and will head first to the Imperial Orcs camp.
And finally, the Charnel Lord, Sovereign of Varushka, wishes to make it known that they welcome a new Varushkan throne. They intend on sending some kind of gift which will arrive during the Winter Solstice, but little more is known.
Bright Yellow Blooms
After visiting Canterspire Circle, the group known as The Rising Tide has some ideas on how to help the Prosperity of the Spire.
There is the opportunity to build a new Bourse Seat, which trades Iridescent Gloaming for Weirwood. It would cost 12 white granite, 24 crowns, and take 3 months to build. The Seat will be a National Urizeni seat, given out by Tally of the Votes.
In addition, the Mirrored Maschieri will be able to trade Iridescent Gloaming for a single mask for every season of the next year. Prices on the original wind of fortune. If at least two masks are bought this year, then the situation may become permanent.
Broken Sword
This Wind of Fortune is about the Sword Scholar situation in Urizen and connected issues.
Due to the Urizeni National Assembly passing a mandate condemning Sulemain last season, there are many opportunities available for the Sword Scholars to decide their future.
The first involves a mandate which will encourage the Sword Scholars to change their focus and concentrate on the archetype of Questor, instead. This will mean less fighting and more investigating. The Sword Scholars would be reaccepted into Urizeni society and there would be many opportunities for them in the future.
Another option would be to make the Sword Scholars an official Sodality, the people who believe in the teachings of Sulemaine would leave Urizen and travel to find new homes in other nations. The signal to do this would be through the passing of a mandate, one in competition to the one above.
If the Urizeni National Assembly gives no sign of what they wish people to do then the Sword Scholars will fade into the background and any news about them will be less dramatic and contentious.
The Temple of the Four Winds is no longer a centre for debate and learning about Sulemaine, so the title connected with it could be abrogated if the National Assembly wishes. Or they could just not bother to reinstate it and let it lapse.
The Urizen Assembly has lost authority in the eyes of its own people. Until the start of the Winter Solstice 386YE all Urizen congregations provide 2 fewer votes and 1 fewer liao.
The National Assembly could continue to question the Synod, or they could let that also cease with the ending of the Sword Scholars.
Knocking on Every Door
Last Summit the Imperial Senate agreed to make a new statement, the Writ of Consecration, that directs the placement of True Liao.
The Synod produced a mandate to use True Liao to consecrate a memorial to Berechiah, Exemplar of Vigilance.
Berechiah was a deeply contentious Exemplar and by bringing attention to him once more some of these issues may be brought up again.
For a year after the consecration of a site to Berechiah all Vigilance aligned congregations will have an increase to attendance, granting each of them an additional dose of liao and 2 votes in the Synod. Additionally, the Vigilance Assembly will have more eyes on their mandates, especially those that reach a Greater Majority.
For a year after the inspirational location is completed, the Vigilance Assembly will be able to select a territory on which to focus the eyes of the virtuous. The Vigilance Assembly would have to pass a mandate directing the Vigilant to a specific territory.
For a year after the consecration, statements of principle pushing people to pay attention to the Law over Virtue will receive no mandates, and people in general will be more interested in keeping to their Virtues than the Law.
Berechiah was a part of the Aspirationalist belief, which is basically that the only difference between Exemplars and Paragons is politics. His new memorial will likely bring more attention to this belief and more discussions will be had about the politics surrounding Exemplars and Paragons.
There are three places where the True Liao could be used, each one brings different opportunities.
The first is the Berechiah Mausoleum in Bastion, it was badly damaged thanks to an arsonist’s fire some time ago and will need to be restored. This will require a senate commission and 10 wains of white granite and 5 wains of weirwood. It would create a new title and the title holder would gain Liao every season. If the building was not made the site of the consecration it would likely still be visited by pilgrims, but the dangerous state of the building would remain a problem. This choice would encourage people to focus on threats at the Imperial level, for example, to the borders or spy rings.
The second is the Mausoleum in Necropolis, where his body lays, it is under the name he went by when he lived in the League. This choice would encourage the people of the Empire to look around them for threats, like cults or greedy landlords, and in general, push the young of the Empire to learn about Vigilance. It would also have an effect on the Silent Bell.
The third place is the printers where his books were published. It is now a shrine to Berechiah where stories of Vigilant citizens are published in pamphlet form. The people occupying the space would be very happy to work with the Vigilance Assembly in this, and it would likely have a buoyant effect on the Empire’s reading habits. It would also push people to take direct action over threats.
And it might have an interesting long-term effect on the bravos of the league.
Blue Flowers in the Snow
This Wind is all about the ongoing problems facing the people of Spiral, Apulian Orcs and League and Urizen humans alike.
Any of the Urizeni who wished to leave Spiral have done so.
The Urizeni who wished to stay at their spires have had their demands met. The Imperial Senate voted to fund the purchase of mana crystals to offset the cost of staying in Spiral, hence the Senate’s budget is reduced by 35 thrones a season going forward.
The Senate could put forth a motion that makes the great works in the League which supply mana send the mana to Urizen instead, this would reduce the senate costs to 5 thrones a season. It would also likely have a beneficial political effect between the League and Urizen.
Two areas in Spiral have cut themselves from the Empire and refuse to come back until they are recompensed for the long history of political negligence that they feel they have been treated to. One way to fix this would be to give Urizen the title of Master of the Imperial Mint, or that of the Warmage. Either of these would give them the power they feel they have lost.
There is, of course, also the point that the rebels don’t actually have that much land, and so it is a minor threat to the Imperial hold on Spiral. And the rebellious spires are unlikely to try and make a deal with the Grendel, though that is not impossible, but skilled investigators would have to be used to find out otherwise.
Outreach
Both National Assemblies have urged closer cooperation. The Urizeni have been urged to share their culture with the Apulians to try and influence how the new city takes form. There is also a push from the league side to use an appraisal, both to figure out how best to exploit the resources of the new territory and how to integrate the different communities.
The Jaws of Winter
Redoubt and Morrow have been subjected to the Icy Maw Devours the Spark of Essence curse, this has caused Mana sites in the affected territory have their production halved. The Citadel Guard has also been affected by the curse; their arcane consolidation has been significantly less effective. If the curse continues for another season, its cumulative effects may worsen.
Player Participation
Any Urizen magician whose personal resource is in Morrow or Redoubt, who has spent time there this season, or who has accompanied the Citadel Guard, may be evidencing the lingering effects of the curse. They experience a roleplaying effect: either “you feel an unpleasant malaise that leaves you lethargic and disinclined to do anything that you feel requires a lot of effort” or “you feel short-tempered and irritable; being insulted or dismissed in particular makes you angry and want to lash out.” It’s acceptable to switch between the two over the course of the event if you wish.
Any magician who does opt to experience the lingering roleplaying effect may call on their poise to gain a one-off benefit. By unleashing a burst of fury, one that has been carefully banked for several months, the magician may cast a single combat spell that costs 1 mana without spending any personal mana. The roleplaying effect starts to fade once the burst of rage is unleashed.
A Thousand Years of Longing
This wind of fortune is all about the results of the investigation into the Vallorn. Over the last few years a massive library was built, incorporating all of the knowledge of the Vallorn from the Empire, the Eternal Library, Phaleron, and even some info from the Thule and Axos.
This wind of fortune is a fantastic place to read about the history of Navaar and the vallorn, however, I am going to cut to the chase and look at what the options are.
First the Navaar could continue as they have been, chipping away at the Vallorn through the use of the Trods. Eventually they will be weakened enough that they can be destroyed, but this could potentially take centuries.
Second, the Heirs of Terunael have taken a different tack, trying to expand the Vallorn so that its power is less concentrated on one spot and it becomes more habitable. This would destroy most of civilisation as we know it, and would be seen as a betrayal of the oaths of the Navaar.
Then there is the third option, unite all the current Vallorn Hearts on the trod network and they will waken and start fighting back. This leaves them vulnerable to attack. Every region of the Vallorn would feel the threat, so everywhere that there is a Vallorn presence would be in danger.
According to the academics it would be possible to defeat the Vallorn in this way, but it would be horrendously difficult and it would have to be committed to on every front.
Béantal Dol in Sarangrave, and Cavan in Visokuma, Axos, have not been connected to the trods. To link them to the network a single ritual would have to take place in Bendol, while a pair of rituals would have to be done to stretch as far as the Vallorn in Axos.
The Vallorn in the Sarangrave is near a Druj College of Magic, so they likely have some way of managing it and would not be welcoming to any attempt from the Empire to destory it. Meanwhile in Axos the locals would likely be very upset if anything were to get it suddenly animated. There is a group called the Heirs to Cavan who would be very happy to do so, however, that might cause some diplomatic difficulties.
There is also a Vallorn in Skuld, in the Thule lands, the Thule are very enthusiastic to see it gone and promise that they will take care of it themselves if it is awoken. Their enthusiasm is at least partly because the region it is in has been kept under a Winter Curse for a very long time and they would like to have the good farmland back, and partly because without the Vallorn they could raid the lost city of Emrys, known for its magic.
Once the process begins to awaken the Vallorn it would not be possible to stop it, the various Winter Curses currently used would be ripped apart by the power of the Spring magic of the Vallorn itself.
There is also an option to spy on the Vallorn, the Imperial Spymaster must have 6 wains of Weirwood in their inventory at time out for the work to be done. A new scouting opportunity would then become available and a full 1500 force would have to be sent to find out anythign useful.
The Imperial Conclave could start speaking to various eternals about this plan, some of them might be quite helpful in it, for example Ossegrahn has been outspoken in the fact that the Vallorn needs to be destroyed and Sadogua (though he is very upset with the Empire at the moment) has promised in the past to help. Kaela, Surut, and Llofir are also options.
Any statement of principle on the vallorn in the Navarr or Highborn Assembly that results in a mandate can be responded to by priests of any nation for the next year.
There is also the fact that after spending centuries working on destroying the Vallorn, the Navaar will have to figure out who they are without it.
Listen to Your Heart
I wasn’t going to include this one as it came after my cut off point of bed time on Tuesday, but it’s very wee so I think I can manage it.
The Grendel are threatening all Imperial fleets on the Bay of Catazar.
There are two mandates and they are in competition with one another, so whichever gets the most votes is the winner.
The Freeborn Assembly can enact a mandate to call on their fleets to target Grendel ships, the mandate would remove the penalty on fleets in the Brass Coast and create a new action for Freeborn fleets. It will also create a new independent action “Hunt the Grendel” that is solely for Freeborn fleets. This action will provide three ingots of tempest jade, two mana crystals, and 42 rings.
Or
The Freeborn Assembly can enact a mandate to urge their fleets to help Imperial ships avoid contact with the Grendel in the Bay of Catazar. The mandate would remove the penalty on all fleets on the Bay of Catazar and create a new action for Freeborn fleets,” Escort Imperial Shipping”. This action will produce four random herbs, three random materials, and 24 rings.
And that is going to be that from me. There are still some winds that I haven’t summarised, but a girl’s got to sleep at some point. If you found this helpful, please like the page and subscribe to the website to get my next updates straight to your inbox. There is also an option to buy me a coffee on the Ko-Fi website, linked here.
See you at Anvil!
K
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