Emile planned a trip for Faust, Circe, and Verlaine to travel to Zemlya Obitovana, ostensibly helping them to pack whithout going themselves, as Zemlya Obitovana would not be a safe place for the occult. The Lothar Knights were in a state of high alert, and the Krainivaya people were gripped with a particular fervor against the Occult in this time of Magical uncertainty, with many of the Mage-Circles and Councils in a tense stand-off across the Archipelago. However, time seemed to be on Emile's side, as the trip had been thusly delayed to be in the middle of the Krainivaya festival of "Verbna Nedilya", a traditional feast where the locals would take branches of willow leaves from the trees, and beat each other to strike out sinful thoughts and evil spirits, a tradition that dated back from their flight from the Slavnogo Sveta Republic to Regalia, where they ritually cleansed themselves of the latent Magic that was used to prosecute and kill them in their old homeland. The Verbna Nedilya would provide enough cover for Emile to disappear in the crowds coming out for this, behaving somewhat oddly, beating random strangers in the streets with branches of willow leaves as a gesture of good fortune, but most importantly of all: wearing masks of the Heroes of Unionism to invoke their favor. Emile secured masks from a Krainivaya babushka in Regalia, one for all four of them (and one as backup for Emile, in case theirs would break), and much to the group's enjoyment, they could all go to Zemlya Obitovana. The group avoided the Calembergers and Aetosians who were definitely not having a festival that would allow them to slip by, instead boarding a transport for Fredericke on the southern coast of Drixagh, and then taking a carriage to Kaatokaino and Savolaxxikaan, eventually crossing the border at Mikkeli. This leg of the trip was incredibly boring, as this region of Drixagh was sparsely populated, though it still had some herds of reindeer moving about in the lichen and half-snow covered pine forests. The border between Mikkeli and Lutskostopil had that traditional Krainivaya border marking. This type of border marking was the only border marking actually visible in the Archipelago. While many regions had adversarial relations, their borders were never visible because everyone belonged to the same state. The Krainivaya however, had created a huge fence across their entire land border, erecting wooden poles every two dozen or so feet, and stringing a single wire between them, each with several white ribbons suspended from them, with a crudely painted Krainivayan woman holding a sunflower on it, with a small ornamental bell suspended from the end of the ribbon. These ribbons danced up and down on the wire as the wind passed through, causing the bells to gently ring each in turn in a volume that could only be heard when they stood directly beneath it. This border demarcation did not serve a purpose to keep people out, rather it was just a spiritual and superstitious construction that the Krainivaya believed would keep the sinful societies of the other provinces away from their pious people. Many of these fences would repeatedly get damaged during winter, or even torn down on purpose by the Velheim living across the border, only to be erected once more by the Krainivaya during summer as part of their solstice celebrations. Passing the border fence, the group traveled past small little villages. This time of year, the farms had just barely started sowing, so most of the villages were abandoned. The group had the discomfort of traveling during the mud season of late march early april, where the frozen ground would make way for the rainy showers of spring, and turn the dirt roads of Zemlya Obitovana into one giant muddy mess. The locals largely kept to themselves, and this was fairly obvious to Emile, as the peasants out here did not have much to live with, assigned to their land by the Hetmans who worked for the aristocrats. They would be far too busy making sure they met their farming quotas and keep their family alive with what little means they had, than to bother travelers, so the group was essentially unbothered until they approached Novhorod. Novhorod was the newest of the Krainivaya cities, and one that can reasonably be called wealthy. Mosskaya was old, and a crime riddled festering pit, or so Emile would have known, a large influx of Baldmark merchants and mercenaries made Mosskaya more culturally diverse, but also the unfortunate victim of Baldmark's more loose concepts of personal property rights. The pious Krainivaya people offered little resistance to the loud and violent mercenaries that came with their Baldmark employers, and so Mosskaya was generally considered unpleasant to visit. Kyizamok, the capital, was large, but hardly wealthy. It also happened to be the headquarters of the Oprichna, and so the group decided they would get enough of their tourism in Novhorod, a city that in general was considered more laid back and cosmopolitan. Still, Novhorod was quite a sight different than Regalia. While Regalia was an urban brick-scape, Novhorod was a jungle of log-cabins, houses, and temples. In every street there was an Evintarian or Dogmatic Temple dome sticking out over the roofs, and each house had the distinct log-cabin appearance, with strong decorative coloring. Vibrant paint had been applied in whites and reds and yellows and blues, depicting flowers like spring daisies and sunflowers, but also geometric shapes reminiscent of wheat fields and snow. The roads in Novhorod had that same muddy messy appearance, but the citizens had erected walking paths of wooden planks with which most of the locals kept their clothing clean. Many of the boyars wore their fanciest clothing, thick woolen furs and cotton overcoats with the brightest of white and blue patterning of flowers. Far above the streets was the Novhorod Kreml, a large fortress also made out of logs but plastered in white, with the flags of Zemlya Obitovana waving in the window, and a very large wooden statue carved in the likeness of Alexander on top of the tallest spire. The locals were well underway with the Willow Sunday Beatings, each carrying a branch of willow leaves, and idly slapping passer-by's in almost apathetic and indifferent manners. Because of the flexibility of willow, and the size of their leaves, being hit by a branch barely hurt, or so the group would quickly experience themselves when a group of brusque large-bearded boyars walked by and slapped each of them on the back. As Emile had predicted, they did not draw any attention, having been covered in long fur coats, and wearing the masks of the Heroes of Unionism. Indeed, Novhorod was very busy with many of the peasants from the outlying regions, selling all manner of trinkets and household items that were left over from the winter crafts: embroidery, pottery, textile weaving, wicker weaving, and woodworking. Faust acquired a wicker basket meant to hold jars and pots, but could equally hold medical requipment, with small sunflower-shaped wicker decorations on the edge. Circe acquired a small set of five wood carved cavalry soldiers, each in different poses of battle (and definitely meant to be painted later on!). Verlaine acquired a large woven blanket called a Lizhnyk, made entirely of long wool fibers, soft to the touch, and with pheasants and flowers embroider on it in colorful wool. The group passed by several music stands and painting galleries, before Circe noticed something quite unusual: An Imperial entourage of Prince Constantine, Princess Noor, Prince Justinian, and most curiously of all: Prince Ivar. The group tried to trail them for a bit, before Emile quickly pushed them all into a rug shop the moment they noticed an entourage of Lothar Knights coming from a different street, intersecting with the Imperial entourage of Imperial Guards and Imperial soldiers behind the Princeroyals, both turning into what looked like the street leading to the Novhorod Khram, the Arch-Temple of this city dedicated to Hero Volodomyr. When enough clearance had been made (and excuses to the tapestry salesman for the quick barging in), the group decided to follow them after all, spurned on by the disappoint results of their earlier attempt to prevent the Lothar Order from doing damage to Mages. After all, this was very irregular, why would the Princeroyals meet with the Lothar so far away from the capital... weeks after they supposedly already had? And why was Prince Ivar present, who is normally off doing what any Red Hunter Archon does best? Both groups dismounted at the Khram Maydan, the square in front of the Arch-Temple, and here were joined with an even stranger gang that absolutely stood out from the locals, who largely ignored the other two entourages: A very large-framed Maquixtl with purple eyes, flanked by several other Maquixtl with purple eyes, two Isldar with purple eyes, and a strange-looking elf-like individual whose Race the group could not identify. The three groups exchanged icy greetings on the steps of the Khram, with the Imperial entourage entering first, the Lothar dropping in prayer before reaching up the steps, and the presumed Archon rolling their eyes and waiting to step in last. Both Lothar and Archon had been stationed at the entrance, and so the group was unable to pass in after them, though luckily, Emil had come along. As subtly as they could, Emile summoned a shade to travel through the catacombs of the Khram into the holy site itself, and eavesdrop on the meeting between these three groups, passing the information along to the others present while acting as the conduit. Emile commented that the meeting appeared like some sort of parley between the Archon and the Lothar, which the Imperial Family was presiding as mediators over. Within mere moments, Emile was able to identify the very large Maquixtl as the "Western-Matron", who had come far indeed from Guldar to speak to Lothar. Prince Constantine was primarily the one to speak, commenting on having discussed matters of state with one Knight Marth, and concluded that from a position of bargaining and the approval of the less-extremist Princeroyals, the Lothar could be agreed to give something up for the strong preferential treatment at court. The implication was made, that many of the more liberal-leaning Princeroyals like Noor (who was also present) had only agreed to the decree recently announced, under the premise that the Lothar Order would also do something for them, and it appeared, that Emile, Faust, Circe, and Verlaine were the first to get the scoop. After a quick boisterous bout between a Lothar and Prince Ivar, Justinian interceded, being gruff and unenthused about even being forced to do this, but reminding the Lothar who he was speaking to, and to mind his tone. Constantine continued to explain, that with the bargaining he had done with the Lothar Order, they had agreed to burden the plight of fighting Demons in Drowda. That while House Kade was unable to dedicate soldiers, and the State itself was wrapped up with the recent Demon explosions all over the world, the Lothar had their hands free. Princess Noor then quickly interjected, to add that this was also meant as a gesture of good will towards the West Matron, to whom Drowda was a considerable problem, but not one he had the means to do anything about. Constantine then extended the idea that, while the Princeroyals had ensured the Lothar would pay for the favor they had secured at court by working to fight the Demon menace in Drowda, that this should also tentatively function as a jumping-off point for the Lothar to stop chasing after the Dragon-aligned, preaching very astutely about their aligning goals, as well as the vindication of the Dragon-Bulls issued by the Concilly Council on the matter of Dragons. Prince Justinian had meanwhile sunken down in his chair, it was very obvious he did not like being here, or being roped into doing this, but was remaining quiet to do exactly as he was instructed, or had agreed to do to the behest of Noor and Constantine, who seemed chiefly in charge of this particular exchange. The West Matron joked at response to this, that the effectiveness of Red Hunter kill-counts would increase if they didn't have to add Lothar to that list in self-defense, which the Lothar took as an insult. Certainly, some exchange of expletives was made, but the group was once again reminded that they were in holy territory to the Empire, were all disarmed, and had the Imperial Guards breathing down their necks. Noor commented on the side that if the Lothar could tolerate playing with "furred friends", they could tolerate playing with "scaled friends" too. The fines of the discussion after was a mere exchange of political diatribe, much of it went over the eavesdroppers heads, but the conclusion of the talks seemed pretty obvious, when the West Matron and the representative of the Lothar shook hands, albeit with a frown on both of their faces. The Lothar in exchange for the Princeroyals support on the ban of various religions, had agreed to burden the defense of Drowda, with thousands of Lothar already having been sent there on transports with the fifth Fleet. Additionally, the West Matron and the Lothar Order here agreed to a functional truce, if not a tacit alliance against the Occult. Red Hunters had already largely been ignored by the Lothar Order in order to "kill them last", but this moment represented a shift in their oppositional views, to one of cooperation. The Lothar Order would issue a decree to its members, that co-operation and assistance of Red Hunters and to avoid picking fights with Archon unless they violated their duty against the infection, so long as they acted within the wishes of their god Caius and the West Matron, was permitted and encouraged. The West Matron in turn, through the Oracles and Leylines, would communicate to all the Red Hunters that they were tentatively allied to the Lothar Order in their common hatred for the Afflicted, so long as the Lothar would shoulder the burden of the defense of the Sihndar, who had suffered extreme losses since the decrees of the last Foreign Minister caused a complete collapse of their bureaucracy and influx of donations and assistance shipments. Troubled, or perhaps unsure of how to process this news, the group was snapped out of their trance in listening by being beaten numerous times with Willow Branches, almost forgetting where they were. The festivities started picking up, with many visitors flooding the streets, and Emil could no longer listen to the Shade without constant interruptions, so the group just decided to go home to inform anyone who they might have wished to hear of what they had discovered. OOC NOTICE: Lothar Knights and Red Hunters would be informed of this ""alliance"" immediately. This information is all theoretically public knowledge, however we request at least 72 hours pass before this information all becomes common knowledge, so Starliate and friends can spend some time roleplaying about this exclusive scoop they had.
