World Progression 2022 Period 10

[MonMarty]

This Thread will record all submitted Progressions as they are processed. Deadline for Period 10 is 8th of May, Midnight London Time. Submissions will be posted as replies until the Deadline is reached.

 

[MonMarty]

Silverwind

• Drulailmon, Feyrinth, Aldon, Aer'bueari, Evalon and Aeda'lyn travel to SIlverwind to try and commune with the Vasil and the researchers. The group attempts to speak with the Vasil, but it seems far too young to be able to communicate with them, only producing giggles and child like noises. The Yanar researchers say they have just been studying it and keeping it safe from outside encroachment while it was allowed to grow, under the expectation that eventually it will bear seedpods to allow more Vasil to be grown under the Empire's watch.
• The request for a backdoor entrance to the sanctum is sternly declined. The Emperor has sent a full army to Silverwind, and the Yanar say that the Emperor has pushed the paperwork to annex Silverwind into Crown territory, expelling all the locals who are already packing up. Not only will reaching the Sanctum become impossible without an army, they will have to pass through the docks that are going to be controlled by admittance papers only. The Emperor is under the impression the Vasil is under threat from terrorists and as such has chosen to annex the land.
• The excavation in Ithania found that the Vasil's "mother tree" was found in a massive cave complex in the Jungle plateau in south Ithania. Beyond that the Emperor didn't inform them much of what happened besides that the Emperor was working with a bunch of Nelfin whose identity is unclear. They propose that there wasn't any excavations, but that the group entered the cave spelunking on a hunch or directions.
• Regarding the Va'sil tree, the Yanar researchers say that the tree was already relatively sized, and that Arahael Bancroft simply planted the sapling and the tree grew from there. It is unlikely that another seed was preserved anywhere due to how they were told this particular seed was found, and how in the span of 300 years not a single Vasil tree has ever been found besides that one, and the fact that this one also stated it was the last tree left before it died.
• The Yanar researchers do not know what to say on the questions regarding memories, as the Vasil tree does not speak yet.
• The Yanar researchers confirm that the Vasil was grown from a seed in Regalia but was moved because the Emperor considered the hole in the ground it was stored too small for its eventual growth, and did not think he could protect the Vasil tree from the outside elements or terrorism.
• The group eventually leaves, and sure enough, they witness several battleships arriving, and smaller vessels of the Silverwind locals departing as the Emperor's soldiers unload and essentially evict Silverwind, prepping the small Pirate enclave for demolition. Some of them would have put up a fight but there were hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers, and as they were already in a severe economic downturn, most of them just accepted and got on with it. Some of the service staff remained to feed and cook and bed the soldiers, but the majority of the privateers left and sailed west, until they hit the blockade of Rutgher, requesting that the Regalian military let them pass and settle in Rutgher, assuming that Rutgher was going to be annexed into the Empire or made part of its sphere.

Regalia

• Antoinette, Andriy, and Yeva travel to the Sorenvik-Dragic border to cleanse any potential migrants. However, nobody has come across, the Oprichnyy was quickly on the scene before Aleksandra even closed the border, and backed off when the border was closed, so there is nothing to cleanse.
• Masuki, Baskoro, Xabi and Eric travel to the Regalian Ecological Academy where they inquire about the Dakkar. The scholars indicate that the Dakkar have not been sighted for years, and that the presumed airborne substance or material that caused their petrifying disease is still airborne. They say that preliminary scouting has not sighted even a single Dakkar leaving the occupied Dwarven holds in Ellador. They then try to travel to inquire about Dakkar biology, intelligence and Allar relations. The researchers return very basic data that isn't super helpful, they never got their hands on a live specimen of Dakkar to study, but assume that its intelligence was about the same as other sentient species. They report no recorded historical, racial, religious, sociological or geographical relations between the Allar and Dakkar. Dakkar exclusively live in an area referred to as Gana-Isha, in the depths beneath Ellador, and all worship a Void God. If there is a hypothesis to be made about Dakkar and Allar racial links, they are more likely to do with the Sendrassians than Hadar Allar, though they say this theory is flimsy at best, because Allar do not live in Ellador, they have never gone to Ellador. And they also aren't cave dwelling. They state that any speculation to racial relations is purely based on the surface level scale-appearance of the Dakkar which is purely a biological assumption that could just as well apply to Songaskians and Isldar. The scholars report no sightings of Dakkar in the Archipelago since the outbreak of the disease, though they should note that the disease was unlikely actually an instant. They speculate that the Dakkar have some sort of microbiological issue with living on the surface, because it happened to all of them at once, after a certain amount of time had passed with them coming to the surface, and that this implies a substance build up caused an immune system collapse in their biology. They say it could literally be as simple as Dakkar immune systems collapsing when they build up yeast bacteria that don't exist in the more sterile Gana-Isha caves.
• House Nordhjem closes the borders with House Sorenvik, but does allow Urlan to cross borders.
• House Novak pays the cost for Baldmark's slavery abolition. However. Since most of the slaves (if not exclusively) are owned by the Szabadok, the Szabadok just take the money and then write a very elaborate "no thanks" message in return, keeping both their slaves, and the money, thanking House Novak for their suggestion. They say they will only get rid of the slaves if House Litvinova wants them to (and only that is predicated on the fact that House Litvinova can hold onto their favor).
• House Delmotte's army returns to Regalia to quell any potential unrest from the removal of slaves.
• House van Hal rallies their troops on the borders to safely guide any Urlan into their territory. While Urlan would likely be rough witht he locals if just let in without any sort of guidance, the presence of van Hal soldiers to ensure safety, essentially a show of force, means the Urlan back down and safely and peacefully settle in van Hal lands, adding to the population. The Anglians seem a bit apprehensive with them at first, but eventually settle with their presence as they keep wild animals away from the animal farms and are very useful when it comes to the physical labor on the fields.
• House van Hal also attempts to coach the magnates into wanting to get rid of so called child labor, but the Anglian magnates just respond that there is no such thing as child labor in Anglia, because children under age 13 do not work, and above 13, they are no longer children by Anglian law. The Magnates also make it somewhat clear that if van Hal expects to extend the automata onto wheat fields, that she can expect her entire lower class population to become unemployed which will be very /very/ bad. Surveys are also done for abandoned buildings in towns and what not. Obviously every town has a few abandoned houses, this goes without saying, but the Emended Unionists seem content to preach from small tents on the edge of town for now.
• House Valloaan mobilizes its army to deal with any potential abolition unrest, but no payments are made yet, so they just kind of chill.
• Duchess Amelina travels to the Grand Magistrate Dianne Black at the Palace to discuss the ongoing situation in the Songaskian Masaya. The Magistrate alludes to the idea that the situation in the Masaya is far more complex than anyone has been willing to admit, or willing to share. She states that, now that the Massya is an adult, and has shown more politically apt than thought, he is actively creating the impression that his state is suffering financial difficulties that aren't really there because the underlying export market is flourishing more than ever. There is something strange happening in the Songaskian lands. The Massya himself who was often depicted as a Regalian puppet, has far more independent subtext than Regalia was able to appreciate, and that the Massya's uncle who was always so staunchly anti-Regalian has suddenly started courting Regalian businesses more and more. This is also coupled with the fact that there recently was a complete purge of the Songaskian Embassy to Regalia. The Massya silently recalled all of the ambassadorial staff to Farah'deen and sent replacements, which is unusual since the Embassy was the largest of any nation in Regalia, with dozens of staff. The good contacts house Black had in Farah'deen have also mostly gone silent, admitting she also has no idea what is going on, but that there is something far more secretive happening than just an income issue that is Regalia's to solve, remarking that perhaps it is time to stop disregarding Farah'deen as a puppet they can forget about.
• House Abbansadi mobilizes their troops and safely guides Urlan settlers into their territory, dissuading any unrest by a show of military force. The Urlan settle just fine. There's some intriguing exchanges between the Eronidas and Urlan, with some Eronidas becoming Urlan voluntarily, but no major conflict or forced Symbiosis occurs anywhere and the matter is resolved peacefully.
• Fabienne, Lisette and Cadwyn travel to several Caisfars in the Archipelago to inquire about the status of the Emerald Mines. While some of the Caisfars are still operational, they find the vast majority of them have been shut down save for a few janitors that keep the place somewhat tidy, stating that the personel has all been recalled to their homeland. They say whether or not they pay homage to the High King doesn't matter, their families are all still in the Aontaithe homeland, and so choosing to secede from them is not really an option. They expect that Regalia will soon just take the Caisfars here, because it cannot afford to have the Allorn Empire own military and trade outposts in the middle of the Regalian Archipelago. The shipment of gifts to the petty Kings is not cleared through customs by the Allorn who control their homeland, and sent back. The High King is presumed still "secured for his safety" in the Allorn Empire, while the Silver Moon Society seem in charge of the Aontaithe homelands.
• Enheduanna, Mother ALexi, Galinthios, Aos and Koko travel to Kappados, arriving in the coastal city or Eretos from where they travel in land. The mild coastal climate quickly makes way for the arid plains of the Kappados interior, just endless dunes of brown sandy hills and jagged red mountains. When breaching the first plateau, the chimney rocks were visible from many miles away, Mother Alexi correctly judging that these unnatural octagonal shaped pillars stood taller than the main body of the All-Beacon Temple in Regalia, which curiously was also octagonal in shape. When they came closer, the sheer size of them was even more staggering, It would take full minutes to even sprint down the full lenght of a single face, let along travel the full circumference for up to an hour. Their tips would have easily touched if not surpassed the clouds, had the climate in Kappados not been incredibly arid and dry. In the shadow side of the pillars were rock-carved houses, or at least the implication of windows and doors, just black holes in the stones with hollow areas behind them. Whatever once existed on the surface level had long been sand-blasted away with any detail or paint on the walls completely missing. Reaching up there would prove very difficult, if not nigh impossible. The group reasoned that perhaps once in the past, the native peoples built these villages high up in these rocks for safety, as any attacker would find it impossible to scale up these vertical stone pillars that were as wide at the base as they were at the top. There was no way left to get back up there, only some rotten pieces of wood on the ground nearby, implying there had once been a staircase. They can find no other traces of anything, no pottery or items left behind and so the group eventually returns home again. (seeking Ordial Magic through Progs is not possible unless @Finlaggan communicates something about it to me, so I just treated this as an expedition prog).
• House Guentyr blocks any Urlan from reaching Kintyr, stating they should settle somewhere else instead. The Urlan however indicate there was probably a mixing of the communication lines somewhere, as some of them were intended for Guentyr lands, just not Guentyr lands owned in Kintyr, but in Anglia. However, since House Guentyr showed a show of force and paid money for a smooth integration, these Urlan all settle in the Dorinn region (in Guentyr sphere of influence) without any issues.
• Godrun, Enheduanna, Aman, Eric and Bryo travel to the Dwarves in the Nordhjem lands to help them develop hydroponic farms not specifically built in the rock itself. It turns out to be an expensive test, requiring a lot of machining parts to even get the water purified and clear to where they need to go, but it effectively works. The problem arises in their response. While it is true that they have found a way to properly feed themselves, they were duped with the promise of lands. Whatever Ailor prospectors sold them the information to these islands just deceived them and ran off with the money they paid for the prospect records. The land is poor, there is nothing in the soil worth digging up, and without an export produce to trade with the Regalian market, they will eventually not even be able to pay to maintain or build hydroponics to expand. Building a hold on Nordhjem lands is not viable, utterly impossible in fact, because the soil has no rare earth metals in it. As such, they are stumped on where to go from here.
• House Viduggla immediately closes the borders with House Sorenvik. House Sorenvik's lands are now closed border wise by all neighboring states, and the situation is starting to hurt their Economy. Cost is reflected in Finances.
• Ardige Viduggla sends out diplomats. Tuija Nordhjem is sent to Isk-Skjer to inquire for its Conservationist viability. The Bureaucrats respond that changing an entire region to a conservation is impossible, because the implication of a conservation region would be the expulsion of locals, requiring the removal of all inhabitants. Godrun is sent to Nordskag to inquire about a similar proposal on Nordskag territory. The King of Nordskag replies that the proposal is ludicrous and he won't support any weird Regalian touristisms on Nordskag territory. Sihn-Traeliorn travels to Hedryll to inquire a similar proposal. The Hedryll king equally declines, stating that this is the first time in centuries that his Kingdom is actually expanding, and he is not giving up any part of it for some dumb animals to graze in now that he has the chance to expand his once great Kingdom. None of them seem interested in payments.
• On the note of conservation. The Tryllejag is not part of the Regalian Empire, and as such, regardless of the conservator's announcement that Ogres and Thylans are to be protected, the King of Tryllejag just happily continues the slaughter of these near sentient beings as they try to flee south.
• House Delmotte inquires with the scholars in Basta to the location of the Grand Bijoux Vert. They respond that it was probably taken to Daenshore, which Anahera has historically used as a more secure location to store personal effects than the Regalian Archipelago where they could be seized. It is hard to tell where it went to however, as the rock must have passed from Alejandro Anahera who took it from House Pileran, to Theresa Anahera who inherited it as she took over from her son, to Gustavo Anahera as he usurped control over Daenshore's governorate from his brother. Whatever Gustavo did with it, nobody knows, because he died in a fire in Regalia, but there is a presumption it is still in Daenshore somewhere. The Callas and Wysland regions have generic rulers. The system is currently not equipped to allow for regional expansion on the map.
• House Delmotte messengers deliver letters to the Barons and Chiefs of Nordhjem lands, including copies of the signed treaty by the Duchess and the Count Delmotte, showing clear as day that the Duchess intends to allow for her children to possibly be Unionist, implying a Unionist conversion of leadership in the future is tenably on the table. The message included is something along the lines of "Can't wait for you all to embrace Unionism when that day comes". While this doesn't exactly have the (presumed?) effect of causing widespread anger towards House Nordhjem (it certainly does among the old faithful), it initiates a wider discussion in Viduggla, Nordhjem, and Sorenvik lands, about the encroachment of Unionism in their lands by freedom of religion. Some of the already Unionist citizens of these realms indicate they would favor religious freedom, even if they would prefer to teach their children the Unionist ways only, they are prepared to let them choose. The Old Gods faithful meanwhile oppose teaching their children any Unionist doctrine, saying it's all poison from the south, and in essence, demand/request their liege lords set a standard, whether their children will be taught both faiths and can choose, or whether they will enforce a religious belief as is their right as parents, and take the potential concerquences on the chin.

Financial

• House Novak pays 2 Wealth tokens to abolish slavery in Baldmark (it fails, but the payment is still taken).
• House Guentyr pays 2 Wealth tokens to supply their state army in Soren.
• House von Drachenburg pays 2 Wealth tokens to remove slavery in Calemberg (it succeeds).
• House Bancroft pays 1 Wealth Token to Baskoro
• House Bancroft pays 1 Wealth Token to Godrun
• The Civics Ministry pays 13 Wealth Tokens to the Legal? Finance MInistry
• The Civics Ministry pays 3 Wealth Tokens to Seishan Wei
• The Civics Ministry pays 1 Wealth Tokens to Dorian Prismyth
• House Delmotte pays 8 Wealth Tokens to buy out slavery in Basta (it succeeds).
• House Dragic pays 3 Wealth tokens to supply their army.
• House van Hall gives 1 Wealth Tokens to Carmen
• House van Hall gives 1 Wealth Tokens to Kyn'mii
  
• House van Hall gives 1 Wealth Tokens to Wayward Hare
  
• House Peirgarten puts 5 Wealth tokens into the East Consul Bank
• House Abbansadi gives Jushur 1 Wealth Token.
• House Guentyr pays 4 Wealth tokens for Urlan escorts.
• House Sorenvik loses 2 Wealth Tokens as a result of the border shutting on all sides and trade being hemmed in.

Rutgher

• Trajan leads the state army supported by Renzo, Paris, Miomyr and Wilvamair mopping up what little resistance remains in Rutgher, smoking out wolf-pelt men and just killing them as they refuse to be taken captive or lay down their weapons. Urban centers are occupied, or at least what is left of them. Most places are depopulated by almost 50%, and the strange murder-suicides that happen in Drixagh are also still happening here, regardless of how many wolf-pelt men they arrest or kill. The army eventually stations on the Soren Border.
• Elewisa Peirgarten firms up the Rutgher blockade and deploys Volodymyr and Vasiliye to espionage among the southern locals. Messages concerning the wolf-pelt men are very unclear, some citizens say they are wild savages that enact religious fervor on the people for not being faithful enough, some say they are eradicating the rot in Cillik Old Gods believers, and some say they are just blood thirsty savages and enemies of the state. It is not possible for them to actually find any wolf-pelt men themselves as they are too far in land in a place where Vasiliye would not be able to protect Volodomyr.
• The Southmark Marshal issues a travel grant to the Hexenblood to enter Carrhen.
• Aleksandra Dragic and the Southmark army, combing through the lands Novak already walked through, occupying it properly. More wolf-pelt men are smoked out and taken out back, and as a result, curiously, the ritualistic suicide rings start an increasing trend with several more discovered every day leaving the administrators and officers puzzled as to why it is increasing when they thought the wolf-pelt men were the cause of it to begin with.
• Avox, Aailyah, Galinthos, Dominique disembark with the state army and goes about capturing the coastal Rutgher settlements and ports finding most of them practically undefended. Wolf-pelt men are put to the sword when taken prisoner (if taken prisoner at all), and the local population seems relieved with the messages that they will be protected from the random killings happening everywhere. And then suicide circles start showing up, even in regions that previously didn't have them.
• The Soren army immediately surrenders to Faure's approaching army, even before the ultimatum is delivered. The Soren Army however refuses to assist in occupation of Rutgher, but also refuses to return home. They assume that most of their families have been killed already or been turned into Vampires, and they have no interest in returning to a land that is so quickly turning into a hellhole, content to just merge with the civilian population in Rutgher insteadm all they ask is not to be sent back to Soren. For now, the population is kept into an internment camp since they neither accepted nor declined the actual request of them.
• Saranamual, Beatrix and Aurora first travel to Enman-Rifftaman, noticing that Rifftaman has pushed Enman back so far that they are nearly ready to start incorporating the provinces on the border. They seem convinced that they will annex Enman in a few weeks time. They decline any offer for a peace settlement, indicating that they are going for full incorporation.
• The group then continues to Silverwind, where they are promptly rebuffed by a bunch of Regalian warships and Emperor's mandate scribes who say they have already expelled the local population and just parged a massive army on the island to annex it, and to "move on". The group then travels back to Rutgher, passing by the waiting (mostly Unionist) refugees from Silverwind who hope to pass the blockade to settle in Rutgher.
• In Rutgher, they contact the remnants of the clerical priest government who seem to have been reduced from 12 priests down to 3. They hastily and happily agree to the circumstances, handing over all paperwork and reports of where more wolf-pelt men are, referring to them as "Bannor's Servants". This again results in more roundups of Wolf-pelt people (who more often than not just get put to the sword) and their supporting families who all continue to shriek that Regalia has it all wrong and blablabla but they just thrown in prison so the jailors don't have to hear the shrieking anymore. The government also accepts the Naval treaties, being all too happy to sign all of them. Even the missionary one to the surprise of the delegation. They will also happily agree to the remaining of federal navies and armies in the region, and so the war seems over with Rutgher, while the Soren situation continues, and Regalia is technically still at war with the Serman Duchy, but its ruler is dead and the capital a smoldering ruin, so there's plenty of noise in the Regalian capital to not waste this moment and just outright annex all these lands since they wouldn't even be able to put up a fight.

Soren

• House Guentyr retreats the Regalian soldiers and pulls all out of Soren, with the Guentyr levies being demobilized and sent back home. What little remains of Guentyr's state troops is supplemented with fresh reinforcements from Regalia, and they march towards Faure to assist their army with the Soren army.
• Harta, Siralli, Briareth, Sage, and Sihn-Llaevvryn blockade the inner Rutgher-Soren strait, disallowing passage. At around the same time, the Serman Duchy is finally properly occupied by the coalition of the three states to the west, the capital is pillaged and sacked, and they all return home leaving the Serman Duchy a smoldering ruin. Harta's blockade announces to the Soren citizens that the blockade will allow those who wish to escape Soren to apply for safe passage, but then informs the blockade strictly that such approval will not be given. Naturally, the citizens are not informed, so huge streams of refugees fleeing the Vampire menace in Soren end up camping on the river side opposite to the Rutgher Theocracy, hoping to be let past as they are trying to flee Soren that is turning into a Dark kingdom, only to be met with perpetual stalling and waiting, causing the refugee pressure in the area to become massive. A few ships approach the blockade, and a lenghty checking and interviewing process proceeds with every refugee, however the interview process is slow at best. Even with 50 or so interviewers, it still takes them nearly an entire day just to clear 300 to 900 interviewees, and there are soon thousands of people camped up on the other side of the river. The situation spins completely out of control when groups of Vampires show up. In a re-enactment of this scene Regalia's orderly system completely collapses, refugees start pushing into the makeshift mooring locations piling onto small fisher boats that become completely overwhelmed by the weight and sink. Hundreds of refugees start swimming to the other side of the river, climbing up to the Regalian warships, resulting in the Regalian warships opening fire both on the refugees still on Soren land, as well as using small arms weapons to shoot at the refugees swimming in the water and trying to climb on their decks. In the chaos several ships end up being boarded by Vampires and blown up, causing a sizeable portion to pass through, along with the stream of refugees. Luckily, Novak's army is on the other side of the river and able to quickly clean up any Vampires that pass through and quarantine the refugees who made it onto the other side, but all along the river, hundreds if not thousands of Soren refugees are killed, drown, or turned into Vampires as the blockade was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of refugees that came for the false promise of being let out. The blockade is quickly re-established by reinforcing ships, but the promise of a way out of Soren is obviously one that has rung hollow with the Soren citizens, who are mounting different attempts to get out now. In hindsight, a remark is made that this plan would have probably succeeded if they just hadn't announced this corridor for evacuation as a fake promise. It brought thousands of refugees to the cramped checkpoint shorelines, and was basically an open invitation for Vampires to have a feast banquet on a platter, and for the mob to stampede in panic and overwhelm the Regalian forces.

 

[dimetros]

Snip

Click to shrink...

The ride back on the carriage is a bumpy one. Baskoro holds her notebook tight- it looks far more organized than she does, its neat, tidy lines a clear contrast to the frazzled state of her feathers.

She skimmed a talon over a few words. Ellador, sentience, air, Void. Those golden eyes linger and grow dryer minute by minute, 'til eventually, a concerned look from her Slizzar companions makes her snap the journal shut.

Pandora's box loomed on the horizon. Now it's time to determine if it's even worth opening.

 

[canaaa]

Kelvenne settles in to read the newest news from the Southern Mark, before her brows rise all the way. She lets a brief bout of bitter laughter pass her lips as her eyes scan over the page. "So long as all the generals follow tried and true methods, the enemy will be defeated," she murmurs to herself, "indeed. Although I wonder who their enemy really is at this point - the Sanguine or the citizens?"

 

[ThePear]

"Shooting Civilians.. This is a mess"

 

[MonMarty]

The Nurf

• Revna, Tuija and Lily travel to Nordskag to speak with the King, offering support in finance and military with his issues. The King responds fairly insulted that he has an army that is equal if not larger than the entire tenpenny army, and the implication that Regalia can just treat one of its prospect heartlands like a pathetic colony in need of military support is ludicrous. He states that House Sorenvik is already assisting where necessary, and that these diplomats should mind their own business, before ejecting them from the throne room, telling them they should be campaigning in palace halls to eject Ithania's objections to Nordskag's recognition as a heartland province instead of trying to play Velheim-community outreach programs.
• Allestane Delmotte retreats its army from Hvitskag.
• Several ammunition and supply depots in the Tryllejag Kingdom are blown up, far too many and far too close to each other to be a coincidence. No culprits is found, but both the Tryllejag army and the Viduggla are are unable to move without restoring their supplies, thus halting their advance against the Ogres and Thylans.
• The Di Civita army digs in in with fortifications, though the soldiers have trouble establishing any of them. They are able to make-shift use some of the old trenches dug years and years ago during the Nordskag-Hvitskag war, but the land is still piss poor. There is no food to forage, wild animals are sparce, and supplies are extremely low. House di Civita's army will require 5 Wealth Tokens worth of supplies not to starve next cycle. To add onto the problems, the soldiers while scouting the area discover that the Hvitskaggers have opened up their Helbolwen, and destroyed the cover stones. As a result, mindless Undead come out at night and repeatedly attack Regalian encampments.
• The Varcion army presses forward alone into Hvitskag hell-land and discover exactly why it is hell-land. Even while Teqaar and Fareen scout, the Hvitskaggers who have perfected winter landscape warfare against a superior foe refuse to be found, all they discover is endlesss stretches of snowy forest and rock landscape. As soon as the army arrives however, the landscape springs alive with Skagger berserkers, setting on the Varcion army from all sides. As much as they are well supplied, the army is hopelessly outnumbered by the Hvitskag army even without its winter warfare specialty, the mixed Kathar and Anglian soldiers being completely out of their element. The army gets severely battered until the under-officers basically force a retreat to the di Civita positions, out of risk of getting the entire army wiped out with severe morale impact. They fail to even capture a single Skagger.

Regalia

• Godrun Nordhjem inquires with moving Dwarves across Nordhjem lands. The bureaucrats reply that this is certainly possible, but not without dis-possessing existing barons and tribes of their claimed land. Everything in the Regalian Archipelago is owned by someone, except those specific islands the Dwarves settled on.
• Despite the court saying they would not affect the Emperor's Pride plantations in Litvinova lands, a group of five disguised and stealthy burns all of the plantations. No individual or group claims their actions, but considering these plantations no longer had a purpose, it also doesn't damage House Litvinova. (also technically this order processed before the trial even took place, because it was sent in the 6th, but I just processed it for today).
• The Kingdom of Torse and Arlora or the unified administration in the area tell the noble armies still present they are no longer needed. Their sudden acquisition of Alaru Addir, has allowed them to take care of all Bone Horror themselves.
• The Imperial Conservationist inquires with the bureaucracy for suitable regions in the Archipelago to house Ogres and Thylans. The Bureaucrats say that only Nordhjem or Viduggla lands are suitable. They would have to give up about 20% of their land to maintain the current Ogre and Thylan population proliferation space.
• Mene'lainn, Ceridwen, Aer'bueari, and Revna travel to an unnamed island south of Seileland to investigate the state of the local wildlife. They find some seagulls, coastal birds and some deer living in the forest. Nobody lives on the island besides occasional hunters who sail across the strait to pick off a deer and sail it back to the mainland. Everything is stable and fine.
• House Nordhjem mobilizes its army in preparation for abolition.
• House Varcion has a team of Taleos, Mikhael, Koko, Dana, Ania and Felsin (please cite out their names in written form, character app names and written names are not always the same) try to develop hovering scout drones to reduce impact on soldier losses. The request is made for them to be built cold resistant, as well as durable to attacks. The results however are disappointing. With the technology available in Engineering, the engineers basically return the conundrum that if the weapon should be cold resistant, it cannot fly, because rotor attachments are incredibly sensitive to temperature and strong winds, and if it is to be hit-resistant, it cannot be on the ground. With this inherent self contradiction, nothing is developed.
• Reynaud, Anri and Titus smuggle themselves into the Sorenvik lands because all borders are closed and the only way they can get in is by sneaking across the frozen coastlines of Guentyr-Sorenvik borders. Once inside, they investigate some suicide circles, but cannot find any lingering Void Essence. The assumption is made that if something occured before death, the only way to know is to get Isldar on the spot.
• Sorenvik authorities arrest all Carrhen refugees and ship them back to Carrhen. There's a lot of snotty screaming and crying from some refugees, screaming about not being responsible for Sorenvik's own careless dumping of refugees and that not killing anyone is not the Soldi saving mercy house Sorenvik thinks it is, but just an honorless death sentence in disguise. But it does get the desired outcome however, ritual suicides basically trickle to nothing. A few people who are being expelled kill themselves on the way out, and the ones that don't arrive back in Carrhen, bereft of their homes and usually not even being able to return home (as Soren is still under blockade), so a clut of refugees without houses or supplies just arrived in Rutgher for the Petrou military to take care of. (Nordskag does something similar, but does eventually decide to keep the refugees who don't kill themselves on the way out, turning the ships around halfway traveling to Rutgher, upon assumption that if there were any suicide cultists still among them, they would have already offed themselves. There's still a few instances of it, so their tactic wasn't 100% failproof, but it's mostly on a decline).
• House Sorenvik institutes the following policies:
  • Parents may only teach children Unionism if they are Unionist.
  • Unionist parents who teach children about Unionism must also teach them Old Gods.
  • Children may choose their own faith.
  • Missionaries remain banned because of political reasons.
  • This is responded to very positively by the Old Gods majority and the various non-Unionist tribes living in the eastern lands, but is responded to very negatively by the Unionist minority especially in Kerulv among the more urbanized regions which previously were not required by law to teach their children Old Gods. Representation indicates that they acknowledge their second-rank status in Sorenvik lands, and if the borders had been open, many of them would have left. Instead, they champion the "Buy-Unionist" policy where Unionist families refuse to buy goods and services from Old Gods families to keep the (often upper-class wealthy Unionist merchant class) money in circulation of Unionist circles only. This further exasperates Sorenvik financial woes as a result of the borders being closed, causing a loss of 3 Wealth Tokens from banking to balance the cost. The Unionists demand that if Old Gods teaching is obligatory because the families are in Old Gods lands, then Unionist teaching should also be obligatory to Old Gods families because they are in a Unionist Empire.
• The Imperial army that was promised to arrive never arrives in Soren. The Emperor instead sends a messenger apologizing to the Marshals, indicating that there was need for "smoke and mirrors", to try and smoke out a traitor identified in the Marshal's cabinet who is passing information from the generals along to the individual known as Haqet. Unfortunately, the traitor did not bite as the Emperor sent conflicting orders to each Marshal to figure out where the leak was happening. The Princes concluded that this time the traitor did not bite, but still indicate that they have a likely suspicion that the individual known as Ezekiel Rubedo has been leaking information from the North and South Marshals to Haqet to allow Haqet to engage in their actions with fore-knowledge of Regalian general movements.
• A spontaneous movement develops in Osteiermark called "The Liberated Worker's Union", purchasing properties across Ivenna to establish communal housing and gathering places for ex-slaves, aimed at worker class and every day workers and commoners preaching for equality against their ex-owners. Some really inconsistent government response happens. While du Poncaire's own estate managers end up buying properties to support this organization, du Poncaire's own regional councils immediately shut these buildings down, impounding them for "jacobinist ideals and causing civil unrest". This causes weird situations like du Poncair's banking consort buying up two buildings that before the ink is dried are immediately impounded by the civil authorities as supporting illegal organizations, the bank acting on du Poncaire's orders, the civil authorities on what they think should be du Poncaire's orders and the state authorities. Regalia had to deal with a short bout of the Molotok Doctrine three years ago that ended in complete tragedy as the members were rounded up and executed for jacobinism. Anything to do with egalitarianism is immediately repressed by the state as a result. To make the confusion about this all even more complete, Haqet was identified in the middle of Ivenna by an Arcanologist who recognized Coraveau which could not be disguised. What resulted was a near encounter of Haqet with state authorities, however before an actual clash could happen, a unique event took place. In the streets of Ivenna, close to the state opera, Haqet was cornered by the city regional constables, only for all of them (haqet and blutritter included) to suddenly feel paralyzed. A tall Ailor-looking woman completely clad in white, with white eyes, white hair and dark skin walked onto the scene with one Puretek Quarter-tek held up high, making paces as if in a duel with one arm bent behind her back towards Haqet. She aimed the Quartertek slowly down to Haqet's forehead, held the weapon there, and spoke in a very calm but stern tone: "A child of purity has called, and Mother has answered this defilement", before point-blank shooting Haqet in the face, after which everything went white for Haqet. Haqet wakes some time after on a boat back to Regalia, Coraveau shattered in pieces next to them, not hearing the voices anymore. Blutritter was with them, explaining that the thing immediately disappeared in a flash of white when it shot the Puretek at point-blank range, and Haqet immediately passed out. Blutritter said that they saw Coraveau snap into a dozen pieces, spraying the area like a scattershot, killing even some of the Poncaire constables. Blutritter then added they collected all the pieces in a hurry, along with Haqet who was unconscious, and had to flee the area, bringing them back to Regalia. It was also there that Haqet, if only for a moment, lingering from the effects of whatever it was that the woman did to the face, could feel everything, conscience, fear, anxiety. This did not last long however. A murder of ravens appeared, descending on the sword, picking up all the pieces and slowly putting it back together again, and as it mended, so did the voices return in Haqet's head, remarking that it was a close call, but that the Ravenlord is not defeated this easily. News of the Mother of Purity eventually reached Regalia, as some of the guards who witnessed it all lived to tell the tale, and spread news back to Regalia about a blessing from the Everwatcher (or so, they perceived it to be).
• House Litvinova pays the Abolition tax for Baldmark, in communication with the Szabadok. The slaves aren't strictly being let free, but rather, the Szabadok use a workaround or set of loopholes to transition them into entertainment slaves, and as such, can avoid having to set anyone free with recommendations of House Litvinova, but agree to let the physical labor be taken over by machines.
• House Litvinova finally sends 2 Wealth Tokens worth of money to Novak, with an attached letter to the people & House Novak:
  
  "To the people of Ceardenland, and Steerland,
  
  House Litvinova would like to offer our dearest apologies towards the recent actions of your Count Redomir Novak as of late. It seems as if he is far more concerned with foreign affairs instead of those in his own lands. Do not fret, for even if the Count has forgotten his own citizens, we have not. Please accept these regals as a reimbursement for such negligence. We strongly believe that your hard earned regals should not go to waste in such a way, especially towards our own Szabadokian lands who do not care for such actions, and will give nothing in return. It is our wish that the Count should take this act of kindness to heart and reevaluate his priorities, as they should be with his people, not in far away lands.
  
  And for House Novak,
  
  Please do be less reckless with your finances. There is no need to continue to buy the Szabadokian's support, it is simply an unattainable dream. It is time to wake up, and turn your focus back to your own lands and citizens. We assure you that the Citizens of Baldmark are in good, and capable hands. We hope this will be able to refund the money you lost, and therefore help you learn the lesson that it is not wise to mess eith other's lands with out permission, as there are consequences. Luckily for you, we are sparing you from such, by reimbursing your citizens' hard earned money. If you wish to enter our lands again without permission such kindnesses will not be given. If you wish for permission do come to speak with either the Countess or Baroness Litvinova first, we promise we do not bite.
  
  Warmest Regards,
  
  Countess Acelina Litvinova of Rumvalia."
  
  Needless to say, the local barons are in dismay, finding both House Novak's finances have been spent on a region halfway across the archipelago, and the fact that nearly every Novak government action in the region has been steered towards Litvinova lands instead of domestic pursuits. The Barons say that if Novak spends one more single Regal on things in Baldmark, that they will start witholding taxes and funds from House Novak altogether.

Carrhen

• Anathema, Rennyn and Lau travel to Carrhen and speak to the 3 Wolf-man prisoners that the Regalian army did not cull. The wolf-men were fairly candid: saying they were the true followers of Bannor (which the group knows as Basjtur) and that they are inflicting justice/punishment for the traitors as commanded by their god who appeared to them. They say that the clergy of the Rutgher Theocracy (their Ceardian Old Gods priests) were seduced by the Power Arken, and have been leading the people of Rutgher into a feverish attempt to sell their souls to the Power Arken, believing him to be the true Velheim/Ceardian/Old Gods patron who saved them all along while the Old Gods abandoned them. They say that they have at all turns attempted to kill those who betrayed the Gods, as the only way to stop them from offering their soul to the Power Arken, is to deny them the ritual death they aim for, and send them to imellomgård straight away. Unfortunately, they say Regalia bought into its own self-righteousness assuming they were the "bad ones" because they were killing people, ignoring Regalia's own rampant genocidal history, and basically created the perfect scenario for the deviant priests to do their work, while acting compliant and giving Regalia what it wants while they are just buying time to finish their work. They already don't care about the land anymore, and are just acting like the lost party so they can finish their work without being disturbed.
• Without state or diplomatic backing, Count Avox Petrou declares Rutgher annexed by the Regalian Empire and establishes martial law. Silverwind settlers are brought in and they start settling in the houses of the Rutgherites who died during the war, but no real riots or unrest happens anywhere. The Rutgher priesthood just gives in and steps aside from their rulership without any protest, Avox Petrou taking up martial rule in the capital.
• Faure and Dragic's armies sweep the Serman Duchy. There is nothing really to sweep however. The capital is a burning ruin, the Royal family is dead, and the army was oblitherated. The land is basically defenseless and occupied by Regalia.
• House Novak attempts to declare the annexation of the Rutgher Theocracy but is met with Avox Petrou's martial authority already having done so. All of their attempts to cleanse Vampires or retain peace turn out to be pointless because Petrou already took care of it all.
• Elewisa Peirgarten keeps up the blockade and attempts to use Volodomyr to track the wolf-pelt men, but finds that they have largely all been eradicated. There are no hidehouts, no holdouts. The wolf-pelt men are defeated.

Finances

• The Legal Finance Ministry pays off 31 wealth tokens to the Essaleia region, successfully eliminating industrial slavery.
• The Legal Finance Ministry pays off 16 wealth tokens to the Pannor region, successfully eliminating industrial slavery.
  
• House Abbansadi is billed (this needs to be paid manually) 15 Wealth Tokens for their part.
• House Valoaan is billed (this needs to be paid manually) 15 Wealth Tokens for their part.
  
• House van Hal is billed (this needs to be paid manually) 15 Wealth Tokens for their part.
  
• Petrou sends 3 Wealth Tokens to Mene'lainn.
• House Petrou army is mobilized to prepare for slavery abolition.
• House Nordhjem sends 2 Wealth tokens to House de Azcoissia for assistance from Hexenblood's members.
• House Abansaddi pays 2 wealth tokens in a failed bid to be unbanned from Daenshore.
• House von Schwarzkrau pays 10 Wealth Tokens to the Legal Finance Ministry. '
• Mene'lainn sends 2 wealth tokens to Narla.
• House Varcion pays 5 Wealth tokens to amy supplies.
• House Sorenvik loses 3 Wealth Tokens on the Buy-Unionist policy championed by Unionists.
• House de Azcoissia pays 1 Wealth token to Seishan Wei
• House de Azcoissia pays 1 Wealth token to Baskoro
• House de Azcoissia pays 1 Wealth token to Biki Gregorescu

The West

• Saren, Nefer, Amir, Imara app not updated, Masuki, Anathema and Ashenvarya travel to Ithania once more taking Mages with them this time. Immediately when entering the upper plateau, or making some progress into it, Anathema and Ashenvarya touch some grass and sense a dark aura with their magical empathy. Some time later after attuning with the presence of Magic in the area, they fail to explain exactly what it is, because the Magic present is so much more powerful than either of them had ever felt, that they couldn't comprehend the scope of it. They sense a certain, draw, like something is pulling from the north southwards with immense force, and it's still doing this. Amir, with his stupidly high Wisdom, comes up with a crackhead hypothesis: Ithania is generally speaking very fertile riverland/lakeland, the Ithanian desert is not on any sort of longitude or latitude to fit the equator desert-line, nor does any of the geography explain it even being there as the weather is still wet enough. The theory assumes that during the Dewamenet-Allorn War, the Allorn Mages used colossal Magic spells to completely suck the temperate climate out of the heartland of the Dewamenet Empire to desertify it and strangle Dewamenet food production with ecological collapse, drawing the wetness of the climate south to create a jungle barrier to prevent Dewamenet war-machines from crossing into Allorn territory as they were not capable of crossing lush jungle marshlands. If that theory could be verified in any way, the group may be looking at the single act that helped the Allorn win the Dewamenet War, by essentially destroying the Empire from the center and making it a dessicated desert, but it does not quite explain how the Dewamenet had such anti-desert technology on the Ashal Islands.
• Akurgal and Enheduanna Abansaddi travel to Pannoc where they ask the shamans for more stuff about the past of their religion, and to contact the dead. The Shamans however make some long diatribe about how faith and spirituality are not built on factual reason and historical perceptions, but on conviction and belief, and basically refuse to investigate or look into the past of their own religion, citing that religious doubt and skepticism is a "Regalian thing", and that people in Regalia love talking to a flying rock that tells them their religion isn't real, but that they don't want to entertain any level of scientific investigation into the founding principles and times of their religion.
• Akurgal, Atum and Mihaela travel to Daenshore to try and get House Abansaddi unbanned. The governor allows them in, takes the money, and then immediately kicked them out again while also extending the ban to House Litvinova and Morathes telling them in a fairly long list of expletives to fuck off and that if they try to come in next time again they will be imprisoned.
• Markus, Elewisa and Rhea travel to Ithania to rub shoulders with the aristocracy and give Ithania its naval military expertise for free essentially. Ithania's naval doctrines start copying Regalian styles and Ithania starts building its own respectable navy.
• Ashenvarya, Saren, Amaira, Harlow and Nefer travel to Avela Shishumar to visit the Dravinda statue. They arrive in the trade city, surprised to see the sheer amount of people out in the streets, Suvial Altalar, Eronidas, and Ithanians. The Suvial seem very interested in Saren, more specifically wondering if his hair is a mutation or real, many of them plucking at his fur and ears as they pass by in amazement, clearly never having seen an Asha. The group sees Dravinda's statue from a distance as close-up approach is not allowed by tourists, most of the house around Dravinda's statue having been turned into a tourist trap. The Void-Out still hung ominously in the sky, a large black sphere form which nothing escaped not even light or reflections, occasional sparks of red lighting dancing off of it even visible at such a distance. They roam around a bit in the bazaars with all its spices, magical gifts and lecture books. The locals are surprisingly un-racist to Nefer and Saren, Asha slaves seem entirely absent from this region. In fact slavery among the Suvial here seems generally kind of non-existent. The group glances an occasional flame-soul traveling about, familiars made out of fire in a humanoid form that are bound with magic, and basically act the role of servants gently dancing around as the flame does not actually touch the floor or anything for that matter. They find that Dravinda's spice is expensive, but are able to buy some of it each to bring home on just personal funds.

Hadar

• Mirabel, Baskoro, Etsu, Eric and Siralli travel to Batara's palace to crack out the good ole' espionage. Fairly early on however, before the group even has any success to land their spies, the iridescent Slizzar shows up, holding up a silver emblem in its hand silently before walking off. Eric immediately calls off the mission saying they "Should probably end here, or make an enemy out of Sassrakkand", and that they likely aren't interested in the group's help because they aren't Slizzar. The group then speaks with Batara about the nature of his ambitions. Batara indicates some diversions would have been needed early on because he expected people to come looking for Yaotl. His intentions are for Hadar to be unified under one stratified authority and be recognized as a heartland by Regalia. Batara indicates that he does not aim to work with Fumeripit.
• Digmaan Bathanga reveals his deception, having pretended to be a Yaotl loyalist all along, however as soon as Yaotl approached him to support Batara, he revealed himself to be a traitor all along using Yaotl's reputation to take control. He throws out in the open that Yaotl has been alive all along, and is using deception to eliminate his opposition. This does result in Sang Hyang Kersa supporting Yaotl and Batara, but making it very clear that he will continue sending supplies and food around and will not support any military action. As a result of polarization, Sang Hyang Kersa, Batara and Kabau's prior lands unite, while Bathanga and Fumeripit unite against the big fish. This was obviously going to happen at some point, all the Digmaan weren't going to tolerate just being ruled over by someone with a strong Juara. At some point, one Juara was going to get more success than the others could tolerate, and they would resort to military actions. Bathanga and Fumeripit launch an invasion of Kabau's old domain, using Ksat soldiers. As Batara and Yaotl mobilize their armies, Hadar has now officially entered a civil war stage.
• The following order to perform espionage on Fumeripit is bounced, as the group can no longer travel down and the situation has changed.
• Hadarian emissaries at the Regalian palace for both Fumeripit and Batara who are seen as the two major players lobby with the court and the government to keep out of it. Fumeripit's representatives say that they are cleansing Void worship from the Allar people, and that they will see intervention as a great insult. Batara's representatives say they are cleansing Sendrassian collaboration from the Allar people, and that intervention will give the Allar collectively an inferiority complex trauma for the next 30 years, and that if Regalia wants to see Allar as equals, they should let them solve their own problems.
• Towards the very end of it, Yaotl meets with the group(s) again, and is fairly frank and honest that Cro-Droq is not "as natural born from egg, but created by wish and will", that he is unnatural and made of the Void, and that he doesn't care. He explains that Batara is indeed a Void worshiper, and that Void Worship is present among his Allar, but that this is the same as the Kathar who exist in the Archipelago legally and worship the Void, and that this is miles apart from the people-sacrificing habits of the Sendrassians, and that this is also their best bet at creating unity for the Allar, because he himself and Droq are not Void Worshipers, despite the latter made of the stuff.

 

[bwmwags3]

The Celate returns to the capital, fuming for a while.

"Banned, the Abhaansadi house was /already/ banned from the Daenshore yet he tells me this diplomatic mission was reconnaissance to inspect possible trouble. reconnaissance my... grr I could've told him the exact words everyone who tries to make Daendroque change their mind about state entities receives. Got us all banned, this shall not stand..."

Then he recieves a letter opening it to the frantic excitment of his old friend.

"Shattered Coreavu...Mother of Purity....Thank the Everwatcher seems there shall be a light in this darkness after all. Let us see to helping it burn all the brighter once we look into this."

 

[cosmoons]

"Banned?" the young Lirh gasped, "Oh my, this is certainly a dark spell for our family. And the poor houses Litvinova and Morathes. Perhaps I should send them something nice."