World Progression 2022 Period 11

[MonMarty]

This Thread will record all submitted Progressions as they are processed. Deadline for Period 11 is 29th of May, Midnight London Time. Submissions will be posted as replies until the Deadline is reached.

 

[MonMarty]

Processing first few orders...

Arlora

• Xochiteotl, Mene'lainn, Aldon, Nirh, Ae'bueari, Henry, Narla, Iris, Zinnia and Cerdiwen travel to the Arloran capital. On early entry, there is some trouble getting in, as the heavy military presence of Regalian soldiers is distinctly anti-Occult, and many of them are non Human/Silven, but they eventually get through after rigorous testing for (ironically) Vampirism (but not Cahalism). Once in the capital, the group attempts to map out the catacombs under the capital, but find most of it in a sorry ruined state. The Regalian military has started using much of the catacombs to store building materials for the rapid reconstruction on the surface, and large sections of the catacombs are just cleared of rubble and turned into storage. There isn't a whole lot to find, so somewhat dejected, the group departs. On their way out however, they stumble on a small colony of Yanar who seem attached to an Allorn researcher. The Allorn researcher seems distinctly un-Allorn, there are even a few Silver Moon Society members nearby, who in turn are hawkishly watched by Regalian soldiers, but the researcher seems ready to share information. He tells that he has been researching the claim that Estel was reborn here and then disappeared, and says he has found more than credible information that what was once on Curag Fields, was not Estel at all, but a facsimile created by the Exist Arken to try and re-invigorate Exist leaning sentiments among the Allorn. He however states that the divinity of Estel could not so easily be re-created, and that they underestimated the innate hostility of such an entity, beyond the fact that it was made imperfect and unbound. Without Arken to act as its anchors, the magic of the entity went crazy. Or rather, the researcher believes that the entity became inhabited with an Ordial entity, and that this is the entity that created the Bone Horrors, not the Exist or Estel. He further reasons that the Soul-Weapons produced by the Qadir and Regalians should have no effect on the entities if they were Exist-based, but actually destroy them, implying that Bone Horrors are incorrectly classified and should be as Ordial entities instead. He has nothing much more to add, but encourages the group to spread the information, because many groups are still struggling with the fact that Estel came back on Curag Fields and just wiped out a bunch of Elves on the spot, complete contrarian to their religious beliefs. He furthermore adds to look to Talea in the Allorn Empire and all that, but the group eventually parts ways when he just descends into propaganda drivel.

Finances

• House Nordhjem Pays 17 Wealth Tokens for Vikofoten, Vestkjetting and Is-Skjer to abolish slavery. The army is present, but locals are still pretty disgruntled, as the abolition law targets their cultural heritage in their eyes. But there is nothing they can do about it.
• House Guentyr pays 2 Wealth Tokens to infratrusture of Serman.
• House Abansaddi pays 15 Wealth Tokens to end industrial slavery. The locals are disgruntled but don't do anything about it.
  • Addendum: This had to be corrected, the order was extremely ambiguous with the meaning for the abolition, since payments for Pannor has already been made by the Finance Minister. Thing is, I don't communicate with birdsfoot_violet on bills presented to the nobles, that is a player-player thing, and so when an order assumes I know what backchannel bills were presented just uses the shortest wordage possible, I have to default to the reasonable assumption of the default payment which couldn't be made. So. Because birdsfoot_violet made a ticket to correct it, the bureaucrats went like "lolwhat, the government already paid for it" and just sent the money to the nearest region that had a cost of 15 Wealth Tokens, meaning House Abansaddi paid for the abolition of slavery in Mavaal Eisella.
• House Abansaddi pays 3 Wealth Tokens to Necratos.
• House Guentyr pays 6 Wealth Tokens to the Finance Ministry.
• House Guentyr pays 3 Wealth Tokens to the Civics Ministry with a request for it to be sent to the Development Ministry.
• House Guentyr payment to the Aelrrigan order is bounced, there is literally no point to sending them money.

Regalia

• House Dragic re-opens borders with Sorenvik, alleviating their financial strain.
• House Nordhjem passes the following Laws:
  • Parents have rights to dictate teachings.
  • Old Gods is Nordhjem official religion. All Children of the Duchess will be raised to know both faiths.
  • Discrimination against both religions is strictly legislated against.
  • House Nordhjem plans to host and fund Old Gods celebrations in their lands. The locals don't care.
  • Unionists will be encouraged to participate, but don't have to.
  • The Old Gods worshipers are upset, but only by proxy of House Nordhjem /not/ taking an example of House Sorenvik. Indeed, with such a clear example set and in the absence of Sorenvik laws against missionaries, there is a sudden influx of missionaries in Nordhjem lands attempting to convince the locals to Unionism which may have unforeseen consequences if ignored.
• Viktoria, Vharse, Skotadi, Felsin and Yun travel to Virgoviste to try and pillage Balaur's Catacombs. They about reach to the Temple of the Burning Eye, the largest of the Unionist Temples in Baldmark, and are subsequently chased out of the city by an angry pitchfork mob on account of being a clut of Kathar/mutated Occult. Baldmark is a bastion of Ailor-centric anti-occult anti-foreign anti-non-Ailor people, and the pious city of Virgoviste is the worst of all. The locals will never accept a group of would be adventurers just walking into their catacombs/graveyards with the intent to grave-rob.
• Enheduanna, Elewisa, Eric, Relohk and Nilo travel to the regalian rehabilitation clinics to get an update on the effectiveness, which is that they are not effective at all. For the time being they serve a purpose in that the young of wealthy families are sent to rehabilitate their addictions, but that the poor by far and large do not ever show up, and that most of the drugs production has gone underground in smuggling, and made the problem so much worse. Nothing else more can be gleamed everything else is fine.
• House Guentyr inquires the bureaucrats for education for the lower classes and replacing them with automata. The bureaucrats reply this is a terribad idea, as just because they are educated, does not mean there are educated jobs in Kintyr, and it will likely just result in those people leaving Kintyr for Regalia. Further inquiries to invite Mother Purity to Kintyr result in a lot of confused faces as there is no such person as Mother Purity recorded anywhere, with them also adding that cult personalities don't exactly have a house address listed in their public propaganda. And that Mother Purity probably isn't real but the figment of religious fervor.

Ithania

• Markus, Elewisa and Rhea travel to Ithania ostensibly to court the Ithanian King for permission to purchase Dewamenet heritage items. The King is generally ambivalent to the matter, stating that they do not have any actual relics, but that he will permit House Delmotte to excavate in the Desert, at the caveat that whatever House Delmotte digs up is automatically Ithanian property, but Delmotte may also have first and only rights to purchase items found. Rhea also gauges the endeavors of the Ithanian Court towards the Allorn. The Ithanian Military seems to be making contingency plans against both Allorn and Regalia, indicating that there is still a deep level of distrust towards Regalia on nearly every government level in the Ithanian Kingdom.

Carrhen

• Using his (questionable) legal authority over Rutgher, Avox Petrou offers authority to the Etosian Patriarchate, who rejects it. The Patriarchate remarks that Carrhen is a continent tainted with sin and darkness, and that the good Etosian people wish not to rule over those who have their souls fouled, preferring to remain on the holy island of Etosil where all is pure. So instead Avox Petrou remains in military control, with the budget of Rutgher being added to Petrou coffers, while the Theocratic government is officially ejected. Petrou sends spies after the leaders, but before they can even be deployed, the leaders disappear, along with large segments of the population. The Silverwind immigrants don't seem to mind. At a certain point, the capital of Rutgher is renamed to New Silverwind, and the entire population is basically Silverwind immigrants, all the locals having disappeared nearly overnight. The locals start tearing down the Ceardian wooden houses and breaking apart their cultural structures and heritage, and replacing it with Regalian brick and mortar. Galinthos's scouting is made extremely difficult in Soren, as the country has descended into complete chaos. There are large groups of refugees fleeing from town to town, unable to find shelter, many being lost along the ways. Vampire attacks on the roads and in the forests are common, and there is no true central authority worth speaking of, it is essentially a complete hellhole, and people are still dying in there while Regalia maintains its blockade.
• Elewisa drops off Volodymyr, Avis, Basilio and herself to scout out Rifftaman. They try to find out if they commit war Crimes (What is a war crime? There is no establishment on War criminality. The Emperor only accepted a law against the mal treatment of enemy officers, there is no such other in-lore in-universe concept of war crimes, a very 20th century concept). The plans they discover is just that Rifftaman is annexing Enman. There is nothing else beyond it, it's one nation-state invading and annexing another, as hundreds have done before them. No evil or occult motivations beyond just land grabbing.
• Trajan Novak supported by Aleksandra Dragic, Miomyr Novak, Radomir Novak, and Theotyr, ventures into Soren with their army, crossing the river. Immediately while crossing, they are overwhelmed by refugees who both block their pathways, and slow them down as they beg to be let out of the Kingdom, thinking that the army is there to save them (it is not). Attempts to fight Vampires proves fruitless as the Vampires don't form armies but instead use hit and run tactics and hide among the refugees to snatch up a few soldiers here and there each night. The army eventually returns to the river and camps out next to the blockade, with a much larger encampment of refugees surrounding them. The blockade captains basically add that the only way they think they can get the army to move without being stopped by the refugees, is to open fire with cannons on the refugees and scare them off, or find some way to deal with them so they stop hampering any attempt to move into Soren.
• Zileria maintains the blockade on Soren. Nothing really happens. The Soren refugees have gotten the memo: Regalia will shoot to kill, and they are mostly just traveling around Soren trying to find ways to stay ahead of the Vampires.
• House Faure and Guentyr announce the annexation of the Serman Duchy to Regalia (presumably placing it in the hands of the Regalian Government and not pseudo regency like Petrou?). There is not much to annex though, it's mostly an impoverished ruin. The locals seem in a bad state, and famine is likely to break out if Regalia doesn't immediately start sending supplies. House Guentyr's 2 Wealth Tokens barely scratches the surface of the problems. Locals estimate they need about 30 Wealth Tokens to avoid complete societal collapse and secure food supplies.

 

[MonMarty]

Regalia

• Iris, Wayward, Laria, Kleio and Narla travel to the site of the destroyed Viridian Castle that was destroyed by the Deathling Occupation many years ago. While it remains true that the Viridian Castle was never rebuilt and the Viridian Order moved to a different Castle, the rubble certainly was cleared since the castle was in the middle of the city and the city wouldn't just let a pile of rubble sit around for years. The site was paved over and a park was built on top. Short of digging random holes in the ground in this park, the group breaks off their endeavor. (dead hook. The Viridian Castle was destroyed and cleared years ago).
• Enheduanna travels to Pol Hafri in search of Ordial Temples in the libraries. She cannot find any mention of Ordial or even any kind of temple equivalent. Eronidas do not recognize Ordial as a separate entity from their religion, and do not recognize any temple not dedicated to their gods as true for their religion. This creates a paradox that basically means officially recognized Ordial Temples can never be found in Eronidas hands. Whatever search there is for Ordial Temples, it cannot start in Eronidas hands and books.
• Yngvarr and Angelica travel to the Imperial Palace to seek an audience with Angelica's cousin, Rodderick Howlester. They inquire for legal assistance from the Mountain Duke, citing a refusal of information on the basis of accusation. The Mountain Duke responds that the matter is, unfortunately, entirely strictly above board, expanding that he never liked that the Military was somehow always exempt from civil law, but that at the end of the day, it is. As such, normal protocols and requirements of civil procedure do not apply, and the Military is subject to its own "little rules". He adds however that the Court Martial should only reflect on Yngvarr's own actions. That is to say, a Court Martial could never affect him if it concerned crimes committed by his Generals not on his specific orders. He adds that, unless Yngvarr has developed a sudden case of dementia, that he should simply be able to remember, explain, and validate all of his own actions from memory and as such wouldn't need a discovery of evidence and information because it will only ever apply to his own actions and commands, which are all entered into state record. It is not possible to contest the evidence, only the interpretation of it, and how the other Marshal individuals think of it. A request is made for a hunting trip, but the Mountain Duke has to regretfully decline, as the Emperor has set him to work on expansive civil legal protocols concerning the expansion of the heartland states, and some awkward loopholes that have been created by Frederick's Military reforms, technically banning Ithania from having an army.
• House Nordhjem bans Unionist Missionaries from their lands. This has the effect of preventing unforeseen consequences. Naturally because missionaries weren't banned before (they were only explicitly banned in Sorenvik lands), several missionaries who already lived in Nordhjem lands for several years or even decades were expelled, but there were so few of them that nobody really cared. The leftover missionaries now traveled to the last region in Drixagh still open to them: Viduggla lands, causing a large influx of missionaries to this area. House Nordhjem also opens their borders with House Sorenvik again, causing their budget to stabilize.
• House Morathes issues a decree banning House Abansaddi, Delmotte or any of their associates from Mandu. House Delmotte and Abansaddi are now banned from Mandu. Enheduanna Abansaddi is made an exception to this ban with freedom to move.
• Markus Delmotte communicates with House Anahera inquiring about the Grand Bijous Vert. Theresa Anahera eventually writes back disappointingly that she hasn't seen this "blasted rock" in years, and that "Gustavo may his soul burn probably thought it was funny to paint it black and toss it onto one of the coal mounds in Vultaro as a joke". Markus also creates a law protecting all Itlar ruins (as little as there are) from further destruction as heritage sites with all finds within claimed by House Delmotte, past, present, and future. This immediately causes legal outrage in some of the major wealthy families who own Itlar artifacts as House Delmotte was not always the ruler of Basta, and so using the temporary amnesty period, a bunch of families just smuggle themselves, their artifacts, and their wealth out of Basta to move to Vixhall, leaving some museums empty save from rocks and columns that were too big to move. House Delmotte incurs 2 Wealth Tokens financial damage from wealthy families committing art theft, but unfortunately they are now in Vixhall and there is no legal recourse to get them or their artifacts back.
• Cadwyn, Carmen, Wilvamair, Traoré, Raffelia, Rocelin, Blakely, Theotyr, and Maiyusa travel to the nearest representative of the Farah'deen government in Regalia (Don't have to travel to Farad, ambassador present in Regalia), to inquire on the Maalthar and to ask for permission to enter the conflict. The conversation is extremely short. The Ambassador makes it clear that they know very well who the Maalthar are, and that the Bentiya absolutely has it covered, and that they have no interest in asking for foreigners, let alone from Regalia, to act as mercenaries on their lands. After departing, Traoré makes an off-hand comment that the Ambassador was lying as he was able to perceive with Songaskian body language familiarity, but that the pursuit was pointless because in the current political climate, Farah'deen which is attempting to establish itself as a respectable state, would not suffer the humiliation of needing help from foreigners, let alone Regalians. He discouraged further attempts to get involved until the political situation between Farah'deen and Regalia improved, or to just do it anyway and face the consequences.
  
• Erwin, Galinthios, Keavy travel to Basta on pilgrimage. They inquire with the refugees from Basta, but find nothing out of the ordinary and House Delmotte takes well enough care of them given the circumstances after an injection of money. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, the group pays a visit to the crying stones of Ness, a set of stone pedestals in the capital of Basta which were once used for executions several decades ago, until an apparition of Ness forbade the killing of prisoners on these stones, and ever since then these stones produced a salty dew on them every morning, despite the warm Basta climate and the lack of frost or rain. They go home.
• (disregard delmotte orders, House Delmotte is legacy now but i cba to rescind the orders)
• Erwin, Therese, Haeddi, Howland, Petra, Benjamin, Bernadette, and Laurent travel to Tirgunn, to meet with the Darkwald Council. While originally dodgy, the council eventually agrees to meet. The Council eventually informs the group that there is no plan to defeat Coraveau or Haqet, but that they also have infinitesimally bigger issues like the Desqueen of Ellador, and the various outbreaks of Vampirism around the world. They further remark that the extent of their Haqet investment is focused around tracing leads of Mother Purity, because they have no idea who she is. The Darkwals are however not interested in sharing any data records or historical paperwork, meaning other information cannot be sourced, and on their way out, the group does not encounter any Occult or oddities.

Finances

• House Nordhjem pays 1 Wealth Token to Enki
• House Morathes pays 1 Wealth Token to Velkhorr
• House Morathes pays 1 Wealth token to Va'la
• House Morathes pays 1 Wealth token to Masuki
• Narla pays 1 Wealth Token to Henry
• Finance Ministry Bills du Poncaire 10 Tokens (pay to finance ministry)
• Finance Ministry Bills Peirgarten 15 Tokens (pay to finance ministry)
• Finance Ministry Bills van Fryse 10 Tokens (pay to finance ministry)
• Finance Ministry reminds Valloan of their 15 Token Bill (pay to finance ministry)
• Finance Ministry reminds Van Hal of their 15 Token Bill (pay to finance ministry)
• Finance Ministry pays for slavery removal in Mavaal Assaleia (Magitech) (10 Tokens)
• Finance Ministry pays for slavery removal in Pays Verl (Clockwork) (5 Tokens)
• Finance Ministry pays for slavery removal in Pays d'Or (Magitech) (2 Tokens)
• Finance Ministry pays for slavery removal in Tuillere (Magitech) (31 Tokens)
• Finance Ministry pays 15 to Civics Ministry with message: "This is the last funds for a while Finance Ministry will give to Civics. You have to sort out your own funding, or cut costs."
• Finance Ministry pays 10 to Development Ministry with message: "Give this to Crookback for upkeep costs. Please try to fix them being a financial black hole."
  
• De Azcoissia Pays 3 Tokens from House bank to Finance Ministry
  
• House Delmotte damages 2 Wealth Tokens.

Guldar

• Cordenia Zylmoira uses her teleportation to travel once more to West Junction in Guldar. Upon arriving, she once more arrives in the large hollow caverns covered in solidified lava-stone marble, seemingly devoid of any occupants. Further exploration of the main hall triggered the familiar scanning protocols, small Leystone constructs ejected out of the walls and scanned Cordenia with purple lights, however unlike last time, there was no grand alert, no noises, and no guardian rolling out of that dark hole high up in the wall on the opposite end of the room. She doesn't have much time to get far, as the teleport platform activates once more, and has the West Matron stepping off of it. A short altercation between the two follows, with the West Matron chastising her for coming, and the Central Matron asserting her authority and ability to stand on her own accord. The argument quickly devolves into a magic duel, with the West Matron's body turning into flame and magma, and the Central Matron's lightning storms surrounding her. With thunder and bursts of lava flying everywhere, Cordenia would perhaps for the first time feel an excitement she did not know how to process, a Fin'ullen passion for unrestricted and unlimited battle, she didn't have to hold back any of her Magic, this was her time to prove herself. At some point the cavern itself seemed to rumble, and the West Matron reacted in tune, perhaps, if Cordenia could discern, it was a manifestation of Qaarn's approval to the duel, and the West Matron was equally given to the adrenaline of the fight to prove his superiority, enjoying himself. No clear winner could be established. While obviously the Central Matron's Magic was far more powerful, the West Matron was able to match her with stronger defense. While the fight was not able to crack either their outer shells, the post-fight temper of the two hot-heads proved as zesty as any Fin'ullen might hope it would be. Cordenia eventually visited all corners of the West Junction, having trouble actually seeing it all for the West Matron was not one to let her attention drift, but certainly making out the various site functions having to do with the the volcanos of Aloria, as well as the heat of the equator. Cordenia eventually teleported back to Regalia, stepping off the platform with a disheveled look about her witnessed only by Jocelyn von Duerr who so happened to be near the area, cocking a brow, responded to with a loud and perhaps somewhat left-over invigorated "What?!" before Cordenia made herself scarce.

Ithania

• Morathes sends Anathema, Ashenvarya, Amir, Saren, Masuki and Nefer to Ithania, once more exploring the jungle plateau in the south. Attempts are made to source the Magic, but the Mages in the group have to come to the general understanding that, if the theory of Amir holds up, that the Magic is not Sourced by any particular artifact, machine, or site. It is likely all a massive magical presence inflicted a long time ago in a time when Mages were much stronger, or even god-tier entities, and that there is no real way to learn more about this short of sourcing information in the Allorn Empire itself. Because it sure wasn't the Dewamenet who did this to their own Empire.

The (deep) South

• Anathema (who looks passably male), Tuija (using Alchemy to look like a man), Laurel (using magic to look male), and Amir and Bennet travel to Sunnan with permission from the Conservationist, to try and meet the Sunnan Velheim in Valadia. Their attempt to meet with the Markaarr tribe succeeds, with the group arriving on any normal day from as far as they can distinguish. The locals are immediately very interested in Amir, seemingly very confused and invested in him, touching and plucking at his hair, and dragging their fingers under his lower eyelid to try and get a better look at his eyes. Despite Tuija's translations with Distant Speech, she remarks that they are speaking complete nonsense even when correctly translated, and that there are likely comprehension principles among these locals that just don't exist or don't have a way to be properly translated, but she says they are seemingly confused that Amir isn't a woman. The group speaks more with the Sunnan, who seem somewhat okay with just talking about their practices of what in Regalia would be understood as Magic, while among the Sunnan it seems intertwined with Religion.
• The Sunnan remark that they came from the Imellomgård, but were saved by the gods from this land and brought free from the Great Betrayer. They traveled south, but disagreed with the other gods on casting out Bod and Malmrid, who are still actively, if not more actively worshiped here. The reason why women among the Sunnan wear reed-covered face-masks is made fairly apparent when the visitors ask, and an older woman is waved closer to the group by the men they are speaking with. The man asks the woman to raise her reed mask, which shows her eyes with golden irises and completely red-sclera, remarking that every woman is born that way among the Sunnan. The initial misconceptions about an extremely patriarchal society in such is clarified by further conversation. The Sunnan say that all women are born this way, and for their entire life, are tormented by Demons who try to "take them back to Imellomgård". They say that society as a whole was built around the idea of protecting them from being captured by the Demons, and that the Sunnan have eventually developed a means to even weaponize these Demons that are attracted to their women. Anytime a Demon shows up, they are captured by the Totems, and the men have learned to, as they say it "sniff their miasma to fight harder". The Mages speculate that these women are all an advanced type of Silven, though fail to explain why it would only happen to one specific sex and so consistently. They speculate that Demons are constantly attracted to them because Demons seek ways to manifest in the real world and the best way to do that is by Void or Exist touched individuals, such as Silven. The Sunnan further clarify that they have to also constrain the women, usually on their own volition, by keeping them in areas where the "blind" (not actually blind, Tujia just didn't know how else to translate it) prevent them from changing the world. Amir reasoned that this is likely a consequence of what certain Silven could do. Amir regaled how many Silven who specifically were attached to the Power Arken had the means to create vast illusions and fake-realities around those who let them in. The conclusion was as thus such (if all the assumptions held up), the women are all born Silven, forcing society to build a protective policy around them or face complete extinction. However, while protecting them, if any of the Demons happen to slip through and infect one of the women, they would use their Silven powers to wreak havoc on the tribe which does not have any Primal Mages, Dragons, or avanced anti-Magic to really counter such a situation. The Sunnan confer that such cases do happen where entire tribes are wiped out because one of the women becomes possessed and creates a reality of the camp under attack but the camp is just fighting itself, with all lost souls "dragged to Imellomgård". Eventually the group is led to a camp area where most of the women go about their day, weaving and tanning leather. It is a camp within a camp, and to the group's surprise, guarded by (male) children and teenagers. How or why this choice was made was not unclear, but to the best of Tuijia's translations, the children are somehow blind to the illusions of the possessed women, thus able to contain any that succumb to invasion. Given the circumstances, the locals have made the best of a pretty terrible situation, and the matter is highlighted more-so that the previous misinterpretation on the women not being offered was not out of a notion of property possession of women, but the spiritual manner of possession, because they were concerned the women could be possessed, as possessed women in their society have the illusion ability to not appear with those golden eyes, and wanted to lead them to the blind (children) to see if they were.
• As per last time, the visit is once again interrupted by the arrival of another tribe, this time one they cannot identify before leaving. The only real question that remains is why these societies wouldn't bundle their resources and co-operate instead of beating each other up and killing each other. Anathema remarks off hand that this is most likely because "every culture has its own sins, nobody is perfect", recollecting the stain of slavery and clan-on-clan violence even in the face of annexation by Regalia on the Velheim cousins of the Sunnan.

Carrhen

• Avox Petrou creates a new state in the remnants of Rutgher and renames it the Military Junta of New Silverwind, with House Petrou as leading family, naming Avox Petrou Commanding General. The title is verified by the Regalian Court as "Eminent", meaning Avox Petrou's title henceforth shall be "Your Eminence" as given to foreign nationals. He invests to repair damage, though many of the towns become completely abandoned. The people (Velheim) keep disappearing, and the Silverwind population wasn't enough to completely replace everything, as such, the Kingdom is mostly seriously impoverished to the point it barely even has a fraction of a Regalian Duchy's population. But here it is. Regalia's first new State in decades.

Ellador

• Haqet travels to Dorkarth once more, this time being let in because the guard was like "lmao I didn't see you had Coraveau it's all chill now g", and Haqet travels to the Desprince Palaces. While Haqet isn't quite allowed to meet the Desprincess who seemingly now rules it all, the other Desprinces and Princesses are willing to entertain them. The other Vampires say that this Desprincess came out of nowhere, but was immensely magically powerful and mopped the floor with all other Vampire lords and Masters, subjecting them all to her will and vaporizing the ones that resisted. The rest fell in line and thus declared her their Vampire Queen. This Queen then demanded the acquisition of cattle and started mass-sacrificing the captives, their blood crystalizing and growing her reach. They confirm that the crystals are like a conduit for her consciousness and her Magic, spreading all over the land and capturing Ogres Thyland and Humans alike to further her reach to one day cover all of Ellador. They find no luck on more information for Coraveau however as the weapon seems largely unmentioned by Dorkarthi archives, even if the locals respect it, they do not understand where it came from, just that they were told long ago by their gods to pay heed to it. One of the Vampire scholars makes an impression that information on Coraveau is unlikely to be found among Vampire circles or even Osteiermark, but rather in Draconic circles. The scholar adds that anything Void or Vampire related is usually purpose driven, so Coraveau also has a purpose, and that this purpose was probably to do something against Dragons, and that as such Draconic groups would know more. However, he warns, that to know truth may also be a double-edged sword. "More than one Vampire have had to discover that they were not the weapon of destruction they thought, but merely a tool so lacking in power that they were callously disregarded and tossed into the dirt by greater powers".

 

[notjayp]

News of Carrhen flooded the Undercity quick. The crowd surrounding Alban had ambivalent thoughts: he was not among them. He'd seen it all, from start to finish. This was a victory-- but.
"I could've done it better. I won't mess up again," he says, holding a rosary in his hands.

 

[MonMarty]

Regalian Archipelago

• Allestane Delmotte deploys 6 Imperial Legions of the Mourners of the Prophet to Calleia to counter any potential riots.
• Medea Galanea deploys 8 Imperial Legions of the Mourners of the Prophet to Valei-Maan to counter any potential riots.
  
• Santiago de Azcoissia deploys 6 Imperial Legions of the Mourners of the Prophet to Milaaneia to counter any potential riots.
• House Sorenvik sends communique's out to the Kingdom of Nordskag and the Iron Duke of Vultaro to request their input on Prince Frederick's changes. These letters are well enough received, and both make a bid to a public statement:
  • The Iron Duke is fairly curt. He makes a general statement about how his father, who is a devoted loyal servant of the Emperor, would find him a disgrace and humiliation if he spoke out against a decree written by the family who picked him up from the streets as a starving teenage beggar, and gave him a title and means to live in affluence. He acknowledges that this was obviously a political hand from House Kade to retain influence in a region that was historically very apathetic to state deference, and that House Kade benefits more from the Iron Duke sitting on the Iron Throne of Vultaro, but that he cannot deny the inevitable conclusion that he would probably be dead if not for this, and that it would do him a great dishonor and bring a black stain to his name if he bit the hand that fed him. He re-enforces that the Iron Duchy always was intended to act as the Emperor's watchdog, an identity he is well known for in other courts, and that if the Dukes no longer have armies, they can no longer pose a threat of rebellion or inflict violence on each other, and as such, there is no need for the Iron duke's 300,000 man army. He adds further that "In fact, the new Imperial Legions that were drafted are mostly Vultaro men", and that the Iron Duke's political priorities (peace in the Archipelago, weaker Dukes who won't stand against the Emperor, a beneficial prestigious position for himself) will be achieved in equal measure acting as a frontline commander among his troops, just as he had done in the Vultarin army, just with a different lick of paint, and that his loyalty isn't dictated by what toys he gets to use to threaten others.
  • The King of Nordskag first makes a more general statement about how as a Viridian, his first and foremost duty is to that of the Emperor, and by extension of the Princes as potential future heirs of the Empire. The Viridians have to sail a tight line with Crown/Royal criticism given their historical positions (referring to the Viridian Coup and subsequent disbandment). He adds however that "Luckily, this matter is not even pertinent to Nordskag, because his Grace the Mountain Duke has been working with the Princes to provide for legal exceptions to the clause for Suzerain leaders". The intent of the decree was to disarm the Dukes who do not have authority and prerogative in their own right, and only borrow this from their Crown-sanctioned sovereign. As a result, the Kings of Nordskag, and Ithania, are permitted to keep armies, but their own Dukes, Counts and Barons are being forcibly disarmed by the State. This is not a problem in Ithania because the Hivres already did not have any standing armies, the King's army was the only formal army. This is incidentally also to the King of Nordskag's benefit, as he now has legal reason to strip the Skagger holds and local Jarls of their military rights, and call upon Imperial Legions to enforce the law. The Viridian King of Nordskag thanks House Sorenvik for their assistance, but that this assistance does not warrant a return-favor that would make them unwanted in the eyes of the Court when they are still actively fighting to become recognized as Heartland states. (To note, it Frederick's reforms do not apply to Nordskag yet, because Nordskag is not yet a Heartland province, but the King wants it to be).
• House Viduggla issues the following laws for Unionists in their lands:
  • Only Unionist parents may teach Unionism to children.
  • Unionist parents must be inclusive and accept Old Gods teachings in their household. Restricting Old Gods disallowed.
  • Missionaries who lived in the north for 3 years may stay, all others may only stay if they yield on aggressive conversion tactics and integrate in local customs first under guidance of the aforementioned legal missionaries.
  • Children must declare their faith at age 18 free of pressure.
  • These changes are generally well received by the Old Gods worshipers, but result in the same anti-Old Gods sentiments in the Unionist minorities in Viduggla lands. The Unionist claim the laws are intended to create the impression of a welcoming and open society, but with such severe restrictions on teachings, the Unionists never get a fair chance to make their case to children before the Old Gods parents indoctrinate them into their beliefs. It is by far the least repressive of the Velheim lands, but does not result in a sentimental difference in the end.
• With the entire North now having accepted second-rank citizen treatment of a religious minority (that notably, is not duplicated anywhere else), the collective of Unionist Guilds and "buy Unionist" movements in the Velheim lands start contemplating the option of simply leaving. A flux of migrants from Kerulv and Upplanda in Sorenvik lands, Zastorrik in Viduggla lands, and Kyrkaby in Nordhjem lands starts migrating to Novhorod, Mosskaya and Rivnyzhythomyr in Dragic lands. The outflux of citizens isn't immediate, that is to say, it is only a minority of a minority departing right now, but actions taken by the Velheim families and other involved actors in the Archipelago can either speed it up, slow it down, or reverse it.
• The outflux of Unionist migrants from the Velheim lands is generally considered a profit to the Velheim locals:
  • Some claim they can take over the businesses and operating factories left behind by the often wealthy Unionist immigrants, since the Unionists can't take their country houses, estates, or villas with them.
  • Some claim they can adopt more forceful anti-Unionist laws to preserve Old Gods identity because if this wealthy-educated-mostly highly literate minority leaves, they no longer have the economic means to hold the income of the families hostage.
  • Some claim the Unionist Barons should also be gotten rid of under the "Old Gods ruled by Old Gods" principle. While many of the Dukes and Counts are Old Gods, the Barons and bureaucrats sent by the central state are usually Unionists and educated in the capital.
  • Some Old Gods Counts revel at the idea of reversing what they consider "unequal Imperial treaties", where state employees or wealthy families bought lands in Drixagh for a pittance and built mines or logging camps on them, while giving bad wages to seasonal workers and generally exploiting the land. They would like to re-appropriate the lands to themselves.
• The outflux of Unionist migrants from the Velheim families is concerning to these very Unionist barons for a couple of reasons:
  • The majority of the Velheim people are not literate, and an even bigger majority of the Velheim people do not see a reason to even be literate because books and writings have no bearing on their daily lives. The realm faces a brain-drain that sets back education in the area by 100 years.
  • While some Velheimers want to nationalize Unionist businesses left behind by migrants, the Barons warn that these uneducated mobs don't have the means to operate the machinery, or any understanding of labor force management, and will suffer severe production shortages.
  • Increasing hostility is likely to be responded to by Calemberg. Even if Dragic has opened the borders now, overt anti-Unionist actions might result in embargoes from surrounding lands. Drixagh does not have a domestic market strong enough to sustain the export and all businesses will suffer across the board.
• At the Palace, an unofficial conference of a kind is starting to appear. The unofficial "Rebellious North" topic is a hot topic of debate among the courtiers, with plenty of people having different opinions on how to solve the matter. The Emperor is attempting to keep the situation civil by making token statements of support for his Velheim and Old Gods subjects, but the sheer momentum of wise-noses and know-it-alls who think they have the perfect solution on how to settle the Old Gods issue once and for all is over-running his attempts to preserve a sense of status-quo. Eventually the Emperor relents, retreats into conclave, and lets the Princes deal with the matter. The gossip eventually slips (or is probably let slip by a distinctly anti-Velheim Prince like Justinian) that several Velheim houses have tried to secure meetings with the Emperor or Princes, but that they were all declined because in a time when the Unionists in the north feel reduced to the equivalent of an Allar twenty years ago, it would send the wrong message for the Emperor to entertain the Velheim houses in his own Palace. The Princes eventually announce that in the coming week, there will be a somnery, a somnery being a social gathering of all the hip and happening people of the Empire, a perfect opportunity to discover a secret, whisper some sort of intent or plan into someone's ear, or just generally make someone's life difficult (send in orders specifically aimed at Somnery, send a single member into the Court balls with a specific inquiry, suggestion or statement and it will filter through the court and potentially influence the outcome of this somnery and the court's opinions on things, each Noble Family is entitled to 3 actions at the somnery. Most commoners ((who have permission from the Ladies of the Halls!!!)) to enter the palace can make a single action at the somnery. For those not going to the somnery, or wishing a more expansive conversation with the Crown representatives, Baron Carl von Bespingen will be present in Greygate Prison to hold open office in the ex-Chancellor's office for anyone wishing to communicate with the Palace regarding the North/Old Gods/Velheim issues in the coming days at select hours.
• Zhyan, Lavani, Anshula travel to Calemberg, eventually reaching the Crown Mountains, where a Pinetall Dragon site was located. Unlike Anglia, Calemberg sites are completely abandoned and overgrown by nature, as the locals have no loyalties or concerns for Dragons, so the group could easily slip in without the locals even paying any attention to them, and loiter around. In fact, the dragon site had some littered beer bottles lying around, a clear indicator that some of the local youth used the area to hang out and have clandestine meetings to be up to no good. For now however, it was abandoned. Early inspections resulted in what one might conclude was severe damage to the installation. The recepticle that usually contained a Soulcore was completely destroyed, with small fragments of Leystone scattered all over the place. The damage was seemingly caused by some powerful entity, but weathering of exposed sites (such as this was) was not unknown, Anshula could not detect even the tracest of hints of Magic in the area, so the destruction must have been Draconic or Mundane, though historical looking into the region remarked there was never any major conflict save for the Skagger wars, and records on that period remained frightfully scarce. Even the Nexus in Regalia suffered severe weathering damage over 300 years while the Dragons stopped maintaining the system, and even that place had dangerously collapsing brickwork and Leystone scattered all over the place. There was no way for them to activate the site at all because it seemingly lacked any and all power. Zhyan could vaguely make out that through the Vellex, power did reach the site, but the very base functions of the site were completely destroyed. Closer inspection yielded a find that the ground surface once had a recepticle for a Dragonic Artifact that was used to make the site function, much like how the Orrorey is technically one massive artifact, however the recepticle was empty, and given how clean it looked on the inside, actually looted probably within the last 2 years. Upon departing, they wriggled some information from the locals that House Typhonus led a large party of Howlesters and themselves to this particular location, spent some time there, and then brought something back from the site, presuming that whatever was in there was taken to Calemberg. They did note however, that the Typhonus family has been somewhat... absent of late. While Ulric Typhonus is still at the Imperial Court, they remark that the item probably fell in the hands of Falkenreich following their split from Typhonus, and that all traces of it disappeared when that family fell, not having been heard of since the Vampire crisis in Regalia.
• Haqet leads several several Vampires (who will remain unnamed to avoid them becoming trope hunted and instant cured in roleplay) to Anglia, more specifically to van Fryse lands in the north, and starts a killing spree of local villages, killing/drinking out the majority of them and using all manners of mind control on the remainder to try and figure out more about Coraveau's origins. Unfortunately, Haqet and friends are attacking the lowest rung of pro-Dragon worshipers in existence. The majority of the peasants respond with sentiments similar to "I know nothing milord", at least for those who are willing to speak, because others seem quite ready to do die to go to Unionist heaven. There are incidentally also no libraries or even schools in these hamlets because over 90% of Anglia's population in the lower classes are illiterate. There are no Dragon scholars in these towns, because any that would exist are near the fortress installations in Draackenrust and Tempelmuur, each locations that are now heavily fortified and added onto by Isldar immigrants who have set up camp around it. They did, however, discover that Dragon worshipers and the pro-Dragon crew isn't actually all that united as is implied. Anglia is largely dominated by the remnants of the Wardens of the Claw, but Calemberg was once inhabited by the Wardens of Pinetall. Osteiermark equally had the Wardens of Silverguard, while Basta had the Wardens of the Goldsteed. Nearly all of these groups are entirely destroyed, with no surviving members left (or so some of the Anglians would claim), with only the Wardens of the Claw in Anglia remaining, of which they claim the last living member who has refused to recruit more of them and is willing to just let the order die, is Emperor Alexander I, the last surviving member after his grandmother Morgannan Kade was killed by Dragon cultists following the Dread Dragon. Some of them remark that Arahael Bancroft and Tristan Kade had the intentions of restarting the Wardens, but failed to see eye to eye, and nothing much came of it, so as not to expect to find any Wardens, but that presumably some of their old archives might still be around somewhere, but that none of the locals would know as these organizations were all intentionally secretive.
• Harta Diahcinta travels to the Palace, to treat with Mountain Duke Rodderick Howlester, inquiring what the process of Heartland integration is. The Mountain Duke admits he does not exactly know, as the previous process required Assembly approval, which was a major step, but at the same time, the Emperor just issuing a decree with absolute power would unlikely be "in the style of his Imperial Holiness", who likes doing things with implicit consent. He says a good starting point would be to get a signed cover letter from every single Minister of the Empire, supporting the admission of a region as a Heartland Area, and then requesting the Emperor to validate it. Further inquiries about the acknowledgement of Digmaan as a title result in a somewhat sour response, remarking that "cultural quirks are nice, but muddy the standards of the court". As Digmaan literally just means warlord, and the Empire is moving away from the standard of barbarism, he says the Crown is unlikely to accept that inclusion and that they should get used to Duke if they want to become a Heartland, and that the Emperor won't accept a second Drixagh to form in Hadar with them clinging onto Empire unfriendly stances on things. The Mountain Duke closes by adding that Heartland status means accepting Regalian law as superior and getting rid of all unique laws Allar have, while also instituting Ithanian style taxing which will make all the Digmaan considerably poorer.
• Harta Diahcinta travels to Grand Magistrate Dianne next. She remarks that the economic impact on the Empire will likely not be massive, as Hadar already has very unfavorable tribute treaties with the Emperor following their conquest. She remarks that further cleanup from Chrysant War is likely not necessary as "the war ended 20 years ago, get over it". She further more reinforces the point of the Mountain Duke, that the Digmaan will lose the rights to owning private militaries, become generally poorer, and no longer able to engage in conflicts with one another.
• Harta Diahcinta travels to Arch Consul Louis Delmotte then and inquires regarding Ithania's opinion. Delmotte responds that Ithania is generally against uplifting anyone they consider very barbaric, and Ithania would definitely consider the Allar barbaric because of Altalar presence in their cultural circuit and their so-so attitude to non Ailor/non Altalar. He remarks that because Ithania has a specific civilization standard that only very few regions meet (with cultural development, arts, theatre, museums, education etc) that Hadar would not be suitable because it reeks of feudalism and warlord-era culture. The other Heartlands have a stake in treating Hadar like a colony because it means their capitalists have an easier time extracting resources for shit wages and signing un-equal treaties with locals for land and resource monopoly rights without a Regalian State to back fairness between deals. The Arch-Consul is in favor of wiping Sassrakkand from the map. He says no more. There are no further whispers at court about Hadar. The Court is entirely absorbed around the Velheim situation and nobody pays attention to Hadar. The Bureaucracy has nothing to add either.

Finances

• House de Azcoissia pays Ymir 5 Wealth Tokens for Phys Ed.
• House Valloaan pays 15 to "Slavery Abolition" (if this is the same payment mistake that was made by house Abansaddi last week I will wring someone's neck).
• House Valloaan pays 4 Wealth Tokens to Wayward Hare.
• House Valloaan pays 3 Wealth tokens to Briareth.
• House Viduggla pays 2 Wealth Tokens to Ward Dalmos
• House Viduggla pays 2 Wealth Tokens ot Haoyin Dailang Wu
• House Viduggla pays 2 Wealth Tokens to House Sorenvik
• House Viduggla pays 2 Wealth Tokens to the Tryllejag Realm
• House Viduggla spends 3 Wealth Tokens on a splendig Øya festival.

Farah'deen

• Ta'leos, Ania, Koko, Cratos, Mikhael, Kelemvor and Bremen travel to Farah'deen to attempt to find abandoned digging constructs. Unfortunately because they have to venture deep into Rishiq territory, and because at least one of them looks like a neon-sign Bentiya Songaskian, they are constantly under hailing assault from the Rishiq who seem none too pleased about incursions into their territory. With notable difficulty to move around without constantly getting shot by Rishiq weapons from high altitudes, the group is able to only make a precursory inspection of one of the abandoned digging machines, a broken down one. They remark that it is actually a really simple construct, there is nothing unique about it, it's just a sluggish digging machine. They would however note that to reproduce it, they would need considerable resources, so for now they only have a blueprint, and a presumed bill that building and operating one in the future (progressions) requires 100,000 Regals (10 WT) per active use.

Carrhen

• Avox Petrou maintains the blockade on Soren with two Imperial Armadas, but uses another Armada to institute an organized evacuation along with Dragic's Legions. The evacuation is orderly, if a bit out of Regalia's control given the sheer numbers of thousands of citizens passing through. Many of them decline requests or offers for citizenship and naturalization and instead start piling up at New Silverwind port, hoping the Regalian blockade on Rutgher will eventually dissipate so they can take private shipping out of the continent. It seems many of the refugees are so sick and tired of Regalia's treatment that they don't want to live in Regalia and want to travel on to other independent or pseudo independent states in the Moors.
• Rumors start circulating in New Silverwind that Avox Petrou made bargains with Vampires to clear out the local area for re-settlement. The rumors originate among the New Silverwind settlers who actually really just don't care, because most of them are ex-Privateers who already have a very loose understanding of the law, and generally think "whatever justifies the end", and they certainly had the wealthiest pickings from the houses left behind by the Rutgherites who died/fled. As such, not a whole lot comes from it, because the original Rutgher locals are just too few to pick a riot, and too morally beaten, but it does become a more general belief among the locals that Avox Petrou made deals with Vampires.
• Trajan Novak supported by Theotyr, Amalie and Miomyr march 5 Legions through Soren, going village to village to try and smoke out Vampires who always jump ahead of them. Sending scouts ahead in fact actually warns the Vampires that an army is coming, and most of these scouts also end up being lost in the fog of war as Vampires are excellent at ambushing isolated units. The army fails to really cleanse anything save for a few straggling youngborn Vampires who were too novice at being a Vampire to fully understand how to stay in the shadows. Vampires once again show that just sending an army in to cut them down like they are some sort of conventional military force is not overly productive, so the army just kind of marches in circles and fails to achieve anything, concluding that the majority of the Vampires are probably concentrated around the capital, where a more considered approach should be planned.

 

[soggytoenails]

Haqet leads several several Vampires (who will remain unnamed to avoid them becoming trope hunted and instant cured in roleplay) to Anglia, more specifically to van Fryse lands in the north, and starts a killing spree of local villages, killing/drinking out the majority of them and using all manners of mind control on the remainder to try and figure out more about Coraveau's origins. Unfortunately, Haqet and friends are attacking the lowest rung of pro-Dragon worshipers in existence. The majority of the peasants respond with sentiments similar to "I know nothing milord", at least for those who are willing to speak, because others seem quite ready to do die to go to Unionist heaven. There are incidentally also no libraries or even schools in these hamlets because over 90% of Anglia's population in the lower classes are illiterate. There are no Dragon scholars in these towns, because any that would exist are near the fortress installations in Draackenrust and Tempelmuur, each locations that are now heavily fortified and added onto by Isldar immigrants who have set up camp around it. They did, however, discover that Dragon worshipers and the pro-Dragon crew isn't actually all that united as is implied. Anglia is largely dominated by the remnants of the Wardens of the Claw, but Calemberg was once inhabited by the Wardens of Pinetall. Osteiermark equally had the Wardens of Silverguard, while Basta had the Wardens of the Goldsteed. Nearly all of these groups are entirely destroyed, with no surviving members left (or so some of the Anglians would claim), with only the Wardens of the Claw in Anglia remaining, of which they claim the last living member who has refused to recruit more of them and is willing to just let the order die, is Emperor Alexander I, the last surviving member after his grandmother Morgannan Kade was killed by Dragon cultists following the Dread Dragon. Some of them remark that Arahael Bancroft and Tristan Kade had the intentions of restarting the Wardens, but failed to see eye to eye, and nothing much came of it, so as not to expect to find any Wardens, but that presumably some of their old archives might still be around somewhere, but that none of the locals would know as these organizations were all intentionally secretive.

Click to shrink...

A demon ripped her teeth into a man's neckline, eyes gleaming with delight at the fresh taste of blood. Smoke thicker than clouds flooded the town, roof-tops scorched dry and flames licking at every dry crop in the valley.

Once her food was cold and pale, she threw it onto the side of the street and wiped her mouth of the drops on her chin. Face-down bodies were left in the dirt, slashes scoring their arms and teeth marks in their necks.

A woman screeched at the sight of her husband's mangled corpse. The demon laughed and turned on her.

The cry was cut short. The demon drank till the body was just a bag of skin and bone.

The cycle repeated.

@Haqet/Vampires