This Thread will record all submitted Progressions as they are processed. Deadline for Period 8 is 3rd of April, Midnight London Time. Submissions will be posted as replies until the Deadline is reached.
Invasion of Carrhen subheader Haszlal, Si-Zralli, Kaeroc, Briareth, Iranela mobilize on Haszlal's State Fleet of the South Marksmarshal's authority, sailing to Rutgher's coastline. They scout for enemy fleets, but are unable to find them. The Rutgher Theocracy absolutely has ships, and shipbuilding docks, but they are unable to find any docked or sailing fleets. The group does find some ships out at sea that mark the description of warships, the longboat design of the Velheim people that is common in the Carrhen continent, sailing southwards (in the direction of Old Ceardia). The group attacks the ships, blowing them up with a variety of alchemical attacks to the bottom of the ships. Upon salvage afterwards however, they find that despite these ships being warships and carrying the common round-shield hull covers of a Velheim warship, the interior of the ships was completely stripped and they were carrying only civilians and supplies, blankets, food wares, timber and construction goods, and lots and lots of religious offerings. The fleet tries to save any people who survived the destruction of the ships, though the rough high seas make this nigh impossible, beyond the fact that the civilians did not seemingly want to be rescued and make no attempt to reach their would be rescuers, going head-under intentionally and not resurfacing. The aquatic people in the retinue observe from underwater how they just intentionally drown themselves, stupefied by their actions. Regardless of this circumstance, as Regalia was technically still in the middle of negotiations and hadn't replied yet to the triple-alliance's request for a complete withdrawal, the Foreign Ministry's request for negotiations was declared Regalia "stalling for time" and the Consul a sham, and the war is now full and well underway. Avox, Aaliyah, Galinthos, Dominique, Zen'daral mobilize with both the Petrou and State Fleet of the South Marksmarshal, on a search and destroy. Dominique fails to track down a Rutgher commander to abduct or kill. Seemingly, the Rutgher learned their lesson and started rotating their officer corps, having suffered critical sabotage the first time, but arming themselves against this type of command beheading a second time. The Petrou fleet captures the islands fairly easily off the coast of Rutgher, with little to no resistance, the forts on these islands having seemingly been abandoned, and the civilian population also being missing. The Petrou soldiers observe the Gates of Handrin on the easternmost island of the chain, a massive rectangular stone gate, weathered by centuries of rain and ocean winds, though still standing. The hill leading up to the Gates are covered in offerings and sacrificed animals, with the ground running red, however there is no one present. Avox then lands with the remaining soldiers and captures a coastal port which was relatively small and easy to take, setting up defensive positions and acting (presumably?) as a safe port for landing future Regalian armies. In response to the growing conflict in the region, The Riggtamaan Kingdom and the Enman Kingdom re-commit themselves to Regalia by stating that "Regalia's treaties with our nations are strong, and we have no intention of helping the errant Ceardians to the south". However, to everyone's surprise, Rifftamaan then immediately invades Enman, pouring soldiers across the borders and tearing up a peace treaty that had lasted for a century since their last war. They call the war the "Fire and Water War", and state that nothing changes for them, they are still committed to the Naval Treaties with Regalia, but that they have simply decided that Enman's independence has lasted long enough. The Rifftamaan Kingdom seems to be making good headway into the Enman Kingdom and the Enman Kingdom is completely taken off guard and unprepared. The Trëmannor Kingdom re-doubles down on its Naval Treaties, and in fact escalates its commitment to Regalia by requesting formal integration to the Regalian Empire as a Suzerain entity (allowing the Kingdom to remain autonomous, observing its own laws, but paying tribute to Regalia and receiving protection from the Regalian army and Navy). The Silverwind Colonies economy collapses nigh-instantly by the sudden burst of conflict on the continent, having been used as a staple port for trade and suffering a severe decline in traffic. The Silverwind Colonies request financial aid from the Regalian State, however it is worth noting that they are not actually a federal part of the Empire despite their treaties. Past governments have always stalled on outright annexing the Silverwind Colonies due to their known Piracy, and how Regalia was always capable of tacitly denying being involved but still reaping the benefits through the Naval Treaties. The Xizham Kingdom does something strange that nobody expected either. Despite the growing conflict in Hadar, the Xizham Kingdom manages to secure a loose agreement with the warring Digmaans and the various Allar civil authorities to integrate Xizham into the greater Hadarian realm. As a result, the Xizham Kingdom folds into Regalian territory, but automaticaly defaults to a Regalian autonomous subject. They mobilize their army, and cover the border to the east, but strictly state they do not want to get involved with the conflict and are merely guarding their border. The Milat Duchy seems spooked by the conflict and offers to join Regalia's Naval Acts on Respect to Regalia's Navy, and Accepting the Regal as tenable Currency while joining the Regalian trade Market, but ask as a caveat that it not be forced to accept Unionist Missionaries, and that Regalia make a declaration of good honor and intent not to force it on them down the line. The Connorock Kingdom, Khittrakhat Confederacy and Ütterann Kingdom make a joint statement denouncing Regalia's war on the continent, citing they agree with the Rutgher state line that this is all a long ploy by Regalia to take over political power on the continent. They say they are willing to regard Regalia's good intentions however, and offer for Regalia to agree to a non-aggression pact with the three nations in concert, which would both insist that Regalia not attack them, and not try to force them to sign the Naval Treaties. The overture seems with peaceful intent, however the Ütterann Kingdom mobilizes its army on the eastern border of the Serman Duchy. It is unclear to State Bureaucrats whether this 3 part alliance is intending to join the war on the Rutgher side against Regalia if the treaty is declined, or whether they intend to invade Serman if the treaty is accepted to gobble up as much land before Regalia's inevitable victory. Further prying seems pointless as they re-iterate the treaty request as is and refuse addendums that would recognize Regalian sovereignty over the as of yet undefeated nations. The Konvernh Alliance is too tribal and uncivilized to understand what is going on and just vibe on their little islands. The Yervonth council sends a messenger to Regalia, trying to ingratiate themselves by saying that there is an unusual amount of ship activity around their islands, like a fleet of ships is looking for something. They say it is unclear what nation the ships belong to, but that they are definitely from Carrhen, and are mostly carrying lifestock and civilians. Elewisa Peirgarten, Zzuros, Avis, and Vasilje take over the Petrou fleet after their landing, providing covering support, though most of it seems redundant as the Petrou marines are able to capture most of the coastal region by themselves, so they all remain on stand by. Trajan Novak issues an ultimatum as General of the South Marksmarshal to the triple alliance, however the ultimatum is obviously redundant as admiral Haszlal already used a pre-emptive strike against the Rutgher ships out at sea, and thus war had already commenced. Trajan, Aleksandra, Kolenko, Miomyr, and Tovak march forth with a Tenpenny army, landing in Petrou's secured harbor and beginning the offensive against the Rugther Theocracy, facing fairly little resistance on land. House Faure sends their army across the border again, but House Guentyr (while expected) does not arrive, so Faure just presses on themselves. They are unable to find any enemy armies, but make headway invading Rutgher. Towards the end of the first moves of the campaign, Avox Petrou's patrols stumble upon a small group of people moving towards the captured port on a caravan. They meet up, finding two Breizh Unionist missionaries, a troupe of about 14 children, and two Guentyr signet carrying guards, claiming to be remnants of the Breizh Unionist mission outside of the Rutgher capital. Petrou's men confirm that the missionaries definitely speak with a Breizh accent, but that the Guards curiously enough speak with a very subtle Velheim accent. The children indeed seem to check out, being the frightened remnants of murdered Unionist families. The missionaries and their guards and children are now in Petrou custody (meaning they require Petrou to issue a command to release them), but request House Petrou allow them to travel to Regalia. They say that they must speak to House Sorenvik, and say regardless of the war circumstances, they absolutely refuse to speak to anyone except House Sorenvik, even refusing to speak to House Guentyr. Conflict map: @Annie_Short @MyJhintuition Orders House Nordhjem sends 9 Wealth Tokens to the War Ministry directly. House Nordhjem issues approval for the Nordhjem fleet to assist house Abansaddi. Godrun visits the Dwarven settlements in the Nordhjem lands to inspect their conditions. He finds that the Dwarves live on incredibly poor terrain, the islands are some of the worst infertile volcanic rocks in the entire Regalian Archipelago and were as such unsettled until recently when the Dwarven refugees and settlers were welcomed. Despite the harsh conditions however, it is noted that they are doing something Dwarves have not done in hundreds of years: building the first small-scale Dwarven holds underground, the first real tunneling projects since the creation of the great Holds, and a marked change from their past habit of just accepting living in the open air among Ailor. The Dwarves state that the people who sold them the land assured them that the land was wealthy albeit poor for farming, and that they bought lots of cattle to help feed them as they delve deeper into the volcanic islands to hopefully find something worth trading, but haven't found anything yet. They say they do not really need anything but wouldn't object to more food shipments (worth 5 Wealth Tokens) from house Nordhjem.
@Lionfiles Oprichnyy Visit 2 Aleksandra, Palina, Ezekiel and Kolenka travel to Kyizamok to address the people with a public declaration. In this declaration, Aleksandra does a 180 turn on the Oprichnyy stating her intent to usurp the organization under her direct command. While 50,000 Regals are offered, the Oprichnyy leadership obviously declines stating that Aleksandra has no business usurping authority over a private societal organization of the people that functions with the consent of the people, and that he is simply scared and has been goaded by the silk-shirts in the capital into slacking off on the Occult. While Aleksandra commands all Occult to leave the borders, they state this order is hollow, because the Oprichnyy already achieved this goal on their own without her command, and that simply expelling the Occult from the borders does not work, because Vampires don't obey laws, and Mages continue to be born regardless of the will of the Countess. @Anseran Investigating Va'sil in Ithania Osira, Hy'riss, Yvrann, Laria travel to Ithania to ask about Va'sil and look into records. They don't find any, with the sagely Yvrann reasoning that looking for some old Allorn magical tree in a devoutly Unionist kingdom where any such history has likely been scrubbed, is a foolish venture indeed. @MyJhintuition Dwarven Funding House Nordhjem sends 5 wealth tokens from its own finances to the Dwarven islands to supply them with food. @Ampers07 Moneymoneymoney House Abansaddi sends 2 Wealth tokens to House Nordjem House Abanmsaddi sends 2 Wealth tokens to the Civics Ministry
@Nicomachean Hvitskag Blockade Aksel Viduggla, supported by Cain and Benjamin, mobilizes the Northmark fleet to blockade the waters between Hvitskag and Nordskag preventing Hvitskag from attacking Nordskag. They succeed in preventing any raids but skirmishes are few. @AtticCat Moñañy House van Hal sends 5 Wealth tokens to the Civics Ministry. House van Hal sends 5 Wealth tokens to the Crookback Council.
@Maeovika Development The Development Ministry approves the building of the Eronidas Temple for 10 Wealth Tokens (paid for by the Development Ministry, this order also counts as them paying) The Development Ministry approves the re-paving of the entirety of Crookback for 10 Wealth Tokens (paid for by the Crookback Council, this order counts as them paying also) The Development Ministry approves the building of a garden in Red Square in Crookback for 3 Wealth Tokens (paid for by the Crookback Council, this order counts as them paying also) @HydraLana Tryllejag House Viduggla pays 4 Wealth Tokens in financial support to Tryllejag Ardige, along with Tujia, Godrun and Milsi attempt to convince the king of Tryllejag to open negotiations with the Ogres. The King replies something along the lines of "Are you mad", calling these lesser races mindless beasts and savages and saying they have already inflicted massive casualties on the Velheim people of Tryllejag and he intends to not give them any quarter if they try to supplant him. He disregards the advice and seems singularly hellbent on eradicating the invading species. Milsi's Scout report delivered to Mantarey directly for post-rp.
@Arhbi Ithania inquiries Markus, Aldair travel to Ithania to confer with the military regarding the situation in Nordskag. Ithania states that it is in the process of producing a navy, that it has not had one for hundreds of years, but is currently procuring ships. They also state they welcome any naval personel or admirals who would spend some days informing them and working with them to create the naval doctrines and ships for the fleet, and that if all of that pans out, that Nordskag and Hvitskag together will be no obstacle to them. @Birdsfoot_Violet Moni The Legal Finance Ministry sends 10 wealth tokens to House de Azcoissia The Legal Finance Ministry sends 9 wealth tokens to the House von Schwarzkrau The legal Finance Ministry sends 1 Wealth token to Silver Swyftfurusat The Legal Finance Ministry sends 2 Wealth tokens to the Civics Ministry. @Arhbi Letters and such House Delmotte invites an Emended speaker. The Emended College has agreed to send an Emended preacher to Regalia to hold a general Symposium for anyone who would be willing to listen and ask to be announced (probably somewhere this week in prime time, probably today) @Audianna Szabadok stuff Aurora, Mihaela, Liana and Reynard travel to Ust-Esverh and the capital of Rumvalia, building a series of plantations of Emperor's Pride. They then use alchemical distillation to make the substance more addictive and potent and call it Vino Powder, distributing it among the Szabadok. House Litvinova then celebrates a festival among the Szabadok, and also invite the ones from across the border on du Poncaire lands, and just hands out large quantities of Szabadok feast meats, as well as horse races, and copious amounts of Vino Powder. While the intent was to make this all a secret, the mass buying of Emperor's Pride seeds, the setting up of plantations, and the ultimate production of Vino Powder required so many people along the way that eventually the news of House Litvinova acting in contravention of the Opiate ban becomes common knowledge. Still. The Szabadok think it's great, and they basically pledge their support to House Litvinova for supplying them that which everyone else denied them.
@Ocularum Moni House Morathes pays 5 wealth tokens to Haszlal of Nekhehezzet (putting it on the person instead of the company because that kind of company is not acknowledged as a financial entity). Haszlal is given permission to use some Morathes soldiers. @Lutowski @Iyyiushi Vampire Oops Revna, Sihn-Nilolok, Felsin Kretch, Rayyan, Viggo and Medea, Vulrynn, Elmyra travel with both armies led by Revna and Medea of the Northmark to the Maarket Colonial Charter, and the Hedryll Kingdom respectively. Medea marches in from the north, while Revna marches in from the south. The Hedryllian king makes a bombastic protest to their presence, lodging several complaints with the North Consul over this "egregious violation of military access by the state, overreach in what is normal protocol to request access, like had been done for Nordskag and Tryllejag by House Vidiggula and Sorenvik". He is however powerless to act and mobilize his own troops to kick the state armies out, as Hedryll is too weak and poor to resist. Both armies sort of trek around in the snow, never finding a single Vampire army. In fact, at night, Vampires seem to kill a few soldiers every time just to mock the Regalian armies. The armies eventually meet up, having found not a single Vampire army, and keep running in circles trying to find anything. They eventually camp out, requesting additional supplies as the Hedryll Kingdom also does not have the supply or forage to sustain their armies simply existing and not doing anything. The Legal Finance Ministry is automatically billed 6 Wealth Tokens to supply these armies. Elmyra sagely points out that "perhaps just because the state and historical records indicate that there are Vampires who feed on the population, does not mean there are /Vampire Armies/ present in the area." and that furthermore "Perhaps we are attempting to use a sledgehammer in a situation where a tweezer would suffice". This idea seems to be supported by the fact that the Vampires they have caught are just fledglings and lone Vampires, and the death toll in the army camps isn't high enough to presume there is a large enemy force, just singular guerilla Vampires. @FireFan96 Moni House von Drachenburg pays 4 Wealth tokens to the Legal Finance Ministry House von Drachenburg pays 3 Wealth tokens to the Ethical Finance Ministry.
@MrsCripple Finances The Civics Ministry pays 6 Wealth Tokens to the Legal Finance MInistry. @Annie_Short Moni House Nordhjem pays 1 Wealth Token to the Civics MInistry. @KKadoren Sihn-Traeliorn, Vivienne, Sihn-Nilolok, and Steelo Lynch travel to Ostermanh, crossing the border from Hedryll. Before leaving Hedryll, some of the guards wish them luck, saying they haven't seen anyone come in or out of the Ostermanh Kingdom in actual years, and that there is no real reason for them to be stationed there anymore, because the Ostermanh settlements are on the far east, miles away from the border and out of sight. The group travels for a really long time. They pass a few burnt out buildings that have largely collapsed and been buried by snow, all of it looks very abandoned. When arriving at the capital, the front gates are wide open. Snow is piled high up against the buildings, and all the chimneys are empty, the windows dark. They travel to the castle, and eventually enter, only to find the door had been barricaded, broken open and thus let snow blow into the main hall. In the main hall, they find piles upon piles of skeletons in rags and armor. Upon closer inspection, there are skeletons literally everywhere, in the streets (buried by snow they traveled over before), in the houses, in the temples, and the whole of the capital looks in a grand state of disrepair as if it has been abandoned in the snowy winds for literal years. The Sihndar are able to tell, by the state of decomposition, that the people who lived here have indeed been dead for years. They travel along the coast finding village after village with much the same tale, just skeletons everywhere, houses abandoned, and whole fishing villages buried under ice and snow. The Ostermanh Kingdom is completely dead. They haven't found a single person, and eventually return home flabbergasted. @festiveCorvid Speedboats Avox and Velimir investigate the port town of Carrhen to investigate its logistical capacity. They find that the harbor is quite poorly equipped to deal with the largest of regalian ships, and that constructing the proper facilities would be inordinately expensive. They also comment that while shipping might not be an issue, supply wagons, horses or oxen and other such logistical tools certainly would be. They are fighting a war at the "ass end of the world", and supplying troops this far away from civilized urban centers capable of producing goods is difficult to say the least. Avox then takes a group of disguised warships to sail to the Yervonth Tribedom. Velimir is also with them, but under constant watch by Petrou soldiers who even walk with him to the loo, meant to treat him like a child who cannot help himself. They eventually catch up to some Carrhen civillian ships dobbering in the water. Despite Petrou's efforts to disguise his ship, it sticks out like a sore thumb, being a double decked battleship of Regalian design, versus the Velheim longboats and single decked cutters that are of a very clearly different design. The civillian ships panic and try to make a run for it. Avox's ships pursue but do not attack, simply watching them, until eventually the civillian ships simply vanish, as if they sailed into a wall, but the wall swallowed them until there was nothing left. One of the Petrou ships sails in the same spot where all those ships disappeared, only to find there is nothing there. Many times it tries to turn and approach the same spot at different speeds and angles, but nothing changes. The group eventually returns back to base, after having observed a series of other ships do the same things, even when kept at a distance. @NebulaePrimo Military Orders Viviwynne Guentyr, Aldane, Lynmard and Alduir travel to Carrhen to take command of Guentyr soldiers and the Southmark army assigned to Viviwynne and invade the Soren Kingdom from the south. While the Soren Kingdom was relatively peaceful up until that point (and following the removal of Petrou), the Marshal's and Noble army together invading from the south overwhelms their defences, as most of their army was moving north to assist against the invasion on the Rutgher side of things. The civilian population panics at the sudden arrival of the Regalian army from an angle they did not expect, and scatter in all directions with refugee caravans. House Guentyr issues orders not to attack any civillians unless aggressed. This leads to serious discontent, as without forcing themselves on the locals, the soldiers are unable to be fully supplied, relying on forage and theft from the population as many feudal armies would. There are cases of violation of this command, and court marshal of those soldiers, with the majority of the army becoming discontent at the seeming arbitrary order issued to them with no explanation that is causing soldiers to go hungry. Increased demands for logistics are soon to be expected, however for now the soldiers make a good headway into the Soren Kingdom. @CelestialBoba Blockading Rutgher's Coastlines. Elewisa Peirgarten commands the fleet of the Southmark Marshal, blockading the Rutgher coastline. The blockade holds, preventing any ships from passing. All the ships that try are civillian vessels that are blasted out of the water. Eventually the locals stop trying to launch ships, with only an occasional dingy rowboat making it past. Volodymyr is dropped on the coast as a spy, mingling with the locals. Volodymyr eventually reports back that there is a weird level of chaos in the military. He reports that there is opposition between the wolf-men (the same who killed all the Unionists) and the actual Priest Council. The wolf-men want to continue the fight against the Regalians and are mustering their forces in the north to head off the Petrou and Faure invasion, but the priests are also pulling back their soldiers and moving them in erratic directions. No more information could be gleamed with the orders given. @seoulmate Moni House Peirgarten sends 2 Wealth tokens to the Civics Ministry. @slurmancer Treaties Trëmannor gladly accepts the Suzerain status and enters the Regalian Empire as is. The Milat Duchy signs the treaties and thus enters the Naval Acts (or some of them) with guarantees others won't be pursued. The NAP is signed with the Connorock, Khittrakhat and Utterann states, who then promptly send an army to invade the Serman Duchy. They send a message to Regalia that they consider the NAP valid for borders as-is, and thus don't intend to take any land from the Serman Duchy, but that Serman and Utterann have a score to settle in silver and gold and blood. This marks the first time that Regalia owns federal land on the Carrhen continent.
@AlphaInsomnia Carrhen refugees House Sorenvik sends its fleet to Carrhen to aid with any civillian evacuation of Velheim families. They are unable to pick anyone up however, as the Southmark Marshal has declared a blockade on Rutgher, and no ships may pass without their express approval, as they were given orders to prevent the locals from entering the seas. The Sorenvik fleet holds in the area just beyond the blockade. @Axronix Blockade The Northmark Marshal Fleet led by Ark'ai, supported by Sihn-Birrani, Ward Dalmos, travels to the north to block the seas between Javdryll and Falsemarr and Tryllejag and Ellador. The blockade is ostensible required to prevent Vampires from passing, however the ships that move in these waters are purely Velheim rigged, so there is no way to tell whether a Vampire is on board without actually stopping all ships and searching them manually. The group does indeed find a few Vampires and slays them post haste. Some slaves are freed, and the ships are sunk. However, because of the aforementioned fact that there is no such thing as a "Vampire ship" that signals that a ship has Vampires on board, they also end up stopping a bunch of ships from Javdryll, Tryllejag and Falsemarr, who lodge plenty of complaints with the Regalian Empire. While Tryllejag is used to this treatment (they are not a Naval Act signatory), Javdryll and Falsemarr are not (as they should be exempt from this kind of treatment by Regalia), and lodge plenty of complaints with the North Consul that this is a violation of Regalia's own treaties. It should also be noted that the amount of Vampires caught is miniscule. There are more ships stopped than Vampires caught, and even less slaves saved, only a handful. The Vampires are seemingly not using ships to travel around.
@ezalB Carrhen invasion Admiral Haszlal of the Southmark leads Si-Zralli, Briareth, Iranela and Mirabel to secure the passage to Ceardia and blockade any further attempt to reach this land, blasting some more civilian ships out of the water that were already sailing around in the area. Orders were given to spare the locals, but the fleets were left no other option as the ships refused to slow down or stop, and on occasion would even start ramming Regalian ships to try and get away. As per usual, these ships offered no survivors. They also scout the coastline, finding a few makeshift camps of what looks like Carrhen locals, but they always run into the thick forests beyond their line of sight when the ships approach. The locals are aware they are being hunted. @ezalB A rescue mission for Cro-Zzhin Clan Morathes guerrillas along with Si'Zralli, Zzen, Matski, Barbossa and Mirabel travel to Batara Guru's lands to try and rescue Cro-Zzhin. The Guerrillas take up positions outside the palace while the group sneaks in under the leadership of Barbossa and Mirabel, the senior rogues calling the shots. They time their arrival with a battle between the champions of Batara Guru and another Digmaan who had not yet been defeated. The shouting and carousing of the arena deafened much of their movements, and many of the guards had even left to watch the fight in the ring. Batara Guru's Palace was vast, and also very peculiar. Many of the artifacts inside the gallery seemed strange. Sendrassian even. Void Worship related even. They passed by a very peculiar looking pavillion that seemed very un-allar, and indeed, it was. Outside, a set of Slizzar guards stood with their snake-like tails blocking the way and bows at attention, though they did not notice them. The further they went, the more muted the fight outside was. At some point, the fight had seemingly died down, with the rogues signaling the others they likely had less than 15 minutes left until the other guards would return. They sped their way further and further to the interior, hoping to find some sort of prison there. Quite the opposite however, the further in they went, the more luxurious the place became, and even more curiously, some of the walls had distinct Yaotl features on or near them. Si'Zralli recognized some of the art that had once been in Yaotl's estate in Regalia, which was shipped to his Palace when he became Qar-Digmaan. They were absolutely certain, Cro-Zzhin, or whatever remained of him, had to be here. Eventually they reached a large gilded room that had a balcony overlooking the ocean beyond. The room was covered in thick and long cyan and blue draperies and curtains, making it very easy for the group to silently walk around, having bound their claws in padded cottons to prevent them from clicking on the marble floor. And there he was. Yaotl was lounging on a pile of pillows, one hand on a long smoking pipe, another on a stone tablet, seemingly reading by some dangling candles. No chains. No guards. Nothing. In fact the room was so large and open Cro-Zzhin could have easily escaped, just jumped off the balcony, so why didn't he? The other party members were less thoughtful about the matter however, and were just about to run out of the shadows to try and nab Cro-Zzhin and free him, until Mirabel stopped them when she sussed out approaching claw clicks. The door swung open, and there stood Cro-Droq, wounded from battle, with one eye-hald closed, and blood dripping on the floor. Cro-Zzhin looked surprised, alarmed even to a degree. The group decided to silently watch what would happen next. Cro-Droq immediately began a running sprint towards Cro-Zzhin, and leapt towards him, claws out and jumping on top of him as he let out a yelp. The two struggled and struggled, Cro-Droq's claws imbedding themselves inside Cro-Yaotl, and his jaws even snapping around Yaotl's neck. Mirabel muttered "Shit! He's killing him! They must finally have decided to get rid of him, we've been found out!". The group was just about to burst out, before Zzen noticed that Yaotl's tail was curling around Droq's tail, and in that moment, it clicked exactly what they were doing. Si'Zralli didn't have enough hands to try and cover the eyes of the other party members, but before anything could happen, Mirabel loudly tapped her weapon on the marble floor, because she wasn't about to watch National Geographic. The two Cro immediately ceased what they were doing, Cro-Droq jumping up into a defensive stance in front of Cro-Yaotl and Yaotl startled behind them. They eventually recognized the group however, and Yaotl called Droq off from trying to jump them. The situation calmed down, and Yaotl eventually agreed to explain the situation. He explained that his position as Qar-Digmaan was completely untenable. He tried his hardest for years to subjugate the other Digmaans, but found that without having properly conquered all of them, they just didn't listen to him. While he could count on the loyalty of the other castes, the Cro remained fiercely disloyal, and would never subject to someone who only attained the Qar-Digmaan position by abusing the apathy of the Ailor governors in getting the land written to him on a piece of paper. He then explained that the only way to properly unite Hadar so it could be taken seriously by Regalia was to do so through conquest, but that he could not be part of it. He added that he had already been a symbol of Regalian Dukedom given his proximity to Regalia, and that they needed a Qar-Digmaan who would stand fiercely and independently from Regalia, with none of the baggage that Yaotl had in Regalia. As such, Yaotl and Batara hatched a plan, that Yaotl would fake his death or disappearance and essentially trigger a pseudo civil war, which would draw out all the Digmaan who had ambitions of their own. Cro-Droq would be Batara's champion and could finally be Yaotl's consort, while Yaotl also acted as a shadow-chancellor for Batara, who would take his political advice on board. With Batara's charisma, Yaotl's scheming, and Droq's fierceness in battle, the three of them would set out to unite Hadar under a firm Qar-Digmaan and ensure that it would rise to the same height as Ithania in respect of the Empire and finally become a heartland member. Cro-Droq was constantly hissing and protesting. Both at having been cock-blocked, but also because he just didn't trust the others. Eventually the group departed, with Cro-Yaotl pressing it on them that they should not tell anyone, and in fact assist in their efforts to get Batara to become the next Qar-Digmaan if they don't want Hadar to forever be a shit hole. On their way out. The group turned the corner and were suddenly faced by a group of Slizzar, one of which had Iridescent scales and red eyes, surrounded by other Makara Slizzar. The two groups stared at each other for a while, until the Slizzar parted ways, and the rescue party could pass through, safely, but slowly. The group afterwards theorized that these Slizzar were essentially T-posing on them, and had known they were there the entire time, and wanted them to know that they knew, but why they were there, or why they wanted them to know, they could not figure out. The Morathes guerrillas were picked up on the way out, seeming to have been unnecessary. One of the asha joked that it was "good that all ended well, because if one of these hair-less scaleskins was going to try to clip even one of my nails, I would have immediately ratted you all out. I am not dying for a hair-less scaleskin".
@Lizmun Moni Joanna von Duerr pays 1 Wealth token from Duerr finances to the Civics Ministry @Stellarrix Hvitskag scouting Mene'lainn, Steelo, Errant, Wayward and Daenestra traveled to the coast of Hvitskag to survey the region. They surveyed villages and coastal towns, none of it to warrant a particular military scouting mission. The rogues reasoned that, given the assymetric way of Velheim warfare, that the soldiers would be pulled from the local populations whenever they went raiding. As such, true Velheim states don't have military camps, defenses, or land formations, they are an entirely ad-hoc army formation whenever they get called upon. @Tortellinis Rutgher War Trajan Novak's army along with Aleksandra, Miomyr, Palina and Andriy traveled further south to capture military objectives. They would eventually be met with the Rutgher and Soren gathered armies, and a series of battles continued, most of them inconclusive, and extending the war. Whatever land the army captured, local authorities were forcibly removed and Regalian military imposed on the local population as authorities. The locals riot against the removal of the clergy leadership of local authorities and some of the riots have to be put down hard. Orders were given not to attack unless attacked, but the riots qualified as violence, so the swords come out to play. @onearmsquid Rutgher War Theron Faure's army would eventually meet up with Trajan. See above order included.
@NoctisUmbra Guldar Akurgal, Enheduanna, Sarrapu, and Darak, Supported by Nordhjem exploration ships, traveled further west to find islands of the Leaving Period. The group jumps from island to island they come across. Nearly every island they do come across has some type of ruin on it, but the ruins are all in serious states of decay. They all follow open Eronidas building styles, but are somewhat different and alien to them, like someone tried to remake Eronidas housing from being told what they looked like, but didn't get it quite right. They found some basic copper tools, but these islands were often so small (and some even underwater) that the elements had done serious damage on whatever was left. There were no records of any kind, and murals often only depicted Eronidas doing things they generally did, which is sports and warfare. Some implication was raised that these islands waged wars on each other, but whatever was once there, no longer was. They could not even find any bones. Some of the islands were inhabited by strange green-skinned creatures. They had similar tusks to Eronidas, and the same green skin, but walked on all fours and mostly just shoved their nose into the ground looking for roots and bugs. They weren't larger than a domestic dog, and walked around kind of like a monkey. They seemed skittish, but curious of the explorers, though they decided to simply leave them, as it could not be established that they weren't sentient, and the law on contacting uncivilized peoples was still in effect. Eventually they reached the furthest reaches of Guldar, and indeed, the exploration trip would confirm that they only took a month to travel back and forth, while supposedly the Eronidas fleet took decades if not a hundred year of more. No information was forthcoming, and while Guldar seemed so close in reach, they chose not to approach. The land was still covered in an orange-red haze, a colored mist with crackles of lightning passing through it, showing that the miasma that drove off the Eronidas was still there, and they weren't about to find out how deadly it was. Eventually they turned back.
