The fate of the many

A glimmer of contented notes floated lazily into the night air, as the harper’s fingers plucked the strings. The Dancer at the End of Time whirled and spun, her motions governed by the ineluctable insistence of the music. Blue and silver gossamer wings cut the light into a thousand pieces, hurling daggers at the cowardly shadows. When the last note arrived it spun, trembling and desperate to escape, trapped in the moment, until the Dancer, finally, reluctantly released it.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go.” Drusa sighed heavily. The thought of leaving was a pain, but the thought of not returning was almost too much to bear.

SADNESS.

“I’m sorry!” she protested while laughing. Somehow her old friend’s disappointment that the evening was over had lifted her mood. But then she remembered she still hadn’t shared her ill news and the pain returned. “I have… bad news…” her voice faltered a little, but she forced herself to go on. “I may not be able to come again. I think… I think our arbiter is going to leave…”

DISAPPOINTMENT.

“I can’t help it! We have to go… I think. The Empire has declared Spiral to be a League territory.” She shook her head ruefully; she wasn’t sure she really understood it herself.

CONFUSION.

“I don’t know. Felix explained it to me. He’s an architect, he understands these things. Apparently, once this is a League territory then things will be different. Everything will just be harder. And it’s so difficult now with the Black Plateau…” her voice trailed off again. She hated talking about the Black Plateau with the Dancer because she knew how much it upset her. It wasn’t kind to tell a friend you were in pain when you knew how desperately they wanted to help you, but couldn’t.

INQUIRY.

“You need to hear it from Felix” she said shaking her head to deny the question. “He would be able to explain it all to you.” As soon as the words left her lips, she realised what was coming next. The gentlest touch of blue silk feathers drifted like a breeze across her temple.

PERMISSION?

“Of course you can” she said, shaking her head. “You know you don’t have to ask.” It was a ritual between them. She always said that, and the Dancer always asked.

GRATITUDE.

Her memories of Felix slipped easily from her mind, tumbling over themselves as they chased each other round the room. They fought together for a moment, talking over each other, until one by one they blinked out. Then there was just one memory left, two nights ago, the young architect addressing her and her spire mates, explaining what would happen if they stayed. She wasn’t sure she understood it even now. Something to do with all their friends and allies living far away in Redoubt and Zenith and how that would make it much harder to survive and prosper here.

They pair of them listened, rapt, while Felix explained it all over again. There were gaps of course, things she’d forgotten. She hoped she’d got the gist of it. Maybe it made more sense to the Dancer than it did to her.

ANGER.

“There’s nothing can be done. Some things just can’t be changed.”

DISAGREEMENT.

The Dancers wings folded in on herself, in studied contemplation. A thousand different hues rippled over the surface of her feathers, like rainbows scattering across oil drops. Then in the next moment, they froze in place, instantly stilled as the Dancer’s thoughts coalesced into one.

INSPIRATION.

A single blue wing emerged, reaching out to touch Drusa’s hand. A riot of images tumbled into her mind in a chaotic blur. “Slow down!” she protested, as the Dancers thoughts assailed her, but the stream of consciousness continued, pictures of magicians performing rituals, next to strange metallic statues that elongated and contracted in a madcap dance. She fought desperately to take it all in, it was too much, but she thought she had the gist of it. When the ideas finally ended she looked up at her old friend with wonder in her eyes.

“You’d do all that for us?”

LAUGHTER.

Not for them came the silent response. Not for any of them. For the music. For you.

The turbulent, bruised skies above Spiral reflect the hearts of its people.

Overview

The decision of the Imperial Senate to assign the territory of Spiral to the League has come as a shock to its Urizeni inhabitants. Even the notoriously impassive Urizen cannot completely conceal their reaction to the news that the land they have clung to for so long has been handed to another nation. Shock and astonishment slowly gives way to a painful mix of other emotions.

A number of individuals are furious. Angry with the Senate and with their own senators for allowing it to happen. The nation that has sacrificed so much, is called on to pay the ultimate price. Not to win peace with the Grendel; war is inevitable now. But to make good on some shady deal between the League and a Grendel traitor. There is anger too, directed at the League, a nation that always seems to come out on top. There are more than a few caustic, bitter comparisons with the "theft" of Holberg from Dawn.

For some there is a degree of relief. Life in Spiral is harder than any other territory of the Empire. The pervasive influence of the Black Plateau is unending and the chance to finally be free of it is not unwelcome. They have clung on in Spiral for so long, believing it was their Loyal duty to preserve Urizen's legacy here. Now that duty is discharged it gives permission to think about a new life elsewhere.

For many there is just a sharp pain that slowly dulls to sadness. Urizen has struggled to hold onto Spiral for so long, and that hold only became more tenuous when the Black Plateau was awakened. But the nation has laid claim to these mountains since before the Empire even existed. To give up that history wounds the psyche in ways that will be hard to heal.

The people of Spiral are in turmoil, and they look to their Assembly for guidance.

The Path Of Least Resistance

• If nothing else happens, most of the occupants of Spiral will relocate to other parts of Urizen
• They will settle in Zenith, Morrow and Redoubt
• Within a few years, it is likely that only a small number of very determined characters will remain

If the National Assembly does not intervene, or if they encourage the people of Spiral to embrace new possibilities, then most of the Urizeni occupants will move elsewhere in the nation. This process has already begun, with some people making arrangements to leave as soon as the news reaches them via the heliopticon. In other circumstances, people would not be so quick to go, but living beneath the baleful dolour that emanates from Screed is exhausting. As more leave, the reasons for others to say will wither and eventually the tide will become a flood.

If this happens, then the remaining spires of Spiral will fall silent. The majestic halls will be abandoned - it's hard to imagine the Apulian Orcs or the League being enthusiastic about living on mountain-tops. The majestic towers will become tombstones, testaments to a bygone age. It is achingly sad... but it also brings new opportunities. Zenith is rich with possibilities now it has become the Crucible of Fate, and it sorely needs brilliant minds to take advantage of those opportunities. Morrow and Redoubt have legacies of their own - each of which will be bolstered by this influx of new people with new ideas.

Whatever happens, whether the people stay or go, provided they still have access to the heliopticon network, the Doyen of the Spires will continue to benefit from the work of the people of Spiral, just as they do now. This will happen regardless of what happens to the magicians of Spiral: the Doyen's ability to lead the very best minds in research of new magic will not suffer because Spiral has been claimed by the League.

A Difficult Message

Spiral is Urizeni and will always remain so. However, the Net of the Heavens draws us closer to the League, and we will support them as they build their homes alongside us.

Cassia Apulian Silkweaver, Urizen National Assembly, 385YE Spring Equinox, Vote: Upheld with a Greater Majority (217-0)

• The Urizen Assembly have declared that Spiral is Urizeni and will always remain so
• It is difficult for people to square these words with the reality they are faced with, or to translate them into practical decisions

The message that the Urizen National Assembly chose to deliver to the occupants of Spiral was that it is Urizen, and will always remain so. These are inspiring words... but it is hard to reconcile them with the practical reality they are faced with. The Wolves of War have moved across the territory claiming the land for the League. The Imperial Senate has allocated the territory to the League. Whatever the Assembly says, the undeniable reality that is in front of their eyes is that Spiral is becoming a League territory.

There are subtle signs of this everywhere. Kaliact and her followers have asked the Imperial Senate to rename the territory. If they get their way Spiral will officially no longer even exist. Attention is shifting inexorably to the City of Apulian and the burgeoning settlement there. While Spiral was under Grendel control, it was easy to hold on to the belief that it would one day be returned to Urizen. It is much harder to convince yourself that this is the case when the territory has just been bought and paid for by the League.

Crucially - what does this message mean for the people who live here? Few people are keen to stay living under the oppression of the Black Plateau if their fate is to end up as isolated hermits living in the secluded mountain ranges that surround the great City of Apulian. If there were some plan behind the Assembly's stirring words, some purpose to staying, they could be convinced. Otherwise the fear is that they will be isolated and quietly forgotten.

The words of the Assembly are comforting, but the people of Spiral are Urizen, they are the self-styled smartest people in the world. They don't want comfort, they want a plan. They are eager to heed the words of the Assembly, but anything they have to say must be based on a vision for the future. A few of the residents of Spiral do have plans - but they have had a season already to work on them. If the visionaries who attend Anvil will have practical ideas of their own to share, the people of Spiral are eager to hear them.

Victory in Defeat

• Caela, a Mage of Tower of the Silver Flame is not leaving, and urges others to follow her example
• She is adamant that Spiral will return to Urizen, and soon, and lays out her vision of how this will happen
• The Urizen National Assembly could urge the citizens of Spiral to support Caela

The Tower of the Silver Flame is poorly named. Two centuries ago, the spire was dominated by a great silver tower curiously shaped and decorated so that at night it gleamed in the dark like a single dancing silvery flame. Then there was a terrible tremor and two-thirds of the tower collapsed and half the magicians who lived there lost their lives. Some blamed the disaster on the actions of The King Under the Mountain who many believed had been angered in some way. Others claimed it was an act of sabotage, by a traitor who was part of the spire. More prosaic voices suggested that the collapse was caused by faulty engineering and a lack of suitable maintenance. Those who stayed vowed to rebuild, and it attracted mages and architects who enjoyed the tower's philosophy that nothing was ever so bad that it could not be rebuilt. "The flame will rise again" was the tower's apothegm, speaking to a belief that nothing is impossible.

The Tower is one of the poorest spires in the territory and it lacks the mithril protection provided by the Block that many enjoy and yet still they refuse to leave. They claim that Spiral is not yet lost. The mages of the Tower are notorious for their refusal to concede defeat so few spires would normally pay much attention but the arbiter of the Tower, a magician called Caela, has laid out a vision of exactly how Spiral is going to return to Urizen.

Caela's argument is disarmingly simple. The peace treaty with the Grendel is about to end. Given the treachery of the Kaliact and her followers, it is certain that the first thing the Grendel will do is invade Spiral with overwhelming force - to get retribution on Kaliact and her people. And it is equally inevitable that the Empire will underestimate the threat, just like they did in Zenith, and the territory will fall to the Grendel. Then they will threaten Redoubt, and eventually the Empire will get enough force together to push them back and retake Spiral. And when that happens, Caela intends to be very clear that the League had their chance, they lost the territory, and it must now be returned to Urizen, to whom it always belonged.

There are a lot of issues with Caela's "plan", not least the fact that a campaign to retake Spiral will likely be devastating for both sides given the ongoing influence of the awoken Black Plateau. But it is difficult to argue that what she is saying is impossible. The National Assembly of Urizen could issue a mandate encouraging people to follow her lead:

No price is too high to realise your dreams. We send {named priest} with 50 doses of liao to urge Urizen to remain in Spiral and follow the plan of the Tower of the Silver Flame. Spiral was Urizen once and it will be so again, once the League fail to hold it.

Synod Mandate, Urizen National Assembly

If this mandate is passed, then many Urizen citizens in Spiral will heed the words of the Assembly and make arrangements to remain. Caela's plan is contingent on the League failing to hold the territory from the Grendel, but that could happen quickly in Caela's view. Nobody is going to lift a finger to help the Grendel when they do invade, but nor will they exert themselves to support the League in defence of the territory.

Inevitably such views will influence the Urizen army. The Citadel Guard would face a penalty of twenty percent to its effective fighting strength for all purposes while fighting in Spiral while the territory was under the control of the League. The penalty would become a ten percent bonus to fight in Spiral if the territory was controlled by the Grendel. Nobody is going to side with the Grendel, but it would have an inevitable impact on the dedication of the sentinels who form the bulk of the army if the plan officially endorsed by the Urizen Assembly is to pounce once the League have failed to hold Spiral.

A Shared Victory

• Agathea, an architect of the Visionaries of New Apulus is asking people to consider staying and joining the League
• The Urizen National Assembly could urge the citizens of Spiral to support Agathea's vision

Agathea is one of a handful of magicians who still dwells in Apulus. An architect by training, she and her fellow magicians have traded extensively with the Grendel and know them better than most. She argues that the League are making a mistake by welcoming Kaliact and her supporters to join the nation. Her claim is not that the Apulian Orcs will betray the League, but rather that they will debase them. In Agathea's assessment, the Grendel are awful people, smug and self-satisfied, cynical in outlook, and selfish and self-centred with absolutely no vision. They confuse wealth for riches, expensive fabrics for haute couture, huge paintings in gold frames for art. In their experience, a Grendel maistir will pay more for a child's oil painting of a landscape in a gaudy frame than a charcoal sketch by a visionary artist.

Her criticisms are a little much for some to swallow, given that she and her fellow architects have made a lot of money designing and building homes for the Grendel in Apulus. It is only when she pivots to her suggestion that people stop to consider the idea. Those Urizen magicians who see new opportunities here should not just stay in Spiral, they should actively look to join the League. If enough of them do this, it will have a significant impact on the new City of Apulian.

The Highborn might have carried the Way to the four corners of the Empire, but it was the Urizen who refined Imperial lore and shared their mastery of ritual lore with the Empire, and the Urizen that shared their scholasticism with the Empire and helped them grow into the educated people they are today. The best way to change the world is to spread enlightenment, not war. Such an approach is not incompatible with the League in her view - the great cities are famous for their universities and their love of learning. Urizen magicians in Apulian should seek to join the League and shape the future of the City with their understanding of the benefits of education, philosophy, magic and learning. The Urizen Assembly could support this approach with an appropriate mandate:

The Virtuous build up their fellows. We send {named priest} with 50 doses of liao to encourage those Urizen magicians who wish to stay to embrace a new future in the League. Let us share our values with them and make Apulian a city founded on philosophy, learning and a vision for a better future.

Synod Mandate, Urizen National Assembly

If this mandate is passed, then those Urizen citizens living in Spiral who can imagine a future for themselves in the League will reach out to the egregore and explore that possibility. Dozens of them will join the nation - it will only ever be a comparative few - but it will be enough to influence the developing character of Apulian, bringing expertise with magic and a love of learning and philosophy with them. The League has never been short of Ambition, but the mages and architects of Apulian would ensure that the City of Apulian combined that virtue with lofty vision.

A Precious Secret

• Whoever lives in Spiral will need to know how to create structures that are protected from the Black Plateau
• The Urizen have never shared this secret with the Grendel

Whoever lives in Spiral, they will need constant protection from the pernicious influence of the Black Plateau unless they wish to have their nights filled with tortured dreams and their days filled with a riot of madcap emotions. The people who are exposed to aura for too long without protection suffer for it, and some of them break under the strain, their minds overwhelmed by the murderous aura that infests Screed. To counter its effects, the brilliant minds of Urizen designed the Block, as a way to screen people from the worst effects. Without that, and crucially without the knowledge of how to channel the power of the Block, it is not possible to live in Spiral for extended periods.

With the support and blessing of the Synod, the magicians of Spiral did not share these secrets with the Grendel. Rather than teach them how to create these protections themselves, they instead demanded payment in return for labour in constructing new buildings that made use of the secret techniques. This suited the Grendel, who had no interest in the Black Plateau - they just wanted the problem gone. And it suited the magicians of Urizen, some of whom, like Agathea, have grown wealthy selling the fruits of their labour to the Grendel.

Now that Spiral is going to be a League territory, it raises the question of whether to continue that approach. If nothing changes, then the handful of Urizen magicians who remain in Spiral, or who visit occasionally, will be able to provide their benefits of their skills to League citizens who need to construct new homes. It will be expensive however, every new building will need to be protected and that will involve hiring Urizen magicians and paying them extra for their exclusive abilities. The result is that the labour costs of any new commission in Spiral will increased by 25%.

The alternative is to be charitable and to give the secret of the Block to the League. The Assembly could use a mandate to urge magicians to share their skills with League architects, engineers, builders, and magicians.

All that is worthwhile is shared with those who deserve it. We send {named priest} with 25 doses of liao to encourage Urizen citizens to share the secrets of the Block with the people of Spiral. We will not hold our fellows in the League to ransom no matter what has transpired.

Synod Mandate, Urizen National Assembly

If this mandate is enacted, then the magicians of Urizen will share the secrets of the Block with the citizens of the League. There will be no more lucrative payments to Urizen magicians in exchange for their exclusive knowledge and skills - and the penalty for new commissions will no longer apply. However it will also be only a matter of time before the Grendel and everyone who wants it, possesses the secret also. Urizen can keep the knowledge secret while it is their sole preserve, but once they share it with another nation, it will inevitably become common knowledge relatively quickly.

Able the Taller has provided wording for an alternate mandate.

All that is worthwhile is shared only with those who deserve it. The League has taken Spiral and even now discusses abandoning its name and history. We send {named priest} with 50 doses of liao to encourage citizens of Urizen to refuse to share the secrets of the block or provide any other aid to the League until they prove they are more than petty opportunists

Synod Mandate, Urizen National Assembly

If this mandate is enacted then the Urizen of Spiral would refuse to share the secrets of the Block with the other residents of the territory; any construction would require blocks of mithril. The deliberate prevention of aid would also see any taxation gained from the territory dramatically drop as food and other supplies would need to be brought in via ship.

Competing and Alternative Mandates

• The mandates presented in Victory In Defeat and A Shared Victory are competing - they cannot both be enacted
• The mandates presented in A Precious Secret are competing each other - but not the other mandates listed
• It is possible to submit alternative mandates, if they clearly present a different course of action

These mandates presented above which encourage Urizen to say in Spiral are considered to be competing. As such, whichever is passed with the greatest margin would be considered to have been successful and the other mandate(s) fail. At present these mandates required a mandate to receive a greater majority to take effect.

It is possible for members of the Imperial Synod to submit alternative mandates to influence the inhabitants of Spiral, but only if the mandate presents a simple, clearly articulated plan that presents a course of action or a clear goal. Mandates that simply encourage people to feel differently about the situation, without translating that into an option for definitive action will not have an effect.

Hector of Tropaion has submitted an alternate mandate on how the Urizen citizens of Spiral could remain in the territory.

Despise the thieving bandit and those who take without giving. We send {named priest} with 50 doses of liao to encourage citizens of Urizen to remain apart from Apulian until a reckoning is agreed upon

Synod Mandate, Urizen National Assembly

If this mandate is enacted then the Urizen who currently reside in Spiral will remain, they will keep to themselves in enclaves. It will result in some of the spires and citadels taking up weapons and seceding from the Empire, eventually claiming region(s) for themselves. This mandate is in competition with the ones presented in Victory In Defeat and A Shared Victory.

Wyrms and Serpents

As well as the philosophical questions facing the Urizen in Spiral, to be debated by the National Assembly, support comes from two unlikely sources. Two eternals of the realm of Night with a keen interest in Urizen and Spiral offer unexpected boons.

If I said "It's a two-dimensional manifold on which one cannot define a normal vector at each point that varies continuously over the whole manifold?" would that help? Not that that sounds like something I would say, mind. Far too much of a mouthful. More pilf?

The Wyrm's Bottle

• The Brother of Wizards has offered a boon to the people of Urizen
• He has access to a unique item that will allow something to be moved from Spiral to one of the other Urizen territories
• He will employ that boon if his friend Elyssiathian, the current Archmage of Night, asks him to do so and the Conclave agrees

The Urizeni of Spiral have an unexpected ally, sensitive to their plight. The eternal Sadogua has made much of his support for the people of Urizen, giving boons to help them against the Druj and celebrating their victories. In the weeks leading up to the Summer Solstice, several of his heralds visit his friends throughout Urizen with an offer of a gift that might make the bitterness of leaving Spiral a tiny bit sweeter albeit in a very small way. It's a similar boon to one he's offered before when he arranged for the Halls of Knowledge to move from Zenith to Morrow. Although this time he hopes it will go slightly better than that did.

Specifically, Sadogua has access to a single remaining artefact that can be used to move something. He'd promised the use of the item to a Marcher, if they could perform some minor tasks for him, but there's no sign they're still pursuing it. It's not something he can just do himself, and the method involved is unrepeatable (by Sadogua at least). But if asked he will take something currently in Spiral and put it somewhere else. There are limits to what he can move - a single large spire would stretch the magic to its absolute limits, so he can't do anything silly like move the city of Apulian, or a fortification, or the Black Plateau. He won't move the Block, and there's no magic that can directly affect the mithril beneath the Legacy (although he could move most of the mine workings, forcing the Empire to rebuild it). He can only move something that belongs to another eternal with permission from that eternal.

Some obvious examples of what he could move would be the ruins of Ankarien (which could presumably be rebuilt somewhere it was not repeatedly being knocked over by philistines); the remains of Damakhan's Forge, perhaps to somewhere in Zenith where it could be reforged; any of the other spires, temples, or citadels; or the ruins of Fort Mezudan although he fails to see how that would be helpful. Regardless of what is moved, he advises that any people living there leave the area, and make their way to its new location on foot, as he can't guarantee that they'll be the same when they come out the other end.

He says he doesn't want anything in return, but he's been very clear on how the boon can be called in. He wants his good friend Elyssiathian to use the declaration of Alignment conferred by their status as Archmage of Night to confirm once again that the Brother of Wizards has amity. In the wording of the declaration, Elyssiathian would name a single thing, and where it should be moved to. If it passes, and if it's at all feasible for Sadogua to do so, he'll employ his final use of the boon of conjoined locations to move that thing.

After a query from one of the magicians, a herald confirms that in theory this boon could be used to move something from somewhere else in the Empire. There's a whole load of things it won't work with, but it's impossible to say what they would be in advance. If Elyssiathian and the people of Spiral would rather bargain the boon away to someone else, the Brother of Wizards will be happy to move a thing on their behalf as long as he is asked and it isn't "taking too much piss.".

The boon is only available until the end of the Autumn Equinox; after that, Sadogua will "put the thing back in its box for a bit" and the opportunity will be lost. Likewise, if Elyssiathian is replaced as Archmage of Night before the boon is called in, they will need to find another way to personally raise the declaration of Alignment.

The Serpent's Edge

Oblivion Sentinel

Title: Urizen National position

Appointment: Vote of the Urizen generals

Powers: Residence at Oblivion's Edge, warning about significant changes in Screed; receive a feather talisman each season

Responsibilities: Keep a watch over the Black Plateau and deal with any threats associated with it

Restriction: If the Conclave declared enmity against Sung, the title ceases to have any powers

Opportunity: This title has required elements; if any are not all fulfilled the title does not gain some or all of its powers

Mithril Sculptures

Commission Type: Folly; does not require a commission

Location: Both southern Proceris in Zenith, and the peaks above the Brilliant Star in Redoubt

Cost: 10 wains of mithril, 20 crowns, three months

Effect: Destroys the special Spiral spy network; allows Vale of Shadows to shroud Urizen personal resources in Spiral from penalties due to being in the wrong nation; for a year allows Vale of Shadows to be made permanent for a third of the normal price

Time Limit: The Senate Motion to create the title "Oblivion Sentinel" must be passed before the end of the Summer Solstice

Opportunity: This commission has required elements; if any are not all fulfilled the commission does nothing

• The eternal Sung has offered to shelter the people of Urizen who wish to remain in Spiral
• She offers them a chance to maintain Oblivion's Edge as a watchtower against the malice of the Black Plateau
• If the Senate creates the title of Oblivion Sentinel, and agrees to allow two mithril statues to be placed in Zenith and Redoubt, she will repurpose the power of her special spy network
• The Urizen in Spiral will remain metaphysically (and in some cases physically) close to their people in other territories
• How this works, and Sung's reasons for doing so are a mystery

The spire of Oblivion's Edge in Screed was created to watch over the Black Plateau, to monitor its dangers and its phenomena. It was ruined when Spiral fell to the Grendel in 331YE, and remained vacant for nearly fifty years. It has been rebuilt since, during one of the periods when Spiral was part of the Empire, but its location made it uninhabitable once the dark power was roused to wakefulness. Then in 383YE, the eternal Sung made an offer to the people of Urizen. She would enfold Oblivion's Edge in her wings (metaphorically?), concealing it from the eyes of the enemies of Urizen. With the permission of Cato of Scarlet Guard, she consumed the magic of the Night Arbour and made the tower vanish. It still serves as a base of operations for Urizeni sentinels to keep a close eye on the territory, and the darkness that squats in its centre. The protective ward will remain in perpetuity - or until Sung is placed under enmity by the Imperial Conclave at any rate.

Nothing can be said that can't be sung.

As the Wolves of War pass through Screed, the sentinels of Oblivion's Edge receive an unexpected visitor. A feathered herald of the Lord of Illusions arrives without warning at the tower, a messenger from the eternal. She knows that Spiral is being transformed, and she proposes a transformation of her own centred around the hidden spire. In her opinion, it is important that the Urizen continue to watch over the Black Plateau regardless of who controls Spiral, or what it is called. The herald cannot explain clearly, but Sung sees a symbolic connection between the people of the spires and the darkness below Oblivion's Edge. "The time of the sun glass is done; now it is time for a shadow pharos to keep the ship of destiny from the rock."

It takes some time to tease out meaning, but what it amounts to is this. Sung wants the Imperial Senate to create an Imperial title with the rather ominous name of Oblivion Sentinel (or an approximation thereof). Even though the spire of Oblivion's Edge has been ceded to Sung, she promises they will always be welcome there, along with any Urizen who seek sanctuary. The Oblivion Sentinel must be an Urizeni national position, and she wishes it to be appointed by the military council - by the Urizeni general. They must be charged with - given responsibilities to - keep a close watch on the Black Plateau and deal with any threats that emanate from it. As near as anyone can tell, at the very least this will mean taking charge of any quests or skirmishes involving the broken ones attracted to Screed, but might also involve more esoteric threats.

In return, Sung would ensure that they are always alerted to any significant change in the Black Plateau . She would also provide them with a single feather talisman each season, a simple magical trinket that smooths the way towards seeking her counsel on matters of mystery.

That's not all. As part of creating the title, the Senate will also commission two sculptures, one at the northern end of the Twilight Gate in southern Proceris and one above the Brilliant Star in the peaks of Optarion in Redoubt. Between them the sculptures would require 10 wains of mithril, 20 crowns, and three months to position properly. They will not require one of the Senate's limited number of commissions; they are merely sculptures and Sung has already secured the services of artists capable of shaping the mithril. Once they were in place they would align with Oblivion's Edge and focus the mysterious Night magic Sung was already employing there. The current spy network would no longer function but instead any Urizen in Spiral could draw on that same obfuscating magic not only to hide their home but also to create a mystical connection with the rest of their nation.

They would need to cast Vale of Shadows to do so, but any personal resource in Spiral belonging to an Urizen citizen could be enshrouded by Sung's wings. Not only would it be concealed from anyone who was not Urizeni, but the mists would bend and shape the world in unpredictable ways, and cling to the inhabitants of the spires helping them move by hidden ways. Along with the power of the heliopticon to grant swift communication, they would metaphysically remain connected to their people in Zenith and Redoubt although they might find it a little more difficult to interact with their neighbours of the League.

As well as being protected from the problems associated with a conquered territory, should Spiral again fall to enemies of the Empire, those resources would also not experience the disadvantages of living in a territory that was part of a different Imperial nation. This benefit would be available to Urizeni for as long as Sung was not an enemy of the Conclave, and the post of Oblivion Sentinel was filled by one of their countryfolk.

There's one final bonus: for a year after the sculptures were placed the obfuscating shroud would be particularly flexible and turbulent. During that time, any Urizen who wished to do so could make the Vale of Shadows cast on their home permanent using "only" 20 rings of ilium rather than the more usual 60 rings. It's unlikely anyone would wish to do this, given how expensive ilium is, but the opportunity would be there.

A question about the peculiar sculptures and what they would look like is met with a confused stare. "As with any piece of art," explains the herald, "what they look like will depend on who is looking at them."

The opportunity to create the title of Oblivion Sentinel is available only during the Summer Solstice. If the title has not been created by the end of the summit, the chance to do so will be lost.

Further Reading

• Windfall - 385YE SummerWind of Fortune detailing the political ramifications of Apulian joining the League
• Chords - 385YE Summer Wind of Fortune detailing the religious implications of the Apulian Orcs joining the Empire
• A tide in the affairs - 385YE Wind of War detailing the "conquest" of Spiral