381YE Autumn Equinox winds of war

Overview

As the Autumn Equinox 381YE approaches, the Empire continues to fight against threats both external, and internal.

OOC Context

News of the Empire's victories and defeats spreads quickly across the Empire, in part thanks to the omnipresent Navarr messengers.

Each Wind of War consists of a report on the campaign, delivered in reasonably in-character language. Players are encouraged to use this text as the basis for creating their own stories about what their characters, or their company of soldiers have done during the last few months. It is usually followed by a short out-of-character section which deals with absolute facts - the nitty-gritty of numbers, regions captured, and important game effects.

As always, how much or how little of this information you choose to know in character is up to you. Part of the purpose of Winds of War and Winds of Fortune is to allow players to choose to be aware of things their characters "should" know based on what their roleplaying says they have been doing for the past three months

Wasting Light (Spiral)

Move with haste to a defensible position where we will await the arrival of the Red Wind Corsairs. Not in recent years has the entire Brass Coast Military fought in the same territory, let's show the Grendel why they should fear us. We shall shatter them like thin glass, and as a flame we will reduce them to dust....

General Marciel i Riqueza of the Fire of the South

There are two Imperial forces in Spiral. In the west, both League armies and the Citadel Guard control the lion's share of Cinon. In the north-east, the Fire of the South take up defensive positions and await the arrival of the Red Wind Corsairs - they secure the major pass into Zenith, and wait for reinforcements. The two forces, separated by distance and deadly foes alike, manage to maintain contact via fleet Freeborn messengers, magical wingéd mesengers, and stacatto heliopticon messages.

The latter has become a little unreliable, however. For the most part, the Grendel do not destroy or loot heliopticon towers - instead they use them to try and intercept Imperial communiques, break the new codes being used to secure military information, and spread disinformation and false messages wherever they can. For now, the best Imperial codes - many devised by officers of the Towerjacks - have remained unbreakable. As far as anyone knows...

With all due haste - which should be plenty after your great rest - let's get us into Spiral, Freeborn! We are helping our great friends the Urizen, and fighting the cursed Grendel! Let's make this war no longer give them profit. Let's bleed them, coin and all, until they realise the folly of their ways. All freeborn are fighting here this season. We will link with the Fire of the South in the Ankra whilst the Freeborn Storm in the South. Let's Plunder the Barbarians! For the Freeborn! For the Empire!

General Estana I Mestiere I Guerra

Both the Grendel and the Empire are on the offensive this season, although in both cases their focus appears uncertain. Grendel forces under the turtle banner advance carefully on Freeborn positions, probing for any sign of weakness. The Fire in the South likewise push slowly southward from their positions around the Twilight Gate (the grand pass through the mountains to the plains of Proceris). Whenever the two forces meet one another, both sides take up defensive positions and engage in cautious skirmishes. A complex dance plays out slowly across northern Ossuary.

Three weeks after the end of the Summer Solstice, the Red Wind Corsairs arrive. Dodging past Druj forces in Zenith, the Corsairs reach the main Freeborn encampment below the Twilight Gate, and almost immediately turn their full attention to destroying Grendel baggage trains, intercepting Grendel raiders, and wherever possible seizing stolen resources. In the west, the Wolves of War take a similar approach - Varushkan wagon raiders are supported by dozens of independent captains, adept at operating independently of the main force (and yet able to integrate their tactics with the broader strategy thanks to the potent enchantment laid on the Wolves of War). They are not the only ones. A significant fraction of the Grendel forces are engaged in an almost identical strategy - sweeping the territory the orcs already control and striking against the baggage trains of the Imperial armies, pillaging everything that isn't nailed down. More than once the two Imperial armies clash with orc soldiers and mercenaries over control of a mana site or a mine. The fighting is quick and bloody, with one side or the other retreating once it is clear who has the upper hand, and looking for other opportunities to gain wealth.

It is a season of Reckoning. We owe our friends in Urizen for their years of Virtuous sacrifice. And we damned well owe a reckoning to the Grendel for Sarvos. They took our homes, our treasures. Now we will hit them where it hurts, in the place the Grendel feel pain - Their money pouches. Hit their supply lines - do not let them profit from the theft of the Legacy. Take back what they have stolen and take back our land.

Gabriel Barossa, General of the Wolves of War

All this is only part of a larger scheme, however. Messages fly thick and fast between the Freeborn captains and their opposite numbers in the Wolves of War. Once the Corsairs and the Wolves are confident they have the measure of the Grendel defences, a daring scheme is put into operation. While the Red WInd and the League Free companies move into position, the Fire of the South distract the Brine Turtles, slowly pulling them out of position. In the west, the Towerjacks and Citadel Guard time a major offensive into Ankra to ensure that the forces the attention of the Grendel generals is focused on them ... rather than on the Legacy. When the time is exactly right, the Empire strikes.

The two pillaging armies strike into northern Apstrus. Their target is not the Legacy itself, but the heavily armoured caravans that transport mithril south toward the Grendel headquarters in Apulian. The bulk of the Red Wind Corsairs actually move past the caravan, instead launching an assault on the baggage train of the Brine Turtles - and ensuring that no forces from Apulian will arrive in time to interfere. At the same time, the Wolves of War seize passes from Ankra to Apstrus, hold them ... and fall on the back of the Grendel caravan.

Caught between a hammer and an anvil, the fighting is fierce. The Grendel almost immediately begin to pull forces from their other theatres to secure their supply lines - but they are too late to save their vital caravan. The Red Wind and the Wolves fall back to prepared positions, joining up with the Towerjacks and the Fire of the South respectively. Some of

Soldiers of the Towerjacks, we have held the barbarians and now we will push them back. We will advance steadily into Ankra and then on to Ossuary, minimising our casualties where possible and drawing power from the Clarity of the Master Strategist.

General Natalia Barossa of the Towerjacks

the Grendel commanders launch futile attacks to try and recover the stolen mithril, but to no avail. There is no doubt the Imperial raid hits the Grendel where it hurts them the most - in their money pouches.

The Imperials are not the only ones undertaking a complex stratagem in Spiral this season, however - although theirs is certainly the most daring and provocative. As the season draws on, the Citadel Guard and Towerjacks begin to receive reports from the south western mountains of orcs engaged in collapsing the passes into Redoubt. As near as anyone can tell, warriors of the Kraken's Jaws Moridun accompanying a significant force of soldiers under the Stone Gyre banner, are moving north through the western mountains. They are targeting the main passes with a combination of terrible warbeasts and Spring magic. Not all the passes - only those large or convenient enough for an army to use without problems. A hurried communique from the Fire of the South brings news that a similar force appears to be active in the northern a mountains as well - based out of Ankra - and there is a very real possibility that the Twilight Gate is now the only remaining safe route through the mountains into Zenith.

Once again we fight for Spiral. This time, we will finish this. We will use strategy, we will use strength. The Empire learns from its mistakes. Spiral will be ours ... We bring our magical strength into our home nation because of the ground you take...

General Nicassia Avicia of the Citadel Guard

The Grendel seem to be looking to cut the territory of Spiral off from the Empire - at least to a degree. A heliopticon message from the Court of the White Fountain says that the Onyx Path is still intact at least - but it confirms that all the other major routes from south-eastern Redoubt appear to have been collapsed or otherwise made impassable.

A little more than six weeks after the Summer Solstice, there is another development. The Citadel Guard provide a warning, but it is difficult to disseminate it to the entire Imperial force in time. A night of nightmares sweeps across Spiral, a storm of phantasms and hallucinations not restricted to sleeping minds. Over the next week, there are scattered reports from across the territory of madness and despair - of hardened soldiers starting awake shrieking in terror; experienced scouts losing their way in terrain they know well; disciplined warriors ignoring orders and falling on their opponents howling like mad beasts. It is not just the Imperial forces that are affected; there are clear signs that the orcs have been affected as well. The strange, infectious madness adds to the confusion and uncertainty in Spiral.

The Urizen know the cause - it is not a stratagem of the Grendel that is to blame, but the very fabric of the territory itself. Roused by violence, bloodshed, and passion the Black Plateau is beginning to "wake up" again. They can't predict how bad it will get, but they are certain it will get worse.

Game Information - Spiral

The Empire is winning in Spiral this season. The western forces (Wolves of War, Towerjacks, Citadel Guard) have driven the Grendel out of Cinon, and made significant headway into Ankra. The Freeborn forces in northern Ossuary have made some headway into Ankra from the eastern side, but they are still pretty much penned in on the northern side of the territory by the Grendel armies.

Perhaps more significantly, the Wolves of War and the Red Wind Corsairs have plundered the Legacy. The relative generals will need to compare notes but it seems that they may have looted the entire production of the mithril mine between them. Both armies have also stolen significant amounts of wealth from the Grendel - although arguably they have merely recovered what the orcs first stole from the Urizen.

At the same time, the Grendel have systematically swept across the southern regions engaging in their own campaign of plunder and pillage. After years conquered by the rapacious orcs, it is likely that there is not a huge amount of wealth left in Spiral. They are also taking large numbers of slaves. To represent this effect, we are applying an effect going forward that reduces the production of all personal resources in Spiral by 20%. This effect will remain as long as there are any regions in Spiral controlled by the Grendel, as workers are afraid to operate in the territory for fear of being taken by the Grendel.

While the Empire has been looting the Legacy, the Grendel have been engaged in a significant stratagem of their own. They have been collapsing the passes through the western and the northern mountains. At this time there are only three major passes still open that are large enough to allow a campaign army to pass through them without difficulty.

• The Onyx Path linking Optarion and Ateri. The eastern end of the pass is guarded by the Citadel of the Flame, while the western end emerges near the ruins of Fort Mezudan.
• The Crow Road linking Willstone and Cinion. The eastern end of the pass is watched by the resourceful sentinels of Willstone spire, while the eastern end emerges in the hills above the ruins of Damakhan's Forge.
• The Twilight Gate linking the plains of Proceris and the northern Osuary. This "pass" is wide enough that it would be extremely difficult to close it without constructing a fortification.

These three passes now effectively control access from Imperial territory into Spiral, and vice versa. There are several smaller, higher passes still intact of course that can be used by small groups or caravans - but these are not suitable for a campaign army to use. The full strategic implications of this situation will be made clear to the Military Council during the Muster, once the Civil Service has confirmed what they are.

The Black Plateau has been upgraded from "murmuring" to "grumbling" by the Citadel Guard. This past season it has increased all casualties suffered by the armies fighting in Spiral by a small amount (not even a tenth), but the "grumbling" is slowly and steadily getting worse. Illuminates of the Citadel Guard suggest it will be bad enough to increase all casualties in Spiral by a tenth by the end of the Autumn Equinox. At the moment the relatively cautious strategies of the orc and Imperial forces are minimizing the impact of the increasingly dangerous Plateau, but it is not clear how long that will continue to be the case.