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.

Cold Day in the Sun (Weirwater)

Charge Dawn Charge, the Golden Sun will Drive the husks before it. We will act as a shield for the People of Dawn with Iron and Fire

General Zoran Orzel of the Golden Sun

The Golden Sun launch an overwhelming assault against the abominable unliving forces in Weirwater. They do not fight alone. Over forty independent captains fight alongside the Dawnish army - primarily Dawnish knights and yeomen, but a number of League soldiers and Wintermark warriors have also heard the call to defend Weirwater.

The Imperial armies are further reinforced by a grand cohort of knights from the Fields of Glory - some three thousand glorious and terrible warriors of the Summer Realm, called from the demesne of Eleonaris by the combined might of the enchanters and witches of Dawn, to oppose the flesh-devouring husks inhabited by fell Winter spirits. Beneath gilded crimson banners. tall lords and ladies armoured in polished golden plate march alongside the warriors of Dawn, Wintermark, and the League. The Empire has seen the Knights of Glory before, but there is something different about these fae warriors. They are more gregarious, less arrogant... less bitter. There is a sense of true nobility about them that has been lacking before. They engage in courteous words with the Imperial soldiers they accompany. When the armies camp, the knights arrange their own pavilions of cloth-of-ruby-and-gold ... but once the tents are erected they send cordial parties to visit the camps of the Golden Sun, sometimes bearing gifts of fine wine and exotic foodstuffs. They act like allies of choice, rather than creatures bound by oaths to fight alongside anyone who calls them forth.

And fight they do. The abominable invaders have slowly been driven north and east by the Golden Sun. Outnumbered perhaps three to one, they make up for their lack of numbers with supernatural tenacity - and with their unnatural ability to replace their fallen by inhabiting fresh corpses. Rather than a single great army, they split into multiple smaller groups, forcing the Golden Sun to likewise divide its forces. For the most part they seek to avoid pitched battles, preferring to try and prey on the yeofolk of Weirwater - because when they do stand and fight they are utterly outmatched by the Imperial forces.

In the first month after the Summer Solstice, there are major engagements at Applefell and the Weirwater Vales. The abhorrent husks try desperately to overwhelm the defenders, forcing their way past barricades and palisades to try and slaughter the yeofolk intent on adding more corpses to their Winter host. In both cases, however, they are thwarted by a combination of the yeofolk's refusal to stop fighting, and by the glorious bravery of the local noble houses. They keep the unliving pinned down long enough for forces from the Golden Sun to arrive and catch them against the walls of the very communities they seek to annhilate.

The last great engagement takes place at the rich port-town town of Culwich. The remaining husks have come together in a single host, rampaging through the farms and villages around the oldest Dawnish settlement. Again, though, they are thwarted by the nobles and the yeofolk. Larger communities bar their gates and fight tooth-and-nail against the undying attackers. Smaller communities, given sufficient warning, band together at defensible locations, or retreat in good order to Culwich. A valiant troubadour brings together several groups of knights errant and, with the aid of a circle of Weavers, creates a makeshift fortification amid the ruins of the Sentinel’s Folly - the shattered tower overlooking Culwich - which offers sanctuary to fleeing farmers and fisherfolk alike. The pattern of glorious heroism is repeated over and over again as the unliving advance. The people of Weirwater will not bow before this unnatural horde - and they know that the Golden Sun are coming.

In the end, the final battle before the Autumn Equinox takes place amid the broken ruins of the farms outside Culwich. The entire Imperial host draws up, and with grim commitment falls on the abominations. Committed to victory at any cost, the glorious warriors of Dawn strike straight to the heart of their enemy, charging en masse across the blighted farmland, flanked by the Golden Host of Eleonaris. The fighting is brutal, even tragic - by this time the majority of the Winter spirits are inhabiting the bodies of fallen Dawnishfolk, still wearing the armour and wielding the weapons with which they died fighting the unliving.

As night falls - the starless night with only a sliver-thin moon - the people of Culwich light great beacons along their walls. Skilled yeofolk archers, master hunters, launch burning arrows into the oil soaked thatch of farmhouses near the wall, creating roaring bonfires. The polished armour and shields of the Golden Sun and the Knights of Glory catch this light and reflect it back; and for one vital hour, it is as if the sun has never set. The burning buildings serve as a convenient way to dispose of abominations; still fighting, many are forced back into the conflagrations and burned to ash. It is a tragedy, that the bodies of Dawnish men and women who fell in glorious battle receive no proper burial, and some troubadours weep openly when they hear of it.

Unable to use the darkness to their advantage, the unliving begin to break. They retreat again from Culwich, north toward Karov. Even with the ability of the Winter sprits to take new corpses, their numbers are greatly depleted. Rough estimates suggest that there are only around two-and-a-half thousand remaining creatures in Weirwater - although not all of these are unliving husks. Soldiers recount engagements with dreadful creatures and even the occasional gang of living warriors among the host - servants of fell powers that have cast their lot in with the monsters ravaging Weirwater.

Despite their allies, the invaders are defeated - for now. The overwhelming commitment to victory shown by the Golden Sun, the strength of their allies both magical and mundane, and the glory of the people of Weirwater have all contributed to this victory - but the war is not yet over.

Game Information - Weirwater

The unliving host has been driven across Weirwater by the Golden Sun and their allies. The Imperial army has suffered some losses - four hundred or so soldiers have fallen to the unliving. Some of these fallen rise again and fight against their former allies, but for every fallen Dawnish soldier, at least two husks fall. The enemy has been soundly defeated, and seriously weakened by the season of battle.

Weirwater itself is not unscathed - much of the farmland around Culwich has been destroyed for example - but for the most part the Golden Sun has been able to prevent the smaller communities being overrun - both preserving the yeofolk and the noble estates, and preventing the undead from replenishing their numbers using the bodies of the dead.

A word of caution, however - not all the husks in Weirwater are part of the main force. Several smaller gangs are still at large in the territory. On a grand scale they are merely nuisances, but they are more than capable of destroying a small noble estate or slaughtering families of yeofolk farmers. There are enough to keep knights-errant busy for several seasons, even if the main force of husks is destroyed.

Another Round (Bay of Catazar)

Supported by more than fifty independent fleet captains, flushed with it's victory over the Grendel forces left behind in Redoubt, anticipating the first opportunity for all the Freeborn forces to be in the same campaign, the Freeborn Storm sails east to Spiral. They spread out, taking a wide formation, if the Grendel are acting to support their armies, then the Storm will catch them while they are engaged on land and harry their ships all the way back to Dubhtraig. With superior tactics and daring the Freeborn can overcome the Grendel superior numbers!

The wiley Grendel are a match for them and more though. Perhaps someone tipped them off - perhaps they simply don't care about their armies fighting in Spiral. Whatever the reason the navy meets the Grendel armada coming in the opposite direction - all formed up for a full on naval engagement. It is clear they intend to challenge the Storm head on and with the Freeborn vessels dispersed they have a massive advantage.

The time to push in Spiral is now. As our armies, including the Red Wind Corsairs and the Fire of the South, fight bravely on the land, we must do our best to stop the Grendel Navies supporting their forces. This will not be easy, the enemy will be waiting, so we must be smart. To the end, we will harry them and keep them tied up. Make no mistake, there will be losses, but know that we will be helping keep our brothers and sisters alive. Should we need to fall back, we are to go to Redoubt. Take comfort in the Virtues, and show those bastards the Coast's true colours.

Admiral Edgardo i Ruiloba i Guerra of The Freeborn Storm

They meet in the waters south of Ateri, and the Grendel attack mercilessly. Their superior formation alone places the Freeborn Storm at a serious disadvantage. The independent fleet captains of the Empire more than double the strength of the Freeborn Storm, but they are still outnumbered by the Grendel navies. Yet the numerical disadvantage is less than it was last time they clashed - the Grendel navies have not emerged unscathed from their various battles with the Empire, nor have they been untouched by the storms raised by Imperial magicians.

Still, the Empire is outmatched and outnumbered, and the Grendel crews are more experienced at ship-to-ship combat on such a scale. The Empire's warships are powerful, but they are slower to react to the ebb and flow of the sea battle than their orc opposite numbers. It is a blessing that the Grendel navies still appear to consist primarily of warships - if the Grendel had brought a contingent of their own independent captains with them then the Empire would be in even more serious trouble.

As the battle progresses it soon becomes clear that the Grendel ships possess the same unnerving ability to coordinate their attacks demonstrated time and again by the orc forces on land. They seem to have a natural, instinctive awareness of where their fellow vessels are and where they are going that goes beyond anything even the most experienced captains might manage. They seem to know exactly when to break off, and precisely where the Imperial ships are at their most vulnerable.

Thousands of lives are lost, dozens of ships captured, sunk, or burnt to the waterline - on both sides. The Grendel do not have things entirely their own way - but the Empire loses three times as many vessels as the Grendel do. Without the presence of the independent captains - every nation save Varushka is represented - the situation would have been significantly more one-sided. Easily half the Grendel ships lost are sunk by independent captains, able to respond more quickly to the changing situation that the navy itself. Those same ships are more adept at avoiding Grendel counter-attacks - so the Grendel concentrate their attacks on the navy instead - focussing all the casualties there.

In the end, the Freeborn Storm is - again - forced to retreat west back into Redoubt. The Grendel harry their retreat, sinking several more vessels. Over the next weeks, the Freeborn storm is pushed further west, forced back time and again by the orc ships. The pattern is the same in each engagement - the orcs outnumber and outmaneuver the Imperial ships, and inflict three-times as many losses as the Empire manages to inflict on the Grendel.

As the Autumn Equinox approaches, the Freeborn Storm has been pushed back to Rebekah's Leap ... where the Imperial and orc navies first clashed, last year.

Game Information

Auditor of the Imperial Treasury, Gerard La Salle has prepared a report for the Admiral on the strategic situation created by two rival naval forces being in the same territorial waters, to be presented during the Autumn Equinox.