Heart of gold

"Shut it orc! One more word out of you and I'll finish you."

Hap stared at the bandit with undisguised contempt. The situation was tense, there were only two bandits, one with a short sword and the other with a heavy metal club and a buckler. A Jotun would have cut through the pair of them in a heartbeat... but there were no Jotun left in the Mourn. It might as well have been an army for all the difference it made. Neither him nor his two sons were going to raise a weapon against the bandits. They were easy pickings.

Still he stood his ground.

"Get down from the wagon. I won't tell you again. Walk away and we'll let you live."

The man's voice was low and full of menace - the threat was obvious. If the thralls tried to fight back they would kill them all. No chance of that though. The bandits had been preying on wagons passing near the eaves of the wood all summer. He was the first to dare the route in weeks. They only attacked orcs of course. Without the Jotun to defend them, the thralls were helpless.

Still he stood his ground.

"There is no honour in banditry." he responded quietly. It was futile but he pressed on regardless "You'll fill your stomach, but the Abyss will have your soul. I think you should walk away."

"I don't give a ruddy fuck what you think orc. Step away from the wagon or I'll spill your guts." The man's face was twisted with anger. If Hap didn't do as he asked, they would attack him and either beat him senseless or kill him. No choice left then.

"Jack!" he shouted.

At the sound of his name, Sharp Jack, the beater he'd hired from the Withy Trees near Sarcombe stepped out from where he was hiding behind the wagon. His arrow was already nocked, and the Marcher drew and loosed it with one smooth motion. It missed the bandit's heart by a span but the arrow punched clean through his chest, spinning him round and throwing him to the ground. The other bandit was already racing for the trees by the time Jack's second arrow was out of his quiver and on the string. It took him in the arm, but somehow he kept running and he was out of sight before there was time for a third.

"Sorry" the archer apologized, "my aim is off, I was trying to hit him in the legs."

Hap shook his head and smiled at the guard. "Better this way. If one of them gets away, he'll tell the others. Then they'll all think twice before they try this again."

Sharp Jack pointed his bow at the dead man lying at their feet "That one won't" he said sardonically.

"No," Hap responded sofly "that one is for the Abyss."

Overview

For thirty years the Jotun orcs occupied the Mournwold. During that time they brought in families of thralls to work the land that was abandoned by Marcher yeomen who fled or were killed in the invasion. When the Jotun retreated, driven west by powerful curses and the might of Imperial troops, they evacuated as many thralls - humans as well as orcs - as they could. However many chose to remain behind preferring to stubbornly cling to their land rather than flee. Reluctantly the Jotun allowed them to stay, forced to accept that they could no longer protect them from Imperial magic.

For three decades, those Marchers who were forced to become thralls have worked alongside the orc thralls that the invaders brought with them. Some of these people have more in common, more shared experience of hard work in fields and mines, than they do with the people across the border in Tassato, or Kahraman. In some places that bond has grown surprisingly strong; they are not friends, by any stretch, what they are, however, is neighbours.

In Winter 381YE the Imperial Senate elected to declare the thralls foreigners rather than barbarians. Then in Spring 382YE the Imperial Synod sent two priests - Sister Meredith of the Marches and Bloodcrow Losak of the Imperial Orcs - to encourage the thralls to embrace the Way, albeit with mixed results.

Due in part to the closeness that has developed between the Marchers in the Mournwold and the Jotun thralls, the Marcher Assembly passed a statement of principle calling on the Marcher egregore to bring the thralls into the Marcher nation. At the same summit the Imperial Senate passed a motion to appraise the situation in the Mournwold to see what could be done to integrate the Mournwold orcs.

A tree is known by its fruit, not by its leaves.

Marcher Proverb

Marcher Orcs

For nearly four hundred years no orc has ever been able to join a human nation. Human egregores have tried to bond individual orcs to their nation before - but it has never succeeded no matter how compatible the individual orc appears. The settled view of most egregores is that a lone orc is simply too much, that the magic of the nation bond cannot be extended to an individual who is clearly so distinct.

Whatever the reason, it is simply not possible for the egregore to accept individuals or small groups of orcs into a human nation. It's not a question of the personal preferences of an individual host - or even a matter of persuading people of the wisdom of the action. It is simply that the magic of the egregore always fails when making the attempt with an individual or small group of orcs.

Having had it confirmed by our egregore, Jack, that it may be possible to extend to all Mournwold orcs Marcher citizenship as a group with support of the Senator of Mournwold Alan Sheppard, and Will Talbot, General of the Drakes, along with many Landskeepers and Mummers we call on the Marchers to encourage the Mournwold orcs (formerly Jotun thralls) to decide to be Marchers, to become citizens of the Empire with all it has to offer, and no longer to be considered foreigners in their lands.

Tom Keeper, Spring Equinox 383YE, Vote: Greater Majority 94 - 0

However it is suggested that it might be possible to bring an entire population of orcs into a human nation with one proviso. The orcs would have to resemble their human cousins - their cultural, spiritual, and personal norms would have to be close enough to those of the nation they wished to join that that people could see them as members of that nation. If that happened, and only if that happened, might it be possible. Of course this is really just the way the egregore spirit has always worked - the Imperial Orc egregore could not bond the Mournwold Orcs to their nation because the Jotun thralls are nothing like Imperial Orcs.

In this case, Jack, the Marcher egregore has confirmed that because the Jotun thralls are sufficiently Marcher in nature, despite their orc biology, that it would be possible for the entire community to become Marchers. Following that decision, at the last summit the Marcher Assembly unanimously passed a judgement asking everyone to encourage the Mournwold orcs to become Marchers.

As a result of this momentous decision, the Marcher Assembly can now choose to endorse the following mandate.

Land matters above all else. The Mournwold orcs have repeatedly demonstrated that they understand this fundamental truth. We send {named priest} with 75 liao to ask every Marcher to encourage Jack to bring them into the nation so that they may become Marcher orcs.

Synod Mandate, Marcher Assembly

The egregore asks the Marcher Assembly to consider this weighty matter carefully. This is the moment of no return. If they give this mandate to a priest and they choose to carry it out then the egregore will bond any Mournwold orc who wishes it to the Marcher nation. The spirit stresses that no-one can say where this might lead but everyone should understand that there will be no going back from the decision.

Open Mandate

Unlike most mandates, this one does not have to be raised during the Summer Solstice - and indeed there are good reasons why it might not be. This mandate will remain available to the Marcher assembly unless something happens that dramatically changes the situation with the Mournwold thralls.

Consequences

The Marcher egregore may be right that no-one can say where this might lead, but the Imperial civil service are confident that they can predict what the impact will be in the short term due to the appraisal they were asked to carry out.

It is highly recommended that the Senate indicate which member of the Prognosticators Office they wish to carry out the appraisal, but the Senate must do this in as part of the wording of the Senate motion if they wish to do that. Since that did not happen, the Imperial auditor chose Naomi of Virtue's Rest to carry out the appraisal, as he considered that a delicate matter like this might benefit best from her diplomatic experience best.

Hard work wins wars.

Marcher Proverb

Fifth Army

• By clearing the forest of Alderly, the Marches would gain the ability to raise a fifth army.
• Clearing the forest would require a large lumber yard; a senate commission that would create the title Woodcutter of Alderly Edge.
• The lumber yard and sawmill would cost 20 wains of weirwood, 5 wains of mithil, and 50 crowns to construct.

After careful evaluation, Naomi's team reports that inducting the Jotun thralls into the Marchers will not allow the Marchers to raise a fifth army. The problem is that the thralls are forbidden by their religious beliefs from fighting - so literally none of them are going to join a Marcher army. That means that the best farmland in the territory will still be occupied by people who have no interest in joining a Marcher army, so it won't be possible for the Marchers to raise an additional army.

Fortunately the appraisal team have found a way to mitigate this disappointment. While it is true that the best farmland is occupied by the Mournwold Orcs, that doesn't have to be the case. The land at Alderly is highly fertile and if it were cleared, then Marcher folk could move in and begin farming it. It would take a year to clear sufficient woodland, but after that point the Mournwold would be fertile and populous enough to support an additional army.

This option had not been considered earlier, because the forests at Alderly were infested with Feni. Now that the Feni have been driven off, there is no reason why the woods cannot be felled, and the land cleared for pasture. It would take many years to clear the entire forest, but the sooner the job is started, the sooner it could be done.

It would take some significant investment by the Senate to begin the process of felling the woods. To avoid prohibitive expense, they would need to build a sawmill at Alderly Edge, somewhere the timber could be cut and dried and prepared for sale. That would require 20 wains of weirwood, 5 wains of mithril, and 50 crowns. Doing so would create an Imperial title that was a Marcher national position, appointed through the Bourse by the vote of Marcher farm owners, called the Woodcutter of Alderly Edge. The woodcutter would serve with tenure and would receive an income of 15 crowns each season from the lumber sales, and would be responsible for making any decisions that might arise during the clearance of Alderly.

Seeds grow into rings, but only if you tend them.

Marcher Proverb

Taxation

The Mournwold Orcs who own land or businesses in the Empire are already paying taxes, ever since the Imperial Senate declared them to be foreigners. In fact they were surprisingly upbeat about paying taxes - a reflection of the fact that the Empire takes far less from the thralls than the Jotun ever did. On the face of it, if they become Marchers then there won't be any more people paying tax, so there will be no impact on the Imperial treasury.

However Naomi claims this is not the case. She says the impact will be small, but if the Orcs become Marchers then there will be a discernible increase in tax revenue over the following year. According to her report, although the Marchers and the Mournwold Orcs are surprisingly similar in outlook, there is still some distrust of people who are at least technically, still members of the Jotun nation. The Mournwold Orcs are not Jotun the way the Empire usually thinks of them, most obviously because they don't fight, but they make no secret of their loyalty to the Jotun Jarls and there are implications that some are still in touch with them on occasion.

If the thralls become Marchers, then this cause for mistrust will disappear. Over time there will be an increase in prosperity within the Mournwold due to the trade and closer cooperation between the two communities. That will be reflected in the creation of new farms, businesses, and other enterprises, which will be reflected in a small but steady rise in taxation from the territory as a result.

You don't own it unless you can defend it.

Marcher Proverb

Defence

Naomi makes reference to the fact that the Jotun thralls are currently still Jotun for all that they are thralls. They make no attempt to hide the fact that they are Jotun; they hear the Jotun ancestors and some of their children travel west to join the warbands of the Jotun jarls when they come of age.

In many ways they regard their current status as simply an aberration - they are Jotun thralls who have been conquered by the Empire. In their mind that doesn't change their tribe, it simply makes them Imperial thralls. If the Jotun return to conquer the Mournwold one day - as they have sworn to do - then they will simply become Jotun thralls again and resume paying the higher taxes the Jotun levy.

Naomi's concern is that the thralls represent a potential military weakness for the Empire. Most civilians are not in a position to prevent an invasion by an army, but a populace who actively welcome the invaders could quickly become a problem. Naomi does not want to overstate the degree of risk here - the thralls are sworn not to touch weapons of war, the absolute last thing that is ever going to happen is that they rise up in support of an invading army.

Nonetheless there is a risk - having a large population of Jotun orcs living in a territory the Jotun want to invade constitutes a clear risk. If the people became Marchers - that risk would be significantly curtailed.

When a dog barks, you don't bark back.

Marcher Proverb

Children

Due to the choices they have made when they came of age, the Mournwold Orcs are essentially pacifists. They are forbidden by their religion from taking up a weapon in violence against another living being. They might join the Marcher nation, but they will never join the Imperial army, and their dislike of violence means that they will not be seen at Anvil anytime soon. Their interest is in their lands - they have no interest in the affairs of the Empire where it does not directly affect them.

However their children are a different matter. When Mournwold Orcs come of age, they take the Choice. Most choose to follow their parents becoming thralls and working the land. If the Orcs join the Marchers then those children will become Marchers, working the land with their neighbours. However some currently choose to become Jotun, to become warriors. The thralls are very coy about what happens to those children, but all the signs are that a small handful of Orc children simply "disappear" each season. Almost certainly they are slipping away West, over the Mournwold border, trying to reach the Jotun lands to join with some jarl's warband.

These children are not going to become Marchers - they are currently choosing to become Jotun precisely because they are rejecting the agrarian life of their parents in favour of something else. They don't feel their parent's connection to the land, they have no love for farming, for hard work and toil. They're leaving because they are nothing like their parents - and that would continue to happen if their parents became Marchers.

Every orc who hears the ancestor's call to battle and feels themselves ready to face the challenge of the Abyss has a place in the Imperial Orcs. We send (named priest) with 50 liao to make theim aware that a life in the Imperial Orcs will help them to cross the Howling Abyss.

Synod Mandate, Imperial Orc Assembly

But there is an alternative. The Imperial Orc Assembly could pass a mandate encouraging everyone to persuade these misfits to join the Imperial Orcs. The Navarr would be of particular help - they have long experience helping people find the right place for themselves in the Great Dance. Imperial Orcs passing through or near the Mourn could make a point of talking to orc youths who were considering their options. And the Marchers could look out for those orcs who showed no interest in farming their land and encourage them to make a different choice. In effect these children would be no different to the small number of human children who grow up in Marcher households and realize they have no desire to become Marchers.

It is worth noting that the children of the thralls would have no connection to the Imperial orcs ancestors, and would instead hear the voices of their Jotun ancestors. As they age and have children of their own, this would lead to more Imperial orcs hearing the martial ancestors of the Western orcs. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is impossible for the civil service to guess.

Problems

Naomi has identified two clear problems, which need to be considered by the relevant authorities. Regretably she has not been able to identify ideal solutions to these problems at this time.

Pride in small things, Loyalty to great ones.

Marcher Proverb

Faith

The single biggest problem to integrating the Mournwold Orcs into the Empire is their faith. Naomi has spent some time discussing spiritual matters with the orcs and wishes to underline that these issues are severe enough to make it impossible to proceed unless the situation is resolved.

The problem is that the thralls are implacapably opposed to the Way. The key problem appears to be the idea that "only human souls reincarnate." To the surprise of most priests, and in contradiction of the Doctrines of the Way, the thralls of the Mournwold passionately believe that they are destined to reincarnate. Indeed their entire way of life of the Mournwold thralls is predicated on this belief.

To the Jotun, the most crucial decision an orc can take is the choice to take up weapons and fight. They claim the Jotun name means "one who fights". They are of the Jotun tribe, they were born Jotun, but they are thralls not Jotun warriors because when the day came to take the choice they turned aside and chose not to.

They believe - as the Imperial Orcs do - that a Jotun warrior has but a single chance to cross the Howling Abyss. One life to live - those that live a life of honour will be helped by the Jotun ancestors to make the perilous journey across the Abyss. Those who fall short, fall into the Abyss and are destroyed. Crucially though the thralls believe that by choosing to become a thrall they avoid this fate. They have no chance to cross the Abyss - not in this life - but they will never face the challenging of making the attempt. Instead they will be reborn to take the choice again in the next life.

Every Jotun child is encouraged to strive to become a warrior, but there are many who it is clear have neither the temperament nor the skills nor the inclination. These orcs become thralls - they accept their fate and reject the choice because doing so saves their souls from the perils of the Abyss. The reason a Jotun chooses to become a thrall is because they know they will not succeed in the attempt to cross the Abyss. By rejecting the choice they get to live another life, to take the choice to become a Jotun warrior when they feel ready.

This is why it is so dangerous for a Jotun thrall to pick up a weapon and fight. By doing so they immediately become a warrior - they ensure that they will go to face the Howling Abyss when they die. But without a lifetime to prepare for that challenge, they are doomed to fail, and thus to fall into oblivion.

It is no exagguration to say that their entire world view is predicated on the assumption that the choice they have made ensures they will be born again when they die. For them to accept that they do not reincarnate would need them to accept that they were absolutely doomed to oblivion and that the crucial choice they took as a youth that has defined the course of their entire life was all for nothing.

That will likely not be possible, at least not without some inspired theological solution that solves the essential dilemma. The representative of the Mournwold orcs who visited Anvil spoke with Sister Meredith and Bloodcrow Losak about these issues but it is not clear that they have been able to find an answer. It is not a problem that can be ignored - the beliefs of the thralls directly contradict the Doctrines of the Faith. If they become Imperial citizens then that that would make them heretics - in theory they could be prosecuted and executed for expressing their beliefs.

The Empire will usually tolerate the false beliefs of small groups of foreigners within their borders. There is an understanding that many foreigners worship all manner of false gods and similar. Provided they don't preach their faith within the Empire, the Synod do not usually bother to inquisit them for religious crimes.

The situation is somewhat different for Imperial citizens. Even then it is no secret that some citizens are not entirely orthodox. The folk in Whittle are notorious for their adherence to the philosophy of Hate, which is categorically not one of the seven Virtues. Again the Synod has chosen to turn a blind eye to these beliefs and practices, through they are not required to do so. But it is one thing to ignore a handful of Marchers whose dedication to the Virtues includes one that isn't part of the seven Virtues.

It's a different matter to try and ignore an entire territory populated with tens of thousands of people all of whom believe something - that orcs reincarnate - that flat out contradicts the Doctrines of the Faith. The Orcs have already made clear that they will not join the Marchers if that is what they are asked to believe and Naomi recommends that the egregore does not proceed to try to bond them when it is clear that if she succeeds then she will create an entire territory filled with Imperial citizens all of whom are openly espousing heresy.

The situation has not been improved by the questions being asked by the grey pilgrims as they travel through the Mournwold. At present the pilgrims are focusing their questions on matters of faith, getting people to question whether their views are supported by the Doctrines of the Faith. If the Marchers attempt to embrace the Mournwold Orcs without addressing their heretical beliefs, that will only reinfoce the nation's reputation as a land plagued by hetrodoxy.

Tolerance is the crack in the foundation of a strong community.

Whittle Saying

Orcs in the Empire
Regardless of what happens in the course of this plot, the Mournwold Orcs will not become a playable option for players in the Empire game at this time. If they join the Marchers then there will be Marcher Orcs in the setting - but they will not be a playable option in the game, anymore than the hyljie in Wintermark or the mora in Varushka are a playable option. For the foreseeable future, the only orc character that is a playable option in Empire will be an Imperial Orc.

We are more than happy to support the sweeping changes caused by character actions in the game, but we are not interested in detracting from the unique nature of the Imperial Orc nation at Anvil. There is an infinite array of different characters that players in Empire can portray but trolls, daeva, hylje, mora, and Marcher Orcs are not one of them. Because of this rule it will remain impossible for a human egregore to bond an orc and impossible for the Imperial Orc egregore to bond a human, so existing orc PCs will not be able to join human nations. If that situation ever changes then we will provide an out-of-character announcement to that effect - please don't email to ask for special dispensation as the answer will be no.

This plot demonstrates that it is possible for orcs to join a human nation, even if that does not make them a playable character option. Players who are interested in such themes should take note of the key points repeated here in and other winds of fortune. For this to happens requires a large population of several thousand or more orcs who are very similar in culture, morals, beliefs, and practices to the human nation they would be joining. They would need to want to join and the nation would want to clearly express a wish to see them join. The Jotun thralls described here - the Mournwold Orcs could never join a nation like Wintermark no matter what people wanted because their cultural practices, mannerisms, their behaviour is nothing like Wintermark.

We want to provide clear out-of-character guidance on this point so that people understand what is and what is not possible in the setting and in the game.

Dissent

In the rush to welcome the Mournwold Orcs, it is easy to imagine that every Marcher is only too willing to embrace them and welcome them into the nation. That is certainly the indication of the voting by the Marcher Assembly - and it is true that many Marchers in the Mournwold are of the view that they have more in common with the Jotun thralls than they do with other Marchers.

Many - but not all. The Marchers are famous for holding grudges. There is an old Marcher proverb "There are two ways to bury a hatchet." Its often used as a rejoinder when people are calling for reconciliation, for people to come together and let bygones be bygones. Saying there are two ways to bury a hatchet is a way of suggesting that you might resolve the problem by burying a hatchet in the person's head.

Most of the Marchers who laboured as thralls for the Jotun feel a shared sense of kinship with the Jotun thralls. The Jarls treated both groups much the same and both experienced the same burdens under Jotun rule. But not everyone in the Mournwold surrendered to the Jotun - the Whittle folk take great Pride in the fact that they never capitulated to the Jotun, claiming that the spiritual strength they gained from their Hate of the Jotun gave them the will to resist throughout the occupation. Perhaps not surprisingly the Whittle folk are not about to welcome the Mournwold Orcs as fellow Marchers.

Bill Tavistock, the current leader of the Whittle community, has been very outspoken on this matter. According to Bill, the thralls are no better than the Jotun who once occupied the Mournwold, and any compromise with them is an insult to the brave yeomen who gave their lives to protect, and later to liberate, Marcher soil. Bill is not shy about encouraging anyone who will listen to oppose any further moves to support the Jotun thralls, and has openly called for violence to resist any attempt to reconcile with them.

Thus far, those calls have fallen on deaf ears, but in Naomi's opinion that situation will not continue if the Mournwold Orcs join the Marches. If that happens then Bill and the Marchers like him will take matters into their own hands. They will use the fact that the Mournwold Orcs control the best farmland in the territory to encourage their fellow Marchers to hate them and to turn on them. Bill Tavistock does not have the influence of the Marcher Assembly, but he is a charismatic speaker and people do credit the Whittle folk for their resistance to the Jotun. The current status quo could continue indefinitely, but if the thralls join the Marchers before the Empire has dealt with the Whittle hatred of the Jotun then the situation will inevitably deteoriate, as the Whittle people look to incide their neighbours to attack the orcs.

Naomi has two suggestions for how the Empire could deal with this problem. The easiest, cheapest way to deal with it would be for the Imperial Synod to declare every citizen of Whittle who will not renounce hatred to be a heretic. The Senate could then pass a motion to instruct the militia to go into Whittle in force and deal with the situation. Those who would not recant their heresy would have to be executed.

It would be bloody - these people fought the Jotun for thirty years - they won't go quietly. The militia would need the support of sufficient military units to enforce their will, but the civil service could arrange to facilitate that. There would be a considerable degree of hostility caused by the action - people would not understand why the Empire felt it was neccessary to treat the Whittle folk so harshly. Some portion of the angry reaction felt by the people of the Mourn towards the Empire that has been forgotten recently would resurface, but that could be dealt with diplomatically and with careful handling and the appropriate gestures.

The alternative is to wait to deal with Whittle until after the Jotun thralls have joined the Marchers. It might take a season or two - but it would only be a matter of time before the Empire was forced to deal with attacks on the orcs by the people of Whittle and their supporters. The longer they left it, the more the rebellion would grow and the more orcs would be killed. At some point it would be neccessary to send an army into the territory to deal with the revolt.

That solution would involve a lot more bloodshed and a lot more executions, but would be over quicker and with fewer lasting repercussions. At the point where the Whittle folk were killing Mournwold Orcs in open rebellion of the law then people would accept that something had to be done. Nobody would be happy about the resulting executions, but unless it were handled very badly the people would understand that the Whittle folk and their supporters brought it on themselves with their hatred.

Naomi confirms what the Imperial Synod have already discovered. Nothing will persuade the Whittle folk to abandon their Hatred of the Jotun. There is no statement of principle that the Marcher Assembly can pass, no mandate that can be spread that will persuade people to act in diametric opposition to their deeply held beliefs - beliefs that sustained them through thirty years of Jotun occupation.

If the Mournwold thralls are to join the Marchers - then the Whittle folk must be dealt with. The only question is whether the Empire does it before or afterwards.

Meetings

• While the Imperial Consul has the legal power to negotiate with the Thralls, the orcs have so far shown no interest in engaging with the office preferring to speak directly with representatives of the Marchers and the Imperial Orcs
• The Mournwold orcs have declined an invitation to send a delegation to Anvil for the Summer Solstice but may attend the Autumn Equinox

During the Spring Equinox Orrick, Senator of Bregasland, and Alan Sheppard, Senator of the Mournwold, sent missives to the four, respected community leaders of the Mournwold orcs. They warned them about the upcoming appraisal, encouraging them to cooperate with the civil service, and requested that some of the former Jotun thralls attend the upcoming Summer Festival. However when Naomi discusses the situation with some of those orcs, they make it plain that they are simply too busy to attend Anvil at this time. It is Summer now and there is too much work to do at this time of the year for them to be galivanting off to Anvil.

They suggest that it might be possible for some or all of them to attend Anvil at the Autumn Equinox. By that time the harvest will be in, and there will be time to relax and celebrate. They express the hope that the Empire will have made some progress on the issues that Naomi's appraisal has identified;otherwise the conversation is likely to be pleasant but unproductive. If the situation has progressed then this would be the perfect opportunity for them meet with the leaders of the Marcher people outside the Mournwold, and with the egregore.

Further Reading

• You can read more about the Mounrwold thralls here.