383YE Autumn Equinox winds of fortune

A moment spent perusing a noticeboard could easily suggest new ambitions.

Overview

Over the past three months, several events have occurred which are of significance to the Empire and may require a response from her champions. You can also read about the progress of the Empire's military campaigns here.

In each case, we've tried to tag the Winds of Fortune entry with the nations, or political bodies, to which it is most relevant. We've done this to help people who are interested only in events that are especially relevant to them. In no way are these tags intended to be exhaustive; the Empire is a complex place and very little happens in isolation.

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 Fortune is to maintain the illusion of the Empire as a living, breathing place where things happen - and to make players aware of things their characters 'should' know based on what their roleplaying says they have been doing for the past three months.

Many winds of fortune open with a short section of in-character text. In all cases, these pieces are intended to help create an atmosphere and provide a little entertainment. Where they contain opinions, those are the opinions of the fictional people depicted - and where they contain information or rumours the assumption is that the reader will create their own context for that information or gossip. They're mostly just a bit of fun and they tend not to contain anything vital to the understanding of the wind of Fortune.

Winds of Fortune

Crowned in Rose and Heather

• Imperial citizens; especially the Synod and the Senate

On the last night of the Summer Solstice, Imperatrix Lisabetta Giacomi von Holberg and her husband Juha the Cave Spider, the Imperial Magus, retired together as normal. By the next morning they were gone. No-one saw them leave their quarters. No-one has seen them since.

On the available evidence, the Constitutional Court has had little choice but to announce that both the Throne and the Magus must be legally considered to either be dead, or to have resigned their positions.

Easy enough for them to say, but there are still many questions to be answered. The Empire had become used to having a Throne again, and the repercussions of losing the Imperatrix and her husband have the potential to be far reaching indeed.

You can learn about these questions and repercussions here.

Desolation of Yoorn

• Navarr; Imperial Senate

Last Summer, a union of Navarr magicians placed the potent Winter curse Wither the Seed on Liathaven; this Summer they also laid it on Brocéliande. The purpose of the curse was to impede the spread of the vallorn and weaken its spawn - provided nobody provokes the vallornspawn of course.

But the curse is one of the most enduring known to Imperial magicians, taking fully three decades to run its course and having far-reaching implications for everyone who lives under its shadow.

Corey Wayfarer and the national assembly have urged the nation to come together to support the inhabitants of Liathaven and Brocéliande, and now the people of Navarr are faced with difficult choices about how to proceed.

You can learn about the impact of the curse on Liathaven and Brocéliande here. There are two other Winds of Fortune of particular interest to the Navarr this season which you can find here and here.

Fall of Brocéliande

• Navarr, Dawn, and Highguard; Imperial Senate; Navarr and Highborn assemblies; Imperial Conclave

For the past year, a tempest has raged in Brocéliande. Driven by the Heirs of Terunael and the Children of the Green Mother, the vallorn strove to pour its filth into Boar's Dell and Elerael.

After the Summer Solstice the strength of the vallorn reached its peak but with the aid of many allies the hungry tide was weathered and driven back.

Now the tide recedes, and a well-earned respite begins. Now is the time to look to the future of Brocéliande; to consider how to prepare for future battles and perhaps to take a chance to free a little more of the world form the terrible green grasp of the vallorn.

You can learn about the situation in Brocéliande here. There are two other Winds of Fortune of particular interest to the Navarr this season which you can find here and here.

Mercy is Weakness

• Imperial Synod; Sword scholars; Urizen national assembly

Despite the best efforts of the Druj, the sword scholar Temple of the Winds has been completed in Morrow, a year since it was originally commissioned. Their numbers greatly reduced by their fight against the Mallum orcs, the scholars nonetheless gather under the banner of the Tempest Jade Maiden to resume their crusade against foolishness and irrationality. With the full support of the Wisdom assembly, their example will now spread across the entire Empire preventing any Synod mandate that does not have a clear greater majority from being enacted.

So far the Synod has welcomed the return of the sword scholars, but not everyone shares their enthusiasm. While opportunities exist for assemblies to embrace the sword scholars' example, there are those who are deeply concerned about what will happen if the followers of Sulemaine become more influential.

You can learn more about the impact of the sword scholars on the Imperial synod, and the opportunities to increase it here.

No Time For Ease (Imperial Address)

• All Imperial citizens

The Throne, Imperatrix Lisabetta, used her power to address the Empire to permit Gabriel Barossa, General of the Wolves of War present a personal message to all Imperial citizens. You can read his message here.

A Pleasing and Deceptive Face (Plenipotentiary)

• Archmages; Sagua i Ezmara i Erigo; Ceinwen Eternal, Urien Novarion of Dawn; Lady Izett, Knight-protector of Summer; Alan Fletcher, Jacques Flayer, Lady Claudia Varkulova Remys, Lord Armand Remys, Lord Romande Remys, Mael Donjeon and Olivia Sepulchre, Victor van Holberg, Natasha Ivanova Arkady von Holberg, Monzcarro van Holberg, Gancio, Flávio Capra Gláucio de Regario, Estella Krazentia Callabrese Von Holberg, Dr. Marlien von Holburg, Warrakine Ashenhide Arch; Xanthius of the New Imperial Artisan; Imperial Consul; Imperial Seer, Penumbral Watcher, and Imperial Spymaster; Silver Chalice

The archmages have each invited an eternal of the appropriate realm to attend a parley with them as representatives of the Empire. Replies have duly been received.

During the Autumn Equinox the courtiers of the Queen of Pennants will host a gathering and the agents of the Mistress of Shikal will arrange a veilingmarkt; the Ashen Prince and the Seer Clad in Raiment of Light will both speak to certain chosen guests; and the Caucus Forum opens its doors once again to the Archmage of Night and the Imperial Consul.

So far so ordinary; but while the Green Mother declines the offer of parley a seventh eternal places a request of their own - an eternal who seems to be entirely unknown within the Empire. Just who is this "Lord Rain", and why have his emissaries requested a parley with the Archmage of Spring? Only one way to find out...

You can learn about the responses to the plenipotentiary messages, and the unexpected additional request for a parley, here.

Woven as a Weapon

• Imperial Senate; Imperial Synod; Aquillian Effugere of Ankarien's Revenge

The trod network was created by the ancestors of the Navarr after the fall of the Terunael Empire to combat the vallorn. The magic employed is elegant and subtle, creating a web of pathways crisscrossing the Empire. People walking the trods draw on the magical strength of the vallorn, weakening the corrupt Spring infestation in to process.

This approach has endured for centuries, allowing the Navarr to steadily weaken the vallorn. Now the Imperial Senate has passed a motion to commission Graciana i Lopez i Guerra to appraise the trods to research options to improve their effectiveness at depleting the vallorn.

You can read more about the appraisal here.

Mandates

A number of mandates were upheld at the Summer Solstice and enacted in the months that followed. You can find a complete list here.

Imperial Lore

Three rituals were proposed for addition to Imperial lore during the Summer Solstice.

• Skar's Gentle Push was proposed by Irontide Lok. The ritual is now available to be mastered by Imperial magicians.
• Secrets of the Soul's Desires and Eyes of the Soul's Past were proposed by Tanus of the Auric Horizon. These rituals are now available to be mastered by Imperial magicians.

Other Media

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