385YE Autumn Equinox winds of war

The Sentinel Gate allows the heroes of the Empire to intervene at key moments, but their opportunities to do so most often arise due to the broader strategies set by the Imperial Military Council.

Overview

Over the last three months, Imperial forces are engaged in military campaigns against barbarian forces. Sometimes those engagements have been wide ranging and dramatic, other times they have been more sedate. Continuing the approach we took last year, we're presenting a summary of the campaign on this page. Where there's more dramatic action, or where there are opportunities, we've given a wind of war its own page. We're also continuing to provide information about the battle opportunities, listed in the theatres that they concern.

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 the Winds of Fortune is to make players aware of things their characters should know, based on what their roleplaying says they have been doing, and to maintain the Empire as a living, breathing place where all kinds of events take place beyond the scope of Anvil.

It should go without saying that we ask everyone to abide by the rules about online roleplaying with regard to the military campaign. It's important that the key in-character activity of the Empire world takes place at events. The game is busier and better if everything that can happen in the field, does happen in the field. Military planning and political discussions should happen at events. For this reason we generally discourage too much downtime roleplaying between events and put strict limits on what can be done online particularly using our forums and Facebook groups.

All that said we now present a summary of the key military activity in the Empire - both with links to the expanded Wind of War pages and notes about other important things that have happened that didn't need a full battle campaign write-up.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

• A walk in shadow
• A tale told
• To the last syllable

Battle Opportunities

Imperial prognosticators have identified three possible major conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate at the coming summit. The Military Council will muster on Friday night, and the generals will select two of them to be taken up by Imperial heroes. At the moment the full details of these battle opportunities are not clear; more information will be provided nearer to the event.

All battle opportunities are Combat Highly Likely environments.

Location	Opportunity	Opposition	Day	Learn More
Salt Flats of Sanath	Capture Sarra Grubfeast	Druj	Saturday only this time	Breaking Down
The Barrens	Stop the Druj and their Winter eternal ally securing magical allies	Druj	Either Day	Hunger
Tromsa	Capture the Blue Eel banner and ransom Mathilda Fisher from the Jotun	Jotun and yegarra	Sunday Only	Falling

Nation	Force Weight
Brass Coast	20
Dawn	49
Highguard	22
Imperial Orcs	6
League	19
Marches	24
Navarr	51
Urizen	15
Varushka	14
Wintermark	61

The sides for the battles will be chosen by the generals in the Muster of the Imperial Military Council on Friday night. Each of the two battles must have at least 136 and at most 145 force weight sent on it.

Conjunctions

The Sentinel Gate also allows smaller groups of Imperial citizens to reach locations all over the Empire where their intervention might change the course of events. Many of these conjunctions involve combat, but there are also a variety of other opportunities presented by the magic of the Gate.

For most conjunctions, the Civil Service has identified the Imperial titles that are the most appropriate to take overall responsibility for ensuring that a response is organised. Whilst the individual has been named by the Civil Service, there is no legal requirement for them to coordinate a response or travel on the conjunction. They may delegate oversight to another individual of their choosing. As always, Imperial war scouts will be on hand at the Sentinel Gate to provide further information to any citizens wanting to learn more. They can provide updates on the barbarians' goals, guidance on how to engage the enemy troops or advice on how to avoid casualties and return back to Anvil in safety.

Sometimes it is necessary for us to make small adjustments to the timing or size of encounters at the time of this publication and when an encounter runs at an event. Details for the conjunctions on Friday will be finalised on Friday afternoon of the event before time-in (18:00) whilst details for the conjunctions on Saturday will be finalised on Saturday before time in (10:00). Please check the details of any conjunction you are interested in as soon as possible to ensure that you have the full and up-to-date information; it might also be sensible to check again shortly before the planned time of the encounter. You can check the details of a conjunction by casting Detect Magic (Discover Conjunction) on the Sentinel Gate in the presence of a referee.

It's very important to pay attention to the Accessibility note for each conjunction, which covers the likelihood of combat. Further details about the accessibility of a conjunction are available both before and during the event. You can learn more about this on the accessibility page.

Friday

Time	People	Duration	Combat	Location	Responsibility	Overview/Link
18:30	50	20 mins	Highly Likely	Tromsa, Tromsdalen, Nordbotn	Champion of Pride	Hold the palisade
18:45	30	20 mins	Highly Likely	Morrow, Peregro, Seneca's Meadow	Churnspire Adjutor	Stop the heralds
19:00	50	20 mins	Highly Likely	Tromsa, Rikskog, Fniskard Copse	Champion of Prosperity	Claim the Jotun cache
19:15	30	20 mins	Highly Likely	Karsk, Nitrost, Gulgisaz	Warden of the Trees and Hills	Stop the heralds
19:30	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Tromsa, Icewood, Grove of Einar	Grimnir of Wittal Grove	Claim Grimnir's Glass
19:45	30	20 mins	Highly Likely	Skarsind, Gildermark, Oathwright's Glade	Weigher of Worth	Stop the heralds
21:00	65	20 mins	Highly Likely	Bregasland, Gravenmarch, Harry's Field	Keeper of the Dour Fens	Stop the heralds
21:15	30	20 mins	Highly Likely	Mournwold, Southmoor, Crowned Trees	Brother Martin Orchard	Confront Quiet Charlie
21:30	70	20 mins	Highly Likely	Segura, Lucksprings, Path to Cerevado	Custodian of the Cerevado Nets	Stop the heralds
23:00	50	30 mins	Unlikely	Sarvos, Cigno, Bertram's Square	Dramaturgists of the League	Balance the debt

Saturday

Time	People	Duration	Combat	Location	Responsibility	Overview/Link
15:00	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Redoubt, Tomari, Magnus' Thicket	Grandmaster of the Unfettered Mind	Stop the heralds
15:30	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Bastion, Sybella Cross, The Broken Holt	Senator for Bastion	Stop the heralds
16:00	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Hercynia, Northpines, Danwyn's Coppice	Spear of the Seven	Stop the heralds
16:30	7	30 mins	Unlikely	Mournwold, Green March, Golden Hoof Farm	Bloodcrow Knott	Talk to Hap the Soft
17:15	25	20 mins	Highly Likely	Upwold, The Heath, Tom's Dale	Bailiff of the Grand Market	Deal with the Drake's Dozen
17:30	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Karov, Wieliczka, The Thicket of Nieshka	General of the Eastern Sky	Stop the heralds
17:45	30	20 mins	Highly Likely	Temeschwar, Vardstein Vale, Polseg Woods	Custodian of the Assayer's Guild	Deal with the Company of the Torch
18:00	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Hahnmark, Kronemark, White Owl Fields	Imperial Seer	Stop the heralds
20:30	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	Sarangrave, Nesustak Forest, The Queen's Claim	Advisor on the Vallorn	Reclaim the Vate's Shelter
21:00	60	20 mins	Highly Likely	The Barrens, Murderdale, Hugh's Sward	Knight-protector of Spring	Slay the Lady of the Dappled Trees

Military Considerations

Several territory pages now contain details of strategic obstacles presented or advantages provided by movement through or fighting in those lands. There are also several fortifications that follow different rules. Several armies or nations have special rules or opportunities related to the orders they can issue, which should be borne in mind when discussing military strategies during the Winter Solstice.

• Billeting: Any Imperial army can take the Billet order in Upwold or Mitwold. Link
• Dawn: Dawnish armies cannot take the Cautious Advance order or the Give Ground order. Link
• The Marches: Marcher armies cannot take the Give Ground order. Link
• The Marches: Marcher armies fighting in Upwold, Mitwold, or Mournwold each receive an additional 1000 strength. The Strong Reeds receive an additional 1000 strength when fighting in Bregasland. This lasts until the start of the Winter Solstice 385YE, or until they leave Bregasland in the case of the Strong Reeds. link.
• Varushka: Varushkan armies involved in the same campaign as an army from the Brass Coast or Wintermark generate 10% fewer victory points. If armies from both nations are present, the reduction is increased to 20%. Link.
• Varushka: Varushkan armies can take the Hospitality of the Boyars order whilst in Ossium. Link.
• Wintermark: Wintermark armies can take the Fight with Honour order. Link.
• Wintermark: Wintermark armies fighting against the Jotun will gain 10% more victory points but inflict 20% less casualties. Link
• WIntermark: Wintermark armies fighting against the Jotun have their casualties taken reduced by 10%. This effect continues as long as the Winterfolk continue to fight honourably. Link
• Zenith: Any Highborn or Urizen army attacking into Zenith from Morrow gains a 20% bonus to any territory captured and suffers a 10% reduction in casualties inflicted. Link
• Morrow: Any Highborn or Urizen army that defends in Morrow against an army attacking from Zenith gains a 20% bonus to defend territory and suffers a 10% reduction in casualties inflicted. Link