382YE Winter Solstice winds of fortune

Interlude

Downtime is now open, so that players can process their character's downtime choices. Usually this is straightforward, but there are a few things to bear in mind while deciding what to do. The Winter Solstice winds of fortune will come out shortly before the next event (which is 26th April to 28th April). However, there are a number of significant events happening in the wake of the Summer Equinox that may affect some players' Downtime actions - primarily effects on personal resources.

As a temporary measure we'll be outlining, and offering some context for, these various effects on this page. In each case, there will be further information in the Winter Solstice Winds of Fortune - once they're ready, they'll replace this content. As always, these are quick OOC summaries to explain effects such as large-scale enchantments and curses. We'll cover all these and more when we start to present the Winds of Fortune for next event.

Downtime is due to close at midnight on Sunday the 7th October.

Warfare

Any players whose character controls a military unit can choose from a number of downtime options. Left to their own devices, a military unit defaults to paid work guaranteeing an income of herbs, ingots or measures, money, or mana crystal. Otherwise, they may log into the downtime system and choose to support an army or fortification, or assign to a special project such as a spy network. By browsing the available army options, the player can read the orders issued by the general of each before making their decision.

Imperial Guerdon

The Imperial Guerdon is a bursary set up by the Imperial Senate primarily to reward military units that support Imperial armies, spy networks, and fortifications. The value of the Imperial Guerdon is divided between each military unit and fleet that supports an army in proportion to their effective strength. The Quartermaster General of the Imperial Armies has the power to exclude any or all Imperial armies and navies, fortifications, or special projects (such as spy networks) from the Guerdon. If they do so, then a character who supports such a army, fortification, or special project will receive nothing for doing so.

This season, the Quartermaster General of the Imperial Armies has announced that shares of the Guerdon will not be paid to captains supporting Imperial forces.

The Guerdon stands at 175 Thrones.

Attack the Grendel and Raid the Salt Mines

An opportunity has arisen for the fleet captains and small unit commanders to take the fight to the Grendel. An epic raid into the Broken Shore requiring both ships and fighting folk. You can learn more about the details here. If you are a fleet captain who wishes to contribute you should select "Raid the Grendel" from the privateering drop-down. If you are a military captain who wishes to get involved, you should select "Raid the Grendel" from the paid work drop-down.

As I am unaware of any announcement by the Imperial Fleet Captain at this time, the raid will be going as far as it can go - aiming for Dubhtraig if it can gather sufficient force (although if insufficient fleets are involved, the raid will be against a less prestigious target). Payment will depend entirely on what is achieved, based on your rank for doing privateering or paid work.

Slow the Vallorn

The vallorn is beginning a slow expansion in Brocéliande. Warriors can help the steadings there to slow the green tide, and prevent it taking any land for the next season at least. Any miitary captain who wishes to support this action should select "Slow the Vallorn" from the paid-work drop-down menu. Payment is normal for the rank of your military unit, but will always be in herbs. You can learn more about the situation here.

Suppress Asavean Uprising

Two satrapies in the Asavean Archipelago are in revolt against their government. The Nemorians are calling for Imperial mercenaries to help suppress the rebellion. Anyone with a military unit should beable to find the action "Suppress Asavean Uprising" in the paid work dropdown, You can learn more about this opportunity here.

Note that the 11 crowns (and additional 52 rings per rank of upgrade or enchantment) is in place of the random rewards for paid work, not in addition to them.

With the passage of a recent mandate by the Synod, the names of all the captains who support Asavea will be collected and given to the Cardinal of Vigilance and the Throne. Getting wind of this, a last minute communication from the Asaveans reassure Imperial law makers that they will be employing Imperial mercenaries only in defensive positions to protect Asavean possessions from rebel raids. They will seek to negotiate a more permanent solution to the Empire's problems during the Winter Summit.

Significant Effects

A number of large-scale effects might alter what your personal resource produces; we try to summarize those effects here. Only major things are summarized, and will usually be updated in more detail once Winds of Fortune are published. These are by no means the only things happening in the Empire this season.

Grendel Pirates

• During the coming season all fleets from Tassato, Sarvos, the Brass Coast, Highguard, or Urizen will suffer a 1 rank penalty to production if they engage in trade.
• The Broken Shore Bounty and Glass Point Cove gain no production this downtime.

If you are a fleet captain trading out of the Bay of Catazaar territories, the Grendel pirates continue to attempt to raid your ships. The magic that has been protecting the fleet faded with the start of the Autumn Equinox - its not clear at this time if it has been replenished or if traders are at the mercy of orc pirates.

Furthermore, raids against key locations by elite orc privateers during the Autumn Equinox have meant that neither the Broken Shore Bounty nor the Glass Point Cover mana sinecure will produce any materials this coming season.

Trading with Asavea and Jarm

• Fleets trading with Vezak receive one additional crystal mana
• However fleets trading with Vezak or Kavor receive two fewer crystal mana due to a still-active Synod mandate
• Fleets trading with Nemoria receive an additional orichalcum and an additional iridescent gloaming to reflect excellent trade ties secured by temples.

Fleets trading with Nemoria, Vezak, and Kavor experience odd production because of ongoing game effects. It is also worth noting that the port of Rigia in eastern Jarm remains closed, as does the port of Zemeh in the Sumaah Republic. Finally, Nemoria is still providing money - representing luxury goods - rather than herbs.

The Pilgrim's Path

During the Summer Solstice, the Highborn Assembly upheld a mandate encouraging radical pilgrimage. As Lilith of the Chantry begins to spread the mandate, people from all walks of life begin to put their affairs in order and take up a new role - grand pilgrimages across the Empire along the trods. As much about faith as about harming the vallorn, a fundamental change is sweeping through the nation of Highguard.

Every Highguard business and farm is suffering a two rank penalty to production, and every military unit is suffering a commensurate penalty to its fighting strength. The National Assemblies of many nations have chosen to enact mandates to help ease the burden on the Highborn people of their new pilgrimage, but how effective this will be remains to be seen.

Mournwold and Hercynia

For the last several months, the Marchers and the Winterfolk have been having problems with reclusive human barbarians known as the Feni. This Autumn, some concessions were discussed and agreements reached (or not reached). As a consequence, the southern Feni are in the process of moving out of the Mournwold, while the northern Feni have likewise moved... into Hercynia.

Pending the resolution of the treaty signed with the Empire the southern Feni have stopped raiing. The northeren Feni are still making limited raids... but not in Hahnmark. They have moved over the border into Hercynia, and it is now that Navarr territory where very business and farm is losing 18 rings of production this downtime, and every herb garden is losing one herb (selected at random).

Cursed Urizen

The ritual curse Naeve's Twisting Blight has been cast on the Urizen territories of Morrow and Redoubt and on the Druj territory of Zenith. This means that in addition to other penalties, all farms in one of these territories will have their production halved.

Mandates

Sixteen mandates were successfully upheld in the Imperial Synod. You can find the details of all the mandates, along with the rest of the Synod judgements, here. As always, these mandates only have an effect if the named priest provides the appropriate amount of liao and emails Profound Decisions.

Some of these mandates will have an effect this downtime; we'll update this page and adjust the Facebook and forum posts to reflect this once we have confirmation a mandate is happening.

Assembly	Mandate	Priest	Outcome	WoF
Wintermark	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Rane Sherarding with 50 liao to urge every Wintermark citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Rane Sheraring	With 50 liao, spreads Highborn burden to Wintermark.	here.
General	The cruelty of slavery has brought the Asavean Archipelago to the brink of open rebellion. We send Franco i Erigo with 25 liao to call on all slaves to break their chains and take up weapons to fight with the people of Maracoss and Empheor to achieve freedom.	Franco i Erigo	With 25 liao, encourages slaves to join rebellion in Asavea.	here.
Navarr	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Corey Wayfarer with 25 liao to urge every Navarri citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Corey Wayfarer	With 25 liao, spreads Highborn burden to Navarr.	here.
League	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Astrid Fjellrevening Rezia di Tassato with 50 liao to urge every League citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Astrid Fjellrevening Rezia di Tassato	With 25 liao, Spreads Highborn burden to League.	here.
Dawn	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Romande Remys with 50 liao to urge every League citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Romande Remys	With 50 liao, Spreads Highborn burden to Dawn.	here.
Dawn	We, the Troubadours of Dawn, recognise that True Love and True Glory arise from the paths of virtue. Only the truly virtuous can know love, or achieve glory. Where we find a noble who truly embodies Love or Glory we shall name them alongside the champions of the Seven Virtues, and they shall be pre-eminent in their company as inspirations to all who follow Pilgrim's Path. We send the Earl of Fools with 50 doses of liao to spread these words, and the names of Ser Isidore Ossienne and Lord Colwyn de Rondel to all the people of Dawn.	The Earl of Fools	With 50 liao urges the people of Dawn to embrace the champions of Love and Glory.	here.
Brass Coast	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Immeloar i Ezmara i Erigo with 50 liao to urge every Freeborn citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Immeloar i Ezmara i Erigo	With 50 liao, Spreads Highborn burden to Brass Coast.	here.
Vigilance	The Assembly of Nine have made the only virtuous response to Asavea abundantly clear. We send Sepharad with 50 liao to urge every vigilant Pilgrim to take notice of those citizens whose virtue is lacking let us provide the Cardinal of Vigilance and the Imperatrix with the names of every citizen who chose to turn aside from the Way.	Sepharad	With 50 liao, vigilant citizens begin to compile lists of everyone who goes to fight in Asavea.	here.
Imperial Orcs	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Skywise Tulva with 50 liao to urge every Imperial Orc citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Skywise Tulva	With 50 liao, Spreads Highborn burden to Imperial Orcs.	here.
Wintermark	The heroes of Wintermark do not seek to make war more brutal than it already is. Slaying healers and poisoning their blood steals from our foes the opportunity for a good death, inflicting cruelty more fitting of the Druj than any Impeiral hero or their ally. The Wintermark assembly condemns such tactics as strongly as they condemn looting, wholesale slaugher, and cruel torture. We send Gunnbrand Ironwill with 25 liao to remind our people that we do not strike against any opponent but vallorn with envenomed blades.	Gunnbrand Ironwill	With 25 liao Wintermark armies will oppose cunning and venomous tactics by their allies.	here
Varushka	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Father Drakov with 50 liao to urge every Varushkan citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Father Drakov	With 50 liao, Spreads Highborn burden to Varushka.	here.
Marches	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Hrodin with 50 liao to urge every Marchere citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Sister Meredith	With 50 liao, spreads Highborn burden to Marches.	here.
Dawn	The people of Dawn applaud the great triumphs that our generals and our armies have wrought. Now let us embrace glory, claim victory, an seize the prize. We send Pelleas Thorne with 50 doses of liao to urge every Dawnish soldier to commit themselves body and soul to glory in the service of Dawn.	Pelleas Thorne	With 50 liao, Dawnish armies will look to their heritage for opportunities to refine their strategies.	here
Navarr	The Navarr nation has a great wealth of herbs that we should share with our friends in other nations. We send Brat Umbral Path with 50 doses of liao to urge every Navarr striding and steading to send what seeds and cuttings they can spare to the new constructed wayhouse in Upwold.	Brat Umbral Path	With 50 liao, Navarr herbalists will support the newly commissioned Upwold Wayhouse.	here
Marches	We are Marchers. Our blood and bone are in the soil, and we neither forget nor forgive. We are not murderers, but we will fight to defend what is our, and we will fight to protect our friends. We send Friar John of the Mourn with 50 doses of liao to remind our people of the Marches of their deep roots, and to urge our yeoman to find new ways to fight that neither scorn our history nor threaten our future.	Friar John of the Mourn	With 50 liao, Marcher yeomen will look for ways to adapt the strategies of the Marcher armies to reflect their heritage.	here
Urizen	The war against the Vallorn demands all the support of all of us. We send Amulius Medea Ruth with 25 liao to urge every Urizen citizen to offer food, shelter, and protection to the pilgrims as they travel through our lands and beyond. We will shoulder this burden together.	Meda Ruth	With 25 liao spreads Highborn burden to Urizen.	here.

Imperial Lore

Three rituals are being entered into Imperial lore, presuming the money to distribute them across the Empire is forthcoming.

• Why Sulemain Walked Away From The Baker raised by Simargl
• Find The Best Path by Marcus
• Amalgamation of Silver and Gold by Ifan

Once payment has been made, these rituals will be available to be mastered by Imperial magicians.