381YE Spring Equinox winds of war

Overview

As the year 381YE dawns, the campaigns against the barbarian orcs continue.

On the southern coast of Urizen, the Eastern Sky support the garrison of the Court of the White Fountain, eager to repel any Grendel advance - yet no such advance materialises. Indeed, it seems the main bulk of the southern orc forces has quit the territory, leaving a token force behind to maintain their presence among the captured spires in Naris.

Shore Leave (Redoubt)

The Eastern Sky march out of Spiral into Optarion, in eastern Redoubt. Blue and gold tents pool around the Court of the White Fountain, supporting the Urizen garrison. The knights, war-witches, and yeomen of the third Dawnish army are ordered to avoid major engagements, but to slow the Grendel advance wherever possible. Some of the commanders are a little nonplussed, but for the most part the soldiers are more than happy to enjoy the hospitality of the Urizen.

The Grendel have expanded into Redoubt. Now is the time for the Eastern Sky to do what they do best. We will match to redoubt and harrass the enemy, slowing their advance by giving ground.

General Vincent Vexille of the Eastern Sky

While the army rests, the Heliopticon is busy. Light and dark flicker, bringing terse messages from the spires of the storm-tossed southern coast. From the fishing town of Elos comes news of a major raiding force turned aside by a warband of Imperial heroes. While the town suffered some damage, the orcs were prevented from burning it to the ground.

The remaining fishing boats and trading ships of Elos take shelter from the magical storms in their deep harbour, but with their spyglasses they keep as close an eye as they can on the orc force. They report that the majority of the Lasambrian ground forces have made a disciplined withdrawal back to their ships. The Grendel vessels have set their sails - some crimson, some emerald-green - and swiftly departed for open waters. They are not quick enough to outrun the wild Spring magic already taking hold across the southern coast of Urizen - some of their sails are tattered and torn by the time they pass beyond the ken of the watchers at Elos.

Not all the barbarian forces have departed. The Winter Solstice surprise attack left the orcs in possession of several southern spires. Rousting these remaining orcs would provide little challenge for an Imperial army, but while they remain the southern orcs have a foothold in Naris. Should the Grendel return, the forces left behind would aid them in seizing a beachhead here.

The main focus of the remaining forces appears to be the spire of Evenstar - the hospital where Urizen practitioners of Spring and Day magic worked their magical arts to treat the sick. This spire fell to the barbarians during the Winter solstice - one last desperate flickering of the Heliopticon marking its fall. "The orcs are here. The gate has fallen." Then silence.

Redoubt Game Information

The Grendel forces appear to have left Redoubt. While they do not control a region, their attack has established a foothold in Naris. It would be a simple matter for an Imperial army to use an appropriate attack order to clear the region of the remaining orcs, but while they remain they will make it easier for the Grendel to take a beachhead here should they return.

In campaign terms, victory points accrued toward conquering a region do not go away naturally and count toward future attempts to take that region. Victory points are only removed if a campaign army attacks the conquered areas.

Balance of Terror (Liathaven)

The Black Thorns walk the Paths of Lan Thúven. Bound with a powerful enchantment woven from Spring magic by the vates of the Voice of the Quiet Forest, they pass from the battlefield of Western Scout into the heart of the Westwood, bound for West Ranging.

Behind them, they leave chaos, and dead Navarr. Two hundred thorns sacrifice their lives to slow the orc advance long enough for the army to gather at the ruins of the Jotun-burnt steading of Hidden Walk; without the magic of the Quiet Forest, many more would have died. Yet as their new protective enchantment takes hold, the hungry dead bound to the Navarr army are let loose. A thousand spirit-ridden husks, a thousand slaughtered Navarr given a chance at vengeance against their murders, a thousand winter horrors set free to follow their true nature...

As the Black Thorns enter the Paths of Lan Thúven, the dead let loose a single terrifying howl - a single cry voiced by ten-hundred unliving throats - and race through the woods toward the advancing Jotun. Unleashed, their furious hunger is indiscriminate - they fall on their former brothers and sisters with the same abominable relish with which they assail the orcs. While the potent magic woven to protect the Black Thorns blunts the worst of the attack, the last huddled groups following the Black Thorns through the Paths bear savage wounds, marks of the gluttonous hunger of the creatures they have unleashed.

Leaving the Jotun behind to face the unbound wrath of the dead, the army passes into the vallorn-choked Westwood. Shrouded with the Night magic woven into the pathway, four and a half thousand Navarr walk into the very jaws of their greatest foe. Through the asphyxiating miasma they walk. Through the green hell that is the riotous depth of the Doom of Terunael. No thorn who makes this journey will ever forget it - it is one thing to range into the vallorn as scouts, as small bands; quite another to march an army into the deeps.

The magic protects those who keep to the path - but the journey is not without its dangers. Stray too far to the left or the right; miss one of the boundary stones; fail to pass through one of the arches... the alien beasts that dwell in the depths of the vallorn strike without warning and the miasma allows little room for mistakes. Yet, still, the Black Thorns are protected; the magic of Spring can bring terrible death, but it also brings life. Those injured by Jotun axes, or torn by unliving claws, quickly recover from their wounds. While the paths do not lie along a trod, the enchanted soldiers find it easy to push themselves forward. Anything to get to the far end of the Paths as soon as possible.

As soon as possible ... Time has little meaning on the Paths of Lan Thúven. The trees grow impossibly thick in the Westwood, blocking out the sky. The fog of the miasma chokes everything. Even at noon, little light penetrates the canopy, leaving everything shrouded in twilight. At night ... at night it is sometimes worse. The plants and insects near the paths possess an eerie phosphorescence, rendering the depths of midnight into that same encompassing twilight. Objectively, it takes a little under a week to pass from south to north. Subjectively ... hard to say. Even measured in sleep, it is difficult to track exactly how long the journey takes. One soldier may be famished, thirsty, stumbling near exhaustion while her companion is satiated, full of energy. It makes little sense.

Eventually, though, the Black Thorns emerge coughing, blinking, into the southern woodlands of Jotun-held West Ranging. They take one night to rest in the ruins of Silent Stand steading. And then they attack.

We have an opportunity, cousins, to make the Jotun pay for their invasion of Kahraman and the brutality they have shown us. March swiftly to jouin our Navarri cousins and make the Jotun bleed.

General Vrael i Sol-Devorador i Erigo of the Fire of the South

As the Black Thorns strike from Silent Stand into the forests on the southern border of northern Liathaven, a second Imperial force drives into the territory from the north. The Freeborn of the Fire of the South have made their own march, north out of Kahraman, through Tassato, through Upwold, and Mitwold, and down into the marshes of Bregasland. A heroic charge, a testament to the ferocity and the stamina of the soldiers of the Bay of Catazaar. They, too, rest for a single night after their mad rush, a sea of rainbow tents along the causeway east of Sallow, and then into West Ranging with the aid of the flat-bottomed boats of the marshfolk.

The Jotun garrisons are alert for a potential invasion, but they are looking north - not south. When the Freeborn enter the woodlands, they are ready for them, ready to fight - but not half so ready for the Navarr who strike from the south, from out of the vallorn. The first engagement is a rout - the orcs fall back as soon as they see the Navarr, clearly mistaking them for some new horror out of the Westwood. They rally quickly however, once it becomes clear that they are facing a mortal threat.

The defenders are outclassed, but they are stubborn. The two Imperial armies exchange messengers, and moving quickly and with sure purpose meet up and turn their attention to the last Jotun holdouts. They hold nothing back, but in the end it appears that the long years the Jotun have had to prepare for a serious Imperial assault have worked in their favour. The Imperial forces have taken most of the region, but there are still pockets of orc resistance. Worse, as news spreads of the Imperial attack, Jotun bands from Liath Ring and Liavens Glen begin to harry the Imperials from the east.

The Imperials fail to secure the region, but they are very close. The Jotun still control the lightly fortified ruins of the former Navarr steading of Seveneaves, and two or three key points along the route between Hahnmark and the Mournwold. If nothing changes, the Empire could secure these final objectives next season. If nothing changes...

Liathaven Game Information

Imperial forces have gained a very significant foothold in West Ranging - but they have fallen short of the number of victory points required to secure the beachhead by about a fifth of the needed amount.

At the same time, the Jotun have removed all trace of an Imperial presence in Western Scout, conquering that region.

As there are no Imperial-controlled regions in Liathaven, the standard penalty to the production of personal resources now applies.

With a second Jotun conquest of southern Liathaven, with the Jotun fury directed at the Navarr, and with the call to rally around the Black Thorns, we assume there is now no significant Navarr presence remaining in the territory. Going forward, we will assume that the only Navarr steadings and stridings still based in Liathaven are player character groups. While this will not prevent spoils of war being assessed should the territory be recaptured, the lack of Imperial citizens and non-Jotun infrastructure means the territory would require extensive rebuilding, regardless of which Imperial nation the Senate assigns the territory to.

Liathaven Participation

Any Navarr character who wishes to roleplay that they accompanied the Black Thorns through the Paths of Lan Thúven is welcome to do so. Any character who assigned their military unit to support the Navarr army may also have accompanied them through the Westwood, or they may roleplay that their troops joined the army once it reached West Ranging. While the Black Thorns were protected by the magic woven into the Paths, and by the enchantment woven by the Voice of the Quiet Forest, passing through a vallorn is not a safe proposition and medical supplies are in high demand. If you accompanied the Black Thorns, you may e-mail empire.plot@profounddecisions.co.uk and request a traumatic wound to represent your exposure to the vallorn.

Major Conjunctions

The civil service has identified five major conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate that are expected to be available during the coming summit.