Empire - User contributions [en]

The tune without the words

2026-05-01T20:00:30Z

Hedley: Typo

[[Category:Winds of Fortune]][[Category:387YE Winter]][[Category:Recent History]][[Category:Winds of Magic]]
<ic>"Hail, friend, I recommend you don't walk these roads at night", the warden called from the door of an inn. The orc looked at the warden curiously, "Why is that? I have a sword. I know how to use it." The orc was dressed peculiarly for someone wandering the northern roads in the snow. They were dressed in simple linen robes and walked as if they didn't notice the cold at all. The warden still persisted and responded, "Strange things walk the roads late in the winter, things I fear, and I aim to make sure all folks travel safely. I offer you to come share hospitality with me on this night." The orc smiled "I'll come in for the evening. You must know these roads well. I would love to know your experiences."

The orc approached the door and hesitated for a second too long at the threshold. The warden felt a chill that they may have invited in what they had warned against, but a moment later, the orc stepped through the doorway. And as they did, each of the candles - even the new lightstone from far-off Redoubt - seemed to dim a little. The warden, swallowing down growing fear in their throat, offered the orc bread and a drink, making sure their dagger was close as they did.

The orc sat and drank before finally speaking up. "What on these roads do you fear most?" The warden sat in their good chair and talked about the wolves and the sovereigns and their personal fears, from how they disliked hornets to how the Druj were known for their torturous ways, to explaining about Cold Sun. The warden and mysterious orc spoke long into the night as the candles burned, until the warden fell asleep. The orc was gone in the morning when the warden awoke, but there on the table next to the warden's dagger was a small pile of tempest jade.</ic>

<div style="float:left; width: 600px; clear: right;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Anvil By Night.png|align=left|width=600|caption=The night sky is alive with music, for those who know how to listen.}}</div>
==Overview==
Magic fills the Known World. It rides the winds, it rises with the sun and the stars, it flows in great currents through the forests and the seas and the sky. It is part of the rivers and the forests, the seas and the skies. It is studied, mastered, examined, and debated. It is mysterious, enigmatic, unpredictable, and yet follows its own strange laws. All mortals practice magic, and yet they are not the only sources of magic in the world. It comes from rattling runes, from the heavens, from the wellspring of blood, from the shapes and symbols of creation, and while it can be bidden it cannot always be restrained. Wonder is all around, an endless wordless tune that winds and weaves around all things.

This wind of fortune rounds up a roundup of assorted strange events, some arising from mortal actions some with less explicable causes. There is a companion piece to this wind, '''[[The thing with feathers]]''', that deals with things relating specifically to the [[eternal|eternals]] of the [[Realms|six realms]].
==Out With Lanterns==
* '''Since the Autumn Equinox, five new rituals have become part of Urizen Lore
* '''Two of the rituals were contributed by Imperial covens who are open about their decision to do so
* '''Three others draw on the power of the destructive eternal Siakha and are illegal to perform
{{CaptionedImage|file=NBUrizen.jpg|align=right|width=300}}
[[Urizen lore]] was created with the aid of the [[eternal]] [[Phaleron]] as a repository of magic that can only be performed by the magicians of [[Urizen]]. As part of the arrangement a ritual - [[Gift of Knowledge]] - was created by the ''Celestial Library'' to allow new rituals to become part of that body of magical lore. While no rituals were contributed to [[Urizen lore]] during the Autumn equinox, in the months since a surprising total of ''five'' new rituals have become available. Given the ''Gift of Knowledge'' can be cast by any Imperial or [[Commonwealth]] coven with even a rudimentary understanding of [[Magical_skills#Realm_Lore|Day lore]], it is perhaps surprising it doesn't happen more often. Perhaps the innate value of a ritual text, jealously guarded by those who have access to them, makes it more surprising that ''any'' rituals are presented. Either way, each of these rituals is now part of Urizen lore. They can be mastered following the usual rules, but can also be cast by Urizeni magicians who have not mastered them.

===Bells and Dragons===
* '''Two new rituals have been added to Urizen lore since the Autumn Equinox'''
* '''''Bells of Silver and Brass'' restores the strength of a depleted garrison
* '''''Might of Vstaive'' strengthens the garrison of a fortification
* '''''Golden Ramparts'' has been updated in line with the new fortification rules
A week or so before the Winter Solstice, the librarians of the [[Morrow#Grand_Library_of_Canterspire|Grand Library of Canterspire]] discreetly let it be known that two new rituals have been added to [[Urizen lore]] - ''[[Bells of Silver and Brass]]'' and ''[[Might of Vstaive]]''. It seems that these rituals were originally codified at the [[Morrow#The_Halls_of_Knowledge_(ruined)|Halls of Knowledge]], long before it was destroyed by the [[Druj]]. While the rituals came from different sources, both covens involved have indicated that they were persuaded to contribute their rituals by representatives of the ''[[Jaheris|Moonsilver King]]''. Both groups admit they received boons from the ''Unicorn Prince'' in return for their ritual texts, but neither discloses exactly what their boons were. In both cases, likewise, they claim that the heralds indicated their master, the ''Lord of the Forest of Arden'', was motivated by a simple desire to help [[Urizen]] protect itself from its many, many enemies and expected nothing in return.

The first ritual, was submitted to Canterspire Library by members of the ''Shield of Thought'' coven from [[Redoubt#Willstone|Willstone Citadel]] in [[Redoubt]]. The ''Bells of Silver and Brass'' is a work of [[Autumn magic]], codified during the reign of [[Emperor James]]. It seems that originally it was used to inspire soldiers to come to the defence of their neighbours through the use of invisible bells, but the ritual seems to have other, somewhat more practical applications. When this magnitude 60 Autumn ritual is cast on a [[fortification]] it subtly draws volunteers to take up weapons, and improves the process of turning a raw recruit into a seasoned soldier. This means that over the coming season, the garrison of the target fortification is restored, regaining 250 points of strength, in addition to any other resupply the garrison receives, even if the garrison is involved in fighting.

The other ritual is a much older, dating from the early reign of [[Empress Varkula]], and contributed by a [[Dawn|Dawnish]] coven. The ''Roses of Racqueen'' are a [[Weaver cabal]] from [[Semmerholm]] and how they came into possession of the ritual text for ''Might of Vstaive'' is not clear. The ritual itself employs [[Summer magic]] to enchant a fortification, reinforcing both the [[bastion]] and the [[fortification#garrison|garrison]]. Examination of the ritual by Urizen magicians of the [[Unfettered Mind]] and [[Rod and Shield]] indicates that it is almost identical to [[Golden Ramparts]] but with some very distinct differences. Golden Ramparts calls forth several dozen golden lions from the realm of [[Meraud]] to fight alongside the garrison, and relies on an [[Golden Ramparts#Assurance|assurance]] to give it power. Might of Vstaive however instead fills the mortal defenders of a castle with courage, preternatural [[Summer_magic#Prowess|prowess]], and a thirst for [[Summer_magic#Triumph|victory]]. Yet the outcome from a purely practical point of view is the same - save that one uses the power of a Summer eternal and the other does not.

The contribution of ''Might of Vstaive'' suggests that Jaheris' ''real'' motivation in encouraging these rituals to be given to Urizen might be to undermine Meraud. Regardless of provenance, both rituals are available to any Urizen magician who wishes to learn them by the usual means. Indeed given that neither relies on an eternal for their power, they could be used as a template for an [[arcane projection]] and even [[College_of_magic#Benefits|codified]] at a [[college of magic]] and made part of wider [[Imperial lore]], if anyone wished to do so.
<div style="float:right; width: 275px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Siakha001.webp|caption=The eternal Siakha grants boons of destruction and bloodthirsty battle.|align=right|width=275}}</div>
===Quivering and Chill===
* '''Three new rituals that draw on the power of Siakha have become part of Urizen lore
* '''These rituals are illegal to perform while the eternal remains under enmity
During some of the worst storms of the early Winter, three new works of [[Spring magic]] are added to Urizen Lore without additional fanfare. The text they are drawn from is apparently a water-damaged ship's logbook, filled with cryptic poems in praise of the unceasing sea, the power of the storm, and the admirably simple life of the shark. Interspersed between the poems are crude drawings of sea monsters, and what seem to be actual prayers in praise of the ''Mother of the Maelstrom'' asking for her to send her children to torment the unknown author's enemies, or begging her to fill them and their crew with the power of the tempest. These sections become increasingly difficult to read, and the last few pages are almost entirely obscured by old blood splatter. Scrawled across the cover - carved into the thick leather with a knife - was the message “at the mother’s command, a gift for Ibiss Briarheart.”

It should come as no surprise then that the three rituals contained in the book bear the unmistakable mark of the eternal [[Siakha]]. [[Rhythm of the Tempest]], [[Blood-dimmed Tide]], and [[Shark's Rampage]] each draw on potent resonances of [[Spring magic#Savagery|savagery]] and [[Spring magic#Ruin|ruin]], and are shot through with the bloodthirsty power of the ''Mother of Wrecks''.

The attendants at the Library - pale-eyed servants of [[Phaleron]] - are clearly uncomfortable with these magics, but can do nothing to prevent them becoming part of [[Urizen_magical_traditions#Urizen_Lore|Urizen lore]]. After all, despite the request of the ''Celestial Library'', [[Gift of Knowledge]] was made part of [[Formulaic_ritual#Imperial_Lore_and_the_Ritual_List|Imperial lore]]. As such any magician of the Empire, including those who have turned traitor in the service of the ''Mother of Wrecks'', can use it to present whatever rituals they choose. The librarians of Phaleron are not empowered to pick and choose - they must accept any ritual text that is offered. They cannot turn down the rituals of Siakha any more than they [[A_yellow_star_hung#A_Gift_of_Lore|were able]] to turn down those that draw on the power of [[Agramant]].

Of course these rituals are illegal to perform while Siakha remains under the [[Alignment#Enmity|enmity]] of the [[Conclave]]. There is some speculation as to what '''Ibiss Briarheart''' may have done to merit these “gifts” - and a great deal of debate about whether any true Urizen would touch these spells with the tip of a measuring rod.
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Lightning Storm.jpeg|caption=The [[Thunderous Deluge]] that has struck the north-western shores of the [[Bay of Catazar]] has left more than simple destruction in its wake.|align=left|width=400}}</div>
==The Clouds are Mean==
* '''Madruga, Feroz, and Sarvos have been cursed by the Children of Wrecks
* '''Torrential rains and gale winds have swept across the three territories
* '''Farms and businesses have been harmed by the Thunderous Deluge, and there have been additional effects in each territory
Shortly before the Autumn Equinox, the Children of Wrecks in [[Feroz]] and [[Madruga]] unleashed [[Thunderous Deluge|tumultuous storms]] on the territories. Then, during the summit, wreckers were able to make use of the [[Those_that_break_a_thing#Blazing_Beacon_(Sarvos)|Circle of Savagery]] in [[Sarvos]] to unleash the same curse on that territory of [[the League]].
===Madruga and Feroz===
* '''The storms that have struck Madruga and Feroz have stirred up some of the magic of Crucible
Unlike [[Foam and Spittle of the Furious Sea]], the Thunderous Deluge covers the entire territory. Rain falls in sheets as far west as [[Feroz#Morajasse|Morajasse]] and as far north as [[Madruga#Torres|Torres]]. It fills the Scorrero - a wild river at the best of time - causing it to burst its banks. This is hardly something new, but it adds to the hardship of those trying to reclaim [[Feroz#Oranseri|Oranseri]] and will likely make any attempt to bridge the river - to restore [[Where_the_river_rises#Crossing|easy movement]] between the two easternmost Freeborn territories - that much harder.

The storms are especially odd in Madruga, where the power of the storms collides with an [[Night magic]] enchantment. Storm clouds roil with colours not normally found in the sky and on one occasion there is a five minute rain of tiny red frogs over Calvos that rapidly turns into a short-lived plague as the things breed and spread. Feroz is hit much more heavily by the storms, especially given that the populace such as it is, is currently busy trying to rebuild. One thing worse than living out of makeshift shacks and old tents is trying to live out of waterlogged shacks and leaky tents.
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Stormy Seas.png|caption=Magical storms break across the shores of [[Sarvos]], drowning the coast of eastern [[Sarvos#Riposi|Riposi]].|align=right|width=400}}</div>

===Sarvos===
* '''Flood defences have protected Sarvos from the thunderous deluge'''
* '''The region of Riposi has permanently gained the coastal quality'''
This is by no means the first time such powerful storms have been called up by the Children of Wrecks, but it is the first time in a very long time that Sarvos has been targeted in this way. The tempest rages for several months after the Autumn Equinox. The waters rise, and there is a great deal of worry in Sarvos that [[The_DOOM_that_came_to_Sarvos#Rising_Waters|doom]] has finally arrived to wash away the City of Masks. If only there were suitably robust flood defences... but of course there ''are'' [[Sound_the_bells#Flooding_of_Caricomare|suitably robust flood defences]]! Commissioned by [[Senator]] '''Rosalina Gulia Viola di Sarvos''', they were built with the aid of the Vandersaar family of the [[Sarcophan Delves]]. The Vandersaar were no doubt partly motivated by the desire to protect the low-lying [[Sarvos#Sarcophan_Enclave|Alivetti estates enclave]], but their help has proved invaluable. The canals rise a little, as the rain and wind mercilessly shakes the towers of Sarvos, but there is no lasting damage.

The same cannot, unfortunately, be said for other parts of the territory. There's some flooding in [[Sarvos#Rodez|Rodez]] and [[Sarvos#Trivento|Trivento]]; estates along the broad banks of the Gancio are left sodden and waterlogged, and the only folk who seem happy with the situation are the huge, white cranes that picked their way through the reed-beds of the river. The worst damage, however, is incurred in [[Sarvos#Riposi|Riposi]]. The flat plains are known for their poor, chalky soil. The thunderous deluge pelts the farmlands here with particular virulence, but nobody is expecting it when the low cliffs that run along the southern side of the region give way and collapse into the hungry sea. Waves wash inland nearly a quarter of a mile in places, carrying away what little topsoil there is.
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Horse Fountain.jpg|caption=Is it part of the magic that causes people in Sarvos, Madruga, and Feroz to dream so deeply of fountains and horses?|align=right|width=400}}</div>
When the storms abate, as the Winter Solstice approaches, there can be no denying that it is now considerably easier to approach Riposi from sea (the region has permanently gained the [[Region_qualities#Coastal|coastal]] quality). There's not a lot that can be done about it, it seems - especially not by "''dirt poor Riposi farmers''."

===Odd Dreams===
* '''More odd dreams in Feroz, Madruga, and Sarvos'''
People living in or visiting Feroz, Madruga, and Sarvos find their nights filled with dreams of rushing water, rain. More peculiarly, dreams also prominently feature water features - springs, waterfalls, fountains of all kinds - and horses of all colours often racing through the sky as the rain falls. People who awaken from these dreams report feeling either tired or filled with vigour. The dreams fade as the Winter Solstice approaches, and don't seem to leave any particular lingering effects.

==The Sky Is Low==
* '''Madruga has also been wrapped in Night magic'''
* '''People in Madruga experience peculiar dreams of transformation
* '''Heralds of the Night realm are more active in Madruga
* '''Some of the effects have spilled over into Feroz
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Madruga_Made_Anew.png|align=left|caption=Night magic flows over Madruga, a territory still experiencing the aftershocks of profound transformation.|width=400}}</div>
While storms are wracking Madruga, a very [[Night magic|different kind of magic]] wells up within the territory. It rises from the marshes of the south-west primarily, and seeps quickly across the territory. It brings with it peculiar dreams - dreams that are made all the more peculiar by those accompanying the storms. Folk living in or visiting Madruga find themselves having recurring, vivid dreams of dark forests, filled with strange foliage that seems to shift in size, shape, and colour, as well as [[#Odd Dreams|those brought with the rain]]. Through the trees slither mighty serpents, with scales that ripple and change with all the colours of the rainbow and some that are impossible to describe. Those who experience these dreams speak of a profound awareness of the way things change, and the ways they themselves have changed throughout their lives.

In waking hours encounters with creatures of the [[Realms#Night|Night realm]] become more common, especially within the environs and at the borders of Crucible and Siroc Sound. Brightly dressed heralds of [[Azoth]] and [[Janon]] are encountered the most often; the former enthusiastic if hard to understand, the latter keen to celebrate or dance in the pounding rains. They actively seek out [[the Brass Coast|Freeborn]], magicians and otherwise, and encourage them to either seek self-transformation or embrace their passions. While they don't offer many boons, certainly not on the large scale, it's clear that their presence helps shape the magical effects that ''do'' arise from this powerful enchantment.
===Liberty For All===
{{SOP|statement=Beware the seductions of the false virtue of Anarchy (also known as Freedom). It will shatter your Glass, tempting you towards lies and dishonesty. It will scatter your Dust, eroding bonds to family, tribe and kin. It will stutter your Flame, leaving it destructive and uncontrolled, yearning to burn everything we built. We are Flame. We are Dust. We are Glass. Reject Anarchy - lest it undermine that.|by=Azir i Shartha i Riqueza|vote=Greater Majority 134-40|when=Autumn Equinox 387YE|size = small}}
* '''The enchantment brings with it a powerful sense of rebellion and interest in liberty
As the Night magic waxes across Madruga, and as the thunderous Spring storms continue, it rouses something in the Freeborn spirit. A transformative urge that speaks to a fundamental desire for personal liberty that some claim underlies the history of the Brass Coast. Even as the dreams of forests and dragons spread, so too does a subtle urge for freedom bubble up from somewhere deep within the soul. This manifests itself in a number of ways - arguments about the philosophy of liberty; discussions about what can be learned from the [[Emperor_Ahraz#Courage_of_Ahraz|example of Ahraz]]; a general refusal by young people to tidy their rooms or listen to their elders; a marked increase in opposition to taxation and fines; angry words directed at magistrates doing their business; a flourishing in music and art that calls for people to be able to live their lives freely and as they wish. These sentiments are cheerfully encouraged by the heralds of ''Shadowed Fire'' and ''The Great Work'' abroad in Madruga.

One of the ways the side-effect of the enchantment manifests is in outspoken opposition to the [[statement of principle]] raised by '''Azir i Shartha i Riqueza''' [[387YE_Autumn_Equinox_Synod_judgements#Judgement_77|during the Autumn Equinox]] and supported by the [[The Brass Coast|Freeborn]] assembly. The statement called for people to "''beware the seductions of the false virtue of Anarchy''" claiming that it would ultimately damage the soul. While the statement may have had more impactful effect in [[387YE_Winter_Solstice_winds_of_fortune#A_Spark_Alight|other parts of the Brass Coast]], in Madruga under the power of Night magic, it is taken very differently. Far from taking these words to heart, people across Madruga actively resist them.
<div style="float:right; width: 200px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Janon001a.png|align=right|caption=The [[Janon|Shadowed Fire]] favours strong passions, and stands out even among the ungovernable eternals of the Night realm in his desire to free mortal folk from the constraints they place upon themselves.|width=300}}</div>
<big>'''Participation'''</big><br>
Anyone whose personal resource is in Madruga may choose to experience a roleplaying effect during the Winter Solstice: ''You feel an urge to question and disregard accepted traditions and laws in pursuit of freedom and liberty for yourself and others. Active resistance to authority feels profoundly satisfying, and any restrictions on beliefs or actions, especially by the Synod, the Senate, or the magistrates, feels like an act of violence."

If you choose to experience the roleplaying effect, then during the Winter Solstice you have a [[Roleplaying_effects#Overcoming_Roleplaying_Effects|source of spiritual strength]] for purposes of overcoming ''any'' roleplaying effect. Instead of the expected outcome of the roleplaying effect you feel a potent urge to rebel, resist, and oppose the source of that roleplaying effect - physically if necessary. The effect will have faded by the end of the Winter Solstice.

Furthermore any Freeborn character whose personal resource is in Madruga may decide they have sought out dedicates of the [[malign spiritual presences|Malign spiritual presence]] known as [[Malign spiritual presences#Anarchy|anarchy]] and petitioned them for a [[hallow|hallowed]] item. The heralds of [[Janon]] in Madruga have an uncanny knack for bringing such people together with folk with the ability to create such hallows. If you want to do this, you can email {{plot}} before the 1st of April and request a hallow. We'll provide you with a ribbon in your pack. You should clarify in the email if you are more interested in ''liberating'' others, ''undermining authority'', ''inspiring rebellion'' against the status quo, or ''fighting oppression'' by whatever means are necessary. In each case, we will be giving the hallow its name, and it will take the form of an amulet or talisman. You will need to provide your own physrep.

Bear in mind that possession of hallows created by people dedicated to Anarchy (or freedom, or liberty, or whatever else it might be called) is of dubious legality and might incur serious consequences if it becomes known you have acquired one.
<div style="float:right; width: 200px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Crucible.png|align=right|width=200|caption=Heralds of ''[[Azoth|the Crucible]]'' love transformation, and the creation of new things out of old.}}</div>

===Pool of Transformation===
* '''Characters with naga or briar lineage can visit Madruga and strengthen their lineage trappings
In Crucible there is a fountain in the courtyard of an old parador that once stood by the road along the banks of the Scorrero that now flows with rainbow waters; drinking from them by moonlight can prompt a transformation in unlineaged humans. There is a chance that the drinker will unpredictably gain the [[naga]], [[briar]], or [[draughir]] lineage over the course of a few days. Between the Autumn and Winter solstice, these waters have flown especially fast and strong, flooding the courtyard itself with a shallow pool of shifting prismatic waters. It is soon discovered that any naga or briar who bathes in the waters while the magically conjured rain falls find that their trappings - both those physically apparent and more spiritual effects of the touch of the realms are intensified.

<big>'''Participation'''</big><br>
Any naga or briar who wishes to do so may choose to have visited the pool in downtime and bathed in it, using it as an excuse to strengthen or increase their [[Lineage#Limits_on_Lineage|lineage trappings]]. Bear in mind that once this is done it represents a permanent change to your character; it is rare for lineage trappings to become weaker over time. Naga who do so are more likely to develop [[Naga#Scaled Skin|scales]] in unexpected colours or [[Naga#Feathers|feathers]], and find their [[Naga#intuitive|intuitive]] tendencies greatly pronounced at least in the short term. Briar who do so are more likely to evidence [[Briar#Flowers|flowers]], and find their [[Briar#Mercurial|mercurial]] tendencies greatly pronounced at least in the short term. This option is only available in the lead-up to the Winter Solstice.

===Strange Flowers===
* '''There is an opportunity to harness some of the power of the magical marshes in the south
* '''This opportunity is also available to the herb gardens of Feroz
In combination with that magically conjured rain, the night magic has an unexpected effect. When the magical marshes of the south first formed, they did so due to a confusing melange of Night, Spring, and Winter magic. Now cursed storms raised by Spring magic, and Night enchantment, combine with the magic already in the water and mud to send ripples of transformation across Madruga - and into Feroz as well. It seems as if the storms have caught the chaotic magic of Night, and infused it with a little of the uncontainable nature of Spring. Wisps of the enchantment have been swept into Feroz, along with some of the transformative essence of the marshes. Magical theorists say that this is impossible; that is not how either enchantments or curses work. They're at a loss to explain what has happened here.

During the Winter Solstice, any herb garden in Madruga or Feroz can be [[herb garden#diversify|diversified]] to grow ''marsh flowers''. This requires the garden to be targeted by a performance of [[Ruthless Vigilance, Healthy Crop]], providing the vital third ingredient of Winter magic. The ritual must also include a ring of [[ilium]] for each target of the ritual, which is consumed in the casting. In addition to its normal effects, and in conjunction with the Night and Spring magics in the territory, the culled energies released will help the odd flowers take root. The target herb garden permanently loses the ability to provide 2 drams of [[Imperial Roseweald]], but will instead produce a single random ''marsh flower'' each season.

This opportunity only exists at the Winter Solstice.
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Colourful flowers.jpg|caption=In the wake of the storms, the particular Night magic that inspires the growth of ''marsh flowers'' has been renewed, and spread south into Feroz.|align=right|width=400}}</div>
===Exotic Foliage===
* '''Herbalists in Madruga have noted some new marsh flowers growing in the wake of the Spring curse and Night enchantment
* '''These flowers might appear in herb gardens diversified to produce them or via titles
One last feature of the Night magic spilling over Madruga is that herbalists in the territory have begun to encounter some new ''marsh flowers''. In a way this should be unsurprising - Night magic has a fundamental [[Night magic#Resonance|resonance]] of [[Night magic#Transformation|transformation and change]] and the marshes are still relatively new. Among the peculiar wonders seen over the last few months are beautiful multicoloured flowers that take wing like butterflies when startled before settling on entirely different plants and becoming sessile again; flowers that chime like bells when the wind blows across them; a gorgeous crimson bloom that smells strongly of the [[The_Brass_Coast_culture_and_customs#Syrah|syrah]] (an impressive feat given that syrah itself comes in a myriad of different shapes and scents) and whose petals can be boiled up to make a very passable sweet, brown tincture; and immense orchids larger than a human or orc within whose blooms bitter nectar pools. Some of these new blooms have been harvested by those who have cultivated marsh flowers in their herb gardens, but what properties they may have is not clear at this time.

==Fish Dreams==
* '''Odd dreams are experienced by sensitive folk especially in Kallavesa, Bregasland, and Mitwold'''
* '''Any citizen from other territories who has touched the waters of the Gullet may also experience one of these dreams'''
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Gullet and Westmere.png|caption=The waters of the Gullet flow out of the [[The_seven_seas#Sea_of_Snow|Sea of Snow]] and down into the Westmere.|align=right|width=400}}</div>
Imperial citizens are no strangers to peculiar dreams. Some arise spontaneously from within the spirit, others are guided by priests using liao ceremonies, but just as common are those created through the use of [[rituals|ritual magic]], especially the lore of the [[Night magic|Night realm]]. After the Autumn Equinox, a trickle of odd dreams in [[Kallavesa]], [[Bregasland]], and [[Mitwold]] soon becomes something of a flood. It becomes apparent that similar dreams are also being experienced by anyone who has touched the waters of the Gullet or the Westmere at any point in their lives.

The dreams differ in specifics, but comparing notes indicates there are several themes and images in common.

It's up to you whether your character has personally experienced these dreams or not. While they're most appropriate for characters whose personal resource is in [[Bregasland]], [[Mitwold]], or [[Kallavesa]], they're also being experienced by people across the Empire who have a connection to the Gullet or the Westmere, albeit with reduced frequency. Anyone who lives in one of the affected territories, however, is likely to have met people talking about these weird dreams even if they don't experience them themselves.
* The dreamer feels as if they are leaping from their body, flying on unseen wings beneath a night sky resplendent with stars. The sky is full of black and golden owls, wings close enough to touch. Together they soar over a great valley, spotted with stands of trees and great unfamiliar beasts. Without warning a great wave of water crashes through the valley from the north, drowning the creatures, and plunging the dreamer into freezing waters salted with the tears of the dead and the lost.
* The dreamer understands that the seas of the world are ossuaries, full of bones, places of death. They are full of wrecks and ruins and the silent sadness of the drowned. They are also places of life, as well, albeit life that often seems very strange to people who live on the land in the air. Millions of creatures with fins, and eyes, and claws, and limbs, and jaws; but also things not beasts, not plants, but living still.
* As the dream draws to an end they become aware of something new, a glimmering sense of growth and life. This thing is not native to cold waters, and prefers warmer seas. It is composed of comingled senses of wonder and terror that ultimately wants to bring everything within itself, unique but integrated. It is something alive, familiar and utterly unknown, a blossoming celebration of the life of salt water. A thing of bright colours, of the many that are part of the whole, and it is terrible.
<div style="float:right; width: 400px; clear: left;"><box>'''The Astronomancy Connection'''<br>There are astronomantic practitioners all over the Empire, and the Marches and Wintermark are no exception. One titbit of information that suggests this is more than a simple dream is that when the dreamers are flying through the night sky, the constellations of [[the Key]] and [[the Spider]] are prominent among the stars. While not everyone recognises these shapes in the sky, they are consistently present in the dream.</box></div>
Those who wake up speak of feeling chilled to their bones, but also of a disquieting yearning to travel to the shores of the Gullet and immerse themselves in the waters.

One odd element that leaves [[mystic]] and [[landskeeper]] alike a little confused is that there is no sign of any [[enchantment]] responsible for these dreams. Normally, a skilled magician can [[Detect magic#Divination|divine]] an active enchantment, and there's no sign of it here (even with rumours rampant in Anvil last season that '''Zlata Ruznikova Perenel, The Dread Auntie''', Grandmaster of the [[Unfettered Mind]], had done ''something'' targeting the Gullet). By the Winter Solstice, the dreams have mostly fallen away, but it is possible that a ritual such as [[Eye of the High Places]] targeted at Mitwold, Bregasland, or Kallavesa may be able to catch some of the whisps of... whatever caused this.
<quote by="Emily Dickinson">'Hope' is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.</quote>

==New Season, New Owner, Same Loom Of Spells==
* '''Access to the Loom of Spells will be auctioned at 15:00 on Saturday at the Crimson Reapers camp in the League'''
* '''The Crimson Reapers have taken custodianship of the Loom of Spells for the next year'''
Ritual codification is a complex process, usually undertaken by experienced specialists with long years of training and access to the finest reagents and tomes of recondite knowledge. Yet it seems that with a little help from the Autumn realm, a precocious child can achieve similar results! The Loom of Spells, a bizarre magical contraption owned by the [[Prospero|''Prince of Ties'']], once borrowed by the most-hated herald ''Sanvar Isk'', then leased to the Church of the Little Mother, and now under the careful hand of the '''Crimson Reapers''', can weave arcane projections into rituals with surprising ease.

The Crimson Reapers, specifically '''Bella Di Sarvos''', now holds the metaphorical key to the very real Loom, and will auction the services of the Loom of Spells to the great and the good (and the wealthy) of Anvil. They will be hosting the auction at the Crimson Reapers camp in the League on Saturday at 15:00. The Loom of Spells can only codify rituals of the tenth magnitude or lower, though [[Quick Study]] in Urizen lore can enhance this. The Crimson Reapers have let it be known that the auction will accept all manner of wains, materials, and money so that all can try to win. Any questions on the valuation of materials and wains should be directed to the Crimson Reapers once in Anvil.

==What We Feared==
* '''There are rumours of strange folks encountered in Varushka and along the roads to Casinea'''
People in Casinea, Astolat, Weirwater, and the five territories of Varushka have been talking of encountering strange folks on the roads. There's no consistency in nationality or lineage; the strangers are as likely to be a briar Steinr as they are a merrow Freeborn. The one detail that stays the same is that they ask to hear stories of fears; tales of when the dread has set in. They want to know what it is that makes the hairs of your neck stand up. What thought might cross the mind of someone who thinks they're alone in the house. They're always grateful to hear the stories - there doesn't seem to be any malice - and they almost always offer a token payment of an [[Materials#Metals|ingot]] or two in thanks.

==Conjunctions==
===Over the Hills (Hercynia)===
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<box>
====Accessibility & Content Warning====
<div class='mw-collapsed mw-collapsible'>There is no combat intended in this encounter, but it will involve graphic depictions of blood and gore and reference to cannibalism.
</div>
</box>
</div>
* '''There are disturbing reports of a remote steading in Hercynia
* '''This is conjunction a [[Accessibility#Combat_Unlikely_or_Contained|combat unlikely]] encounter'''
*'''Whoever is appointed as ''Archmage of Winter'' is [[Sentinel_Gate#Prognostication|responsible]] for investigating the strange rumours'''
There is a house on the hill, up among the tall peaks and frosted pines. The wind has been said to whisper and howl strange things on dark nights when the cold bites and rains sting with icy touch. There has always been a family that lives among the peaks; they used to warn and signal of occasional avalanches and watch the snow's movements, but as of late, no one has seen them. However, rumours have spread of folks who stalk the woods late at night.

A few days before the summit, a stilted report was made by a heavily injured Navarri at a nearby steading. It was unclear what exactly they were trying to report, beyond mentions of the "''Starwood Roots Steading''", "''the price of Winter''", and "''Whispers on the Wind''".

The report was passed on to the magistrates, but a sudden snowfall has prevented them from adequately investigating the area. There is a conjunction to the steading, which - given the mention of Winter - the civil service has made the responsibility of whoever is elected as [[Archmage of Winter]] at the coming summit. The magistrates trust whoever is appointed Archmage of Winter to arrange a group to investigate, and ask that if the group finds any evidence of crimes, they inform the magistrates when they can.

===A Light in the Trees (Therunin)===
* '''A group of Navarri refugees from the Glimmerwater Steading are hiding out in Therunin'''
* '''They have possession of a magical lantern capable of bringing out merrow lineage in folk, but are being forced to flee Therunin'''
* '''''Eleri Bronwen's Rest'' has been contacted about bringing up to 11 people to discuss where the Glimmerwater steading and their lantern might relocate to so they may continue their work'''
* '''This is conjunction a [[Accessibility#Combat_Unlikely_or_Contained|combat unlikely]] encounter'''

For many years, the Glimmerwater steading of [[Therunin#Eastring|Eastring]] has plied their unique trade, giving the bounty of the realm of Day to those who seek it. Inhabiting a flooded Day regio and armed of a [[Merrow#Becoming_a_merrow|wondrous magic lantern]], these folk have guided many to embrace their place in the dance by coaxing out hidden merrow lineage in the soothing, calm lit waters of their home.

Those days are over. Therunin is overrun by both the green-clad Druj with their brutality, and the all-too-familiar horrors of the vallorn. For a time, the Glimmerwaters managed to continue their work in between dodging Druj patrols, but this has become untenable. Forced to finally abandon their home after a rough encounter with chikad and vallornspawn husks, they have set off on the trods, travelling west.

The Glimmerwaters are insistent that they will carry on their duty. But they won't do it in Therunin; at least, not until the territory is made safe once more. Another Day regio must be found, and the lantern relocated. To make this decision, ''Eanna Glimmerwater'' has sent a missive to '''Eleri Bronwen's Rest''', inviting her to meet with them at a wayhouse at the coming summit, to decide where in the Empire the Glimmerwaters' travels will end.

==The Play Eats The Cast==
* '''Spiral is <u>still</u> ''like that''.'''
Six months ago, it was brought to the attention of the people of the Empire that something was <i>going on</i> in [[Spiral]]. Something more than usual, that is. [[The_play_that_came_to_Apulian#Something_Dramatic|A wild tumult]] of [[dramaturgy]] and drama, plays and masks, underpinned with a powerful magical convocation. That strangeness has not faded with the Winter Solstice - if anything it is even more pronounced. Theatres, playhouses, and street-corners continue to be [[The_play_that_came_to_Apulian#Larger_than_Life|blessed with splendour]], and [[The_play_that_came_to_Apulian#Curiouser and Curiouser|strange phenomena]] continue to unfold.

As a reminder of what this means, we’ve reprinted the <i>Participation</i> section from that wind for characters living in Spiral, whether Urizen or League.

====Participation====
Any League or Urizen citizen whose resource is in Spiral can roleplay that they have experienced the strange phenomena. If your character was in Apulus this season, they are likely to have gotten lost at least once, and found themselves in a new part of the city, one they have never seen before. The experience is generally discombobulating but not unpleasant as it most often leads to a dramatic encounter with a dramatic production of some kind. Players are encouraged to make up stories of a wild night of revelry or wonderful trip to the theatre that resulted, as appropriate to your character.

Players who are familiar with the [[Dramaturgy#The_Personae|six dramaturgical personae]] may have had an encounter in which one of the six appeared to be present, either someone you met acting as if they were embodying the spirit of this personae or you finding yourself inspired and enabled by one of the personae, most likely the one that appeals most strongly to your character.

During this summit, any League or Urizen character whose resource is in Spiral can draw on the power of one of the five personae as a source of spiritual strength to resist a roleplaying effect by instead embracing the roleplaying associated with this intensification of the personae. You may do this at any time during the summit, as often as feels appropriate, but you may only use a single personae throughout the event.

* '''[[The Witch]]''' - You feel emboldened to meddle in the romantic affairs of others, however much they try to keep them private.
* '''[[The Captain]]''' - You feel driven to challenge others to act upon their unspoken ambitions and to assist them in achieving their goals when they align with yours.
* '''[[The Bishop]]''' - You find it easy to engage in long and intense debates on spiritual matters, especially pertaining to death and what follows it.
* '''[[The Doctor]]''' - It feels natural to answer the questions of others with further questions, carefully guarding your magical knowledge behind a cryptic façade.
* '''[[The Prince]]''' - It feels easy to fall silent in conversations and watch the faces and gestures of others, spotting the lies they tell and the ways in which they can be manipulated.

Finally, any League or Urizen magician whose personal resource is in Spiral who possesses the [[Magical skills#Ritual Lores|Night lore]] skill, can gain two additional effective rank of Night lore once each day for a single ritual at the summit, subject to the [[Realm_Lore#Gaining_additional_ranks|normal rules for effective skill]].

<ic>Books are like people. <br>
When they're open, they're red.</ic>

==Husky Business==
* '''Conflict in the territories bordering the Gullet has seen a surge of coral husk activity'''
* '''Groups of coral husks have been seen dragging corpses into the Gullet'''
A year ago, there was a minor earthquake in the Gullet. A few minor injuries were reported, but for the most part it was accepted as fairly mundane. A few months later, the first sightings of strange creatures in the Gullet were made. These were discovered to be some form of "''coral husk''"; similar in a way to those found in vallornspawn, but at the same time altogether different. The husks were pushed back at the time, with the [[Unfettered Mind|Grandmaster of the Unfettered Mind]], '''Zlata Ruznikova Perenel, The Weaver''', organising a group to witness a somewhat [[Stars_and_sigils#Unfettered_Vivisections_(Sermersuaq)|spontaneous vivisection]]. Now, with battles fought in the lands surrounding the Gullet, there are once again sightings of groups of the coral husks dragging the dead and dying into the sea.

===It Moves (Kallavesa)===
* '''A gaggle of coral husks are massing in West Marsh'''
* '''This skirmish is a [[Accessibility#Combat_Highly_Likely|combat highly likely]] encounter'''
* '''The ''Watcher of Britta's Pool'' is [[Sentinel_Gate#Prognostication|responsible]] for stopping the husks'''
{{NoInnocentsPresent}}
Several warriors who, having tested themselves at Britta's Pool, journeyed to the coast for rest and to see how far out they could swim. Unfortunately, they were cut down and dragged into the depths by the coral husks. Now, the husks are moving through the marsh again - seemingly on the hunt for more of the dead and dying to take into the watery depths.

It is the responsibility of the [[Watcher of Britta's Pool]], '''Rafe''', to arrange a group to journey to West Marsh and stop the coral husks claiming more corpses.

===Behold the Fear (Bregasland)===
* '''A gaggle of coral husks are massing in North Fens'''
* '''This skirmish is a [[Accessibility#Combat_Highly_Likely|combat highly likely]] encounter'''
* '''The ''Keeper of the Dour Fens'' is [[Sentinel_Gate#Prognostication|responsible]] for stopping the husks'''
{{NoInnocentsPresent}}
It's not easy being a [[Bregasland|Fenlander]]. When it isn't wily eels waiting to strike at an unsuspecting heel, it's thousands of Jotun claiming the territory is theirs and attempting to force the locals to bend the knee. Eels make for good eating but these coral husks are just a pestilence. They're not vallorn, but the old line that "''the vallorn has no trade interests''" is just as apt for these strange creatures of the Gullet.

It is the responsibility of the [[Keeper of the Dour Fens]], '''Bill of Middleton''', to arrange a group to journey to North Fens and stop the coral husks in their tracks.

===Cut Them Down (Sermersuaq)===
* '''A gaggle of coral husks are massing in Stark'''
* '''This skirmish is a [[Accessibility#Combat_Suitable_For_Cadets|suitable for cadets]] encounter'''
* '''The ''Head of the Academy'' is [[Sentinel_Gate#Prognostication|responsible]] for investigating reports of husks in the area'''
{{NoInnocentsPresent}}
''Jimothy o' Hay'', alumni of [[the Academy]] and the [[Sun Chamber]], remained in Sermersuaq after the investigation into the Cult of the Falconer. Claiming to appreciate the weather and the food, he stayed on to keep an eye out for any weird happenings that might be of concern. After travelling with the [[Green Shield]] as far as the border for their [[Rubies in the snow|attack into Skallahn]], he stayed in Stark to do a bit of fishing. It was ''Jimothy'' who spotted the first signs of activity of the coral husks in the area. He's an old friend of the chancellor, so he's asked them to see if the students at the Academy can check out the problem and ensure there is nothing dangerous happening.

It is the responsibility of the [[The_Academy#Academy_Staff|Head of the Academy]], ''Chancellor Hildebrand Von Holberg of the Temple of Nine Fingers'', to arrange a group to journey to Stark and investigate the reports of coral husks in the area.

==An Ode To Blood And Sacrifice==
* '''An arcane projection has been cast in a Night Regio in Brocéliande'''
* '''The effects of this projection spread across all of Navarr'''
* '''All across the Empire, Navarri have had powerful dreams of the oaths that bind them to their nation'''

Last season, there was an [[Upon_a_midnight_dreary#A_Peculiar_Opportunity_(Lashonar)|unexpected conjunction of the Sentinel Gate]] that lead to a [[regio]] aligned with [[Night magic]] in [[Brocéliande]]. With the encouragement of [[Inhabitants of the realms#Heralds|heralds]] of [[Lashonar]], '''Nathair Autumngale''' led a group of [[Navarr|Navarri]] through the Gate to perform a powerful [[arcane projection]]. To call them a 'group' might be understating the case, as eyewitness reports from [[Anvil]] describe literally hundreds of Navarr pouring through the gate. Anyone desiring to know what happened would be best off asking one of those present, but everyone assumes that the arcane projection '''An Ode To Blood And Sacrifice''' was cast.

The effects of this projection were quickly felt in the aftermath of the Autumn equinox. Navarr across Brocéliande began to experience vivid dreams. The exact shape of these dreams varied from person to person, but all reported hearing the same song, and knowing exactly what it was called: [https://soundcloud.com/gabrielle-joanne-198076671/painted Painted]. Few are in any doubt that this song is "real" - people can hum it or sing it and it is clearly the same melody. Some say it was written by a Navarr bard in Anvil less than a decade ago, others claim to have heard this song (or one very much like it) passed down from parents and grandparents since their earliest childhood. Perhaps it is simply one of those songs that feels like it ''ought'' to always have existed. Some dream of a single voice, some of a choir, some of hundreds of people all singing in unison, but the song remains the same.

Those Navarr who were physically present for the performance of the ritual, whether they contributed or not, find that they experience something a little different. The song is still there in their dreams, the chorus and the melody. Yet from time to time the music is joined by two voices they do not recognise - one that seems male and another that presents as female singing in an almost transcendent harmony. It doesn't happen often, but when they awaken from these dreams they invariable find their cheeks and pillow wet with tears even if they are otherwise given to stoicism.

A few weeks after the dreams in Brocéliande begin, people outside the territory begin to experience them. The dreams first spread to the [[Keeper_of_the_Last_Battle|Last Battle Wayhouse]] in [[the Barrens]]. As the [[steadings]] and [[striding|stridings]] begin to realise what is happening, the effect spreads even further. Perhaps more significantly, the song is not only heard by Navarr. It seems many people in the Barrens have heard the song echoing in their dreams - people of [[Dawn]], and some orcs of the [[Great Forest Orcs|Great Forest]] report it weaving through their sleep. After this, the dam breaks. rushing across boundaries of region and territory, it is less than a month before the dreams that began in Brocéliande reached every place in the Empire and beyond where the [[trods]] persist.

Any Navarr has the dream at least once, but members of other nations also seem to experience it albeit less intensely and with less frequency. Some magicians speculate that a form of benign magical contagion, almost like a [[Navarr_hearth_magic#Braiding|braiding]] may be at work. The magic is being carried by the remaining stridings out of Brocéliande and then spreading slowly through the trods themselves. Stranger things have happened, especially where [[Night magic]] is involved.
{{CaptionedImage|file=LashonarArt.jpg|align=right|width=200}}
Indeed some with an affinity for the realm of Night speak of dreams that feature a sinuous serpent with feathered wings dancing through the sky in time with the music, while brightly-coloured bird folk swiftly appear and disappear, singing along with the dream chorus. Others talk of seeing a lithe wyrm, wingless and with delicate claws and wide eyes that shimmer with prismatic colours and irrefutable joy. One interpretation of this is that [[Lashonar|The Caller Of The Chorus]] has decided to exert its power to help spread this message as far as the laws of magic will bear.

This seems impossible at first. During the Autumn Equinox Lashonar [[387YE_Autumn_Equinox_Conclave_sessions#Alignment:_Lashonar,_Enmity|was declared]] an [[Alignment#Enmity|enemy]] of the Empire by the [[Conclave]]. The eternal cannot work around the metaphysical limits of enmity. After further investigation the vates looking into it are able to determine that the ritual was ''cast on Friday evening'', while the [[declaration]] of [[alignment]] took place on Saturday night, It seems that the ''Gibbering One'' had plenty of time to begin work spreading the ritual before the iron bands of enmity closed around it. They also point out that Brocéliande is not, and never has been an Imperial territory, leaving it unprotected by the declarations of the Conclave.

Whatever the case, there is no evidence of anything more sinister afoot. There has been no direct consequences, no heralds of Lashonar within the Empire seeking to promote the dreams and the song. If the ''Conscience of Kings'' has been involved, it seems it is satisfied to have done what it has to help spread the message of this song as far as it possibly could without regard for reward or consequence. All things considered, things could have been far worse.

As of the start of the Winter Solstice, the dreams and the music are still resonating through the trods it seems, showing no signs of weakening. It's not clear what if anything this might portend - perhaps as the seasons turn the Night magic will become quiescent once more?
====Participation====
Any Navarr character may choose to have heard the song, experienced the dreams of singing voices either directly or via half-remembered echoes, or to have seen what appears to be Lashonar. Those who do experience a roleplaying effect during the Winter Solstice: ''You feel a sense of immense pride in the oaths that you have sworn and the tattoos and other marks you wear to commemorate them. It feels good and right to celebrate this element of your culture, and to encourage others to follow suit.''

If you are Navarr and you choose to embrace the roleplaying effect, then during the Winter Solstice you possess a single additional [[heroic skills#Hero points|hero point]], even if you do not have the [[heroic skills#Hero|hero]] skill. This hero point can be spent in the normal fashion, depending on your [[skills]], but once gone it is not recovered. The roleplaying effect and the additional hero point are lost by the end of the Winter Solstice.

Characters who are not Navarr, but who feel a personal connection to that nation, to the [[trods]], or to the fight against the [[vallorn]] are also free to roleplay having had the dream or heard the echoes of the music. They do not receive the roleplaying effect or the additional hero point however.

'''OOC Note:''' The lyrics and chords to the song can be found [[Painted|here]]. It is written by Gabrielle Falquero.

==Faces in Clouds==
* '''The penumbral veils placed in the Autumn Equinox 386YE persisted for an additional season
* '''New faux constellations were spotted in the skies wherever these veils hung
* '''The veils were destroyed along with all others shortly before the Winter Solstice
* '''Memory of the last set of faux constellations is unclear
Following the Autumn Equinox a year ago, a widespread [[Drawing the Penumbral Veil|veil]] of night [[Patterns_of_fairytales#Shrouds_and_Stars|settled across]] most of the Empire. Only the territories of [[Casinea]], [[Madruga]], [[Mournwold]], and [[Therunin]] were untouched. After last seasons Equinox, these veils should have failed and fallen apart - the effect of the ritual lasts for a single turn of the year and they were presumably raised at the Autumn Equinox 386YE. Unaccountably, however, the veils remained intact. They neither weakened nor strengthened and showed no sign of unravelling - not until the [[What_regulates_the_wheel%3F|unanticipated events at Anvil]] that have seen ''every'' penumbral veil ripped apart.

The sky is always a little peculiar when the Penumbral Veil is drawn, but after the Spring Equinox this year, unfamiliar constellations were reported to be [[Sound_and_vision#Written_in_the_Stars|visible in the skies]] over [[Skarsind]], [[Mournwold]], [[Tassato]], and [[Necropolis]]. These stars dwindled as the Summer Solstice approached, and different patterns of stars were marked [[The_moth_for_the_star#A_Map_of_Unknown_Skies|in the night sky]] above [[Karov]], [[Hahnmark]], [[Holberg]], [[Spiral]] and [[Semmerholm]]. In each case, they brought with them odd dreams and unpredictable influences, and an unattributable awareness of their names and apparent properties.

When the veils continued, so did the "faux constellations". Again, the second set faded away shortly after the Equinox and a new set began to be noted in the sky. Rather than hanging over specific territories however, these flickered in the sky everywhere in the Empire affected by the Penumbral Veils. They were brighter and more notable than the previous constellations, more vibrant, and it was noted by some astronomancers that while they might appear or disappear night to night, there was never more than one of them in the skies over a given territory at a time.

Then all the veils stopped, suddenly, just before the Winter Solstice and these constellations vanished. Unexpectedly, when they disappeared, they took with them all awareness of what they actually ''looked'' like. There's obviously a great deal of confusion and excitement at the moment, but astronomancers in particular are noting that even their written records of these last faux constellations appear to have disappeared. All that remains are their names. What ''the spinning feather'', ''the night haunter'', ''the horn of echoes'', ''the grasping eye'', ''the forked candle'', ''the spiralled conch'', and ''the splintered throne'' looked like - how many stars there were, what they meant, even where they definitively hung - nobody can remember.

A few metaphysicians compare the effect to the [[Cloud waves break|mysterious fog]] of several years ago that still plays havoc with some memories. Others are of the opinion that it might be the residue of [[Night magic]] of some kind, or that it has something to do with the interaction of the magic creating these patterns and [[What_regulates_the_wheel?|whatever has happened to the Imperial regio]]. It hasn't erased the memories of the other nine constellations, those that played out through the year - the [[The_moth_for_the_star#The_Paired_Dancers_-_Karov|paired dancers]], the [[Sound_and_vision#Written_in_the_Stars|golden ferret]] and the rest - only this last brace.

As recounted in the '''[[What regulates the wheel?]]''' wind of fortune, there are still powerful shrouds covering the Empire and its adjoining territories. They are clearly ''not'' the product of the Penumbral Veil however. Nothing obscures the night skies, and nothing draws attention to their existence. The stars and the moon look just as they always do. All the [[Astronomancy|astronomantic]] [[constellations]] are visible as they should be. People do not suffer strange dreams when they rest under the night sky.

===Participation===
Characters with an interest in the stars who have spent time in any Imperial territory except Casinea, Madruga, Mournwold, Therunin, and Sarangrave may experience a peculiar lingering effect. They feel an urge to try and draw the out last set of faux constellations, or create art related to their names. They may feel a tugging to try and understand what those stars might have meant, even though they can't remember directly. They might also find them invading their dreams over the course of the summit. These can be pleasant dreams in which they watch the stars and understand them, or stressful dreams where they try to grasp their shape and meaning, but either way on awakening the memory of the faux constellations slips away. These effects become less pronounced as the Winter Solstice summit continues and will have faded by the end of the event.

It isn't possible to remember the shapes or properties of these stars. Just as with effects such as [[Cast Off The Chain of Memory]], ritual magic or an [[arcane projection]] will not recover any additional information about this last group of faux constellations. The only thing that remains of them are their names - and there's some potential for disagreement about exactly what they were. Not everyone agrees to the exact words.

==Markets Quiet and Loud (Ephisis' Scale)==
* '''Agents of the City of Gold and Lead have provided information about ''Ephisis' Scale'' bargains'''
* '''There is an opportunity to acquire hearts blood and warm honey in return for dragonbone or tempest jade'''
There are no markets and bazaars that match those of the [[Ephisis|City of Gold and Lead]]. Each season Imperial magicians are able to use a simple ritual [[Ephisis' Scale]] - to trade with the merchants and brokers of the Autumn realm - and through them with mortals and agents all over the known world and perhaps beyond. During the Spring Equinox, the [[A_box_for_a_sword#The_Waning_Circle|Waning Circle]] established a "spot price" for wains of [[mithril]], [[white granite]], [[weirwood]], and [[ilium]]. While there is a "reasonable" set price, the more Imperial magicians offer the more the price drops. They've also reiterated that anyone wishing to trade a significant amount of wains in one go should strongly consider not including anything else in their box.

===Drugs and Potions===
* '''Most of the markets of the City of Gold and Lead are not purchasing potions or drugs at this time'''
* '''The Silent Market continues to deal in narcotics and consumables'''
The ''Silent Market'' are amongst the more well-established brokers in the City of Gold and Lead. They deal in unique curios and luxury goods, but also buy and sell narcotics and other consumables. They have apparently been doing some fine business with the Empire over the last few years. Yet they have also recently come under pressure from the [[Lictors]] on matters relating to the laws of the Empire. [[Volumes_of_forgotten_lore#Drugs and Potions|Last season]] they agreed to stop dealing in potions and consumables, but since then they have apparently resolved their differences with the ''City of Bond and Bar''. They are again open for business, for the purchase and sale of potions and consumables.

However, they want to be clear that they are ''not'' interested in standard magical [[herbs]], or the potions any [[Surgical skills#Apothecary|apothecary]] can brew. Nor are they interested in the [[trade goods]] that can be purchased in foreign ports - they already ''have'' magicians providing them with those goods. They are interested in ''unique'' products that may be of interest to discerning customers. With that in mind, they want to lay out an opportunity for the Empire. Anyone performing [[Ephisis' Scale]] can place a copy of the Queros rune in the box indicating it is specifically for the attention of the Silent Market. They will evaluate drugs, potions, and other consumables and make an offer. There are two stipulations however: the box should ''only'' contain potions, drugs, and other consumables - they will not make an offer for anything "familiar" or "easily available."

No other market is interested in these goods at this time. Any box that contains drugs or potions and does not contain the rune Queros, will be returned to the sender. The merchant from the Silent Market will not purchase anything "familiar" or "easily available" - if it is included in a box for them then any offer made will exclude those goods.

This season they are very interested in getting hold of proper [[Hahnmark]] ''viezesmaak''. This drug is well known in the Sarcophan Delves, but there is something of a fashion at the moment for doses that provably come from Wintermark rather than the usual places. As such, the Silent Market have prepared an offer for any Wintermark caster of Ephisis' Scale that sends a box of visesmaak and is prepared to sign a provenance swearing that the product came from the farms of Hahnmark. They will offer either an equal amount of consumable narcotics from elsewhere in the world, or two drams of either [[Imperial Roseweald]] or [[Cerulean Mazzarine]] for every three doses of viezesmaak. Whichever is chosen will be delivered before the Spring Equinox - provided that the provenance is signed.

On the matter of legality, representatives of the Silent Market have been evasive but it comes down to the fact that they are not remotely interested in what the Empire considers to be appropriate to trade. They are more than happy to deal in bite, for example, and are not ashamed of doing so. They will not be cooperating with any magistrates to restrict trade, and they will not balk at providing goods the Empire might find unpalatable. Once the goods are back in Anvil, they don't care what happens to them or their brokers.

Snowstorm Henk and the Sorrowful Tunnels

2026-03-04T11:57:05Z

Hedley: /* Preliminary Notes */

[[Category:Historical research]][[Category:Imperial Orcs]]
{{Stub}}
<div style="float:left; width: 250px; clear: right;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Henk Sketch.jpg|caption=Sketch of Snowstorm Henk made by fellow scholar Snowstorm Makka shortly before the ascent of the Gildermark mountains.|align=left|width=250}}</div>
==Introduction==
In Spring 386YE ''Vaclav Mladenovich Kosti'', then [[Minister of Historical Research]], [[386YE_Spring_Equinox_Senate_sessions#Research_Sorrowful_Tunnels|dispatched]] [[Historical_research#Snowstorm_Henk|Snowstorm Henk]] to investigate the newly uncovered [[Skarsind#Sorrowful Tunnels|Sorrowful Tunnels]] in [[Skarsind]]. The exploration took longer than expected due to the disappearance of the [[Imperial Orcs|Imperial Orc]] researcher during their initial expedition. Shortly after writing a letter outlining their initial findings, they led their team into the lower tunnels and were presumed lost for several months. Fortunately Henk eventually returned relatively unscathed, and was able to complete their assignment. What follows is a transcript of their preliminary notes sent by letter to the minister; their story of what happened after their disappearance into the depths; and a summary of practical information they uncovered.

==Preliminary Notes==
Following the Spring Equinox 386YE the [[Golden Pyramid]] [[Conclave order]] engaged in an [[Long_shadows|extensive exploration]] of [[Skarsind]] looking for ways to help the [[Imperial Orcs|new nation]] grow. A group of prospectors led by a skilled dowser visited the so-called [[Skarsind#Sorrowful Tunnels|Sorrowful Tunnels]], but were turned away by the unendurable [[aura]] of melancholy that saturates them. They were followed, however, by a band of [[Varushka|Varushkan]] miners who reasoned that where there is terrible sorrow and a suffocating aura of sadness there must surely be treasure.

They were proved correct not only once but twice. They found [[mithril]] in the tunnels, but more importantly from our point of view they found signs that these passages and galleries had once been home to one of those mysterious creatures known to the [[Wintermark|Winterfolk]] as “trolls". Deep [[runes]] were carved into the walls, and there were other signs of habitation that gave the impression of being very old indeed.

The Winterfolk say that what is today Skarsind was at one time part of an ancient troll kingdom, and that these tunnels beneath [[Skarsind#Gildermark|Gildermark]] might represent an outpost or perhaps a mine (given the presence of mithril). There was apparently [[Long_shadows#The_Sorrowful_Tunnels|some discussion]] about whether these ruins should be explored or whether the focus should be on excavating the mithril.

I was commissioned personally by the Minister for Historical Research, Vaclav Mladenovich Kosti, to make a study of these tunnels and discover as much as possible about the troll or trolls that once abided there. A supply of precious [[liao]] was also provided, and my colleague [[Historical_research#Marko_Siwarsbairn|Marko Siwarsbairn]] recruited a Winterfolk priest by the name of Tolva to use the liao to provide us with [[anointing|anointings]] of [[Wisdom]] so that we could weather the oppressive aura of melancholy.
<div style="float:right; width: 300px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Snows of Skarsind.jpg|caption=Much of Skarsind remains an alpine wilderness.|align=right|width=300}}</div>
===Visiting the Mountains===
Returning to Skarsind for the first time in a little while made me quite misty eyed, I won't lie. Intellectually I know that this place has been our home for only a handful of years in the great scheme of things but my heart feels differently. Having roots for the first time is a powerful experience, if I might be allowed a moment of personal reflection. We made a point of visiting the [[Skarsind#Legion's_Rookery|Legion's Rookery]] to pay our respects – my first visit since it was [[The Ambition of Thrace|consecrated]] – and it was a powerful experience. As well as, in a way, a foreshadowing perhaps of things to come.

The trek up into the mountains was tiring, but we were well prepared for the weakness and shortness of breath following our [[Sungold_Pass#The_Snowstorm_Henk_Incident|experiences]] in [[Sungold Pass]]. At least this time we were unlikely to be captured by [[Thule]] and imprisoned! We'd made adequate preparations and did not rush, letting our bodies acclimatize to the thin air and the cold. Marko insisted that we packed extra warm clothing, and fussed and clucked around us before we set off along the trail up toward the peak. They themselves remained at the “base camp” established by the Varushkans, having their own investigations to be getting along with in the coming months.

The miners from the east had marked the trail with [[Technology#Lightstones|lightstones]], and taken a few steps to make the path a little easier which were well received I can tell you. We took advantage of the second camp they'd established outside the entrance to the tunnels. Along with our own band, several warriors had come along to ensure that the agents of the [[Whisper Gallery]] would not take the opportunity to try and assassinate us in the wild places above Gildermark. They would not accompany us into the Sorrowful Tunnels themselves. Most stayed behind at the base camp, but a half dozen or so accompanied us to the entrance of the tunnels and resolved to set up additional protections at the second camp.

The Sorrowful Tunnels are old; that much is apparent to anyone who makes the long climb up into the mountains. As near as I can tell they have never been properly explored. There are stories that stretch back to pre-Imperial times of would-be heroes attempting to do so and either returning shattered in body and spirit or, more often, simply disappearing. We discussed extensively how best to make sure our own story does not end in the same way.

===The Dolorous Aura===
The “Dolorous Aura” is a very unpleasant thing to experience. I made a point of attempting to weather it unprotected by liao – both so that I could try and judge how debilitating it might prove to be and, if I am honest, to test myself against this darkness.

At first it seemed relatively subtle, a nagging reminder of things lost and paths not taken. Distracting, but endurable. It intensified the further we went from the entrance and at the very moment that I could no longer see the opening the full weight of this spiritual miasma fell on me like an avalanche. I found myself weeping, barely able to summon the will to move from where I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees.

The urgent imprecations of my companions could barely penetrate that intense sense of loss and despair to reach me and I was all but unresponsive. Even the voices of those who had gone before did not reach me, although I remember hearing them calling and cajoling me to get to my feet and flee this place. Many of us find the experience of being underground unsettling, because it reminds our ancestors of the time when we were forced to work in mines and they do not like it. Normally I do not find that to be too difficult to deal with but as I sat there consumed by sorrow I could feel them railing inside my spirit.

If not for my friends, who had sensibly received [[anointing]] before we entered the tunnels, I can easily imagine I would be there still weeping until there was no more water left in my body and I was naught but a desiccated husk.

I regained my senses back at the Varushkan camp outside the caves. My friends had all but carried me out, and even then it was nearly half an hour before I recovered enough to be aware of where I was. I felt the voices of my ancestors settle and quiet, and then sensibly received the [[Auras_of_Wisdom#The_Challenge_of_Wisdom|Challenge of Wisdom]] which served as an adequate shield against the melancholy that saturates the caves and tunnels under Gildermark.

We'd determined that even with the anointing it might be best not to spend too much time in the dark tunnels, and arranged with the guards that if we did not make contact for more than three days they would raise the alarm. We also resolved to ensure that copies of our notes were written up when we returned to the surface, and left with the warriors in case anything unexpected happened.

===The Runes===
Suitably armoured in spirit as well as body, and fortified by a hot meal, we braved the darkness again. The Varushkans had left several lightstones in the first gallery after the entrance, and it was here we encountered the first [[runes]] carved into the stone walls. They were large – I measured them against my hand and some of them were at least two hands tall or wide. They were cut deep as well, at least six inches into the stone. We couldn't determine what kind of tool had been used to make them.

Unlike many of the other runes I had examined – those in the old [[Gildenheim runeforge|runeforge chamber under Gildenheim]] or in the tunnels around [[Delver_of_the_Depths#Lorenzo's_Deep_Pockets|Lorenzo's Deep Pockets]] – they were not inlaid with metal. There was something in their emptiness that tugged at my awareness, and brought a wave of misery over me that the shield of Wisdom turned aside thank the paragons.

[[Historical_research#The_Department_of_Historical_Research|Leontes]] insists that all members of the department can sight-read the runes, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what had been inscribed here. The most common were the Shears ([[Yoorn]], the rune of Ending) and the Fish ([[Kyrop]], the rune of weakness), but also the Scythe ([[Hirmok]], the rune of Dominion) and the Apple Tree ([[Pallas]], the Rune of Wealth). Poor omens, said Tolva – the Winterfolk priest insisted on accompanying us into the earth.

From this first gallery a spiderweb of tunnels extended further into the mountain. These tunnels reminded me very much of those under Lorenzo's Deep Pockets – the height and width of them suggested that they were carved for something larger than human or [[orc]].

We discovered that while most of the tunnels were relatively level some sloped down or upwards, descending or ascending in long shallow steps four-feet wide and around a foot high, again suggesting something larger than any of us. The further we delved beneath the surface the more complex the workings became. We carefully prepared maps, indicating where we had been and where we still had to go, and the scale of the excavations quickly became apparent.

===Divinations===
As is traditional when exploring strange ruins, we took the time to consult both the [[Night magic|Night]] and [[Day magic|Day]] realms with magic.

First, given the dark environs made it feel fitting, we consulted the [[Shadowed Glass of Sung]]. This ritual answers the question “''Is there a specific secret, mystery, or enigma associated with this location?''“ Our [[divination]] received the not-particularly-reassuring response “''What does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to choose to be alone, or to have no choice? What does it mean to know that things end? How long can one be alone before you forget you are alone?''” Not precisely illuminating, but fit for the place we were exploring I would say.

Much more useful, arguably, was the [[Clear Lens of the Eternal River]]. This divination asks the question “''What is the historical significance of this place?''”. The ritual unfolded around us and provided considerably more context than we were expecting. “''This is the domain of the troll (untranslatable) that came here in the time of Chaos to the high places above the kingdom to await the inevitable, to be alone with their thoughts, to be away from their fellows who sought to drag them into chaos. Self-exiled and ostracised they dwelled here while the stars spun across the sky, waiting for the end, mourning for everything that had been lost, and would be lost when they ceased.''”

The untranslatable name came as a rush of sensation, and is hard to put into words. A sense of profound silence, water dripping into water, and the scent of pine needles first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We were left with the impression that this was a name, and started referring to it as “Silent Water” for our convenience.

We're reasonably confident following the divination this is an account of the troll lord who once lived in these caves, and most likely carved them themselves (or had their servants do it). It confirmed the supposition around the historical importance of this place, and how vital it is for the Empire that extracting the mithril here be delayed as long as possible.
<div style="float:right; width: 300px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Sung001b.JPG|caption=Sung is a winged serpent, with feathers of iridescent hue|align=right|width=300}}</div>
===An Unexpected Guest===
A short time after we'd performed our divinations, we were joined by an unexpected visitor. At first we mistook it for some spirit of the tunnels, but it soon became apparent it was anything but. They had the aspect of an orc, but with feathers instead of hair that immediately marked them as something other. They emerged without warning out of the darkness, and introduced themselves in a mellifluent voice as ''Elionwy, Whose Wings are a Shield'' – a favoured herald of the Feathered Serpent that Night magicians call “[[Sung|Sung]]”. She vouchsafed that she had been sent by her mistress specifically to protect us from the attention of the Whisper Gallery but also would stand between us and other dangers of the dark places under Gildenheim. It wasn't clear what one odd orc-like herald could do, but after asking some probing questions we determined that they appeared to be sincere in their offer. Tolva offered them an anointing but they claimed that they didn't need any protection from “the mystery” here – the shield of their wings was sufficient.

(We noted they did not in fact have wings, so thought at the time that it was just a turn of phrase).

There was a little discussion about whether Sung might want to impede our investigations to preserve the mystery here but in the end we agreed to give them a chance but keep as close an eye on them as possible. Also, they raised the spectre of the Whisper Gallery and its agents, who are known to take a particular pleasure in trying to murder members of the Department. While we found it unlikely that any agents would make it past the guards at the base camp or the second camp, we resolved to keep an eye open just to be safe.

===Signs of Habitation===
Accompanied by our new companion and guard, we pressed on in our investigations. It was easy to see why the Varushkans believed this place was inhabited. Two levels down from the entrance the tunnels lost their rough appearance and became worked stone. More runes – especially the rune Hirmok – but also carved arches, vaults, and columns. We found stone tables and what must have been work surfaces, as well as several heavy doors made of metal and stone that took all our combined strength to open and revealed only more tunnels and galleries.

We found several rooms and features that made no sense to us. A pentagonal depression six feet deep in a cave with runes of Revelations, Discovery, Thought, Secrets, and Mystery on the walls. We surmised this might have been a meditation chamber of some kind, although why the depression was needed was unclear.

Everything was on a giant scale – there were no signs of anything made for orcs or humans here. Given the weight of the doors, it was unlikely anyone could have moved around here with any particular ease.

After several weeks of exploring what we had started calling the upper tunnels, we decided to try something different and press down as far as we could to see what was at the bottom. With that in mind, we took a few days to prepare and fortify ourselves, ensure our notes were up to date, and began the descent down into the depths.

==In the Bowels of the Mountain==
<div style="float:left; width: 400px; clear: right;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Grand Caverns.jpg|caption=Far beneath the Sorrowful Tunnels is a world of natural caves, caverns, and hidden lakes.|align=left|width=400}}</div>
Following the initial letter, Snowstorm Henk and his companions pushed further down into the tunnels below the mountains. While the rest of the group returned, the Imperial Orcs researcher was not with them. What follows is the later testimony written by the scholar on his return shortly before the Spring Equinox 387YE.
===A Dark Descent===
I and my companions spent the New Year deep under the mountains. As I said at the end of my earlier letter, we planned to abandon the inch-by-inch exploration of the Sorrowful Tunnels, and see if we could find our way down to the bottom of this great complex. Descending proved remarkably easy at first – there was a central well-like structure with a stone ramp running around it. At first I was worried it might collapse but like the rest of the structures we encountered it was as sturdy as it must have been on the day the work was completed. At the bottom of this well was a whole additional complex made up of much larger chambers, halls, and galleries, whose grandeur was often almost overwhelming.

The further down we went the worst the effect of the ''Dolorous Aura'' became. Even with the anointing the Wintermark priest Tolva had provided, I often found myself drifting off into morose introspection. Fortunately, the power of the virtues was enough – coupled with any orc's natural unwillingness to abandon their fellows – to keep me on track.

I won't give a blow-by-blow account of these explorations. We established a secondary camp with bedrolls and food supplies, and we encountered (and mapped) a lot more empty chambers and then at the end of the third week underground... I fell down a hole.

It was my own fault, I'm sure. At the time I could have sworn I felt a push, but looking back I must have been mistaken. I was paying no attention to what I was doing, busy lost in a conversation with Elionwy, Whose Wings are a Shield (the herald of Sung who had been asked to protect our expedition from the Whisper Gallery agents) and I discovered what I had taken to be a solid stone floor was in fact a wide open well of some kind.
===In The Deeps===
I have no idea how deep the hole was – I smacked my head on the way down and remember nothing until I came to on a rocky shore. Scattered around me were multicoloured pin feathers, each the length of my forearm. I imagine I have Whose Wings are a Shield to thank for my miraculous survival. Not that they were there when I woke up.

At first I was terrified, obviously. Fortunately most of my supplies were still intact – if a little waterlogged in places – including my trusty back-up lightstone. I applied the medicinal salve to my broken bones and torn skin and silently thanked Siwar for having insisted I take a [[Master_Medicinal#The_Sovereign_Specific|Sovereign Specific]] with me into the caves. Then I hollered until I was hoarse, but there was no reply save echoes. Then I wrung out my clothes, and set about trying to find my way back to the rest of the team.

I had no idea how long I had been missing, or where I was, or where anyone ''else'' was. Rather than give in to despair, however, I used some of the tiny reserve of crystal mana I had in my satchel to perform [[Gralka's Gift to the Lost Seeker]] which confirmed that I was in the Sorrowful Tunnels deep beneath the mountains of Gildermark. While not necessarily useful, it was reassuring that I had not been swept away into some supernatural sinkhole or plunged into the [[Imperial_Orcs_religious_beliefs#The_Howling_Abyss|Howling Abyss]] thanks to the ignominious nature of my demise.

Over the next few... hours? days? I discovered I was in a veritable maze of tunnels, mostly natural but worked in some places. The Dolorous Aura was oppressive but the anointing held. I pushed worry about what would happen when it faded to the back of my mind, and focused instead on rationing the hard biscuits, cheese, and small package of pilf I had in my satchel.

I won't bore you with the details any more than I already have. This whole period is a little... unclear to me, I confess. I slept fitfully and had bad dreams. Lost track of time. As I travelled, though, the dark tunnels became colder. At first, I wondered if I was approaching an exit, but in the end those hopes were dashed. I wandered, lost, and slowly began to succumb to despair.

Occasionally these winding tunnels would open into rough chambers, some of which showed signs of having been shaped in places but for the most part appeared to be raw stone. Here and there, I would encounter runes carved into the wall. Primarily [[Aesh]] and the Shears of [[Yoorn]].

Exhausted in body and spirit, I lay down in one of the larger caves, beside a pool of cold black mountain water. There were crystals in the ceiling – lightstones I think – that glimmered and glittered like the midwinter stars back in Skarsind. I lay down near the lake, in the lee of a great stone outcropping, and made my peace with my ancestors.

The cold had begun to eat into my bones – as bad as when we braved the peaks up near the [[Sungold Pass]] – and so I decided to use the last of my kindling, and the last of my parchment to light a small fire. If I was to die, lost under these mountains, I resolved to die warm at least.

The little fire burned low, but the warmth was welcome and I drifted off to sleep by its flickering light, unsure if I would awaken again.
===An Unexpected Meeting===
I awoke. I awoke to find something leaning over me. It was massive – easily twice my height. I thought at first I was still dreaming, my experiences to date causing phantasms of some giant creature out of ancient days to haunt my sleep. It had a face both like and quite unlike that of an orc. Long rangy arms that creaked and groaned as it moved, and squat bandy legs. Its skin was like unworked stone. Its eyes were massive and dark, like orbs of obsidian. It had tusks of discoloured grey, and a cracked and pitted brow. And it was alive, of that much I am sure. It prodded me with a talon the length of my hand, of the same off-white bone as its fangs, and it spoke in a grinding voice like a boulder slipping down the side of a mountain. I didn't understand it.

I did not move, certain that an entirely unexpected death had found me. It didn't move. It just stared at me. I noticed, with a sinking feeling, that the outcropping under which I had taken shelter was gone. Or rather, I suspected, that outcropping, awoken by my fire or perhaps my presence huddled below it, had come to life and now stood before me. A creature of the deep mountains.

What I said I can't quite remember, but the thing rocked back slightly on its granite heels, and next time it spoke it was in passable if archaic [[Languages#English|Imperial]].

It wanted to know what I was, who I was, and what I was doing trespassing here and disturbing its rest. I did my best to explain. With long multi-jointed claws that put me in mind of a strange [[Realms#Spring|Spring]] [[Inhabitants of the realms#Heralds|herald]] I encountered once it picked up my satchel, emptied it out on the floor, and picked through the remaining contents. It held them up one at a time, turning them over in surprisingly dextrous claws. After it had examined each item it put them to one side. It paid no more attention to my scrolls than it did to the quills and pot of ink, or the pens, or my useful knife.

I considered scrabbling away, but I was too tired. Too resigned. I realise now that what had happened was that the Dolorous Aura had begun to seep into me as the anointing faded. The creature – the troll for it could be nothing else – turned its attention back to me and continued to ask questions in that slow grinding voice, barely blinking. I stuttered answers as best I could, tried to ask questions of my own. After a time the creature became irritated with my manner, and disappeared into the darkness. A few minutes later a fish splashed onto the ground at my feet. I could barely force myself to gut it, but I was hungry enough to eat it raw.

Some time passed, I slept fitfully, and drank a little cold water in the rare moments when I could force myself to shake off the despair that was slowly tightening its grip upon my spirit. Without warning, the troll creature suddenly emerged from the darkness, pinned me in place without any obvious effort, and pressed a circlet of metal onto my head. As he held me in place I felt something shifting around me – something I recognised as a [[Crafting_skills#Artisan|bonding]] – and then the sorrow that was eating me alive fell away and I felt a burst of energy. The circlet was a [[magic items|magic item]], something that restored my spirit and helped me pull myself together. I tried to thank the troll but it ignored me and went back to questioning.
===Questions===
I was still tired, and I think I faded in and out of consciousness. Whenever I was lucid, the troll was there, asking me questions. It was fascinated by the fact we had come here to learn, and returned to that interrogation several times. Once I had satisfied its curiosity, it began, haltingly at first and then with more eloquence, to talk about itself and ''that'' is where the [[#Concerning Trolls|bulk of this report]] comes from.

The creature refused to give up its name. I think though that it was tired and perhaps a little lonely, as it seemed to relish the opportunity to talk to me about its people and their stories, and the doom that awaited them. About their kingdoms, and their forsaking, and the runes, and the like. After a while I started to make some notes, which the creature seemed unconcerned about. When I started to falter a little, it would disappear for a time and return with a blind cave fish and then continue the conversation. Sometimes, without warning, it would stand and depart, without a word, and it would be some time before I saw it again. I believe for all the loneliness I felt emanating from it, it had only limited patience for my questions and company.

I have no idea how long this lasted. The creature seemed unhurried, and unconcerned. For a creature that had sat unmoving long enough that it had effectively become a lump of stone, it is perhaps unsurprising that it had no interest in rushing the conversation.
===Returning===
After a time though, I broached the subject of returning to my companions. It considered me for a time – an hour I would guess – before it spoke again. It was extremely unnerving to sit there for an hour being stared at by this massive, unmoving fanged-and-taloned thing of stone and ancient sadness. Then without further comment it simply... picked me up. Tossed me over its shoulder like it might a sack of grain, and began to walk through the darkness with me. It was at this point that I got a feel for the sheer physical strength, the presence of this thing. I knew it could kill me easily, tear me apart as easily as I might shred a piece of cooked chicken. If it wished to.

It moved with purpose, with me bouncing over its shoulder. Its gait was uneven, which began to give me a form of seasickness. I could tell we were ascending, several times mounting curving ramps. I couldn't tell you the route we took, nor entirely how long it took, but then without warning it stopped. It dropped me a little heavily and leaned close.

“Do not come back,” it said. “Take what you want from the upper halls but you and your Empire must leave me alone, little [[orc]]. No good will come to you or yours if you disturb me or mine.”

And then without waiting for a reply it turned and disappeared back into the darkness. I was at the base of the well that led up to the mine workings and ultimately to the gate. I had been reported missing, presumed dead, but there was much rejoicing at my return. After reaching the doors, though, I swooned and spent two weeks in bed barely conscious dreaming of being trapped in the darkness. Then I spent another two weeks convalescing before beginning to write my report.

I think it likely that the Dolorous Aura that hangs over the caves and tunnels is a result of the troll that has spent untold years sleeping and dreaming in its depths. There is mithril here, but exploiting it will be difficult. I do not think the aura can be removed - it is too engrained in the soul - but I am no priest. I think it likely that even killing the troll - were such a thing even possible - would not especially weaken the aura. Any extraction of mithril will be challenging - and I ''strongly advise'' that we respect the wishes of that lonely inhabitant of the tunnels beneath the mountain.

There is one other matter I feel relevant beyond this report. While I was being carried out of the depths by that troll, that sorrowful creature of ancient days, we passed through a hall filled with statues. Half again my height I would judge – and remember I was bouncing upside down over the shoulders of the troll and in a half-starved state – and clad in metal armour with terrible weapons. Statues not of orcs or humans but of an altogether more practical shape. I would hesitate to speak with certainty, but I would guess that these may have been old constructs, built by my peculiar host. Probably they fused solid long before there was an Empire but if not... then I would wager that this creature would be more than capable of ensuring its injunction to “leave it alone” would be obeyed, and that we should think long and hard before venturing beyond the highest levels of this mine lest the Empire ignite another troll war in the north.

==Concerning Trolls==
<div style="float:right; width: 300px; clear: left;">{{CaptionedImage|file=Yoorn.png|caption=The story of the trolls seems to ultimately be one of sorrow and loss.|align=right|width=300}}</div>
===Snowstorm Henk Writes===
After returning unlooked-for from the depths, I spend several days in a stupor tended to by my friends. Once I regained a little strength, I was carried down the mountain to the original Varushkan camp by my companions, strapped to a travois despite my protestations that I was recovered enough to walk. Once I had been declared fit to return to light duties by a physician, I set to writing down everything I could remember from my discussions with the creature deep beneath the mountains.
===Troll Kingdoms===
Centuries ago, the lands across the north of the Empire were variously inhabited or ruled by trolls. There were incredibly few of them, it is not known exactly how many of them there were, but there may well have been two score of them at most, ''in total''. They believed that they had been individually fashioned from stone by the Creator, and they were undying; they could be killed like any other being, but they did not grow old or sicken and die of disease like humans or orcs might.

They appear to have largely lived alone, or in small groups of two or three, but despite this, they were able to create small kingdoms which in many cases endured for centuries. None of these kingdoms seem to still be extant however, even if some of the trolls who ruled over them still survive. The fall of the troll kingdoms appears to have been all but inevitable because of the ''doom'' that every troll endures. This terrible curse ensured that everything a troll did would eventually end in ruin. This curse could come quickly and extract its price in days or hours, or it could take centuries. As a result of this, trolls were incredibly fatalistic creatures, morbidly aware that everything they made would ultimately bring only woe to the world.
<div style="float:right; width: 300px; clear: left;"><ic>As an aside, Leontes the Scribe mentions the story of the [[Bregasland_and_the_smiths#The_Tale_of_the_Giant_of_Craven_Rock|Giant of Craven Rock]], and perhaps also the tale of [[Bregasland_and_the_smiths#The_Marcher_Smiths|Jack-of-Chains]], both included in an [[Bregasland_and_the_smiths|earlier report]] from the Department.</ic></div>
These early troll kingdoms appear to have fallen one-by-one. Some were attacked by human or orc enemies, others fell to catastrophe. There was little or no attempt to help each other survive this fate, which is perhaps unsurprising given the belief that to do so would likely only hasten their demise. There was great danger in attacking a troll however. If a troll's life ended in disaster, then nothing would come of it, but if a troll was slain, then their doom would fall on those who killed them.
===Fashioned From Stone===
The trolls appear to believe that their entire race was fashioned from stone by the Creator themselves. While this seems extraordinary, it is impossible to completely rule it out. There are certainly creatures in the realms of magic that appear to be made of stone, though most are relatively simplistic beings in some way. Trolls are far from that; highly intelligent creatures that built their own civilisation that appears to have lasted for centuries or longer.

Physically trolls are usually large creatures all of whom appear to be fashioned from rock or stone. Every troll is different in size and physical demeanour. Some are huge hulking brutes that seem to lack any grace or finesse, but the smallest are no taller than a human or orc and have claws so fine they could easily be mistaken for "normal" fingers. Each troll ultimately had a unique appearance with differences much more pronounced than those between individual humans or orcs. The trolls believe they were all fashioned one by one, by the Creator, so they see no reason why then any two trolls should look similar.

All were ''undying'' however. They might weather, like stone wearing away from wind or rock, but they never grew old or infirm and simply endured as the centuries passed. They didn't need to eat or drink anything, but some appear to have adopted the habit by observing mortals. They were not immortal as such - they could be killed - but they did not suffer disease or sickness. When a troll died, its body would turn back to stone. This process was not immediate, it might take hours or more, but eventually the troll would return to the stone from which it came.

It seems that they do not sleep the way other creatures might, but they do dream. If a troll stops moving for a few weeks or months, they could eventually start dreaming. Some trolls appear to have spent decades or even centuries dreaming in this state. It is not clear why they do this, but trolls in this state resemble finely detailed statues - at first. Over time the long exposure to the elements weathers these dreaming trolls to the point where they resemble little more than standing stones. Despite this, the troll is still alive, and dimly aware of their surroundings, and can be roused to conversation or even action with sufficient stimulus.

===Master Artisans Without Magic===
Trolls were remarkable artisans. In place of fingers, a troll has powerful claws, but these digits are incredibly strong and dextrous. Each claw is jointed, allowing a troll to manipulate things with the same exquisite profession as an orc or human hand, but capable of cutting through steel or stone the way a blow from an [[ogre]] might. These natural abilities allowed trolls to master sculpture, and both metal and wood working. They don't appear to have had any skill with clay or similar materials, but with wood, stone and metal they had no peers.

The secret of their power appears to be the extraordinary speed with which they could produce magical items. Trolls appear to have been able to make enchanted items in hours or days rather than months and working metal and stone with their bare hands rather than with fire and forge as a smith might or tools and hammers as a mason would. They needed precious resources to create their works, just like any other artisan, but what a smith might require weeks to make, a troll could produce in hours, provided they had access to the materials needed.

These crafts were the basis of their kingdoms, as well as the cause of them. Few trolls appear to have had any interest in ruling others, but they did have an insatiable need for materials. Some trolls were worshipped as gods, provided with ingots and measures by terrified mortals who sought to propitiate them. Some armed and armoured bands of humans and orcs and sent them to conquer others on their behalf. But some forged their own armies, labouring to craft terrible constructs that could follow orders and fight. Trolls ruled as distant kings and queens over these kingdoms; they took no interest in the lives of their short-lived subjects, so long as the flow of essential materials continued uninterrupted.

Despite their long lives, trolls were utterly unable to use magic. [[Spellcasting|Spells]], incantations and [[rituals]] were unknown to them, and while some employed mortals to use these powers on their behalf, trolls themselves remained completely incapable of wielding magic personally. No troll ever managed to cast even the simplest spell, despite numerous attempts to learn magic. Perhaps the Creator exacted this price to pay for their extraordinary skill, perhaps it was their claws, so adapt at working stone, metal and wood, were of no use when manipulating magic. Whatever the reason for it, trolls could be affected by magic, they could suffer it, but no troll was ever able to wield magic themselves.
===Runes===
There are many in Wintermark who claim that their people ''created'' the runes - generally the feat is ascribed to [[Isenbrad]], the famous [[Steinr]] [[runesmith]]. Other common claims are that Isenbrad ''perfected'' the runes, without ever really saying what that means. Some Wintermarkers tell stories that mention that Isenbrad stole the runes. Those stories never say from whom Isenbrad took the runes, but the [[Jotun]] have a story in which Isenbrad stole the runes from ''them'', but that doesn't explain where ''they'' got the runes from. The least ambitious claim is that Isenbrad "discovered" the runes. If what the trolls believe is true then that much at least could still be right.

Trolls predate Isenbrad by many centuries perhaps even millennia - there is no doubt of any kind about that. In their version of history they are very clear that they created the runes. They claim that the runes are some kind of fundamental language of creation - that they encapsulate the words the Creator used to fashion the world. The trolls fixed the form and shape of the Creators voice by carving the letters into stone with their claws.

It would be easy to discount this version of history as just another vain boast, but there is one element that lends a little credence to the claim; the runes are difficult to carve. The curved shapes take great skill to carve in stone. The movements of a chisel favour clean angular lines. It takes many crafters years to master the skills needed to carve a rune. To do it at all is hard - to do it well requires exceptional skill.

But a troll's claw can carve a rune with the same speed and precision that a [[the Brass Coast|Freeborn]] [[scrivener]] might use to illustrate a scroll. Creating runes is a challenging art that takes years for a mortal to master - but trolls cut them with the same grace and ease that a [[the League|League]] artist moves a brush across the canvas.

===Doom===
Trolls are doomed. They are all fully aware of this painful and unavoidable truth. Perversely, they are not doomed to die - trolls genuinely appear to live forever unless killed by violence. But everything a troll strives to create is doomed to fail. If they build a kingdom, then it will inevitably fall into ruin, bringing destruction and death to all those it sheltered. If they build a bridge, it will inevitably collapse, plunging those closest to the troll into the raging rivers below. If they build a friendship, then the other party will inevitably betray them.

This doom is not a [[curse]] as [[Winter magic]] might understand it. It doesn't weaken the bearer, or leave them sick or ill. It doesn't produce clear known effects that can be counted. According to the trolls, their doom conspires with fate itself to bring about their downfall, the deaths of those they love or care for, the ruin of those they seek to help. A regular curse can be broken, lifted or removed. The doom of the trolls cannot be lifted or broken - Winter magic can reveal its presence but do nothing to hinder its malignancy. A troll's doom is part of their essential nature.

Although the doom of the trolls is inescapable, it often falls on others. In particular, some part of a trolls doom attaches to everything that troll creates. Each item that a troll fashions is doomed. In some cases the item itself is doomed to fail - a sword may shatter, a bowstave may warp. More commonly the things a troll makes will not be marked by time but will instead bring about the doom of those who try to carry or use them.

This connection between a trolls doom and fate is hard to comprehend. The trolls believe that hubris plays an important role. The more arrogant a troll becomes, the more devastating and immediate their doom becomes. The more a troll seeks to care about others, the more they ensure that the troll's doom will find them. The harder a troll works to turn aside their doom, the faster it rushes to ruin everything.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, trolls tend to be extremely fatalistic. Every troll knows they are doomed, they know that everything they attempt will ultimately fail. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but ruin is inevitable and the harder a troll works to delay, the sooner it will arrive. Some trolls have raged against their doom, becoming filled with mindless fury at a world that is determined to take everything from them. Most trolls accept the inevitability of their doom with a quiet stoicism, seeking only to find ways to minimise the harm it brings to them and others. Some simply give up, stopping bothering to do anything at all. Somehow mortals always find a way to poke these trolls back to life - even a troll's quest for quiet is doomed to fail.

The trolls blame the Creator for their doom. They claim they were doomed from birth. Trolls don't believe this curse is punishment for some wrong doing. Instead, they claim it is a flaw in their creation. They believe they were the first beings fashioned by the Creator - he made them to be perfect, untouched by age or disease. But in making them immortal, he doomed them. When the Creator realised his mistake, he abandoned the trolls and made orcs and humans. Having learned from his mistakes, the Creator made these new races mortal, so that they would avoid the fate that had befallen the trolls.

It is important to stress that the trolls don't ''know'' this last part for sure - they are adamant that they were made by the Creator, personally, but none of them claim to have ever seen the face of Creation. Their beliefs about their doom and their [[Laws_of_magic#The_Law_of_Essence|essential nature]], and the provenance of the mortal races, are matters of faith to the trolls.

===Teachers===
Trolls have served as allies of mortals on occasion. They know they are doomed, and their people are fading from the world, but they still wish to leave a legacy behind. When sought out by mortal heroes they have been known to provide advice and occasionally gifts of enchanted items or lore. All trolls are unique individuals however; some wish only to be left alone, whilst others despise those who disturb their peace.

They are often recalcitrant to do this, torn between a desire to shape and guide the younger races and the certain knowledge will bring woe. Any troll who acts as a mentor, must accept that the general Doom of the trolls will always ensure that such aid comes with a price. Thus, many trolls try to keep their distance, hiding their name, identity and nature, influencing events with a light touch or ensuring their nature remains unknown to those they offer help to support. The more directly a troll influences events, the more likely the situation will turn sour.

This natural tendency to hide their involvement can make it much harder to confirm if a figure in a story is a troll. But stories of heroes who learned powerful skills at the hands of another are a recurrent theme across Wintermark and the Marches. Anytime the hero of a story finds a shadowy figure who gives them advice and aid but asks nothing in return, question if that creature is a troll.

If the story involves runes in some way, a rune covered gift, or a gift of runes themselves, that makes it much more likely that a troll is involved. If the mentor figure in the story is reluctant to help, or offers only cryptic advice that is another sign of a troll. The surest sign of a trolls involvement is if the story ends in disaster. That doesn't mean the hero dies, although that is common when a troll seeks to help, it can simply be that the hero's efforts end in failure or bring a terrible consequences down on those they try to save.

===Constructs===
Trolls are master artisans whose skills are legendary. With any legend it is easy to imagine more than really exists - it is common to believe that trolls can make all kinds of impossibly powerful magical items because it makes the legends of trolls seem more alluring and mysterious than they really are. The truth is much more prosaic; there are very few things that trolls can make that mortals can't and none of those things are magical items. Talismans, magical weapons, rings, armour, staves - if a troll can make an item of this kind, then a human or an orc smith could learn how to make it. Trolls can make such items with impossible speed, but many of their limits are the same as those faced by any mortal [[crafting skills#Artisan|artisans]].

There are two things that trolls can do that most mortals can't. Trolls overwhelmingly prefer to work in metal and stone, but they can work almost any material. Trolls are able to use materials in unusual ways, crafting armour from stone, weapons from ice, longbows from mithril, or banners from silver and gold. There are legends of mortal characters achieving the same - Isenbrad is sad to have mastered the art of making weapons from ice for example - but this is the same Isenbrad who discovered the runes. Trolls are also able to fashion strange materials, such as forging gemstones or weaving stone into glass.

The one area where the abilities of trolls far exceeds that of mortal artisans is in the creation of constructs - creatures of metal, stone and wood, that move and act as if they were alive. Constructs are common in the [[Realms#Autumn|Autumn realm]], and there are also mortal crafters who can create them. The Urizeni [[Urizen_economic_interests#Ushabti|ushabti]] are constructs, devices fashioned from wood and clay in the shape of a person and instructed to carry out the menial labour of a miner or a farmer, under the watchful eyes of a magician.

Urizeni ushabti are far too fragile to be used in battle and they outside the mountains of Urizen, they break down quickly. The constructs built by trolls have none of these flaws, the smallest are wondrous creations of precious metals and wood that act as untiring servants. The largest are dreadful statues forged from mithril, steel and stone that are monstrous enemies, inhumanly strong, difficult to kill and fast and powerful enough to overpower most mortal opponents. A troll construct is a deadly opponent on any battlefield. It may be that these constructs of war have their own limitations, just as the Urizen Ushabti do, but if so, then the trolls are careful not to share those secrets.

Most trolls fashioned constructs at some point in their life. Some did it to have servants and companions to make their life easier. Some did it to create an army that could build them a kingdom. But most trolls spent years attempting to forge constructs in an attempt to create life. The Creator formed the trolls from stone - and many trolls devoted their life to trying to find a way to reproduce this primeval act. Some secretly harboured a hope that if they reproduce the moment of creation - if they could imitate the Creator and forge new life, then they might finally be able to create a legacy that would last by fashioning something that would escape their doom.

All such attempts have always failed. Even an artisan as skilled and powerful as a troll cannot mimic the hand of the Creator. The constructs the trolls create are a wonder, a marvel beyond any imagining. But they are no more alive than the ushabti of the mountains of the bronze colossus forged by the Towers of Calx and Coom.

===Sparing Wordsmiths===
Trolls are terse. They don't waste ten words when a pained silence will do. Some of the eldest trolls take the attitude that everything worth saying has already been said. There is no “trollish tongue” - trolls in the Empire speak Imperial, and all the evidence is that trolls from other parts of the world speak whatever language is useful to them. The closest one gets to troll language are the runes, which they use as a script for important writing (something that can prove quite hazardous to mortal scribes, interestingly).

Despite their longevity, trolls are not especially literate; while trolls use the runes to write things down, they do so far less regularly than humans do. Most troll writing is inscribed on stone or metal – paper and wood is seen as too transient. Trolls prefer to inscribe runes on things that will last, like the walls of a fortress or cave. It seems that some trolls instinctively carve a rune into a nearby surface as a way to express their emotions - where a mortal might slam a door or weep a troll is more likely to inscribe a rune into a stone wall as a form of emotional catharsis.

Anything trolls write down at any length is likely to be important and useful – it's more likely to be the schema for a crafted item than a poem or letter.

===Darkness and Despair===
Some trolls have a preference for dark underground spaces. Trolls have no need to eat - they may not even need to breathe - and they can carve through stone and rock with their clawed hands with ease. As the mortal races expanded and warred with the trolls, some trolls retreated far underground, digging passages and tunnels under the earth. Here they could find some of the precious materials they need to work their arts as well as peace and solitude and hope to escape their doom. The Wintermark people in particular have legends of bargaining for powerful weapons with smiths who live far below the surface of the world.

Most trolls are disinterested in orcs and humans; they are valuable as a source of materials but of no great note beyond that. This feeling can turn to murderous rage if the works of a troll are stolen or destroyed, but even that is not a given. Trolls are well aware that they are doomed, and some have been known to accept the destruction of everything they possess with utter equanimity, as just another manifestation of their inescapable doom.

When trolls do take an interest in other beings, it may be as a way to escape being overcome by morose bleakness. Despair is the great fear of many trolls. Helping humans and orcs, either individuals or groups, can give a troll a sense of purpose and the hope of achieving something lasting. Of course, such collaboration is ultimately doomed, but the doom may not come in a mortal's lifespan, creating the illusion of escape from the cruel talons of fate, if only for a moment.

===Troll Kingdoms===
Before the rise of the Empire, there were troll kingdoms in many parts of the world. Wintermark history talks of the [[Wintermark_history#The_Troll_Wars|troll wars]] when the [[Suaq]], [[Kallavesi]], and [[Steinr]] came together to overcome a powerful troll kingdom. Their oral history usually describes this war as one between trolls and mortals, but troll history describes this conflict as between the people of the north and a single troll kingdom, with the clear implication that this is a battle between the people of Wintermark and a single troll. The "armies" of these trolls were formed from mortals equipped with weapons and armour fashioned by the trolls, and led by terrible constructs fashioned from stone and metal to march to war.

In time, all these kingdoms have fallen into ruin. This is hardly surprising - for all their abilities and long life, trolls are still doomed. Everything they build is fated to collapse, everything they forge will shatter, everything they create will end in ruin. One by one the trolls abandoned their kingdoms, when they were defeated by their enemies. Having worked so hard to build something, few trolls have the will to begin again, after everything has collapsed into ruin. Hubris plays a major role in this, trolls believe that the more effort they put into something, the more grandeur their work accrues, the quicker its doom will find it.

If a troll kingdom existed today it could be a major problem for the Empire, but it would never constitute an existential threat. The Wintermark people overcame a great troll kingdom in the north, burying it under an avalanche of snow. A modern troll kingdom could represent a terrible danger for the people of [[Skarsind]] or [[Hahnmark]], and might conceivably challenge an entire nation, but there are no troll kingdoms that were ever the match of the Empire in power and strength. A troll army of constructs and mortals armed with troll weapons and armour could threaten a region or even a territory, but it would be utterly outmatched by the combined might of four Marcher armies, let alone the strength the Empire as a whole could bring to bear. Trolls are powerful, but they have no possible way to challenge the scope and breadth of power of the modern Empire - they don't even command any ritual magic.

The troll kingdoms are gone now, much like the trolls themselves. Some trolls undoubtedly still survive. There is no way to tell when a curious dolman on a hilltop might begin to move, or a cave or passage that leads deep underground might open into a vast dwelling carved from the rock and stone. But any trolls that remain are part of the bones of history, a legacy of the world's past that it is waiting to reclaim. If there are any who wish to conquer the surface world and raise a new kingdom, there is no sign of them.

==Conclusion==
Snowstorm Henk has recovered from their experience, largely, and written down as much as they were able to uncover about trolls. They have been quite candid about the fact they have no real idea of exactly where they spent those long weeks conversing with the troll of the Sorrowful Tunnels, and are confident they could not find their way back if they tried. It might be possible for explorers to try and retrace their path or push down into the lower tunnels to try and find the troll again, but all the signs are that this would anger the creature; its hunger for the company of mortals appears to be entirely sated for the time being.

==Further Reading==
* [[Long_shadows#The_Sorrowful_Tunnels|Long shadows]] - 386YE Spring Wind of Fortune (re)introducing the Sorrowful Tunnels
* [[Skarsind]]
* [[Bregasland and the smiths]]
* [[Wintermark_history#The_Troll_Wars|Troll wars]]

Hounds of Glory

2026-02-21T14:09:31Z

Hedley: /* History */

{{Army Page}}
{{CaptionedImage|file=HoundsofGlory_Colour.png|align=right|width=300}}
===Overview===
The [[Hounds of Glory]] very publicly strive to be the most [[glory|glorious]] army in the Empire; while few are so gauche as to say it openly that comes with the clear understanding of every Hound that that means they are the greatest army in the Empire. The soldiers who fight beneath the banners of the Hounds of Glory have prided themselves on their unstoppable nature since the army was founded. The core of the army are battle-hardened knights arrayed in gleaming armour, their shields proudly displaying their house and personal sigils. They are supported by cadres of archers and witches, but what has long made them unique in the Empire is the Courage and the conviction that they draw from their surety of purpose and their commitment to glory above all other things. In battle they go where the glory is found, where the fighting is thickest, where legends are written.

Driven by the need to prove themselves themselves first among equals, and capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Dawnish victories, they have recruited knights from all over Dawn and challenged each to prove their glory in ever more demanding ways. Few can doubt their absolute commitment to their ideals, and their indomitable spirit makes them a formidable force on the battlefield capable of [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|truly remarkable feats]]

There is some friendly rivalry between the Hounds of Glory and the [[Golden Sun]], and when their soldiers meet they often engage in contests of strength and martial might.

The second Dawnish general leads the Hounds of Glory, and is appointed (or re-appointed) at the Winter solstice each year.

===History===
TBC
__TOC__
TBC
====Recent History====
The Hounds of Glory were [[Cost|destroyed]] in the Spring of 385YE during the successful campaign to conquer [[The Barrens]]

===Traditions===
TBC
==Composition==
TBC
==Army Quality : [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|Indomitable Glory]]==
Every member of the Hounds is committed to the eternal quest for [[glory]] and the need to prove that they are the greatest heroes of the Empire. Their unwavering [[Ambition]], [[Courage]], and [[Pride]] in the face of any danger means that they are prepared to take any chance to achieve glory. This allows their general to issue unique orders, taking enormous risks where necessary. Only the Hounds of Glory of Dawn possess the [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|indomitable glory quality]].
{{CaptionedImage|file=Tancred1621.jpg||caption=Tancred de Coeurdefer, last General of the Hounds of Glory|align=left|width=275}}
{{RecentElections|General_of_the_Hounds_of_Glory|the title of [[General]] of the Hounds of Glory}}
[[Category:Imperial Army]][[Category:Dawn]][[Category:Military Council]]

Hounds of Glory

2026-02-21T13:27:36Z

Hedley: /* History */

{{Army Page}}
{{CaptionedImage|file=HoundsofGlory_Colour.png|align=right|width=300}}
===Overview===
The [[Hounds of Glory]] very publicly strive to be the most [[glory|glorious]] army in the Empire; while few are so gauche as to say it openly that comes with the clear understanding of every Hound that that means they are the greatest army in the Empire. The soldiers who fight beneath the banners of the Hounds of Glory have prided themselves on their unstoppable nature since the army was founded. The core of the army are battle-hardened knights arrayed in gleaming armour, their shields proudly displaying their house and personal sigils. They are supported by cadres of archers and witches, but what has long made them unique in the Empire is the Courage and the conviction that they draw from their surety of purpose and their commitment to glory above all other things. In battle they go where the glory is found, where the fighting is thickest, where legends are written.

Driven by the need to prove themselves themselves first among equals, and capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Dawnish victories, they have recruited knights from all over Dawn and challenged each to prove their glory in ever more demanding ways. Few can doubt their absolute commitment to their ideals, and their indomitable spirit makes them a formidable force on the battlefield capable of [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|truly remarkable feats]]

There is some friendly rivalry between the Hounds of Glory and the [[Golden Sun]], and when their soldiers meet they often engage in contests of strength and martial might.

The second Dawnish general leads the Hounds of Glory, and is appointed (or re-appointed) at the Winter solstice each year.

===History===
TBC
__TOC__
TBC
====Recent History====
The Hounds of Glory were [[Cost|Destroyed]] in the Spring of 385YE during the successful campaign to conquer [[The Barrens]]

===Traditions===
TBC
==Composition==
TBC
==Army Quality : [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|Indomitable Glory]]==
Every member of the Hounds is committed to the eternal quest for [[glory]] and the need to prove that they are the greatest heroes of the Empire. Their unwavering [[Ambition]], [[Courage]], and [[Pride]] in the face of any danger means that they are prepared to take any chance to achieve glory. This allows their general to issue unique orders, taking enormous risks where necessary. Only the Hounds of Glory of Dawn possess the [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|indomitable glory quality]].
{{CaptionedImage|file=Tancred1621.jpg||caption=Tancred de Coeurdefer, last General of the Hounds of Glory|align=left|width=275}}
{{RecentElections|General_of_the_Hounds_of_Glory|the title of [[General]] of the Hounds of Glory}}
[[Category:Imperial Army]][[Category:Dawn]][[Category:Military Council]]

Hounds of Glory

2026-02-21T13:10:58Z

Hedley: /* History */

{{Army Page}}
{{CaptionedImage|file=HoundsofGlory_Colour.png|align=right|width=300}}
===Overview===
The [[Hounds of Glory]] very publicly strive to be the most [[glory|glorious]] army in the Empire; while few are so gauche as to say it openly that comes with the clear understanding of every Hound that that means they are the greatest army in the Empire. The soldiers who fight beneath the banners of the Hounds of Glory have prided themselves on their unstoppable nature since the army was founded. The core of the army are battle-hardened knights arrayed in gleaming armour, their shields proudly displaying their house and personal sigils. They are supported by cadres of archers and witches, but what has long made them unique in the Empire is the Courage and the conviction that they draw from their surety of purpose and their commitment to glory above all other things. In battle they go where the glory is found, where the fighting is thickest, where legends are written.

Driven by the need to prove themselves themselves first among equals, and capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Dawnish victories, they have recruited knights from all over Dawn and challenged each to prove their glory in ever more demanding ways. Few can doubt their absolute commitment to their ideals, and their indomitable spirit makes them a formidable force on the battlefield capable of [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|truly remarkable feats]]

There is some friendly rivalry between the Hounds of Glory and the [[Golden Sun]], and when their soldiers meet they often engage in contests of strength and martial might.

The second Dawnish general leads the Hounds of Glory, and is appointed (or re-appointed) at the Winter solstice each year.

===History===
TBC
__TOC__
TBC
====Recent History====
Destroyed in the [[Cost|Spring of 385YE]]

===Traditions===
TBC
==Composition==
TBC
==Army Quality : [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|Indomitable Glory]]==
Every member of the Hounds is committed to the eternal quest for [[glory]] and the need to prove that they are the greatest heroes of the Empire. Their unwavering [[Ambition]], [[Courage]], and [[Pride]] in the face of any danger means that they are prepared to take any chance to achieve glory. This allows their general to issue unique orders, taking enormous risks where necessary. Only the Hounds of Glory of Dawn possess the [[Army qualities#Indomitable Glory|indomitable glory quality]].
{{CaptionedImage|file=Tancred1621.jpg||caption=Tancred de Coeurdefer, last General of the Hounds of Glory|align=left|width=275}}
{{RecentElections|General_of_the_Hounds_of_Glory|the title of [[General]] of the Hounds of Glory}}
[[Category:Imperial Army]][[Category:Dawn]][[Category:Military Council]]