Domain expansion

"Ashvale? I don't want to live in a place called Ashvale"

"You're too picky by far. There's good farming land there now by all accounts. The Jotun have cleared the forests, and opened it up. A Marcher could stake a claim to some of that land and set up their own household. Get there first, you could end up steward of the whole territory. That sounds pretty good to me."

"I still don't like the name, it just sounds miserable. Like everyone's dead and gone to ash."

"We do have a territory called Mournwold, you know. And beside we'll all end up as Ash when it's our time. Or Oak, or Beech. Or whatever. I can think of worse fates."

"That's exactly my point! Living there would be a constant reminder of your fate. One day you'll die and end up as an Ash tree."

"Well it's better than living in the Sarangrave."

The Marches has officially existed in its current form, give or take, since the reign of Empress Teleri. Arguably these four regions have been Marcher land since long before the Empire was even a dream of an idea.

Overview

• The Marcher assembly nears the end of its highest calling
• The Imperial Breadbasket now covers all four Marcher territories

Our Highest Calling is completing this season. By Autumn, the Breadbasket network will be established across every Marcher territory; and it turns to the Ambitious and Wise amongst our folk to devise what ways this monument to the Marcher National Pride of practicality could do even more. With the Mournwold home to the Singing Caves, the Empire's most productive mithril mine; with the return to prominence of the tradition of the smiths; with the establishment of the new tradition of offering to billet visiting armies; with one eye to the forever - war with the Jotun; and with another eye to Liath's Heart next door and the coming Final Battle with the vallorn: the Marcher Assembly reckons that if the Dawnish can have a fancy magic castle that can resupply armies, we can do better. The Breadbasket has supported feeding armies - let's go further, and feed, clothe, arm, and armour any soldier looking to join an Imperial army.

Ursula Smith, Marcher National Assembly, Summer 388YE, Vote: Upheld with a Greater Majority 186-0

While other nations struggle on, the Marchers have got the harvest in. They have completed their highest calling and successfully expanded the Imperial Breadbasket into Mournwold. There's no time for rest however... as every Marcher knows, the reward for a good job is more work. It was ever thus.

Keen not to let the grass grow under anyone's feet, Ursula Smith is looking to make good use of the remaining time now the Breadbasket is properly sorted. With the backing of the Marcher Assembly, she's got a few ideas on what Marchers could be doing next. For the first while in a good time, the Bregas are feeling good about the future thanks to the tidal wave of Imperial steel that swept through Mitwold and now promises victory in the Dour Fens. It's time for hard-working folk to build on these successes. After-all - you don't own it unless you can defend it...

Strive

Overton Smithy

Commission Type: Edifice

Location: Overton, Mournwold

Cost: 30 thrones

Time: Three months

Upkeep: 10 thrones

Special: Establishes smelters, smithies and forges around the Singing Caves to resupply Imperial forces The Singing Caves would no longer provide 28 wains of mithril each season The title holder could still purchase additional mithril each season The Caves would provide a thousand points of additional resupply split between every army resupplying there

Availability: Until the end of Summer Solstice 389YE

• There is a proposal to convert the Singing Caves to resupply Imperial armies
• The Caves would no longer produce mithril each season, though it could still be bought by the seat holder
• The Caves would provide a thousand points of emergency resupply spread between Imperial armies resupplying in the territory at the caves

The Singing Caves is one of the most lucrative mithril seats in the whole Empire, especially when the holder attracts additional labourers with extra payment. Nearly six years ago it was made a Marcher national position elected by tally of the votes and has stayed as such ever since, at least while it remained in Imperial hands. At the behest of the national assembly, the local Overtonians (or Tunnys) have been putting their heads together as to how they might use it to compete with the prestige of the Spiral Castle.

There'll be no castle built there; any Marcher who'd want such needless grandeur would need their head wobbled. But there's nothing wrong with an honest blacksmith's forge. Or two. Or a dozen for that matter.

Plans are put together to establish an industrial district around the caves. Smelters and smithies, fires and forges. The artisans would take the mithril produced each season and quickly turn it into the arms and armour needed to support Imperial Armies. A little investment is needed to get things up and running, but not much. A simple commission costing thirty thrones and a season's work is all it would take. That would be enough to establish a community of blacksmiths and artisans around the caves and a town would soon spring up thereafter.

If that happened, then each season, any Imperial army that was in Mournwold could issue orders to resupply at the Singing Caves. There would be a thousand points of resupply split between all the armies that did so. The Caves would have the same upkeep of 10 thrones per season as they do now, but they wouldn't automatically produce mithril for the title holder any more. All that would be directed to resupplying the armies. The seat holder wouldn't lose out completely though - they could still hire additional miners to dig out some extra mithril each season for their own use.

Natalia "the Falcon" Barossa of the League is the current Quartermaster General of the Imperial Armies.

Toil

Amend title of Quartermaster general

Motion Type: Amendment

Effect: Makes the Quartermaster General a Marcher national position, elected by the tally of the votes Assigns the income of the Singing Caves to the Quartermaster Allows the Quartermaster to purchase additional mithril each season

• The title of Quartermaster General could be combined with the Singing Caves
• The position would be a Marcher national position with the legal powers of the current Quartermaster General and the powers of the Singing Caves

Setting up forges all round the caves is efficient, provided that there are enough armies to resupply there. However the Alders of Overton suggest that there is a better way to ensure that the mithril goes where it's most needed. The Quartermaster General of the Imperial Armies has the power to resupply Imperial armies, why not put the mithril in their hands? Or better yet, put the Quartermaster general in Mournwold's hands, which amounts to the same thing really.

The best soil is thirsty soil.

Marcher Proverb

The Urizeni (as much as some folk are loathe to admit it) are widely considered to be the foremost practitioners of ritual magic in the Empire, and apparently that's good enough to let them have control the position of Warmage. Since it's the Marches that feed the Imperial armies, why shouldn't they choose who gets to be Quartermaster?

If the Quartermaster General is made a Marcher national position, then it could be given the custodianship of the Singing Caves. The Imperial Senate could use a Senate motion to combine the position of Quartermaster General with the custodian of the Singing Caves to make a single title that was appointed by the Marchers using Tally of the Votes. It would have all the legal powers of the current Quartermaster General but it would also receive 28 wains of mithril each season and could spend money to acquire more, just as the current custodian of the Caves does.

Claim

• A few Marchers have started eyeing the neighbouring territory of Ashvale and pondering its future
• The Marcher National Assembly could pass a mandate laying claim to the territory to create an opportunity to claim a stake there
• The mandate would create a deep-seated expectation that the nation would be given the territory if they did the hard work to take it

Completing the Imperial Breadbasket and taking Bregasland back from the Jotun means that, if the territory is assigned to the Marches this season, they will be able to support six armies from the start of the Winter Solstice 388YE. Which is all well and good, but where's it gonna be based? Where will it call home? A Marcher army ought to come from somewhere, it ought to be for somewhere. Good cider takes good apples, as folk say. Technically, there's no requirement for a new Marcher army to be bound to the land the way the others are, but the vows the Marcher generals swore have not done the nation any harm in the minds of many. Traditions have to start somewhere.

You can't enjoy the biscuits if you don't have the flour.

Marcher Proverb

If it's to have a territory of its own then where? More than one experienced hand has been looking over the border into Liathaven (not bloody "Ashvale" or whatever the Jarls want to call it nowadays) and noticing just how much effort the Jotun have been putting into slash-and-burn to create another source of food for their war machine. Now, they've not done a bad job to be fair, but if the Marches got their hands on the newly fertile regions of Liathaven, well, they'd certainly manage a better harvest than any thrall could manage even before they expanded the Breadbasket to cover it.

Over the past few years, it is Marcher lands that have faced the brunt of the back and forth invasions and counter-campaigns in the west while attention has been focused in the east on the eradication of the Druj. Most Marchers wont deny that that's a worthy goal, but many feel as if they are owed for having their lands be used as sandbags while attention was focused elsewhere. A decent crack at Liathaven seems a fair reward, say some.

Those who pick the apples get first taste of the cider! We send {named priest} with 50 doses of liao to declare our intent to be the ones to till the fields of Liathaven, first with the butts of our bills and then with the plough. Strive, toil, and claim the just rewards of your labours.

Synod Mandate, Marcher National Assembly

If this Mandate is enacted, then it will create an opportunity for the Marchers to focus their efforts on conquering Liathaven once Bregasland is secure. There would be a chance for the nation to break ground on taking the territory from the Jotun and claiming it for the Empire and in doing so staking their claim to it. It used to be a Navarr territory, years ago, but there have been no Navarr living there for years now and the territory has changed out of all recognition. Of course there's still a bloody vallorn in it, but Marchers know a thing or two about pruning themselves.

The mandate wouldn't have any legal impact on the ability of the Senate to assign the territory to any Imperial nation if it were conquered, but it would rouse an expectation across the Marches that they'd get first crack at it. Marchers are fair minded though - or so they tell themselves. Those who pick the tree get first taste of the cider, so while the Marches would be staking their claim on the land, they'd respect any nation it was assigned to that had been clearly seen to put in as much or more effort into the conquest than the Marchers had. But if the Senate awarded it to a nation who did less work in the campaign than the Marchers, then folks would absolutely be up in arms about it.

Liathaven is under Jotun dominion but there are other factions at play there as well.

Not You

• The Imperial map of Liathaven no longer functions for purposes of scrying
• A new map will need to be created

Nothing is ever easy however. A renewed interest in Liathaven has brought something unexpected to the fore. The map Imperial magicians rely on to scry Liathaven with rituals such as Eyes of the Sun and Moon no longer appears to be effective. This last happened two years ago when Freeborn Madruga was transfigured by tumultuous magics. It seems that the Jotun campaign to transform Liathaven into a land more suited to their needs, aided by the industrious heralds of the City of Fire and Stone, have caused existing maps to depart too significantly from the reality on the ground. This will remain the case until Imperial maps can be updated, and will likely affect everyone who has a map of Liathaven with the possible exception of the Jotun - who are not particularly given to scrying on a large scale anyway.

The lack of a map will not make it any harder to conquer Liathaven, but there are still risks. The Empire cannot take for granted that the territory is exactly as they remember it, and what reliable intelligence they do have is around eighteen months out of date. A few things appear certain - there is still a vallorn in Liathaven. It is still dominated by the Jotun. There are still Feni there, but since the Empire withdrew its troops in 387YE they seem to have fallen silent. Other than that, there are no certainties.

Creating a new map is straightforward but will consume both time and resources. The tried and trusted way to do it is to create a spy network, and send sufficient scouts to fully explore the territory. Until then, rituals that rely on a representative map of Liathaven cannot target the territory. At least a detailed strategic map will also provide a guide to how the territory has changed under the four years of Jotun dominion.

Fruits

Skywise Gralka, whose words have mobilised the Imperial Orcs assembly.

• News of the statement of principle in the Imperial Orc Assembly demanding the Marcher Assembly return the bodies from Grave Wood has inflamed tensions in the area
• If the Marcher Assembly tells the Imperial Orc Assembly where to take their demands, it will make them popular with local people
• A diplomatic solution would require an appraisal to identify a way to recover the orc bodies without disturbing the other graves

The trees in Ashvale are not the only trees on people's mind at the moment. In Spring this year, there was a minor miracle in Bregasland when a forest sprung up over night, claiming the bodies of nearly three thousand dead soldiers with it. Marchers, Jotun, Imperial Orcs, Freeborn, Wintermarkers - they're all feeding the soil now. The bodies of almost everyone slain in the battle were lost to the earth as the trees shot up. Hungry soil pulled them down as the roots took hold and the branches spread. Of course there are some folk who say it was some kind of Spring magic run amok, but that's clearly daft talk. Course it was Spring magic run amok - but it was also a bloody miracle. Irrefutable proof of what Marchers have always known - that when you die you come back as a tree for your next life. While people have never really thought about what happens to other people who did, the Wintermarkers and the Freeborn and the Unshackled all lost their lives fighting on Marcher soil, so it's not that surprising that they came back as trees as well, when you think about it.

In a single day they died. In a single night they became a forest exactly where they fell. There is not such thing as orc wood. The soldiers of the Autumn Hammers who went to the Graven March to earn their legend and in death become ancestors. NOT TO BE PLANTED AS SEEDS. The Imperial Orc National Assembly demand the Marcher Assembly return the bones of our people back to be interred in our lands.

Gralka, Imperial Orc Assembly, Summer Solstice 388YE, Vote: 62-0 Upheld with a Greater Majority

As far as many Marchers are concerned, Grave Forest, is a testimony to the Loyalty of the people who died fighting for the Marchers and the Empire. Let the Highborn have their dead stone tombs... the Marchers have living trees with which to remember their family and their friends. And trees are clearly better than mausoleums anyway - you can't pick apples from a tomb can you?

But nothing dries faster than a tear, and there are clearly some folk who are not happy about it. The Imperial Orc Assembly has demanded that the Marcher Assembly return the bones of their people. And since then, more than a few Imperial Orcs have turned up and been poking around the woods and asking questions. Bounders even caught two orcs heading towards the new woods with axes and shovels - which caused a nasty scene when they were turned back.

If it were just a case of giving back the remains of the orcs who Loyally gave their lives fighting for the Marchers, then most folk would be minded to let the orcs tear up the forest to recover the bones. Their people are trees now - but if they want to kill them again, that's on them. The problem is that there are hundreds and hundreds of Marcher souls in that forest, and there's no way to know whose trees is whose. And even if there was, it's a forest - the trees roots are intermingled like wickerwork. Every time you cut one tree down and dig it up, you'll take another two more with it.

It's not universal, but many Marchers genuinely believe that the trees of Grave Forest are the reincarnated souls of their former countrymen. And more than a few of them think there's Jotun, Wintermark, Freeborn and Imperial Orc souls reincarnated in the trees as well. The Imperial Orcs might claim they don't reincarnate, but they don't know everything about orc souls do they? Marcher orcs say they do reincarnate, so who's to say that Imperial Orcs don't reincarnate when they're in Marcher lands? These claims might not persuade an Urizeni questor or a Highborn wayfarer, but it's more than enough for some folk here.

Appraise Grave Wood

Motion Type: Appraisal

Necessary Details: Appropriate wording instructing the civil service to look for a practical solution to the problems posed by Grave Wood

Effect: Would create an opportunity to recover the bodies of the fallen orcs without disturbing the graves of the fallen Marchers

Availability: Until the end of the Summer Solstice 389YE

Either way, there's a lot of indignation from people that the Imperial Orcs are demanding the Marcher Assembly tear up Grave Wood. A few calmer heads point out that that's not what Gralka's judgement actually says, but whatever the truth of the matter, all eyes are on the Assembly. You don't own it unless you can defend it, as the saying goes. So what is the Marcher Assembly going to do about defending Grave Rock?

All eyes are going to be on the Marcher Assembly this summit, more than usual, to see what they have to say about this. It's hard to see what they can do that won't make the situation worse however. An appropriately barbed Marcher retort to the Imperial Orc Assembly will win the monks and friars a lot of goodwill with folk - it'll reassure them, that the Assembly cares about the nation's beliefs and traditions and is ready to stand up and defend them. Anything less will not go down well, and a statement calling on people to let the orcs cut Grave Wood down will be as popular as manure in the milking pail.

The answer lies in the soil.

Marcher Proverb

If the Assembly gives the Imperial Orcs their marching orders, that will win them the goodwill of a lot of Marchers but it's unlikely to do much for diplomacy between the two nations. An alternative might be, to find a solution to let the Imperial Orcs recover their dead without disturbing the graves of the fallen Marchers. The problem is that nobody can think of a good way to do that. But an appraisal would - if people are serious about this, then that is the one thing guaranteed to identify a possible solution. Might not be cheap, or easy, or quick, but easy come, worth less as folks say.

Further Reading

• The highest calling
• Liathaven - A review of Imperial knowledge about Liathaven

• Old blue banners dancing - 388YE Spring wind of war involving magical chaos and trees