Love and monsters

"Yeah, but the new Queen says we need to stand with the Empire and destroy the Druj!" Isolde thumped the tavern table to emphasise the point.

Mathild did not look convinced. "It's very sensible" he said, the emphasis on the last word revealing how he really felt. "But they're already beaten. We conquered Ossium. Then we conquered the Barrens. Now we've conquered Sarangrave. They're done - where's the glory in defeating a foe who can't fight back?" he asked.

Isolde screwed up her face. It was not the first time they had had this argument and it definitely wouldn't be the last. They'd been chewing this over for the best part of a week now but it was impossible. There was just no way they were going to agree.

"Yeah - that'll definitely be a glorious tale. In 385YE Dawn totally defeated the Druj, but got bored before it was over and went off to do other things leaving the Druj all the time in the world to rebuild. Yeah, it sounds so epic when you say it like that."

Now it was Mathild's turn to look aggrieved. "Ha ha. It's not about being bored of the Druj, it's about glory. The Earl of Fools is calling for us to take the war to the vallorn. New horizons and all that! That's an enemy worth drawing our swords for. Defeating the vallorn - now that's glorious."

Isolde was still not convinced. "Fighting bushes and trees? How's that glorious? The vallorn is a shit enemy, it just sits in the woods and doesn't do anything. Where's the glory in beating up a group of plants?"

"You should come down the Greenwood and see those "plants" in action. Anyway, they're going do magic on it - get all the vallorn armies to take the field together or something. Then we'll have a proper war on our hands. You wait and see - I promise you it will be glorious. That's what we should be preparing for. It's not like we can do both."

"Wait. What?" demanded a shocked Isolde.

"A proper war?" he responded quizzically, unsure of what he'd said that had caused the confusion.

"No, no, what you just said." She raised her hands to gesture the quote - "It's not like we can do both." That's what you said.

"Right, well it's not, is it? We can't fight both. Everyone says so."

Isolde was grinning now. "I've never met everyone, but whoever they are, I bet a gold crown they not Dawnish. Think about it... what would be more glorious than defeating the Druj and more glorious than defeating the vallorn?" She paused, but it was clearly rhetorical, "Defeating them both at the same time!" she finished.

Mathild roared with laughter and raised his tankard to his old friend. Maybe there was a way to settle this argument after all.

The Assembly of Dawn has announced its highest calling; a glorious adventure to destroy the vallorn.

Overview

The Earl of Fools has convinced the Dawnish National Assembly that the fight against the vallorn is the Highest Calling of Dawn. With the Barrens won and the Druj crumbling beneath the Empire's Anvil and the Thule's hammer, it makes sense to focus on the next threat to their prize. The vallorn has not one but three hearts adjacent to the sprawling expanse of the Barrens - defeating it will be a glorious endeavour.

The idea of a great war against the vallorn is more than enough to stir the blood of the glorious.

Barrens won, Dawn looks to Horizons new; And in Wisdom learns from Tales of our Past. Dawn must prepare its next Glorious fight; Aid all nations in fight against Vallorn. With Love, Glory, Virtue, all that Dawn is. Be the shield wall on which this foe shall break. Be the shining sword which the Empire wields. This is our Highest Calling.

Earl of Fools, Dawn Assembly, Spring 388YE, Vote: Upheld with a Greater Majority 376-166

Chimera

• Dawn could create a grand monument in the Barrens to inspire citizens to fight the vallorn
• The edifice would require 75 wains of white granite, 225 crowns and would need a dose of true liao to consecrate it
• The monument would halve the cost to enlarge Dawnish armies until the vallorn is defeated

The Vallorn's Demise

Commission Type: Edifice

Location: Murderdale, The Barrens

Cost: 75 white granite, 225 crowns, one dose of true liao and 12 months

Special: Senate motion must include an appropriate figure for the statue to be of

Availability: Until the start of Summer Solstice 389YE

Effects: Erects an enormous, inspiring statue Until the vallorn is defeated, the costs to enlarge Dawnish armies are halved to 75 wains of mithril and 225 crowns

How to defend the prize that is the Barrens against the threat of aggressive topiary? For Dawn, offence has always been the best defence. A grand monument in Murderdale, would move and inspire everyone who saw it, rallying them to the cause. To be truly effective it would need to be vast in scale, something with truly impressive grandeur and would need a Writ of Consecration and a precious dose of True Liao in addition to the wains and labour. But once complete it would create an awe-inspiring monument to rival the power and majesty of the three watchers.

Who, it is asked, could inspire such fervour into the hearts of the soldiers of Dawnish Armies? On whom should this grand monument be modelled? Should it be the Chimera, the symbol of battlefield prowess? Adelmar the Lion, martial Exemplar of Ambition born in Dawn? The new Queen of Dawn herself, the Warden-Queen? Should the Senators involved need some advice on the matter, they might consider consulting the newly formed Cat's Graces.

Once complete, the monument would cause of surge in volunteers looking to join Dawnish armies to fight the vallorn. Experienced soldiers who have long since retired from the army would return, looking for the glory of one last war against this ancient enemy. Until the vallorn is defeated, and every vallornheart the Empire knows of is destroyed, Dawnish armies would require half the usual costs to be enlarged - that is 75 mithril and 225 crowns.

Mordrain Sepulchre (in red), Knight of the Greenwood

Unicorns

• The Dawnish Assembly could endorse the Vallornguard's leadership to allow military units of all nations to quest against the vallorn
• The Assembly could endorse the nation's crusade to claim Brocéliande to increase the rewards available from questing against the vallorn

The Highest Calling was not the first sign of Dawn's eagerness to test itself against the Folly of Terunael. The Knight of the Greenwood was commissioned in Summer 384YE to coordinate and support Dawnish military units that quest against the vallorn. In recent years interest in the fight has fallen off, with around a dozen military units committed to the venture each season. But the clarion call from the Synod has transformed the situation, with interest climbing fivefold. The question is how to maintain or improve that?

The Constitutional Court offers one route. They have judged that the title ought properly to be appointed by the Vallornguard. There is absolutely no requirement to follow the Court's ruling, but the Dawnish Assembly could embrace this decision if they wanted to throw their support behind the Imperial sodality. Most Dawnish folk understand that the war against the vallorn will need every witch and warrior in the Empire to take up arms together, Dawn alone cannot defeat this enemy. Navarr have embraced the Vallornguard and given it their support, should Dawn now do likewise?

The Dawnish Assembly could enact the following mandate:

The Virtuous build up their fellows. We send {named priest} with 75 liao to urge citizens of the Empire to come to Greenwood Manor to venture forth against the enemy. Let the Vallornguard lead us to glory!

Synod Mandate, Dawn National Assembly

If this mandate is passed, the civil service will raise an administrative motion at the next Senate session to amend the title to make it appointed by the Vallornguard. If that motion passes the Senate then the title would still be held by the Dawnish, it would become a national appointment - but it would be elected by vote of the sodality the next time it falls vacant. If the title is amended and the mandate is enacted, then it will open up Greenwood Manor to citizens of every nation. The venture to quest against the vallorn would become available to all military units.

Of course the Dawnish Assembly could take the opposite view. The new sodality has not yet proven its worth and besides it seems very focused on victory. It's all well and good defeating the vallorn, but it will be a wasted opportunity if the coming war is not glorious. Who better than the Dawnish Assembly to ensure that whoever holds the title embraces the glory of battle with the vallorn?

The Dawnish Assembly could enact the following mandate:

No price is too high to realise your dreams. We send {named priest} with 50 liao to remind the Dawnish that there is no fight more glorious than that against the vallorn. Let us raise the banner of Dawn over Brocéliande!

Synod Mandate, Dawn National Assembly

If this mandate is enacted, then it will permanently improve the rewards available. Every Dawnish military unit questing against the vallorn will gain rewards as if they are a rank higher and the Greenwood Knight's income will increase to ten measures of natural material and fourteen drams of herbs. Dawnish nobles will surge into Brocéliande and yeofolk will establish settlements in Boar's Dell. Of course it may take many years for the vallornheart to be destroyed, but once it is defeated, why shouldn't Dawn press its claim? Brocéliande has never been part of the Empire, and as the recent example with Sarangrave demonstrates, a territory can't be seen as Navarr lands just because it contains a vallornheart...

These Dawnish Assembly mandates are competing.

Sphinges

• Gardens built for the war witches of Weaving in Astolat would allow Dawn to trade a college of magic for another army
• The next Dawn army would be formed from war witches trained at the Gardens

Gardens of the Sphinx

Commission Type: Edifice

Location: Weaving, Astolat

Cost: 10 mithril and 15 weirwood, 75 crowns, and 1 season

Availability: Until the start of Summer Solstice 389YE

Effects: Reduces Dawn's supply for colleges of magic by one Increases Dawn's supply for armies by one for an army Dawnish war witches would form the core of the next army Dawn raised

The honest truth of the matter is that the roused vallorn is going to be a fight unlike anything the Empire has ever seen. Titles, incomes, statues, inspiration, everything else helps; but at the end of the day there will need to be a marshalling of every person who can fight, to fight. Unlike their cousins in the west, Dawn is currently unable to support a fifth army, but the nation of Dawn is a place where nothing is impossible, a place of glory where dreams are given form.

The war-witches of the nation have long looked at the Citadel Guard as an aspirational challenge. The Urizen are the only people who can rival their ability to apply devastating uses of magic to the battlefield in a focused manner. Currently, many of Dawns magical minds are keen to look at building a college of magic, but if this capacity was sacrificed, aspiring magicians could be encouraged to become war witches and join the efforts against the vallorn

The Garden of the Sphinx would be an elaborate series of serene gardens built in Weaving, Astolat; both the centre of magical learning in Dawn and the birthplace of Adelmar the Lion. Named for the legendary beasts association with magic, it is a happy coincidence that sphinxes are traditionally mortal enemies of manticores. It would encourage the study and practice of war magic and incorporate a set of duelling arenas to allow war witches to test their skills against one another.

Once complete, Dawn would be able to raise an army capable of unleashing the power of magic on the battlefield. It would ensure that a cohort of capable war witches formed the core of the army. It would not be a Magic army, but over time it could develop its own unique quality that reflected the prowess of the war witches.

Lions

• A herald offers recommendations on the grandeur of a monument to the beneficence of the Queen of the Fields of Glory
• The Queen has summoned Dame Katelyn Quinnell De Cordraco to appear before her, with an entourage of troubadours, to her exploits and her plans
• If the meeting goes well, the Lion of Summer will offer the general her aid in the fight against the vallorn

Last season, Elodian visited Anvil on business both personal and for his liege-lady. She was disappointed to hear about the doubt that has manifested itself in the hearts of the previously proud Highborn. But Eleonaris is apparently pleased to hear of plans to erect a grand triumph to celebrate their joint victory in the Sarangrave. A glorious frieze showing victorious Imperials fighting alongside elfin knights is entirely satisfactory. Of course anything raised in honour of a queen, should have the appropriate grandeur, a small statue is fine for a glorious yeofolk completing their test of mettle, but the Queen of the Fields of Glory will expect something in keeping with her status. Something the size of a tower would be adequate, but it would need to be bigger if the Empire want to impress on the Queen how grateful they are for her aid.

In any case, the denizens of the Summer Realm pay are pleased to hear that the next great campaign is to be led against the vallorn. Elodian returned singing the praises of the greatest general in the Empire, Dame Katelyn Quinnell De Cordraco of the Lions of Adelmar. So intrigued was she by the words of Elodian that she wishes to meet this great general in person at the coming solstice. At 14:00 on Saturday the Lady of Pennants will send one of her court to the Hall of Worlds to collect General Katelyn to escort her and half a dozen troubadours to engage in a discussion on the plans for this new war. After an exchange of gifts, the troubadours should regale the Sovereign in Scarlet and Gold of the great deeds of General Katelyn, and if the Lion of Summer is suitably impressed she will offer her aid in the coming fight against the Folly of Terunael.

Further Reading

• The highest calling - 387YE Autumn wind of fortune introducing the highest calling

• Vallorn
• Vallornguard