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Brother Andrew stared wistfully at the hole in the ceiling. It was raining again and the water was dripping through the hole to fall into the bucket below.

At least that had clearly been the plan when one of the young monks had put the bucket there. Unfortunately the winds were blowing hard and because most of the windows in the main transept had holes in them, they were snatching the droplets as they began the long descent from the vaulted roof and playing havoc with them. As a result the rain was going almost anywhere but the bucket. Silently he cursed Old Bloody Teeth for spiting them all.

To be fair, the hole in the roof was less the work of the Devourer of the Fallen and more a consequence of five hundred years of neglect. Stockwater monastery had been here since before the Cousin's War, there had been good times... and bad... Harvest had come and gone and never quite produced enough money to maintain the building. Essential repairs left undone, and now they were all paying the price. The holes were like weeds, he mused to himself, you had to pull them up as soon as they appear, otherwise there'd be twice as many next time you tilled the field.

When Brother Neil had first come up with the idea of setting up a small fayre on the monastery grounds, trading the mana crystals formed from Old Higgins Cave to the local Landskeeper circle it hadn't seemed like it would make that much money. But like any good crop, it had grown and grown, taking on a life of its own. And suddenly there was enough money to do the work at last. The monastery was saved!

But by then it was far too late to preserve the main transept. It was too far gone, Tom had said - the roof they could repair, replace the missing rafters and make it whole again. But the East wall was collapsing, it needed pulling down and rebuilding. The only way the monastery was going to survive to the next Cousins War was if they rebuilt that part from scratch.

So for five years they've saved every penny they had, buying white granite whenever they could afford it, storing it in the crypt in readiness for the day there'd be enough to do the job right. And just as they decided they had enough... this happens.

He pursed his lips. "You sure about this Brother Neil?" he asked. The question was rhetorical, they'd been over this a dozen times. They'd all agreed to it. Didn't mean he had to like it though. Neil did all the books for the fayre, according to him, if they got enough mana, they could buy back most of the white granite in less than two years.

Two years. Two more bloody years of putting out buckets to catch rain in. He turned to look at the monk behind him, but pointedly cast his eyes at the offending pail, as if it could make his argument for him.

Silence. All he could hear was the abbots words from his last sermon, still echoing through his thoughts. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

The farms of the Marches, even in the grip of war, feed the whole Empire.

Overview

At the last summit, Brother Rhaego declared that it was the solemn duty of Marchers to work the land and nourish it's people. Pride in small things, Loyalty to great ones, as the Marchers have it. The Marcher Assembly agreed that this was the highest calling, urging all to put aside other tasks and focus on this.

It is a sound statement, one that rings with truth to most Marchers who hear it. The Imperial Breadbasket has proved invaluable since its inception, boosting incomes across the Marches but also keeping Imperial armies fed and in the field when they might otherwise be suffering as their supplies failed.

The reward for a good job is more work, as the saying goes, and so it proves now.

A Basket of Bread

• The Empire could complete the Marcher Breadbasket by building the last part of the great work in the Mournwold
• It would increase the income of every farm in Mournwold by 36 rings a season
• Once complete, it would raise the number of armies the Marchers could support by one, once the Marchers regain Bregasland

Our duty to the Empire is to work the land and nourish its people. To serve this purpose, we must all take part. It is time to empower the Breadbasket, starting with the Mournwold. This is our highest calling.

Brother Rhaego, Marcher Assembly, Marcher Assembly Assembly, Autumn Equinox 387YE, (Upheld with a Greater Majority 228-0)

The best soil is thirsty soil, or so they say in the Marches. For those less familiar with Marcher proverbs, the adage is usually taken to mean that the best soil is watered with tears, sweat and blood - that it demands and rewards hard work. The fields of the Marches didn't become fertile by chance, they don't produce more food than anywhere else in the Empire by good fortune - it happens because honest Marcher folk expend sweat, blood and tears to make it happen.

The words of the Assembly fall on receptive ears. Bregasland may be in the grip of the Jotun, but nobody doubts that they will be driven back. They were driven back last time when they tried this with their false queen. They'll be driven back again; its a certainty especially with the Strong Reeds leading the liberation. They were pushed out of the Mournwold by the Tusks, the next push will see them driven out of Bregasland. But how to make that happen if you're a smallholder living in Upwold? How to do your bit if you're a Marcher orc with a farmstead in the Mournwold? How to speed the victory if you're a friar tending your monastery's lands in Mitwold?

The Mournwold Breadbasket

Commission Type: Great Work

Location: Mournwold

Cost: 15 white granite, 35 weirwood, and 150 crowns in labour

Time: 2 seasons

Effect: Grant every farm in the Mournwold an additional 36 rings each season Increases the Marcher ability to support armies by one, once Bregasland is back in Marcher hands

Availability: Until another great work increasing investment in farms is commissioned in the Mournwold

The Assembly has the right of it... put your back in it and build up the Breadbasket. The more food there is to go round, the more soldiers the Empire can feed, the faster the Jotun will get beat. And if that reminds the rest of the Empire how important the Marches are to the Empire... well that's all to the good isn't it? The Assembly has spoken - people are fired up - now they just need to get to it.

The first thing that is needed is to commission the extension to the Breadbasket in the Mournwold. You can't enjoy the biscuits if you don't have the flour, as the saying goes. If the nation wants to empower the Breadbasket, starting with the Mournwold, then they will actually have to start with the Mournwold. There's not much folks at home can do to get the Senate to approve building the final state of the Breadbasket, but given the Assembly said it was the nation's highest calling, there should be no problem at all finding some Marcher senator who is going to use their motion to raise it... right?

Granary outside Hay in Mitwold.

A Stitch in Time

• Ten wains of white granite will be provided by Stockwater Monastery in exchange for 180 mana crystals
• Ten wains of weirwood will be provided by the alders of Wayford in exchange for 28 thrones
• Five wains of weirwood will be provided by Harry the Axe if the Marcher Assembly supports the Feni's claim to Alderly

Once it's agreed by the Senate, then the work can start. The thing's expensive, it'll need 35 wains of weirwood and 15 wains of white granite by all accounts - and at least 150 crowns in labour costs. There's nothing to be done about the fact that it's going to be expensive - "you don't put cheap seed in rich soil" as the saying goes... But there might be a way the Marchers could find to get the resources that are needed if everyone puts their hand in their pocket. Three wealthy citizens have come forward, all of whom are willing to do their bit if asked.

"Mana is money", Tom Draughtsman, is fond of saying. It's not exactly a common Marcher proverb, more a reference to the way that landskeepers can use mana to make the land more productive - and ultimately more profitable through the use of rituals like Blessing of New Spring. The monk is one of the leaders of Stockwater Monastery in Upwold. Besides tilling their own lands, the monastery earns good money every year overseeing a roaring trade in mana with the local yeofolk and landskeeper circles. The monks have been discreetly buying white granite for years now, intending to completely rebuild their increasingly threadbare monastery building. This however is a better cause by far Tom reckons, so the monastery is prepared to contribute all ten wains of white granite they've got to finish the Breadbasket. In return they'd like the folks at Anvil to provide them with 50 mana that they can earn the money back selling it at the seasonal fayres they hold. If one or more Marchers heads down to the monastery they can provide mana - and the monastery will contribute a wain for every eighteen mana crystals to the 'Basket, to a maximum of ten wains.

Money is like muck. Only any good if it's spread around.

Marcher Proverbs

Tom is not the only wealthy Marcher willing to dig deep. There's a group of alders from Wayford who are enthusiastic to do their bit. These hard-working merchants ran an import business shipping salt, cloves, and other spices from Faraden and the Delves. One of them, Anne Craig, has a tip for a cheap consignment of weirwood from a merchant in Sarcophan who is looking to be rid of it, no questions asked. It'll cost a pretty ring to ship it to the Marches, so it's too rich for her tastes, but if folks at Anvil can find 28 thrones, then that's ten weirwood that can go to the Breadbasket. Sadly it's an all or nothing deal - the Sarcophan merchants need to unload the lot in a hurry, but Anne's group will handle all the logistics.

A few years back, one of the Marcher armies attacked the Feni settlements in Alderly. They killed all those that fought back and the rest fled. As far as any honest folk are concerned, that was the end of the matter. In truth, many that got away ended up in Liathaven, but folks who know Alderly well say some went deeper in the woods. They put a lot of portentous emphasis on "deeper", like it should mean something to people who know. One of the Marchers who spends more time in the woods than is good for anyone is Harry the Axe. Harry is a broad-shouldered draughir woodcutter with a very poor reputation. Chopping trees down is hard work and poor pay - "there's precious few wealthy woodcutters in this world, and Harry the Axe ain't one of 'em" as locals quip. None-the-less Harry sells wood cut from Alderly, and he's wealthy enough, there's no denying either of those two things.

Liars and gossips sleep in the same bed.

Marcher Proverbs

Harry the Axe has said he'll provide five wains of fresh cut weirwood for the Breadbasket, but he wants what he wants for it. Namely a clear statement of principle with a greater majority from the Marcher Assembly saying "Alderly Woods belongs to the Feni and nobody should go in without their say-so". It's raising more than a few eyebrows in the Mourn, to put it mildly. The prevailing view in local taverns might politely be summed up as derisory contempt for Harry, the work he does, his ancestry (there are always muttered rumours that the Marchers of Alderly are closer to the Feni than to their neighbours), and his offer to "buy half the Mourn for five flaming weirwood".

Still... even damp wood burns in a hot fire, as the saying goes.

Participation
Any Marcher character can send the required materials to take advantage of these offers to the appropriate party by putting them in their pack after the event and then emailing plot@profounddecisions.co.uk to let them know to take the materials. In the unlikely event that there are more materials than required, we'll take a portion of the payment from each contributor and return the rest.

Orson BogMyrtle, Keeper of the Breadbasket

The Keeper's Cottage

• Folk are calling for the Keeper of the Breadbasket to have their own office somewhere in the Marches
• The Keepers Cottage is a simple sinecure that would provide benefits depending on where it is built
• If the Cottage and the Mournwold Breadbasket are both constructed, it will lead to further opportunities over what is left of the year
• The current Keeper of the Breadbasket is Orson BogMyrtle but the title is due to be appointed at the Winter Solstice

Keeper's Cottage

Commission Type: Sinecure

Location: Mournwold, Upwold, or Mitwold

Cost: 4 white granite, 4 weirwood, and 24 crowns in labour

Time: 1 season

Special: Could be done as part of the same commission to build the Breadbasket in Mourne Enables further opportunities involving the breadbasket in coming seasons if Cottage and Mournwold Breadbasket are built

Availability: One year

Effect: Provides an income of 12 crowns to the Keeper if built in Mitwold Provides an income of 12 random ingots to the Keeper if built in the Mournwold Provides an income of 12 liao to the Keeper if built in Upwold

The Keeper of the Breadbasket is the title charged with looking after the Breadbasket, making sure it runs well and ensuring it's suitably protected if it's threatened. One of the first Keepers was Lily Guildenstern, who held the position for two years and very much set the tone for the role, by taking advantage of the title's right of address to make sure the Breadbasket was never forgotten about then. Since Lily's time there has been a different Keeper every year, but thus far they've all been well-liked and admired for their hard work. The current incumbent is Orson BogMyrtle, and folks reckon it's time he got some recompense for his efforts (even with the title due for appointment at the Winter Solstice).

What's needed, folk say, is a tidy little cottage for the Keeper - nothing too fancy or they'll only get airs and graces like some Dawnish earl. But it needs to have a little bit of land and an outhouse, and stores and a big office where the Keeper can meet with yeofolk, alders and others who've got business with the Keeper.

What's proposed is ultimately a simple sinecure attached to the office of the Keeper of the Breadbasket, so that they can derive a tidy income from their activities to recompense them for the work they do. It would need 4 wains of weirwood and 4 wains of white granite, 24 crowns, but it's such a simple commission, that it could be built at the same time as the Breadbasket was being built in the Mourn as part of the same work. If the Senate motion or announcement called to build the cottage, it would all get done at the same time and just increase the costs proportionally.

Of course, no sooner has someone suggested it, than people fall to arguing over where it should go. Bregasland is under the Jotun thumb right now, so that's out, but there more than a few locations that would be good in the Mournwold. If it went anywhere in the territory it would gain an income of 12 random ingots each season, from the various metals flowing from the mines in the Orehills and beyond. The monks at Stockwater Monastery are keen to provide some land for it on the edge of their monastery - if it was built in Upwold it would provide 12 liao each season. Likewise the wealthy alders of Wayford would be more than happy to see the offices of the Breadbasket built in Mitwold; if that happened the Keeper would gain an income of 12 crowns each season.

On the face of it, it seems as broad as it is long, which means either nobody will care, or folks will fight like cat and dog. Either way, it needs settling if the Keeper is to have an office somewhere. And they do need an office - because if the Marcher Assembly is serious about the Breadbasket being the nation's highest calling, then they'll need to build the Keeper's Cottage and complete the Mournwold Breadbasket, otherwise there's no way to take it any further. If that does happen, if the Mournwold Breadbasket and the Keeper's Cottage are both built, then it will inevitably lead to further opportunities involving the Breadbasket over what is left of the year, given the importance the Marcher Assembly have put on the matter.

Further Reading

• Keeper of the Breadbasket
• Rattle of the Bones - 382YE Winter wind of war covering the destruction of the Alderly Feni