381YE Winter Solstice winds of war

Overview

War never changes.

Hunting By The Rivers

The Seventh Wave will not fail. We will not allow Zenith to be taken. Our foe may have numbers but we will not fall and we will not fail.

General of the Seventh Wave

During the Autumn Equinox, the Druj forces in Zenith moved against the Golden Cascade. A series of terraces and aqueducts carved into the foothills, it was supported both by powerful ritual magic, and great polished mirrors that ensured the fields received as much sunlight as possible all year round. The Golden Cascade was seen by many as a wonder of the Empire. Now it is gone.

The eastern orcs turned a monstrous marshwalker loose against the great dam that controlled the flow of water to the terraced farms. The creature tore the white granite wall apart, unleashing a deluge of freezing water across the foothills - a devastating flash flood that swept away everything in its path. The farms are ruined, the aqueducts shattered, the great golden mirrors cast down. Thousands of ushabti are destroyed and scores of farmers drowned in the relentless flood.

The catastrophe is epic in scale; many refugees fleeing across the plains from Lustri and Occursion are caught by the waves of water, and those who manage to find higher ground are easy prey for the murderous Druj. The Highborn armies defending Zenith - Seventh Wave, Granite Pillar, and Valiant Pegasus - are forced to withdraw, barely making it out of Proceris before the disaster strikes. The Druj armies, expertly positioned and well-practiced in the art of fighting in treacherous, boggy conditions, sweep in behind the flood claiming the defences the Highborn have abandoned.

The people of Urizen need us now more than ever! The venomous water has been purified and we must hold the last region! We make a strategic defence of Zenith and coordinate with both the Seventh Wave and Valient Pegasus. Hold your ground!

General of the Granite Pillar

If there is a single bright side to the disaster, it is that the cold water from the mountains is surprisingly pure even after it has swept across the plains. Indeed, under the noonday sun the water seems to sparkle with a hard-to-define golden radiance. A potent enchantment has been lain across Zenith that purifies liquids of all sorts, separating off any corruption or poison. The Urizen fleeing the Druj have no lack of fresh drinking water, and the potent magic also serves as a measure of protection from envenomed blades and infected wounds.

The Golden Cascade is a significant loss, but it is not the only blow to the people of Urizen. The Druj also overrun the Arch of the Sky, a collection of spires on the tallest mountain in Zenith, where stargazers from all of the Empire once gathered to discuss and debate the Net of the Heavens, comparing their astral observations to the history and present state of the Empire and the wider world. The Druj flood waters do not reach the spire itself of course, but even as the dam is being smashed apart Druj guerillas are moving into position. Many of the astronomancers and star-watchers have already retreated, but a handful of magicians and sentinels remain behind in the hope of holding the orcs at bay. Such hope is in vain. The eastern orcs take and loot the spires, and before turning their attention back to the flooded plains they burn the proud observatories and libraries. What they cannot take with them is reduced to ashes.

The Highborn armies stand between the Druj and total control of Zenith

Everywhere the citizens of eastern Zenith flee west. Those who can make it to the foothills in the west, where the Seventh Wave wait, are safe. Those left behind meet grim fates. Hunted, enslaved, tormented … the Druj are savage and without mercy. The barbarians seem to treat the pursuit almost as a game, taking grim pleasure in peppering the fleeing Urizen with arrows in the last moments before they reach sanctuary. The Highborn do what they can, but all too few manage to escape the combination of floodwater and Druj malice.

The general of one of the orc armies, those who fight beneath the banner of the crimson snake, takes great pleasure in tying prisoners to stakes on low ground, leaving them to starve to death or drown in the flood waters in full view of Highborn positions - as bait. Some of them are rescued, but many of those who attempt such rescues are captured by the Druj and staked out in their turn.

A week or so after the Equinox there is a moment of uncertainty for the Druj when two Freeborn armies march through the grand pass from Spiral known as the Twilight Gate. The broad pass through the mountains allows the Red Wind Corsairs and the Fire of the South to avoid the worst of the destruction, and there are many mariners and corsairs among the soldiers who are able to employ their professional skills to craft makeshift rafts when they have to. The Druj launch a few probing strikes against the soldiers of the Brass Coast - but these cautious attacks are easily shrugged off. The Freeborn are not here to fight - they quickly pass through Proceris, and without pause push on westward through Clypion and Iteri, and then south into Redoubt.

The Druj consolidate their gains, but the armies do not press beyond Proceris. That is not to say that there are no Druj in Clypion - there are small groups of scouts, guerillas, and even assassins who move quietly through the hills but the vigilance of the Granite Pillar prevents them from achieving more than a few minor acts of banditry and barbarism. While the Highborn still hold Clypion, the westernmost region of Iteri is relatively safe.

Stand with our brothers and sisters and hold Zenith. Heal those who fall, both military and civilian. Fight with the virtue of the Highborn. We will not allow people to fall to the Druj.

General of the Valiant Pegasus

Several spires there have taken in cousins and friends from the conquered western territories, but the Urizen are not well-suited for dealing with displaced population. Too many people in too small a space, drawing on too sparse a supply of food ... The Valiant Pegasus offer what aid they can, and set up makeshift camps to house the refugees, but many prefer to continue north into Morrow looking for somewhere to stay among their own people.

As the Winter Solstice draws near, the floodwaters have largely settled. The Druj have claimed almost all of Proceris - a concerted push against the remaining Highborn defences and they will control the entire sodden plain - and with it the territory of Zenith.

Game Information: Zenith

The Druj have further consolidated their hold on Lustri and Occursion, and hold nine-tenths of Proceris. The Highborn defenders along the western border of the region are all that stand between the Druj and control of Zenith.

The precise extent of the damage to Zenith is not clear at this time, but the Golden Cascades are utterly ruined. These farms represented a great work that provided a significant amount of food to the spires of eastern Urizen. Going forward, all farms in Zenith suffer a penalty of 18 rings production each season due to the lack of good quality farmland in the wake of the catastrophe. Furthermore, attempts to build a fortification in Proceris are likely to encounter additional costs and difficulties. It may be possible to counter these problems, but not until the current conflict with the Druj is settled.

Confirmation has been received from refugees that the Druj have destroyed the Starlight Drift of Shimmering Snow, the Tower of the Fall, the Storm Vault, and Origen's Rest. The titles associated with these sinecures still exist, but provide no benefits. If the sinecures were rebuilt (assuming the Druj are driven out of Zenith), the current holders would resume their posts. Alternatively, if the current title holders had stepped down in the interim, the normal methods of appointment would apply.