382YE Spring Equinox winds of war

Overview

It is a new year, but the war is old.

Salvage (Madruga)

Merry Lads and Lasses, The Mournwold is ours, but now our neighbours need us, and it seems our work is never done. We march to Madruga and our bills and bows advance steadily will drive the Grendel back into the bitter sea from where they came. Freelanding is the home of the Freeborn, now lets get them back their land.

Will Talbot, General of the Drakes

The Grendel swept into Madruga after the Autumn Equinox, a lightning raid agaist Atalya and the Shining Pillar. They burned the shipyards, destroyed the Freeborn Storm, crushed all resistance on the islands of Free Landing, and then pushed on to raid the port of Quzar. The Navarr forces defending Madruga, the Black Thorns, were decisively defeated, pushed to the brink of destruction themselves.

After the Winter Solstice, the Navarr withdraw, marching north through Kahraman and the Mournwold toward the safety of distant Miaren. In the opposite direction, down out of the Mourn, come two Marcher armies to replace them. The Drakes and the Strong Reeds waste little time engaging the seafaring orcs. They drive south along the coast of Lightsea liberating towns and villages. There is some fierce fighting at Quzar, but it lasts only a handful of hours before the raiding pirates board their ships and flee back across the straits to Atalaya.

The invading orcs are nothing like the disciplined forces that have come to drive them out. The Marchers are methodical, marshalling their resources to ensure the fewest Imperial lives are lost. Seven and a half thousand soldiers against at most a few hundred raiders - it seems the bulk of the Grendel forces have already withdrawn to the islands. Sadly they take with them their ill-gotten gains, the booty of a hundred looted paradours and ruined businesses.

With the aid of the corsairs of the Brass Coast, the armies of the Marches push to liberate the islands of Free Landing. There is no navy, but the distances between islands are short and the people of Madruga are very angry indeed. There is some reticence from the Marcher captains. In the end, they are forced to admit that they either risk the sea or leave the Grendel in control of the islands. Some, of course, are more eager than others - there are yeomen born and raised among the boats of Meade and the rushes of North Fens who leap at the chance.

Soldiers of the Strong Reeds, our hard won victories do not mean we can rest on our laurels. The Empire aided us, now we in turn aid. A Steady Advance into Madruga to remove the Grendel scum.

Jack Flint, General of the Strong Reeds

The Grendel have little interest in fighting this season. A handful of hit-and-run strikes against Freeborn ships transporting Marcher soldiers, a few vicious skirmishes on this island or that. One by one the islands are liberated. Only at Atalaya is there any serious attempt to slow the Marcher advance; but it is clear that almost all the Grendel forces have already departed. Witnesses say that the great armada left, taking the land troops with it, even before news of the Strong Reeds and the Drakes reached the islands. They have also taken much of the wealth of Free Landing - including many priceless relics and artefacts of the first years of the Brass Coast looted from the museums of Atalaya.

Unfortunately, the difficulty presented by fighting over the islands does not complement the steady advance favoured by the Marchers. While almost all the islands are liberated, the troops are not in a position to take Atalaya which remains in Grendel hands. Several of the smaller islands are still occupied by Grendel forces, but they are opportunists - pirates - thieves. Not soldiers.

One more push should see the last Grendel occupation forces driven out - but such a push must wait until after the Spring Equinox.

Game Information : Madruga

The Strong Reeds and the Drakes face no organised resistance in their push to liberate Madruga. The main Grendel forces have withdrawn, leaving behind only scattered raiders and pirates. The Empire has retaken Lightsea, and is eight-tenths toward complete control of Free Landing.

Pyre (Sermersuaq)

A week after the Winter Solstice, eighteen thousand Jotun march into Sermersuaq, give or take. They march under the banners of the Queen in the North herself, the Jarl of Jarls of the orcs of Kallsea, the Skjalderborn. Heralding their way come the musicians and skalds of the Roaring Thunder, the army of Kyrac Gerdasdóttir. Impressive as this force would be by itself, they are further bolstered by what appears to be a great host of Jotun champions - the warbands that march under the banners of the greatest heroes of the Jotun - and by warriors sworn to the kirkja.

The way has been prepared by the Ice Fishers of Ldansk. Stark quickly falls. The village of Rest, and the Last Lantern become the base from which the Jotun expand to conquer the rest of the region. The ruined tower that stands near the village - The Sentinel's Rest - is briefly extinguished and then reignited by the orcs themselves. A great bonfire is raised, many times larger than the warning beacon traditionally used. Thus the Jotun armies announce their presence.

Despite the lack of any substantial force capable of holding back the tide the Jotun continue to advance cautiously with none of their normal bravado. All the signs suggest they expect a trap, preparing at any moment to fall back to their defenses. Some Winterfolk flee, many more stand and fight to defend their homes, but the Jotun advance is not even slowed. Hall after hall falls. As before, the bodies of those who fight the Jotun are treated with respect, interred beneath barrow mounds. Those who surrender are offered the Choice - but those who choose to become thralls are sent west out of Sermersuaq to Tromsa and Skallahn.

Stark falls quickly. The Jotun do not pause. They press north into Taikipari, with the same measured slow advance, prepared always for signs of treachery. More halls fall. Suaq hunting parties are intercepted, and given the Choice. A fortnight before the Spring Equinox, the Roaring Thunder and the fellowship of the Howling Bears take the Hot Springs of Taniki. The defenders are supported by Kallavesi warriors, by feathered mystics, but the Jotun roll inexorably onwards, crushing all who stand before them.

Quick moving Raðljóst scouts are spotted as far afield as the Face of Ikka in the north and Wreck in the east. Do the scouts know about the new mine in Suaq Fount? There is no way to be sure.

There are raiders everywhere. The warband of the Jarl of Aftanes pushes into Sealtoq to the east, but is repulsed with minor losses by the desperate Suaq. A feint, rather than a serious attempt to conquer. Testing the resolve of the defenders. Many Suaq fall; barely a handful of orc bodies are counted on the battlefield when the Jarl withdraws.

There is another matter of concern. In Spring 380YE, the Jotun invaded Kallavesa and over the course of the Summer established a presence there. While they later left the territory, their warriors still haunt the marshes of northern West Marsh. West Marsh lies just across the border from Stark - and if the Jotun were to turn their attention toward the ancestral homeland of the Kallavesi they would have a significant advantage in establishing a foothold there.

Furthermore, a band of hard-bitten Steinr wardens who patrol the plains beneath the Silver Peaks return to Atalaq, battered and bruised, shortly before the Spring Equinox. They bring news that a group of Jotun have passed into the foothills there. They tired warriors assert that the Jotun have been received by the Thule - a diplomatic envoy to the orcs of Otkodov no doubt. There is much heated discussion about what might happen if the warrior-born Jotun were to forge an alliance with the warlocks of Otkodov; none of it heartening. For their part, the northern orcs take no part in the invasion by the Jotun. They remain in their mountain fastness, seemingly disinterested in the slow advance of the western orcs.

Game Information : Sermersuaq

As the Spring Equinox dawns, the Jotun are dug-in at Stark, and half-way towards complete control of Tanikipari. They control most of the land between the western border and the shores of lake Atkonartoq. There are raiding forces all over the territory - any character who lives there could have seen or encountered them. The Jotun are being very cautious - but they are not afraid to spill orc or human blood in pursuit of their conquest of the territory.