385YE Winter Solstice winds of fortune

Pausing to read the notices hung in public places is one excellent way to discover new things to be concerned about.

Overview

Over the past three months, events have taken place which are of significance to the Empire and may require a response from her champions. These are the winds of fortune, counterparts to the Winds of War which detail the Empire's military campaigns. They lay out situations, and usually include things that characters can do to take advantage of opportunities or to resolve problems. In almost every case, they start with a piece of flavour text. This fiction helps introduce the wind of fortune, or draws out a particular theme or element. Often, it represents a viewpoint that one or more NPCs might have in-character. In all cases, these pieces are intended to help create an atmosphere and provide a little entertainment. Where they contain opinions, those are the opinions of the fictional people depicted - and where they contain information or rumours the assumption is that the reader will create their own context for that information or gossip if they want to use it in character.

The body of the wind of fortune describes situations and lays out ways players can engage with them. Except where we explicitly talk about something being "rumoured" or use a phrase like "some might say..." the details of a wind of fortune are factual. They represent briefing material presented by the civil service or similar authoritative sources and represents something the average educated citizen would acknowledge as a reliable truth. Unless we specify otherwise, we're also being as thorough as possible. This information doesn't need further checking in-character. It's not opinion, and we're not trying to trick you.

As always, how much or how little of this information you choose to know in character is up to you. Part of the purpose of Winds of Fortune is to maintain the illusion of the Empire as a living, breathing place where things happen - and to make players aware of things their characters could know based on what their roleplaying says they have been doing for the past three months. It's perfectly acceptable to turn up to Empire having read only a few Winds of Fortune that directly interest your character; part of the fun on the field can come from learning about situations and opportunities in other parts of the game.

In each case, we've tried to tag the Winds of Fortune entry with the nations, or political bodies, to which it is most relevant. We've done this to help people who are interested only in events that are especially relevant to them. In no way are these tags intended to be exhaustive; the Empire is a complex place and very little happens in isolation.

Winds of Fortune

A Crown in Winter

• Everyone

There is a new Throne! Empress Vesna Borkovna Prochnost was appointed during the Autumn Equinox, and will be formally crowned during the Winter Solstice. You can learn more about her, and about the upcoming coronation, in our first Wind of Fortune A Crown in Winter.

A Sparrow in Spring

• Everyone, especially the Imperial Senate

The coronation marks the beginning of the reign of Empress Vesna, and immediately there are questions to be answered. What form will the Empire-wide celebrations of the new Throne take? What will be the tenor and nature of her inaugral address? What upstanding motions and title appointments will be resolved? You can learn more about these questions in the A Sparrow in Spring Wind of Fortune.

Other Events

There are a number of other events and situations which are noteworthy, but which for whatever reason have not led to a full Wind of Fortune in their own right.

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Trade Summary

Rather than spread this information out around the various foreign nations, we've collected it here for ease of reference.

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Mandates

• You can find details of the mandates, along with the rest of the Synod judgements, here.

A number of mandates were successfully upheld in the Imperial Synod last season. As long as the named priest provided sufficient liao, those mandates have been automatically enacted.

Autumn Conjunctions

• Last event there were a number of conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate; their known outcomes are listed here

During the Autumn Equinox, there were a number of conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate identified by the Imperial prognosticators. In each case a band of Imperial heroes used that conjunction to travel to a location far from Anvil and intervene in a ongoing situation. These are the known outcomes of those conjunctions. In the case of battles, it is important to remember that the Military Council can only make use of two of the major conjunctions each summit, choosing which to take advantage of during the Muster.

Major Conjunctions

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Normal Conjunctions

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