Falcon in winter

The figure stood atop Crows Keep wrapped in furs and silhouetted by the winter sun. They stared out across the mountain pass, not towards the Thule border, but towards the Empire. A different type of invader was coming. They weren't here to take their homes tough. No, it was more insidious than that. They were here to take Skarsind's heritage and pride.

The Imperial Orcs were coming.

No more would Skarsind be part of Wintermark, now it was a place for orcish ancestors and orcish children. Skarsind would no longer be a place of Stormcrows, hospitality, and runesmiths. Now it would be a place of shamans, pit fights, and objects of "worth".

The skien of Skarsind had been snapped. it's history had been discarded.

This was not about ownership or property, it was about history, about tradition, about the sacrifices made to tame this land. About the debts owed to all those who had died to build Skarsind.

Dogri did not hate the Orcs; he understood too well what it felt like to live at another's whim, to be told you had a place in the Empire, but it was not truly your place. The bile in his gut was for those who would give away his lands - not for those who had been given them.

Why not Holberg? Why not Karsk? Too much money and too much influence was why. No, let Wintermark give up their lands. Wintermark the loyal. Wintermark with it's broad shoulders could carry this burden. But even the strongest oxen could be given a load too heavy to bear.

"Sir?" The messenger was young. She looked worried.

"I said that out loud did I?" Dogri chuckled. He looked at the messenger properly. She was very young. To young for the scars that marked her face - barely old enough to be away from her parents, but old enough to be marked forever by the Thule war. She was young in years, but her eyes were old. The eyes of a veteran like many here, like many who understood the cost of loyalty and pride. He could see in her eyes that she had the courage to stand up for her traditions, for her ancestors' traditions.

"Tell them to collapse all passes except Pioneers Way, and send the message to Anvil. They may pass what laws they like, but this is a place of Loyalty, Pride and Courage. The Orcs may have the rest, but Crows Ridge is Wintermark still. As long as we draw breath, it is Wintermark still."

OOC Details

The Skarsind Situation

• Skarsind is now an Imperial Orc territory. This means that any Wintermark character whose personal resource is in Skarsind will lose a third of their production.
  • Any Wintermark character can arrange to take control of a basic resource of any type by talking to the civil service and paying an administration fee of two crowns. They can sell their existing resource to someone else in the process, or leave it vacant.
  • The Civil Service will auction any upgraded resources abandoned in this way in the public bourse auction
  • You cannot "move" a resource - you are welcome to roleplay as you wish, but any upgrades on your existing resource are lost if you gain a new one in another territory.
  • Characters whose personal resource is in Skarsind can continue to participate in the appontment of the senators of Sermersuaq, Kallavesa, and Hahnmark, but there is nobody to represent them directly.
  • All of this applies to military units and fleets as well as other resources.
• The Brilliant Shore is now an Imperial Orc national Bourse seat. It is no longer a Wintermark national bourse seat
  • The civil service has raised an administrative motion before the Imperial Senate to determine how to proceed regarding the remaining tenure of the Steinr who currently controls it.
  • If they choose to transfer control of the seat immediately, then the Imperial Orcs will be free to elect the seat.
  • If they choose to let the current holder finish their tenure, they will continue to receive the white granite until they die, step down, are revoked by either the Wintermark or the Imperial Orc assembly, or until the Summer Solstice when it would normally be reappointed.
  • Joakim (the current holder) will not receive his white granite at the start of the event as normal; if the senate chooses to transfer the seat immediately then the White Granite will go to the new holder. If not, it will be given to Joakim once the senate decision is made.
• The Will of the Wintermark is still a fortification. Over the next six months the Wintermark garrison will naturally be replaced by an Imperial Orc garrison. At any point the Imperial Orc synod can raise a statement of principle to change the name of the fortification if they wish.
• The Gildenheim Runeforge is still there. The ruined runeforge recently discovered under Gildenheim is still there, and the opportunity to rebuild it still remains. Now, however, if it were rebuilt and designated a National position it would belong to the Imperial Orcs rather than Wintermark for obvious reasons.
• The Sylvihrafn crystal henge remains a Wintermark national sinecure. While it is rare for a national sinecure to be in a territory controlled by a nation other than the one that appoints the title, it is not unknown.