Toil and weep

The peaceful night air was fractured by angry shouting, the sound of wood splintering, and the clash of steel on steel. From the direction of the hall of meditation came a sudden chorus of loud, ugly voices singing in unison. Fire bloomed.

The small man moved quickly along the shadowed colonnade that ran alongside the water garden. His soft leather boots made no noise on the white marble flagstones. One of the priests he was escorting tripped and stumbled over his own feet, cried out. Vorici rounded on him, furious.

"You must be quiet," he hissed. "You must be very quiet or we are all dead do you understand?"

The priest bridled. His face was pale, and streaked with tears, but for a moment his pride got the better of him.

"Don't speak to me like that, do you know who I am, I will have you -"

His companion slapped him, once, hard, open-handed across the face. Shock more than pain made him fall silent.

"Mea culpa," whispered the other priest. "I understand, and Romio understands as well. He is just afraid and in shock."

His face was a pale as his fellow's, but streaked with blood rather than tears. When they had set out, there had been four of them. One was dead, another fled. At least the one that ran had drawn some of the revolutionaries away with her.

The slight warrior nodded, and turned his back. He continued forward, pausing now and again to listen. Stealth was their only armour, now. The wound in his side was beginning to ache again. He badly wanted to ask the priests for something to help dull the pain... but he knew he needed his wits about him. The wound was mostly healed, now.

Part of his mind pondered how this had happened. An accident in the training yard had lead him here to the temple. A shortage of beds in the main ward had seen him settled in one of the smaller chambers. The seriousness of his wound had meant that he had been brought straight in, still with his weapons. Coincidence, no doubt. Or perhaps the will of the Gods. Had the Black Bull sent him here to protect these hapless priests? Or had Thessed of the Cup called for him to discharge the many debts he had accrued to her chosen representatives?

He shook his head. He needed to focus.

Ahead, an open archway. Beyond that, a hall, a corner, another hall, an open space, and then the low wall that overlooked the sea. If he could could get out of the temple, get them to the water, he thought they could probably...

"What is this here?" A sudden loud voice, a flaring of torchlight on the other side of the water garden. Three of the rebels, weapons drawn, swords and tunics alike marked with a dark stickiness.

Vorici moved without thought, acting with a dozen years of training. He stepped smartly behind one of the pillars, drawing a knife in either hand. He breathed in as he threw the first one, testing the distance. He breathed out as he threw the second one, adjusting his aim without conscious thought. The first knife struck the speaker in the arm, the second square in the chest, and with a gurgling wail she went down. He was lucky that his opponents were not armoured - not like the warriors they had seen in the main hall smashing the statues, or breaking the sacred basins beneath the fountain in the main courtyard.

He glanced quickly back at his charges, saw that the younger of the two - Remius - had taken cover behind the next pillar along. Romio, tears brimming in his eyes, seemed paralysed.

Remius tried to attract his attention, gesturing madly for him to hide. The older priest ignored him. He pulled himself up, wiped his nose on the hem of his toga, and seemed to make a decision. The wrong decision.

Romio stepped out then from the shadow of the colonnade into the moonlight, into the firelight. He spread his arms wide so that the two slaves could see the blue and purple tattoos on his wrists.

"Please," he said. "Please, I am a priest of Thessed of the Cups. You know this. Please, let me help your friend. Let us stop this bloodshed. Let me..."

He never finished his sentence. He trailed off, staring down stupidly at the arrow sticking out of the left side of his chest. He touched it, as his knees buckled, his face a mask of incomprehension, and he began to wail.

The newcomer lowered her bow. Her armour glowed dully in the firelight, bloodgold breastplate and helmet matching that of the two other soldiers who flanked her. Vorici's blood boiled, his face twisted into a sneer. He recognised that armour. So the rumours were true. Sumaah. Here, in Aracossa. Things began to make sense.

"Idolator," said the woman, clearly, in heavily accented Asavea Italiano. She gestured, and one of her companions knelt quickly beside the fallen slave pulling a salve out of one of her belt pouches. The captain's eyes scanned the shadows, looking for the figures she knew must be hiding there - she knew that a priest of the healer God was unlikely to have thrown daggers with killing accuracy.

"Come out, Nemorians," she called. "And your journey through the labyrinth will begin quickly and with least pain this I swear to you."

Remius was looking at Vorici with wide-eyed terror. Only the fact the Sumaah didn't know how many of them there were was holding them back - and every second eroded their uncertainty and their restraint.

Vorici had no more daggers.

"Follow my lead," he said as loudly as he dared. "And if it goes to shit, just run. Run as hard and as fast as you can, and try not to die."

The surviving priest nodded, taking a deep breath. Vorici flashed him a grim smile, closed his eyes for just a moment... and made his move.

Overview

For at least a year, trouble has been brewing in the Asavean Archipelago. As the Summer Solstice approaches, that trouble has finally boiled over into open conflict. Two of the satrapies - provinces administered from Nemoria - have revolted against the Plenum, declared independence, and started destroying every symbol of Asavean power.

The Archipelago may be thousands of miles away, but the reverberations of this conflict echo even as far as Anvil. Not only are the Asaveans keen to secure Imperial mercenaries to help them deal with the insurrection, but there is evidence that the Sumaah Republic - currently at war with the Empire - are openly supporting the insurgents with an eye towards bringing down the government of a nation that is a reasonably close Imperial ally.

Insurrection

It is no secret that the many satrapies - the subject nations "advised" by Nemorian satraps - chafe under the yoke of Asavean dominance. As unrest has grown, the Asavean Plenum has been making preparations to deal with any open revolt. Their legions tightened Nemorian control over the most contentious satrapies, and made clear that the Plenum would tolerate no disruption of the Pax Nemoria.

Shortly after the Spring Equinox, the northern satrapy of Marracoss lynched their satrap, burned her palace to the ground, and declared independence. The Plenum cannot tolerate open rebellion, obviously, and immediately mobilised its armies to suppress the revolt. To their surprise, however, they discovered not a rag-tag rabble of dissatisfied slaves and disgruntled minor nobles such as they have seen before, but a serious, organised military force well-equipped and well-provisioned.

The leader of the Marracoss uprising, Terentia Comasigne has seized the capital Aracossa and is believed to be directing the rebel forces from the Maragladia, a coastal fortress built by the Nemorians and previously garrisoned by their forces. She has apparently dispatched magical messengers to critics of the Plenum throughout Asavea calling on them to rise up in bloody revolution against the Nemorians and seize independence for themselves and their people.

A week after the burning of the satraps palace in Aracossa, the neighbouring satrapy of Emphedor followed suit. In addition to the Emphedorian satrap's palace, the mob stormed and burned several other symbols of Nemorian dominance. According to horrified reports made public by the Plenum, they sealed the doors of the Temple of Lord Isso Mãos de Ouro in the Emphidorian city of Telios and burned it to the ground with the priests still inside. This atrocity alone has done much to rouse the Nemorian people against the rebels.

The Plenum is in uproar. Refugees fleeing the conflict choke the roads, and rumours circulate that other satrapies are considering following the example of Marracoss and Emphedor. If the insurgency is not dealt with quickly and decisively it may well spread.

The Sumaah Connection

The Asaveans say that there are clear signs of Sumaah Republic support for these anarchists. Weapons and armour are unmistakably Sumaah in origin, and there are cadres of Sumaah troops fighting alongside the native Marracossi and Emphedorian soldiers.

This is nothing new - Sumaah agents have been actively encouraging rebellion against the Plenum for decades. They have worked hard to establish the Sumaah version of the Way in opposition to the established faith in the gods of Asavea. If they are openly supporting this insurgency, it implies strongly that they believe that this time they can actually bring down the Nemorian government - or at the very least ensure that some of the provinces of the Asavean Archipelago break free and form their own government. A government presumably aligned with Sumaah Republic goals.

The Sumaah navy is by all accounts no match for the Asavean navy, but neither is the Asavean army a match for the Sumaah army. Any assistance the Sumaah are giving to the insurrection must take the form of materials - weapons, armour, and provisions - independent captains, and expertise - spiritual support and liao ceremonies most likely. How effective this aid will ultimately prove to be remains to be seen.

Ending the Uprising

The Asavean Ministry of War has called all Asavean auxiliaries to support the armies. The normally slow-to-act Plenum has quickly implemented brutal laws to ensure that their instructions are followed to the letter. With the support of the priests of the God of War, the Black Bull, and other martial gods, mercenaries and ex-soldiers alike are rallying to the defence of the republic.

The campaign is further complicated by concerns that soldiers from satrapies sympathetic to the Marracossi and Emphedorian positions may refuse to follow orders - or even desert and join the revolutionaries. Legions containing Marracossi or Emphedorian soldiers have been moved to the south-west, while troops drawn from other satrapies lead by Nemorian generals are moving to attempt seize key positions in the secessionist provinces.

With that in mind, the Minister for Military Procurement (who is also the high priest of the Red God, the Asavean God of War) has received permission from the Plenum to secure foreign mercenaries to help bring the disorder to an end and restore peace and the rule of law to the two satrapies. Significant financial incentives are being offered to any Imperial military unit prepared to travel to Asavea and help defeat the rebellious armies running amok in Emphedor and Marracoss.

Mercenary Campaign

The paid work action represents mercenary work undertaken by Imperial captains. Normally this involves working for fellow citizens, or protecting the caravans of foreign merchants as they travel the Empire. In the coming season, there will be an additional option accessible through the Paid Work dropdown menu - Suppress Asavean Uprising. This may be taken by any character with a military unit, and represents traveling to Asavea to help the Nemorian government restore order to their rebellious satrapies.

Any military unit that takes part in this action will be assigned to support the Asavean armies fighting in Marracoss and Emphedor. They will be expected to help track rebels, infiltrate and capture key locations, and protect both baggage trains and Asavean refugees moving out of the war zone.

Each standard military unit assigned to the "Suppress Asavean Uprising" action effectively adds 100 points toward successful resolution of the opportunity. Each additional rank for an ungraded or enchanted unit adds another 20 points. Rituals and other effects that increase the ranks of a military unit undertaking paid work (such as Merciless Wrath of the Reaver) will increase the effective strength for purposes of this special action.

In a similar manner to a spy network, the total strength assigned to the opportunity will help decide the outcome of this season campaigning in Emphedor. However, given the unpredictable nature of a military campaign - and the absence of definitive information about the situation in the Archipelago - it is difficult to say for sure how effective additional military units will prove. All the civil service can say for certain is that if the Empire provides at least 5000 strength of military units to support Asavea, the Imperial mercenaries will significantly increase the chance of the Nemorians being victorious in the coming campaign season.

Whatever happens, it is likely to have significant diplomatic effects. If the Sumaah do have any agents in Asavea, as the Asaveans claim - then they are likely to react very negatively to the presence of any Imperial military forces fighting against them. Given they are currently at war with the Empire however, they can't really complain that much - or indeed do that much - about it. On the other hand, if the Empire provides significant military assistance to the Asaveans - if enough Imperial mercenaries travel to Asavea to help them win this war, then that will have an enormously positive impact on their view of the Empire. There will be clear diplomatic gains - but also spiritual benefits. At present acceptance of the Way in Asavea is hindered by the fact that many still judge the faith to be a threat to the Asavean way of life, which is perhaps understandable given the enmity between them and the Sumaah. All that suspicion would disappear however, if Imperial forces proved decisive in protecting Asavea in its hour of need.

Rewards

The Plenum is keen to employ foreign mercenaries to support their campaign against the rebels. A standard military unit will receive a payment of 11 crowns for taking the Suppress Asavean Uprising action this season. A more powerful unit will receive commensurately more money from the Plenum - an additional 36 rings for each rank of upgrade or enchantment.

Each captain who sends their military unit to Asavea will also receive a report about the campaign there, included in their pack at the start of the next event. While the general progression of the Asavean campaign will be public knowledge, this report will not be public knowledge so it will not be added to the wiki.

As a form of paid work, none of the military units traveling to Asavea will appear on the roll of honour. While some military units may wish to travel on Imperial vessels, with their civil service observers, there are also plenty of Asavean or Sarcophan ships prepared to arrange passage to the Archipelago for captains who wish to travel discreetly. As such the civil service will be unable to provide a list of military units who choose to accept the Asavean offer.

No Swift Solutions

All the signs coming from Asavea are that this is unlikely to be a quick-and-easy victory for the Nemorians. The insurgent forces in Marracoss and Emphedor appear to be well prepared for war with the Plenum, and the campaign may well drag on for several seasons. Indeed, it is entirely possible that the Asaveans may even lose this conflict, even with Imperial assistance.

The Asavean Ambassador

As always, the briefing prepared for the Ambassador to Asavea, Jarrigk Wegwandelaar, may contain more information about this situation.