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On the one hand, we're doing just a little imperialism, as a treat. On the other hand, we're electing our president at the county fair on the basis of pumpkin pie quality.  I love these lil' guys!
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May 3, 2024 03:49
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Quorum posted:On the one hand, we're doing just a little imperialism, as a treat. On the other hand, we're electing our president at the county fair on the basis of pumpkin pie quality.
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May 3, 2024 04:57
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Kurgarra Queen posted:Pumpkin pie so good you can almost forget they keep a permanent underclass of orcish Hey now We keep all non-halflings in varying strata of underclasses!
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May 3, 2024 06:19
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I dunno, those dwarves don't look second class enough to me, I can only hope there's an entire set of national ideas about the enormous use of internal violence needed to keep thirty distinct classes of statuses in line.
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May 3, 2024 10:54
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SIGSEGV posted:I dunno, those dwarves don't look second class enough to me, I can only hope there's an entire set of national ideas about the enormous use of internal violence needed to keep thirty distinct classes of statuses in line. Well, they're just coextisting, not oppressed or integrated. Probably keep to themselves in their own communities and trade with the more agrarian halflings rather than being wage slaves. I imagine that they and the tallfolk have legal rights but don't have state support like our halfling population has.
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May 3, 2024 15:12
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Grizzwold posted:Corin is one letter away from corn, so I’m going with that Corn for the corn god! Pies for the pie throne! Captain Oblivious posted:Hey now It sounds like we're pulling a reverse Invader Zim and making rights and social status proportional to how short your species is.
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May 3, 2024 16:12
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Soylent Pudding posted:It sounds like we're pulling a reverse Invader Zim and making rights and social status proportional to how short your species is. We gotta keep the gnomes out at any cost, then
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May 3, 2024 16:50
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Dr_Gee posted:corin spilt blood so that escann could regrow
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May 3, 2024 16:57
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The relatively decentralized nature of the nation works in the favour of the various other races (so long as they are considered civilized). Most Halflings don't get a vote in who leads them anyway, maybe at best getting some input on who their village steward is, so a community of Humans or Dwarves isn't that much worse off, though their avenues for growth are cut off as Halfling landowners have claimed/expropriated all the prime land. If urbanization were to kick in, you'd likely see tallfolk becoming part of the burgeoning urban class as their lack of land ownership leads them to more professional positions. There's a big 'if' there. More on that in the future. As for Gnomes, they are clearly cheating, using artificery to make themselves appear smaller and baking their desserts in some kind of 'micro oven' that infuses it with corrupt magics. Such fraud will not be tolerated by the Pie Festival judges!
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May 3, 2024 17:04
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Grizzwold posted:Corin is one letter away from corn, so I’m going with that
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May 4, 2024 05:08
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Corn and blood sacrifice do go well together.
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May 4, 2024 05:29
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I can't believe it: we're inventing suburbs. Most evil nation in mod, easy.
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May 4, 2024 09:43
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NewMars posted:I can't believe it: we're inventing suburbs. Most evil nation in mod, easy. Oh god our system of government is delineating power to Homeowners' Associations.
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May 4, 2024 14:35
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Captain Oblivious posted:Oh god our system of government is delineating power to Homeowners' Associations.  We've somehow made a nation worse than the drug-addled demon gnolls.EDIT: I meant that as a joke, but thinking about it a little, I think Newshire really is worse, especially considering the Gnollish Revolution. Sure, they were spreading highly addictive demon-infused cocaine all over the world, but considering what Demon's Blood could do to (and most crucially, for) people, it could be said that spreading it to as many people as possible was a genuinely altruistic motive by Gnollish standards. Newshire's just Republican paradise. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 16:26 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 16:21
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Revolutionary liberal monster-men pushing fun devil drugs that give super smarts to everyone in the world is on the "awesome" side of the evil scale, for cool Saturday morning cartoon supervillains. The real world drug trade is not as interesting or clear-cut as this, so it's fantasy story poo poo you can look aghast at but also enjoy watching the trainwreck unfold without it feeling like it's hitting too close to home. Turning Fantasy Not-Eastern Europe into one big Levittown after your ethnic cleansing/enslavement for lebensraum campaign is like the platonic ideal of evil banality. Real world leaders have done and continue to want to do poo poo like this. Uncomfortable to contemplate once you strip away the veil of cutesy hobbit stuff and realize they're basically pint-sized middle class fascists. (To be clear, this is not a critique of the LP, and I do want to see this all descend into Kincade painting villainy even more.) GunnerJ fucked around with this message at 17:39 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 17:36
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When they start getting colonies, in particular non contiguous colonies, things are going to get extremely interesting. I give them about a month before they start doing their Imperial Germany in Cameroon poo poo.
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May 4, 2024 17:44
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I'm not sure Newshire is really in a position to colonize overseas, and Escann is already filled up. There's also a good chance they'll have to adapt their approach and worldview in light of Happy Fun Time Events still to come-- I've never played these guys, so I'm excited to see how it turns out for them.
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May 4, 2024 18:15
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They'll get to it naturally, picture this, a suburb, with a waterfront, the property values. The seduction is too strong to resist, they want it, they crave it, they need it. E: As for the vote: remember, a few key points of these specific little guys is (1) the cult of tradition and (12) various forms of machismo. SIGSEGV fucked around with this message at 18:32 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 18:19
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SIGSEGV posted:E: As for the vote: remember, a few key points of these specific little guys is (1) the cult of tradition and (12) various forms of machismo. Both of which, for hobbits, are related to grilling meats and having a beer with the neighbors.
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May 5, 2024 04:14
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The people of Newshire have spoken, Corin is the rightful leader of the Regent Court. Poor Adean barely got a look in. To be fair, apart from Adenica there's no country in Escann who has a reason to align with him. Chapter Six: Fervent Growth 1509-1525 Verdant Acres, near Freshcobble, Newshire, 1521 It was an odd thing, to be standing on the trunk of a tree. Cela Fumbletoes clung tight to the branch she was stood on and stared warily at the next tree. The nearest branch was just about within reach if she stretched out, but it felt like it would be too close a thing and she would plummet a dozen feet to the ground below. Her eyes almost drifted to that worrying drop, but she snapped her eyes back to the bark before vertigo could take her. There was a slow shift in the tree, even as she watched it. She could feel it under her feet and under her palms where she gripped onto the sides of the tree. The bark shifted and bulged like there was living heartbeat within it. It added to the unnaturalness of the whole construction. She was halfway up a ring of trees, grown far more tightly packed than a copse had any right to be. When the First Steward had asked her to be his representative at the mage tower, this was not what she had in mind. "Lady Steward, I'm so sorry I got ahead of you" said her guide, stepping back down the ascending series of branches she had found herself stuck upon. Adra Brook was far younger than she, perhaps not even twenty summers, and had all the sprightliness of youth, her feet gripping firmly onto each branch with no fear. "Perhaps rein in your eagerness a little and assist an old lady," Cela replied, doing her best to keep her voice from squeaking as she swayed a little in the breeze. "Of course, just a sec," Adra said. She reached over and caressed the side of her tree, and with a great and uncomfortable creak it leaned ever so slightly, bringing the next branch into a less daunting reach for Cela. "Many thanks, girl," Cela said. She swallowed her fear as best she could and reached out with one shaking foot. As she set it down, Adra offered a hand, and after some trepidation Cela accepted it, allowing the girl to lead the rest of the way up the tower. That was the worst branch of the lot, and Adra made many more apologies over the course of the remainder of the ascent, talking about mana flows and golden ratios and other such strangeness as the cause of the inconsistent spacing of the steps up into their tower. Cela expected she would hear far more of such babble as she spent more time among these strange folk. Well-spoken and upright citizens they were not. The Chloromancers had more in common with the common farmhand digging around the muck, they merely used magic instead of a trowel. Their troublesome ascent ended before their heads breached the leafy canopy of the tightly packed trees, a hole opening up in one of the trunks that led into a mercifully artificial construction that was strung between the trees and attached very firmly to all of them. Even the mages could not grow an entire building by themselves. While the wooden structure was small, there was no space wasted. Every nook and cranny was packed with books and papers, and plant pots with flowers and stranger plants in various stages of growth littered the floor to the extent that she wondered if it was even possible to cross a room without stepping on one. "There's space for you just up here!" came the voice of Valeran Pinehand, the Chloromancer in charge of this event, from atop a flight of stairs. With Adra still leading her by the hand, Cela gingerly stepped her way across the floor and up the stairs. She made sure to note that they were properly spaced and had a finely carved banister. Good and proper workmanship, not some shoddy and dangerous experiment. If only they'd built their tower the proper way. She'd have to make sure her report back to the First Steward recommended tearing this whole thing down and building it back up anew. It wasn't like they were lacking the labour for it, nor lumber for construction after all the clearance efforts in the Merewoods. At the top of the staircase a breeze caught her hair and she to hold it for a moment to keep her braids from blowing into her face. They weren't quite in the open, but the room she had ascended into was a balcony of sorts. A large portion of the canopy had been cleared away, leaving the balcony with a clear view out over Verdant Acres. Giving over valuable farmland to the Guild of Chloromancers had been a controversial decision among the Council. Though their aid had been invaluable in the founding and feeding of Newshire, they were still very strange people who didn't really fit into the ideal of a peaceful and idle life that the average Halfling enjoyed. Their penchant for experimenting, getting their hands dirty like common labourers, and their wild ramblings all put them at the bottom of any of Cela's invitation lists. Still, the First Steward saw their potential, and so here they were. From the balcony she could see for a couple of miles, until the bumpy hillside where the town of Freshcobble dwelt blocked any further view. In that space were an array of fields that at first glance looked like normal, if diverse, plantings. On closer inspection, the odd and unsightly began to manifest. Grains that were twice as tall as they ought to be mixed with grains that were half as tall as they ought. Grazing animals with strange growths on their hooves and muzzles from grazing who-knows-what. Flowers that didn't quite align in her eyes, flickering between stripes of clashing hues and colours that she couldn't put a name for. None of it useful, all of it far too strange. "Just down there, see," Adra said, pointing out a field of pleasantly clear grass in the centre of it all. Dozens of Orcs were lugging around buckets and carving furrows into the soil, under the direction of the mages. It was clear that they were turning the field into a giant magical sigil, though she was not anywhere near experienced enough to break down the intricacies of what she was looking at. "Is that where it will happen?" she asked. "Got it in one," Valeran said, stepping up to the balcony, "took decades to have it ready, might've taken more if the First Steward weren't so receptive." "Indeed," Cela replied, "but bear in mind that if something goes wrong then it will be your head that rolls." "And my blood'll feed the next batch of learners," Valeran said. He reached over and ruffled Adra's hair as she looked on at him in awe. He continued, "that's how research works. Like Corin, we'll learn and rise again stronger." "I'm not sure Corin, though her name be praised, has much to do with this," Cela said. It always served to give lip service when around a potential firebrand. "Not quite!" Ara chirped, "she taught us exactly what you need to spend to get real results. She died become an avatar, then died again to save Escann." Cela wasn't sure what Ara was talking about, but her eyes were drawn to commotion down in the field. A bowl had been carved into the dirt at one of the vertices of the symbol they were drawing. A planted some kind of ward at the bottom of the bowl, leaving a shimmering barrier coating it. Then, an Orc came over and upended its bucket into the bowl. Thick, red liquid spilled forth, filling the warded bowl and lapping up over the edges of the barrier, sinking into the soil where it landed. Her face almost turned green, and she turned to stare at Valeran. "Don't worry, it's just from old cattle," he said, a smile growing on his face, "Halann fed the grass, the cattle ate the grass, and now they return to the soil. Halann giveth to us, we giveth to Halann, and Halann will giveth us ever more. When the ritual begins, you'll see." Excerpts from Days of Verdancy, Volume Two: Claret Fields, published in Beepeck Village Bookshop, 1837  What began as a few tentative shoots, hiding in the shadow of the greater body of the Regent Court, sprouted into full bloom in the aftermath of the evidence of Catellos' demise being shared across all of Cannor. In Wyvernheart, at the very furthest reaches of civilzed Escann, rogue priests of Corin pre-empted the Pantheonic Council and declared that Corin herself was the rightful ruler of the Regent Court. Their proclamation, that Adean was too conservative and reactive and had doomed the old kingdoms of Escann through his inaction, resonated across the free peoples sitting in homes built atop those ruins. Corinite gets centres of reformation, and if we want one of our own we'll have to jump on it right away.  Within Newshire, the population was divided between those who paid little heed to the workings of the gods, simple folk who preferred to tend to their farms and gardens, and those who remembered how their grandparents had fought alongside Corin and sown the seeds of the nation. Between apathy and devotion, it was inevitable that Corinite firebrands would dominate the debate and begin overwhelming those few who disagreed. From the Corinite temple in Balgarton their preachers rapidly spread across Newshire.  The First Steward and the Council were paying little attention to the growing religious crisis, focused as they were on fully integrating the farthings into the nation. Ensuring that the growing towns and villages had proper stewardship and were keeping their lawns the correct length were higher priorities. By the time this distraction had passed, Corin's followers had filtered so deeply into the population that there was no reason to deny that Newshire as a whole was her nation.  Though Corinite teachings focus on her virtues, they do not simply ignore the other gods and goddesses of the Regent Court. Begga held a significant following, both among the commoners of Newshire and in Alder Kettlebrook himself, for her kind nature and treatment of the poor and destitute. It also served the interests of the stewards to encourager her worship, as her monks could support those whom it brought no benefit for the powerful to aid. Corinite gets the religious orders mechanic, which means you can add extra buffs to your provinces for a one-time mana cost. There is one order each for admin, dip and mil mana, and you get to pick which ones you want. For admin, I went for the one associated with Begga, the Halfling goddess. Stacking governing cost reduction will really start to pay off later.  Adherents of Ara were far more common among the upper class, and as the wealthy began to take up the sword and shield of Corin they found it very straightforward to transition from the ideal of pure acquisition of wealth into one where all came together for the benefit of the village. Everything could be shared and apportioned equally according to one's need, and of course the landowner with twenty fields to manage needed far more than a simple farmhand. For diplo, picking goods produced is a no-brainer when producing massive amounts of grain is our big thing.  Corin's teachings most firmly planted themselves in the young and idealistic. Those who were too young to have fought in the early wars for Newshire's rightful territory, before conflict was fully farmed out to mercenaries, those who had always lived with the spectre of Orcish hordes beyond the White Walls, and those found themselves with little to entertain themselves as the labour market was flooded with tallfolk. They devoted themselves wholly to seeing worship of Corin spread across the whole of Newshire and even beyond. The mil choice was more gamey, as I can't rely on the voters to give me religious ideas so I need a way to help me convert troublesome provinces.  Thus, there was a fundamental contradiction between the different branches of Corinite worship across Newshire. The firebrands sought to burn out heresy and injustice, while the monks cared more for the fair distribution of resources. The push and pull between these influences would be a defining point of Corinite rulers not just within Newshire, but across the entire extent of her influence. Corinite also gets the 'karma' mechanic, with a different set of buffs depending on whether you're playing warlike, peaceful, or somewhere in between. Originally it also gave you debuffs if you went too far in one direction or the other. While that was changed, they haven't seem to have updated the flavour text.  Despite these contradictions, or perhaps because of them and that they affected both the devout and the uncertain, official conversion came quickly. In the capital, all would speak of Corin as the new head of the Regent Court, and those who favoured Adean would be few and far between. In practice, this mattered little to the simple folk living in the town who let the firebrands preach and then returned to their daily lives with a few more words to spend in her name in their prayers.  It was during this time of renewed fervour that the Cardesti started to appear in Escann, which might have been unfortunate timing on their part. Eternally nomadic, they had heard of the new societies appearing and thought to ply their mysterious trades among the new-grown towns and villages. The people of Newshire looked upon them with suspicion, with the more zealous firebrands accusing them of evil and landowners thinking them as thieves and so guarding their land and crops jealously as the caravans passed. The inspiration for the Cardesti is, I hope, obvious. As long as they are moving through your country they give you various events, some positive and some negative.  The news that the Bonecarver Clan had converted caught the firebrands of Newshire by surprise. Like most Halflings, they considered the Orcs beyond the borders of the nation to be savages who could not be saved except by force. A debate soon emerged between the most idealistic among them who thought that this was a sign that the Orcs were perhaps worth of Corin's salvation, and those who insisted that they were just savages who only converted because Corin had killed their old god. That's all three CoRs clustered in one place, so probably not great for Corinite being widespread beyond Escann this campaign.  The firebrands demanded action against the necromancers that lurked within the lands of Esthil, to the south. The foul mages, lead by the infamous Varina Escer, raised the bodies of the dead to fight against Orcish invasion, instead of letting them lie at rest and feed the land. Now was the time to end their threat once and for all.  While the war was fought with mercenaries, the Council found itself more concerned with the troubles caused by the Cardesti. They had received countless petitions from landholders annoyed at the nomads' presence, but the final straw was when a steward's son attempted to elope with a member of a caravan. A band of Bushrangers was dispatched to forcibly return him, and the Cardesti as a whole were chased from Newshire. And they're gone. Inevitably I find that I get an event where the best option at the time is the one that kicks out the Cardesti, so they don't last that long.  Anbenland had decided to stand alongside evil, and for that the firebrands demanded it be punished. Their lands were seized, reducing their fledgling nation to a few towns now isolated by Newshire and its Alenorian dependency. As the new furthest western extent of Newshire, construction began on a fortress in Freetower to guard the flow of trade coming in from Arbaran.  The Newshiremen were not the only ones eager to see necromancy snuffed out, as Orcs and Humans alike descended upon Esthil in its final hours. This, ironically, led to their continued survival in spite of the invasions as there was no agreement on who should actually take ownership of which piece of land. Four or five nations have jumped onto Esthil in separate wars by this point. This is pretty much the end for them, except for the fact that as it stands there's no way for then to be annexed.  With the wilds retreating, the Bushrangers were becoming less and less relevant to the internal security of Newshire. In the interests of efficiency, stewards began to roll them into a new institution of village sheriffs, charged with dealing with any ruckus or rowdiness among the population as well as keeping a watchful eye on Orcish workers. There was a growing concern that they might start worshipping Corin and decide that gave them the right to equal treatment.  The firebrands did not help in that regard, as they saw the Orcs as a significant population that ought to be brought under Corin's light. They established themselves in regions that were still majority Orcish, and began preaching among them that Corin would save their monstrous souls and one day allow them to fight in defence of the land that had so graciously allowed them to live. Here are the religious orders in action. Since the buff against heretics doesn't affect Great Dookan provinces, I use the military order to make conversion easier.  News began to filter in of Halflings who had made the treacherous journey westwards in search of their own homelands. Rather than celebrate their success, parallel to Newshire's, many Newshiremen disdained those who did so, pondering why they hadn't travelled to the free Halfling homeland so much closer to home. Though, such protestations would not stop them from enjoying the exotic goods that were slowly filtering back to Cannor from Aelantir, particularly new and exciting strains of pipeweed. This is a surprisingly late pop for colonialism, considering the whole Castellos event chain is kicked off by the rediscovery of Aelantir which means they've been there for a while.  The fall of Esthil was not a pleasant one. Rogue necromancers filled the countryside with the risen dead, crops withered, and bands of Orcs and Humans roamed and claimed what land they could. Varina herself was nowhere to be found, so the forces of Newshire had no choice but to settle with what they could claim for themselves and get into the long process of cleansing the land so that new life might one day grow there again.  Division was the matter of the day at the Eleventh Pantheonic Council. While Newshire did not send a national representative, despite being the largest nation in support of Corin's claim to the throne, there were still countless temples across Escann and Cannor that had aligned themselves to her and were eager to speak her truth in front of the old guard of the Regent Court. While all, Adeanic and Corinite alike, agreed to mourn for Castellos, the matter of succession was far from settled and the council ended with tensions more inflamed than ever.  As firebrands roamed across Escann, denouncing Adean and his followers, and nations within the Empire of Anbennar began to slowly, one by one, declare for Corin, it would be easy for any contemporary scholar to say that the world as they knew it was unravelling. The Greentide had only struck Escann, but now it seemed that the echoes of Corin's victory would carry her further than the likes of the foul Dookanson could hope to achieve.  All of the rising violence had little effect on life in the heart of Newshire. Most of the stewards and landowners pledged themselves to Corin to keep the firebrands off of their backs, and then returned to their own petty politicking. The Second Free Fair was just as successful as the first, with political candidates forced to show their culinary side in producing the most scrumptious feast for the judges. Though some smallholders attended, attempting to earn the same acclaim that Alder Kettlebrook had, most of those who made it to the final competition were stewards and other major landowners. After several candidates were disqualified for hiring chefs, Adelar Raincrest, the Steward of Freshcobble, won over the judges with a layered fruit cake made of perfectly sweet and tangy berries harvested from his extensive hedges comprised of berry plants. Here is how the election normally works. You will get a random selection of participants from different provinces, and you get to pick the one with the stats you like best. Different provinces specialize in different stats, and whoever wins their province will become the capital.  Adelar was a Halfling of many ideas. His grandfather had been one of the Small Fellow's finest lieutenants, and that martial tradition had been carried down the family line through the Bushrangers and the sheriffs. He knew well that relying solely on mercenaries was a risk to the nation. If, one day, they decided to band together and just take Newshire for themselves then there would be little a few isolated sheriffs could do to stop them. There needed to be a solid core who would remain loyal to Newshire no matter what.  One of Adelar's first reforms was equipping the sheriffs and the common soldiers with bottomless bags, woven out of carefully cultivated plant fibres by the Guild of Chloromancers. While the exact secret behind their manufacture was a closely guarded secret, those who used them reported feeling as through they were reaching down an endlessly branching tree trunk to retrieve their items. On the Bitbucket version there has been a rework of the military government reforms, though the generic set that we see here are more or less the same as vanilla but with an Anbennar coat of paint. The most interesting ones are the reforms available to Humans, who can choose a secondary race to boost their military, if they have that race at Integrated tolerance.  As First Steward he was the first major patron of the Chloromancers. Since the founding of Newshire, they had remained in the background, supporting the growth of nation and experimenting with their magic in isolated fields and forests. Now, he allowed them to work in the open, granting them land in Freshcobble to establish a headquarters and cutting away any restrictions on their research. He had been convinced that their magic, carefully cultivated over decades since the days of Robyn Greenblossom, would elevate Newshire to peer status with the great powers of Cannor. The goal of doing this is to boost up our mages' influence. The reduced research regs don't even do anything us right now.  The first great ritual of the Chloromancers was a mass infusion of pure magic into the grain fields across the nation, pushing the land to its very limits to speed up the growth of wheat and perhaps squeeze a second harvest in before winter. Though it put a great deal of extra pressure on the common labourer, not to mention the water table and soil quality, it was highly popular with the landowning farmers who suddenly found their fields to be far more productive. For the first time, Halann was prodded into giving back all of the blood and sweat that the people of Newshire had put into it. Once the ritual was complete, members of the guild scattered across the nation to monitor its effectiveness over the course of the next several years. It's time to start looking at magic, as it will be fairly prominent this campaign. Some of this might have been partially covered before, but over the course of this campaign I will go into detail. First off is the Mages estate. Nearly every nation starts with the Mages, with the most notable exception being technocracies (i.e. Gnomes). They give All Power Costs when pleased, up to 10% at max, at the cost of more expensive technology. If they are angry the APC scales in the opposite direction, which can be incredibly painful if you aren't careful. With the new artificery system, you lose access to mages if you go all-in on artifice. By hitting the Cast Spell button in the estate interface, you open up the menu seen above, which lists all the spells the mage estate can cast. Most nations just get this generic list (which I will fully break down later), though some (well, at least one that I know of) get unique spells. Spells have different strengths depending on the influence of mage estate. In this case, as we are between 33-66 influence, we get medium strength. The spell I have selected is Plant Growth which gives nice bonuses to agricultural provinces. Dip is the most useless mana point, so spending it for a cash boost is well worth the cost. The devastation can be countered by having well-placed forts, though it should be noted that this is not ticking devastation but rather forced increases by hidden event so you can't completely supress it. All estate spells last ten years, at which point a new spell can be selected.  Reforming the Newshire military would take time, so for the moment the First Steward established a Mercenary Regulation Bureau, where mercenaries would receive training and assignments, turning unruly bands of adventurers and fortune-seekers into a more effective military machine. The growing road infrastructure of Newshire made it easier for them to be deployed into battle without slowly trudging through an unfortunate farmer's fields.  Their skill was aptly shown in Rosande's war with the Deadfang clan, which saw the Orcs suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of Newshire's mercenaries. The Orcish threat in the south was utterly crushed, though this was merely one of the weakest clans still standing within Escann.  With the Bonecarver Clan holding strong in the north against invasion by the Gerudians who had destroyed the Frozenmaw, the promise of Corin had found resonance in the Orcish population of Escann. That she had slain their saviour was only a sign that her strength was greater than his, and that she had the power to lead their future. Orcish Corintes were of a different character to Cannorian Corinites, focusing more on the goddess herself at the expense of the rest of the Regent Court and doubling down on the fiery rhetoric of fighting against evil and injustice. This made the people of Newshire, who had thought their own firebrands to be well distracted uprooting necromance holdouts in the south, very nervous.  One of the great cleansings conducted by the Orcs in Corin's name was the purge of the patricians of Castonath. These ancient noble families had used any and every means to survive the years of the Greentide, but now that the Orcs were attempting to form a facsimile of civilization, they thought it safe to come out of hiding. They were wrong, and for their corruption and their abandoning of their subjects they were ripped from their stone hiding places in the city and executed. If you want to form Castanor, you need the Patricians to be alive. If an Orcish nation holds the city they will purge them, so if that's how Escann has shaken out then it turns into a race against time.  One benefit of the great ritual was an abundance of food, a Decade of Plenty, that meant many hands could be diverted from keeping the population fed. Entire Orcish villages were uprooted and sent into more marginal lands to clear them for eventual farming. This was the fourth and final of Downroot's Four Great Tasks, representing the expansion of cultivated countryside beyond the boundaries of common understanding. Once the land was clear for nurturing and cultivation, the tasks would start again from the beginning.  Reverence of Corin brought with it a new reverence for those who had fought alongside her. It was no surprise that of all of those who fought for Escann, Dustin Smallknight was the most revered of all. The dwarven community in Dustinwall was commissioned to construct a mighty monument to a mighty Halfling. Standing watch over the White Walls and Lake Silvermere, Smallknight would be forever remembered.  The First Steward's military reforms accelerated during the Decade of Plenty. Full of bread and ale, the average Halfling now had the energy to be worked hard in the reformed army. All non-mercenary forces were recalled to Braverton for extended training, while the mercenaries were paid an exorbitant amount to maintain their loyalty even as all other military forces fell away. We're zooming through missions at the moment, so here's a bit more context on where we are on the tree. The whole right-hand side is focused on military reforms.  Adelar's training regimes emphasised a Halfling's natural talents. A handyhalfling skilled at making repairs to their home and their farming equipment could naturally translate into maintaining their weapons and limiting the needed logistical train for an army. Muscles built in hard farming labour could be put to use wielding a pike or a heavy crossbow. A sharp tongue and a sharper mind would be crucial for leading armies, especially with the final reforms that he intended to put into place. I'm not focusing in too hard in on these because…  The mercenaries were put to task rounding up thousands of Orcs, those whose numbers were blossoming in the Decade of Plenty, and gathering them in fortified camps in the west of Newshire. These Orcs, fresh converts to the worship of Corin, would get their chance to do their duty both to their war goddess and to Newshire as a whole as the nation's frontline soldiers. Thus began the key transformation of Newshire's military. Orcs would provide the sturdy trunk that the enemy struck against, while Halfling logisticians, auxiliaries and officers acted as the careful cultivators of the forest of Orcish bodies, taking up the roles that were too cerebral for such brutes. No longer would anyone look down upon the Halflings at war. They get consolidated and further improved immediately when you finish the last mission (for now) in this line. This fixes most of the problems with Halfling military and gives some extra bonuses on top. To be continued… Vote While the military undergoes reforms, the Council continues to debate on where else Newshire should place its focus. Should the workings of the nation earn some attention, or will the other stewards double down on Adelar's reforms and focus on the military even further? Court (+2 votes) – Bickering on the Council is an ever-present issue, but the success of the Free Fair shows that our different factions can find agreement through good food and opulent celebrations. Espionage – If the Orcs are worshipping Corin, then others might see them as civilized and worthy of respect. We will need to be more subtle in our actions against them. Religious – The more fervent Corinite firebrands insist that through embracing her teachings we can bring stability and justice to Escann and beyond. Administrative – Newshire's devolved government allows for easy management, but if we wish to eventually encompass all of Escann we must prepare our administration for it. Offensive - Mercenaries and Orcs are both very expendable. We shouldn't have any problems throwing them into aggressive action. Quantity – We have plenty of Orcs to go around and food production is way up, so we might be able to tap our labour pools even further to field the largest army in Escann. Vote for up to two options by clicking on the image below. The second-place idea group will get bonus votes in the next poll.  Voting will last 48 hours.
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May 9, 2024 18:45
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Unsure if i'd say this is fixing the halfling military
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May 9, 2024 23:49
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I'd recommend trying some of the other options in that Cardesti romance event next time you see it, the tooltips don't tell you the full story.
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May 10, 2024 02:08
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ThatBasqueGuy posted:Unsure if i'd say this is fixing the halfling military I’m confident that having our military might be dependent on our oppressed minority can only be good for us
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May 10, 2024 04:51
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Snipee posted:I’m confident that having our military might be dependent on our oppressed minority can only be good for us Exactly! Just look how well it worked for the Abbasids, Samanids, Ayyubids and Ottomans
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May 10, 2024 06:31
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Caustic Soda posted:Exactly! Just look how well it worked for the Abbasids, Samanids, Ayyubids and Ottomans In fairness, the Abbasids, Samanids, Ayyubids, and Ottomans didn’t have druidic blood magic. Probably. Also y’all motherfuckers not voting Religious ideas need Corin 
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May 10, 2024 06:34
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Voted Espionage. Paranoia and institutional wariness of all those other countries who might give our oppressed minority ideas seems terribly appropriate.
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May 10, 2024 08:45
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Espionage seems weird to me in Anbennar. Are these halfling spies on each other's shoulders and wearing green makeup?
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May 10, 2024 14:51
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Chatrapati posted:Espionage seems weird to me in Anbennar. Are these halfling spies on each other's shoulders and wearing green makeup? Pie so good, you'll betray your friends and family just for a slice!
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May 10, 2024 15:29
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More like key lies pie 
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May 10, 2024 16:58
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It took me a good week or so of reading but I have finally caught up. I can't say I am wholly familiar with what the Court ideas do
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May 14, 2024 00:45
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TheNabster posted:It took me a good week or so of reading but I have finally caught up. It’s basically the “make the estates easier to wrangle” idea group. Also increases max privileges per estate. It’s a situational pick, usually a good idea for when you’re playing with nations that use Mandate mechanics or you are going apeshit on artificing and need more slots for inventions. It’s never bad though.
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May 14, 2024 03:27
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In addition it also helps with the various stats of you nation, including prestige, splendor, reform progress, legitimacy (or equivalent) and power projection. It's not a bad pick, though there are usually better idea groups to choose from. The only time I'd definitely go for it is, as mentioned, when holding the Mandate. In Anbennar its otherwise harder to keep your Hedonism high compared to vanilla's Meritocracy.
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May 14, 2024 09:48
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It was a close race, but Court just about won out. The good showing from Religious means that it will receive a massive +14 votes at the next idea group vote. Chapter Seven: Days of Deluge 1525-1540 Taranton, Newshire, 1530 The cart shuddered and bumped, almost causing the dirt to fall from Primrose's fingers. A rusty red tinge dyed the normally healthy brown soil in her hand, and the flower that she had been so delicately attempting to nurture was barely alive. Even in her very hands, mana flowing from her body and encouraging it to grow, it struggled to stay alive. Another jolt almost knocked it out of her hands, and she decided this was not the place for such experimentation. She lowered it slowly into the pot where it normally lived, alongside the pots containing the other test cases she had brought along with her on this trip. When the situation was changing so rapidly, to take a week off and leave her saplings behind was as good as killing them. She glanced at the tightly sealed box that contained the whole reason she was here. A letter, addressed for the First Steward, of such importance that the grandmaster had made sure to find the most waterproof container for its transit to Freshcobble. The journey from the new headquarters at Moreced was a short one but the letter was important enough and the situation was dangerous enough that it was warranted. "Almost to Taranton, miss," the cart driver called out, "road's a bit boggy though." Primrose thanked the man and peered up over the rim of the cart. Taranton was a growing town, considering it was located almost in the centre of Newshire and so a natural hub for trade. Her cart was already into the outer sprawl of the town, by some measures. Large, smoothly rounded, domes of grass rose up around the road, each one trimmed to a precise degree. The gardens around these finely shaped homes were ornate collections of flowers in an endless rainbow of colours and patterns, all turned to face the road. She was left to wonder how many of her colleagues had cut their teeth aiding homeowners in showing up their neighbours. It was shame that the wonderful displays were tarnished with streaks and stains of red. A wide splotch in the grass here, a wilting flowerbed doused in crimson there, a tree shedding its leaves unseasonably in someone's orchard. If it was anything like back home, it was getting worse over time. She had no faith that Corin would spare a moment for a garden after she had not spared the fields of wheat that Primrose had witnessed being smothered on the way here. A pair of sharp eyes peering from behind a curtain startled Primrose, and she ducked back inside the cart. Some of the locals in Moreced had been insistent that her fellows' experiments were the reason that Corin had doused the land in crimson. Quick action from the Orcs hired to guard the Guild's fields had dispersed the impending riot, but she did not have any such protection here should the people of Taranton feel the same way. The centre of Taranton was more like a village than a town. With the citizen's homes scattered all around the surrounding countryside, there was only need for administration and services. Schools and stores were scattered out among the halfling holes rather than centralized here, so she expected that the people would not need to come into town except for business with the steward or passing traders. That was why she was a bit surprised at how busy it was. There were crowds milling around the park in front of the town hall, with quite a few Humans and Elves among their number. Stalls were being assembled around the edges of the grass, and some members of the crowd were starting to poke their noses in the direction of her cart. Market day. Even if one could get their groceries from the nearest store, rarer and more interesting goods would only come from abroad. She could not help but feel the tension in the air. Though the townsfolk around her were gathered in orderly lines and politely allowing her to pass by, their eyes were darting to and fro, especially focused on those stalls selling food, even the foreign food overloaded with salt and other preservatives or otherwise sold at a high markup. Though there was still plenty to from the last harvest, anyone could take a look out of their window and see the way things were going. "We can rest up at the inn, miss," the driver said. He directed his ponies through the mass towards a simple stone building that had been decorated with ornate drapes, though great red streaks marred their patterns. It was very symbolic of the situation. Primrose stretched and prepared to dismount, only for a thick wet drop to splat onto her outstretched hand. She froze, then swallowed her fear and looked. A thick, cloying, liquid had landed on her hand and was slowly running down her palm. As deep red as blood, and stinking of metal, it rolled down and left a trail of detritus on her skin. Another splat came from besides her, and she spun to see a splotch of red in the cart, right next to one of her plants. "Cover the cart!" she called out, "the Crimson Deluge has returned!" The tension in the crowd stepped up a level, raised voices and turned heads at her call. Then the first of those around her were hit, and the screams and shouts began in earnest. The crowd scattered, charging for the nearest shelter be that someone's stall, a building, or a withered and dying tree. Stalls very quickly became overburdened as merchants tried to keep out panicking customers, some of them collapsed and others turned into bristling hedgehogs made of Halflings refusing to give up their shelter. Through all this, Primrose only had eyes for her plants. Regular rain was beginning to fall, a blessed touch of slightly tinted water among the larger splatters of blood, but either way it would be too much for her poor little flowers. She and the cart driver worked as fast as they could to roll over a canvas covering onto the cart to protect her cargo. As soon as that was sorted, they both dismounted and began pushing the ponies, now starting to get unsettled by the rain and panicking crowds, towards the inn. Being stuck in the Crimson Deluge was a nightmare in itself, as though she had been lowered into one of the hells for just a moment. Wet, sticky and stinking gore splattered against her coat, and even with her hood raised she could hardly keep it from getting into her hair and face. The wind whipped at it, and the inn ahead of her was streaked with new marks of Corin's battle. The ponies were beginning to fright, their fur becoming matted and their hooves sinking into the crimson puddles beneath them. It was only thanks to the care of their driver that they made it to the inn's stables without bolting, a miracle that Primrose would have thanked the heavens for, if they were not presently opened up onto her. As soon as the cart was stowed, she made for the front entrance to the inn, only to be blocked by a wall of angry customers glaring at her while sheltering under the awning. One, a gentleman with a very fancy beard that still had beads of red slime trapped within it, extended a walking cane towards her to bar her entry. He tapped the Guild insignia clasp on her cloak. "You brought this, plant witch!" he snapped, "your meddling brought down Corin's wrath!" Primrose started to speak. "Now, hold on-" "I knew it was too good to be true!" "Go hide in your twisted trees!" The crowd was getting angrier, and only seemed to be held back from rushing over the threshold by the crimson fluid still splattering down around her. The man jabbed out with his cane again, poking Primrose in the robs with enough force to make her step back. He grinned, a little bit of a manic expression in his face as he turned and made as if to step out and join her amongst the blood. "That's enough! I though you were decent folk!" came the shout of a very rotund woman striding without fear through the reddened mud towards them. She had an umbrella held over her head by an Orcish servant, who didn't seem to mind the rain as much, and a whole retinue of Orcish and Halfling soldiers stationed stoically at the entrance to the inn's yard, their armour slowly staining red in the deluge. "Ma'am, I was just-" the one with the cane started. "No excuses!" the woman snapped, planting herself firmly between the crowd and Primrose. "Who do you think has been helping feed all of you? Who do you think you owe for the last ten years of profits? The Chloromancers have done nothing but good for us all." The crowd began to shrink back, both from her tongue-lashing and the imposing presence of the nearby guards. "Thank you, my Lady," Primrose said, reaching out with a hand still dripping red, "Primrose Nevertrack, apprentice of the Guild of Chloromancers." "Lamma Flatbrow, Steward of Taranton," her saviour replied. A jolly smile replaced her enraged expression, and she took Primrose's stained hand without hesitation. "You know, Miss Nevertrack, it would be safer if you stayed with me tonight. I will always welcome someone whose assistance has brought such prosperity. You can stay for as long as you need." "Thank you for the offer, Lady Steward," Primrose said, returning Lamma's smile, "but I will need to leave in the morrow." She extended her other hand out, letting it catch the still-splattering bloody deluge. The whole town had been tinted red, with the buildings, the grass, and everyone who had failed to find shelter being further streaked with the gory debris that descended along with the liquid. It was a sight that was being repeated across the entire nation, if not all of Escann, perhaps all of Cannor. "I have to bring our letter to the First Steward," she continued, "I think we're the only ones who can save Newshire." Excerpts from Days of Verdancy, Volume Two: Claret Fields, published in Beepeck Village Bookshop, 1837  A curious effect of the Decade of Plenty was cases of oversized vegetables far beyond even what the Chloromancers had managed in their smaller-scale experiments. Gardens were overtaken by pumpkins, apples large enough to crack skulls dropped from their branches, and root vegetables choked out tree roots. These became the talk of Cannor, and many a Halfling diplomat brought along the finest examples from their home villages as gifts. Court ideas were only added relatively recently to EU4. There's nothing amazing in them, but they offer a lot of nice minor buffs to estate management and the various modifiers of your country (i.e. prestige or splendor)  These gifts were not always appreciated, such as the famous example of an Elven delegation turning their noses up at a batch of Newshire Tipple. They declared that it smelled as though the grapes had been steeped in blood. This sparked a vicious war of words between Newshire and Ibevar, though it never grew beyond that. Getting 20PP per insult is very nice, it makes it very easy to get above 50 for that sweet bonus mana.  The First Steward was eager to test in his new military structure in battle, and adventurer bands were hungry for plunder that was getting more difficult to find in a civilized Escann. They suggested another raid against the Orcs occupying Castonath, who were caught in some tribal squabble. In the eyes of many, their worship of Corin was little more than trading one god for another, rather than a sign of proper civilization. The campaign would be launched, with Orcs going into battle against the their less tame fellows.  However, this war was far from the minds of the common folk of Newshire, who were enjoying food of greater quantity and quality that they had ever seen or tasted before. Their new tastes, their new techniques, and their newfound freedom from tallfolk oppression were all starting to coalesce into something. A distinct culture of Halfling was emerging, one that favoured cultivation the countryside above all else and was willing to do anything for it. A while after forming their nation, all adventurer formables in Escann undergo a cultural shift. Humans get a culture in the Escanni culture group, while non-Humans get unique racial cultures.  The opening months of the war were a poor showing for Adelar's new military. Despite military superiority and excellent leadership from the mercenary captains, Bloodgorger's ferocious Orcs easily outmanoeuvred the disparate companies involved in the battle as well as the Halfling officers still unfamiliar with commanding their own Orcish warriors. The lands between the White Walls and Castonath were soon coated with the blood of the slain and Newshire was forced onto the defensive. Orcs have a really good military for the early game, especially now that they've had a chance to catch up in technology. Going in with those debuffs from the earlier mission was a bad idea.  Despite these losses, life went on across Newshire. Apart from those few Halflings who were unable to slip away from battle before it was too late, the only losses were among entirely expendable mercenaries and Orcs. Paying no heed to the conflict, tea parties were being held across the nation in celebration of another amazing harvest during the Decade of Plenty. Some enterprising farmers even began planting tea crops within Newshire itself, calling upon the Guild of Chloromancers to make up for the differences in soil that would otherwise plague such efforts.  The Guild itself was also very busy expanding its operations to better support the needs of the many farmers who called upon their aid. The first mage tower in Freshcobble was famously built on top of specially grown trees, and the second being grown in Moreced was an improvement upon that, the trees being carefully adjusted to spread their branches out wide and make room for extensions to the offices and laboratories within.  No new soldiers were called up from the population, but rather continued to be hired from abroad. Despite the danger, there were countless mercenaries across Cannor who wanted to have their chance to seize the riches still believed to be hidden in Orcish territory. Even government-sponsored forces, such as a company from Arbaran, signed up. With blooming coffers from the Decade of Plenty, money was no object for the First Steward. He had to achieve victory to prove that his term in office had been successful.  It cost far more blood than Adelar could have anticipated, but finally Bloodgorger was defeated in open battle and was forced to withdraw, leaving tired and vengeful armies to rampage across Inner Castanor, claiming whatever plunder they could before withdrawing.  Afterwards, a buffer zone leading all the way up to the walls of Castonath itself was claimed. Newshire also ensured its dominance of Lake Silvermere by claiming the valuable Silverdocks. This would further isolate the common folk from the conflict, as the military could now be staged in this area for further raids against the monsters of the east.  Not wanting to risk a drop in morale after such a gruelling war, the First Steward sent the forces of Newshire to the west to mop up the remaining former adventurer states. Short on territory, short on soldiers and short on allies, they would allow the new military to be tested in safer conditions. First, Luciande was brought to heel. The Petty King surrendered in short order, offering to act as Newshire's shield in the west. Though there were some reservations on the Council, the Guild of Chloromancers convinced the First Steward to allow him to remain in power for the moment.  Members of the Council expressed concern at all the conflicts that the nation was being drawn into in the name of simple testing, but Adelar was clear on the matter that he had authority over such matters as First Steward. The stewards could run their villages, the firebrands could continue to spread the word of Corin, and the Chloromancers could continue their experiments. Thus ran the nation.  The western campaign had to be put on hold as Wyvernheart called for aid. The Skaldskola, fresh from having suppressed the Gerudian Reach, were launching an invasion of Escann. The First Steward ordered the mercenary bands northwards. This would be another war of great bloodshed, and he did not feel the regular regiments were ready.  Battle was joined in the north, and the forests were filled with death. As mercenaries fought and died for their pay, the streams leading down the River Alen ran red. After fighting Orcs, a Human military is almost smooth sailing. Also, you can see what they were going for a bit better on the Halfling unit models on the cavalry unit.  However, it was not the war on Halann that caused such blood to flow. War had come to the heavens. Adean and Corin could no longer abide the other, and they and their allies now fought for the soul of the Regent Court. Blood began to spill from the skies, staining the rolling green grass homes with red, filling streams and wells with foul iron taste, and spreading fear across the nation. Yet, not all were struck with panic. The firebrands saw this as Corin taking decisive action to end the feud between herself and Adean, and a sign that they too should push ever harder in her name. Here's the big event, at last. The Crimson Deluge will hit provinces across a wide swathe of Cannor with devastation. Since we're Corinite, we don't get hit as hard by the opening event.  The wider implications of the Deluge soon sprang forth. Tides of blood smothered crops, soil became polluted and plants began to wither on the vine, irrigation projects clogged with the viscera of a godly battle. After the Decade of Plenty, the people of Newshire were suddenly struck with the possibility of famine. Real fear began to take hold as hungry Halflings realised they might not have food on their plate each day, never mind the opulent dishes they had once enjoyed. They had been protected from war, but now the Crimson Deluge touched everyone. Except, because we're farmers first and foremost, the Deluge is actually a really bad thing. This extra pain on top is exclusive to Newshire.  An emergency session of the Council, which was dissolving into chaos as each steward demanded that their own population receive aid over the other, was interrupted by the arrival of the representative from the Guild of Chloromancers, Primrose Nevertrack. She delivered a letter from the Grandmaster, who claimed that they had a way to combat the disaster and save Newshire, if only they were given the permission to do so. The First Steward, already a patron of theirs, did not hesitate to grant it. Finally, we make progress on the left-hand side of the mission tree. You can also bypass the requirements for this whole mission chain by just waiting for the Crimson Deluge to be over, but that really messes with the flavour.  Blood is, in the literal sense, life. Why was it that the very lifeforce of the gods was killing life upon the surface? As chaos ripped apart the nation, the Chloromancers devoted their minds and bodies to uncovering the secrets of life and its transference. All their experiments up to that point had achieved was funnelling magic power to bolster the natural growth of plants. They would need to go one step further to thwart the Crimson Deluge. The solution, found after many experiments in sheltered fields and darkened laboratories, was to distil the essence of godly life with that of the mundane. The deadly component that was killing the crops could be neutralized with the application of an elixir of life, with said life being extracted from the beasts of the world who had grown up grazing uncorrupted flora. It was the same principle as had been applied in the ritual that started the Decade of Plenty, except now applied directly to the plants in question. The first successful test, a sunflower in crimson soil, also demonstrated the fantastic growing properties of the elixir.  Spreading the elixir across the nation would be an undertaking unlike any seen before. Vast herds of livestock would need to give their blood to produce the vast quantities, but the owners of said herds would likely refuse to give up one of their sources of food. Convincing farmers to accept such a foul-seeming solution would be tricky. Someone would need to be in charge of organizing the military to, through force, bring about what needed to be done. Besides that, relief efforts would need to be redoubled to keep resistance against the application of the elixir from becoming an outright uprising.  As efforts continued to save the population from starvation, the Deluge itself went unabated. In their fervour and panic, people turned towards any sign they could that there was hope. When the town hall in Freshcobble was doused by an unexpected shower, leaving it dripping as though a great creature had exploded on top of it, it was taken as a sign of Corin's favour for the First Steward's decision. There are a variety of events that appear in the Deluge, some of which are actually positive if you're Corinite.  The northern war was slow going, as all the old fortifications of Vrorenmarch, previously left to rot by their Orcish occupiers, had been restored by the Skalds. For those mercenaries fighting in it, they did not mind as much as the effects of the Crimson Deluge rapidly disappeared as they marched north out of Escann.  Orders from the First Steward were to end the war as quickly as possible so that they could return and help maintain order in Newshire proper. This did not go over well among those who would prefer to linger and plunder, rather than shedding their own blood against the walls of forts just to return to a blood-soaked Newshire a little faster. Normally not too bad, but the stab loss is not helping in the middle of the Deluge…  Driven into a frenzy by the blood soaking the landscape and the famine that grew from that, some Corinites were driven towards shedding their own blood in an effort to try and cleanse their own sin or perhaps cleanse the land the same way the Chloromancers were. It was a futile effort, as raw blood was merely a component of the final elixir, so their sacrifice achieved little. Here's an example of an event that's negative whether you're Corinite or not.  While rollout of the elixirs was a slow process, the first successful harvest making use of them had been completed in Dustinwall. The First Steward ordered a great celebration to be held as demonstration to the people that there was still hope. Diplomats from other nations were also invited to sample these foods grown in the bloody soil, though the secrets of the elixirs themselves were kept a closely guarded secret. Magnificent feast is one of the best spells on offer by the mage estate. It's a must have if you're conquering anywhere that AE is a concern or going heavily in on vassal play. I've picked it in this case because clearing up the remainder of western Escann will be quite expensive in AE.  That so much food was spent on such a celebration was the final straw for many of the poor and starving of the nation, who took up arms and tried to storm the fortress at Dustinwall to demand that the food be shared. The First Steward sent out a decree reminding everyone that, as Ara dictates, each would be given food according to their need, and the national leadership needed far more than they. For some reason, this only inflamed the situation, so two mercenary bands had to be recalled from the war in the north to put down the rebellion and reduce the number of mouths to feed.  The general populace did not help their situation with persecution of Chloromancers attempting to save their crops. The elixir was decried as foul witchcraft or other dark magics, and there were several cases of Chloromancers being burned as offering to Corin to bring an end to the Deluge. As the mercenaries returned, these gatherings were also put down with appropriate force.  As the Guild of Chloromancers spread out across the nation delivering their elixirs, some found themselves in the region of Escin, where zealous warriors of Ancardia continued to resist occupation. Finding the land healthy and rich in magic in spite of the ongoing Deluge, they asked their escorting soldiers to root out the remaining Ancardians and secure them a place to establish a new base of operations. I was sitting on them for ages as they had an ally in the middle of the EoA and so were refusing to give up.  The tide was beginning to turn, as more people revelled in the blood rain now that their own food supply was starting to return. Morale was blooming as the common folk took any sign as proof that Newshire had found its way forward, whether that be Corin's face appearing in blood in a field, or waves of bloody water flooding temples to Adean.  Though large numbers of mercenaries had been withdrawn from the frontlines, the remainder had reached a stable position. There was no reason to advance further into Gerudia proper and overextend their supply lines. The Skalds had been thoroughly halted, and the Reach was out of reach of the Deluge so had no issues with feeding the armies now guarding it.  When the International Gommo made a case for studying the Guild of Chloromancers' cure for the Crimson Deluge, Primrose Nevertrack vetoed the idea on the Council. The Gnomes knew their machines, but did not know anything of the true nature of life. For such manic tinkerers to have access to such knowledge would be a disaster.  The relief efforts continued to be patchwork and opposed, until Lamma Flatbrow, Steward of Taranton, took it upon herself to seize the local animal herds to supply the Chloromancers with what they needed. Though many decried her and belittled her, accusing her of just claiming all the meat for her own belly, she ignored them and pushed on. She took her fury to the Council, and with assistance from Primrose was able to finally force through legislation that would provide them with the resources to save the entire nation.  As the harvests started to come in, the worries of those opposed to the Chloromancer's elixir faded as if they had never been there to begin with. Hungry bellies were once again filled with food, alcohol production could once again resume, and livestock herds slowly started to regrow those sacrificed for the greater good. The red rain had become a common feature of everyday life, something handled by an umbrella rather than self-flagellation. The radical and aggressive preaching of the firebrands began to fall on deaf ears as the population returned to their slower and simpler lives. The Guild of Chloromancers were lauded as heroes, and their influence within the Council had risen significantly as a result.  The Skald war, caught in a stalemate as neither side was able to advance, ended with relatively minor concessions. A few city-states along the coast were freed and small quantity of reparations was handed over. The most important factor was that their invasion of Escann had been thoroughly thwarted, so they would need to think twice before trying again.  With the resumption of everyday life in Newshire, peace returned. The Deluge continued to ravage nations across Cannor, but visitors could find serenity in a simple pumpkin pie baked by a hospitable Halfling household. That the pie crust was dyed red was merely a feature, and that there were enough pies produced from one pumpkin to feed an entire army was a bonus. Despite certain aggressive actions against the minor state of western Escann, the international view of Newshire was of simple and welcoming folk who had no greater designs that those of their natural borders.  And those natural borders were more or less achieved following one last campaign to end the independence of Anbenland and reclaim some of Luciande's lost territory. Though some territory within the Forlorn Vale remained out of Newshire's control, it was held by the Orda Aldresia, a knightly order that reported directly to the Emperor of Anbennar. To attempt to claim it would bring the Empire against Newshire, which was a risk that the Council could not allow. For the moment, westwards expansion had ended.  Under Lamma Flatbrow, the town of Taranton had blossomed with population and trade during the darkest days of the Deluge. Refugees who came seeking food after her whole-hearted embracing of the Chloromancer's elixir, traders looking for a place to offload their goods without the risk of riots and theft, Corinite monks to offer charity to those who found food but yet needed other necessities, and young mages eager to get their start in the Guild of Chloromancers. All of these stories and more made the town one of the primary hubs for the nation.  The Third Free Fair concluded with the selection of Kalas Frostfinger, who had made a frozen cream dessert that melted in the mouth and chilled the brain delightfully, if you could look past the deep red colouring and metallic tang. Politically, his policy was the formalization of the relationship between the Council and the First Steward, with the Council setting the legislative agenda and the First Steward retaining the power to appoint ministers and other officials, as well as direct diplomatic and military policy.  He was also known for his frugality in matters of government spending. While many temples across the nations still lay in ruins from rioting during the Deluge, he instead preferred to spend funds on renovating his offices in Second Turnwell, or building up the opulence of the Free Fair grounds in Dustinwall. The priests could be responsible for their own restorations.  One aftereffect of the Deluge was a massive displacement of the population. Countless workers wandered the nation looking for food, and while they had eventually been able to find it, the balance had been completely upset. Kalas began to provide incentives to settle in more remote parts of the nation, such as the Merewood, where Orcish labourers were still working on the Four Task, deforesting and irrigating farmland ready for new Halfling villages to spring up.  The Khetist community within Newshire was relatively quiet. Most had eventually dispersed into the Cannorian Human population or returned to their homeland, but a few villages still held to their old ways, praying that Entef would return in their hour of need as Elikhet once had. News of Aakhet the Bronze seizing power in their homeland sent them even further into despondency and fear, much to the bemusement of regular folk. Who'd ever heard of a Halfling needing to fight a Dragon? Oh hey. Sorry Aakhet, but you're in the wrong campaign.  Though Escann was the worst affected, the Deluge had swept much of Cannor into a frenzy along with it. The Kingdom of Gawed, based as it was along the River Alen that flowed out of Escann, was one of the foremost affected nations. While the rains were not as fierce, the great river ran thick and red with blood for years and all along its length devotees to Corin bathed themselves in the gore of her victory. When the staunch Adeanic King Tristian died with naught but a young sapling of an heir, his Corinite Queen Bella, now Regent, took the nation and her charge down the path of Corin. Having alienated her husband's former allies in the process, she sought out an alliance with Newshire as the other major Corinite power. This alliance cemented Newshire's policy of fixing its western borders as they were, and opened up the possibility of even more aggressive pursuit of civilizing eastern Escann. All that they needed to wait for was the completion of the military reforms that had caused so much trouble in the wars of the past decade.  The reconstruction of the citadel of Bal Mire was the first great collaboration of the two nations, as it would serve as a bulwark against the Orcs and Gerudians who still occupied the lands to the north.  Splendor and respect were the key marks of Kalas' stewardship of the nation. In addition to putting a great deal more effort into diplomatic ventures such as the alliance with Gawed, he continued to put a great deal of the national fund into commissioning expensive art pieces, devote whatever resources the Chloromancers requested to grow unique and wonderful arboreal creations, and imported the finest treasures unearthed in Aelantir. Ornate museums began to spring up across the nations, places for the wealthy and connected to mingle and admire the prestigious acquisitions. Some considered it far too ostentatious for such simple folk as they, but the First Steward set the tone for the nation and so for the moment such gatherings were the foremost social occurrence.  Fed, entertained, and enthralled by the brilliance of the First Steward, the nation hardly noticed when the last of the red rains fell. It was almost a year after the last downpour before most folk began to realise that the Crimson Deluge had passed. Though no preacher or firebrand could say for certain that Corin had triumphed in her war in the heavens, their rhetoric grew no less fervent. Followers of Adean still ruled across much of Cannor, and the war on Halann had yet to reach its conclusion. To be continued…
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May 17, 2024 16:20
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drat, that's a successful Corinite Reformation if Gawed has solidly converted. Bodes poorly for the Adeanics down the line. Also, thank goodness for blood magic to help save our agriculture! There won't be any unforeseen consequences for this whatsoever, I'm sure.
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May 17, 2024 18:05
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Mmmm blood pumpkin pies. I wonder if orcsblood is any good for magic.....
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May 17, 2024 20:14
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