Time as comes.
The Chains Lessens.
Countless servants stir.
It is Winter.
Welcome to your first Winter Turn! In this turn, you do not play the settlement trying to prepare for a season of terrors, but the force of Winter trying to take their toll.
As such, the question this turn is not what to do to prepare, but what can the settlement handle. After all, what is the point of a hunt without enjoyment? And humans have proved that prey can be turned into livestock…
Winter in those lands is seldom predictable, do not expect to see the same actions and the same strategies each year.
(POV: An Old, Cruel Watcher)
Night has fallen for 3 long months over the land, and the good folk tremble in their homes, praying that their pitiful wall will hold. Delicious prey, but so few, most of the warm-blooded crop already gathered last year. Still, even if many others attract the attention of the powers of those lands, prey are prey nonetheless, and shall be hunted by some.
Importance: Minor
Attention: Distracted
Importance represents the settlement…juiciness as a prey for Winter, and how much of Winter's baleful attention will go its way. It will grow with the settlement, almost inevitably.
Attention represents how much the local forces of Winter are focused on Union, and will vary depending on local events and the settlement's actions.
Winter Dices (need to be all attributed):
3 Hunger Dice: Hunger is the unfillable pit, ever reaching for more to devore. Its corruption enslaves to needs and desires, until a man is ready to murder those he loves for a better meal. Hunger's thralls are ravenous and direct, reaching tirelessly for more flesh and more soul.
3 Cold Dice: Cold is the emptiness beyond, slowly eroding away all things good. Its corruption drains its victims, until they are but empty puppets. Cold's servants are fragile, subtle things, striking with ambushes and traps, and preferring to act on the longer term.
Red actions are Hunger exclusive, blue Cold exclusive, and all dice can be used on White actions. The dice used will change the result of the actions, due to the differences between Hunger and Cold.
Harshness Dices: 3
Harshness Dices represent how much of the harshness of the season is handled by the settlement, Union. Every Harshness Dices unused this turn will be rolled on actions that strengthen Winter or attack a peripheral target (potentials others colonies, natives group, the Freed or the King, for example)
Preparation:
During Winter, Preparations and morale shall be tested. Each preparation has specific assets, representing what has been done to ready the people.
Food: Our larders are full, maybe enough to fight Hunger.
Mainly the Four Sisters, some Old-World crops and Winter Walker reserves, a little meat.
Heat: We have homes, furs, and fuel. We will be cold, but we will not freeze.
Basic homes, some fur, sufficient fuel.
Defense: One thin wall of wood, one wall of flesh behind it. Mayhaps we are ready.
Trained militia with basic monster fighting knowledge. Stockade. Readied Canons. Limited muskets and steel weapons, but enough tools and natives' weaponry to arm the whole militia. A few old Awakes weapons.
Knowledge: The Freed whisper to us about our foes. We have a few defenses, especially few against illness.
Winter Walker knowledge. Some Herbs.
Morale: 55/100, Steady (reduce chance of negatives event)
Unresolved conflicts and divided groups. Survival-based united, basic discipline and habit to work together.
Unique assets:
Sara Smith: Morale leader, spirit-sensitive, great affinity with the dead.
The Mourners: Affinity with the dead. Without fear.
Freed's help : Defense against incorporeal threats, early warnings for those that can hear them.
As of now, you will have to guess what the settlement can handle of Winter's attentions, as such the dices allocations will need to be decided from the action's description and the settlement's preparations, and not from numeric value.
Influence
Whispers on the wind, terrors in the dreams. How much of Winter's attention can the young handle, I wonder?
[Automatic, no dice needed]
The Hunger
Hunger gift to all for the season. All shall grow ever more mindful of their stomach. One meal missed, and they shall grow jittery, quick to anger and envious of their fellows. One day without food, and they shall look at those around them, wondering, what taste is their flesh? I hope there is enough in the larder for all!
-[] Endless Pit: Hunger shall take from every morsel, folks needing more food to feed themselves and satisfy their appetites. Will full larder be enough, I wonder?
-[] Hunger of the Mind: All shall grow more mindful of their desire. More willing to satisfy them. More willing to steal, to lie and to kill for them. Protect your spouse, protect your child, protect your goods!
[Automatic, no dice needed]
The Cold
Cold gift to all for the season. A ceaseless gift of cold and snow, enough to kill a man grow in half of an hour. Woes to the unprotected.
-[] Boundless Generosity: Truly, this Winter is generous, with more snow than one can handle! Enough snow to cover the land, to bury the walls, maybe enough to break the roof, and spread for the enjoyment of all!
-[] Playful Winds: The Winds of the North have come to play. Weather shifts from an instant to the next, storms peppered through the months, and the unaware shall be buried under the blizzards!
[Automatic, no dice needed]
Sunless Days
The gift of Winter, shade until the season is over. In this long night, no plant shall grow, no rays shall guide men's way. Enough time without the sun, and people shall weaken in body and mind, until illness can feast easily upon them.
-[] Wither away: The weakness of the sunless time shall attract worms and rots, until the very walls of men's homes crumble away under the feast of the crawling mass.
-[] A Rider upon a Pale Horse: At home in the darkness, illness shall spread in drove amongst the weak. Humans shall bleed, and cough, and empty themselves, fever will devour them whole, and minds shall be haunted by madness.
[]
Promises and half-truths.
Winter like servants under chains almost as much as fearful prey. It is maybe time to offer some morsels to the sufferings and see how long they resist before they bow before new masters.
Pray tell, who shall endure Winter's advances?
-[] Sara Smith: Beloved by the dead and living, so young and already with power filled. A tasty treat, to be given much and offered more, until she breaks and bow.
-[] The Council: The old, the wise, the respected. Tormented by the pain of age and old wounds. Will they turn their wisdom against the many, to lessen their own pain?
-[] The Weak: Those with broken will and weakened souls. First you find them, then you twist them, and then you have puppets a plenty.
Servants
Woe for the joy of crushing underfoot, the great and powerful are otherwise occupied. It shall be the swarming of the lesser, without much value beyond numbers.
[] The Vermin
Even if culled near this impertinent town, there is vastly more swarming and devouring things hidden in the wild's shadows. With a few calls, the eager hordes shall come for death, be it of their targets or for themselves.
[] The Winged
The menace above, easily evading both hunters and walls. They shall come in droves and pluck the unawares from above.
[] Crawling Menaces
The menace below, ignored by those that walk above. What is the value of walls, when they can simply crawl and dig under them, and surge where they can find the warmest, freshest, youngest of meat!
[] From the Red Wood
The runt of the red domain, smallest cousins of the Lords. With the seeming of prey, of deer, but ever hungry for red flesh and warm blood. Fast, ever-moving and never-tiring, these beasts, even few in numbers, can dodge around bullets, and rush in an instant the unready, before reaping out their flesh.
[] Of Cold and Shadows
The lesser shades of the cold land, as fragile as silk's weave, but as silent and discreet as a shadow. They will come, hidden, and drop themselves as a cloak on wary shoulders, luring one to a long sleep as they draw all warm from their bodies.
[] Old and Forgotten
Woes, for there is no fresh dead to rise from the grave and send to fight against their families! The old, hidden tombs will need to loan their guardians, ancient deaths from generations past. At least, they will come with a few forgotten tricks…
[] Fleshless, Remorseless
Now fresh souls for this Season? Well, old shall do the tricks. A few, trusted and desperate ghostly servants, having long lost remnants, names, and memories. Those formless ones shall be sent, and they shall try their best to find a face, a body, and a name anew, be it from the living or from the dead.
The Tribute Takers (Can only be taken with Harshness dices)
The favorite toys are in another game, but there are quite a few, and their greed is boundless. With a little luck, some of the cunning Takers may come to spice the play.
[] Lone Hunter
A lone one, seeking something precious and portable to bring back to its master. He shall slip into the homes of the unaware and take what will bring him fame. Some learned mind? Gunpowder? A precious slave? Who knows?
[] Masked Merchant
One of the "wise" amongst the Takers, a seller of goods and giver of gifts. One who sold face and name to earn a position, and who now seek additional partners. A merchant of curses and takers of all a person can cherish. One's clients do not need to be willing, for the Takers.
[] Proving of the Made
The Takers have many strange and wonderful creations, made from the twisted, the shattered, the sold. They have many uses, for the Takers do not have naturally hunting dogs or livestock. With a little push, a few of those creatures will be sent to prove themselves in a new hunting ground this Winter. Fear them, for there are fast, strong and relentless, fearing not the lesser blows of men.
