Blackpowder and Blood (A Fantasy EU4 Quest)

[Taut_Templar]

Blackpowder and Blood (A Fantasy Europa Universalis IV Quest)​

The Greentide began 19 years ago when the orc Korgus Dookanson, the self-proclaimed son of their foul god, invaded and laid waste to the chivalrous kingdoms of Escann. Only Corin, a mortal woman imbued by the powers of Agrados, the disgraced god of war, could stop them. And stop them she did, with her companions, she united the marchers and adventurers of Escann into a single force of good and stopped their invasion of western Cannor dead in its tracks.

Yesterday, on the 11th day of the month of Nerament, Korgus Dookanson was slain in single combat by the heroine Corin in the ancient metropolis of Castonath … at the cost of her own life.

Corin may be dead, but so too has the Greentide been decapitated - Dookanson's vast host of clans and warbands assembled from the entirety of the Serpentspine already dissolving into chaos and disunity, their seemingly unstoppable momentum shattered into a thousand warring pieces. It is up to us, an alliance of dozens of different cultures and creeds, to now follow her legacy and bring an end to the Greentide once and for all.

You are ...

[ ] The Sons of Dameria: The Lilac Wars have finally ended in defeat for the Moon Party, the Rose Lords of Lorent return home to bask in their pyrrhic victory, and the opportunistic Lothane III of Wex is proclaimed the new emperor of Anbennar. The Silmuna dynasty, first among the Silver Families, sovereigns over the Grand Duchy of Dameria, synonymous with the imperial throne at their height... has been expunged. Slaughtered to the last man, woman, and child at the climax of a conflict spanning 116 years, this formerly vast and majestic house now exists only in far-flung and minor cadet houses (well, except for the Marcher Lords of Wesdam, may those Lecori-loving traitors burn with the Infernal Court). That is to say, with one exception. Rogier I Silmuna "the Exiled," grandson of the last true Emperor and only remaining direct descendant of Munas Moonsinger, has fled to Escann with what loyal retainers and veterans his ancient House can still call. Although Rogier's attempts to find his sister - who was wed to a Castellyrian prince - has failed, he and his men have turned their hearts to a new purpose. Although they may never be able to return to Anbennar and all their sacrifices for Damaria ended up in vain, Rogier intends to create a new homeland in Escann, a place for all the listless veterans of the Lilac Wars to pound their swords into plowshares and end their wandering. But first, they need to take it from the foul beasts that have inflicted so much suffering. And perhaps, one day, if their endeavors succeed and they create a powerful, prosperous new kingdom ... their descendants can remind the Rose Party that their celebrations were just a little too precipitous.
Leader: Rogier I Silmuna "the Exiled," Adm: 2 Dip: 5 Mil: 3 Traits: Depressed, Well Connected, Inspiring Leader Species: Half-Elf
Culture: East Damarian (Anbennarian)
Starting Location: Western Castanor

+ Lilac War Veterans: The Sons of Dameria are largely composed of veterans from the century-long war that wracked western Cannor and are thus some of the most experienced and proficient soldiery in the known world. Time, attrition, and despair has whittled down the once legendary army of Dameria, but what remains is still a force bar little other in Escann. A tired and worn blade, but lethal nonetheless.
+ Silmuna Connections: Saying the line of Munas Moonsinger has fallen on hard times would be an understatement of incredible proportions, but you don't rule one of the most powerful realms to ever exist for hundreds of years without accumulating a few favors. Almost everything was burnt in the early elation and late desperation of the Lilac Wars, but almost isn't the same as all - a tiny sliver of their influence is still a considerable and unique advantage over the competition in post-greentide Escann, should it be leveraged wisely.
+ - Unfinished Business: The Lilac Wars may have finally ground to a close, but only a fool would claim that the matter is settled once and for all. For better or worse, the Sons of Dameria are tied to their homeland to a much greater extent than any of their contemporaries and will most likely be dragged into - or perhaps cause - the next generation of bloodshed. It's unlikely to be any more decisive or worthwhile than the wars preceding it.
- Legacy of Defeat: Rogier I Silmuna's depressive episodes and crying jags are a poorly kept secret, and he's hardly the only homesick, traumatized veteran in the Sons. Even years after it all ended, a shadow can be seen in the eyes of a people that used to know nothing but victory. Defeatism, despair, or desperate delusion haunt the band like a sickness. Only time will bring relief to their suffering.
- Before the Fall: Hubris is often accused of being the primary flaw of the Silver Families, and nobody exemplified their virtues and failings more than the Silmunas. Hubris drove them to push the war against Lorent further than reason demanded when they were winning. Hubris drove them to refuse any surrender when the war swung against them. Even in exile and squalor, hubris may still define the Sons of Dameria.

[ ] The Count's League: The kingdoms of Escann found themselves utterly taken aback and overwhelmed by the Greentide, as their long traditions of chivalric conduct, while creating a peaceful and orderly land, left them unprepared for the brutal realities of total warfare against a relentless and cunning foe. Thus fell the land of Castan in what felt like the blink of an eye, sending shockwaves across Cannor and convincing many that the orcish horde was invincible. Not all Escanni surrendered, perished, or fled in the face of destruction, however. The cursed fortress of Oldhaven, abandoned out of fear and superstition since the Dragonwake, was turned into a hidden refuge for the nobility who desired to continue the war even after the battle of the Bloody Ford. Carleon Blacktower, a previously minor nobleman, earned considerable renown for providing Castellyr some of its only genuine victories before its destruction, as his once mocked "dishonorable tactics" wrought battles that saw many orc scum slain in return for few of his own men and soon came to lead the faction that desired to renew broad conflict against the Greentide instead of holding up in Oldhaven and hoping for rescue. Unfortunately, his former social superiors grew paranoid and jealous of Blacktower's successes. They refused to deploy their much larger levies, leaving Corleon to wage a hopeless guerrilla war against the greenskins alone for years upon end. This turned about with the arrival of Corin, who shamed the remaining nobility of Escann with her famous charisma, allowing the Count's League to participate in the conclusion of the Siege of Castonath and finally avenge their homeland. Now, Blacktower leads a coalition of Escanni nobility that remained true to take back their fiefdoms and liberate their subjects, whether that be from vile greenskins ... or would-be adventurer-kings claiming dominion over a land not theirs.
Leader: Corleon Blacktower, Adm: 4 Dip: 3 Mil: 6 Traits: Tactical Genius, Free Thinker, Brusque Species: Human
Culture: Castellyrian (Escanni)
Starting Location: Inner Castanor

+ Escanni Locals: The Count's League is the only major Escanni faction (besides Marrhold) capable of standing on equal ground to the adventurer bands, both in prestige and military might, which has granted the organization considerable legitimacy. They will have little difficulty claiming the legacy of pre-Greentide nations and will easily secure the cooperation of Escanni survivors and returning refugees, making expansion and administration much easier.
+ Homefield Advantage: Blacktower's men have fought the Orcs for nearly two decades, turning the land to their advantage to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. The foul Greenskins soon learned to fear trees that suddenly start talking, and with effort, Oldhaven's Rangers can be turned into an official organization. In general, Escann is their home, and they'll know its odds and ends better than foreign trespassers.
+ Righteous Revanchism: The Castanorian people have fallen on hard times before, but the Greentide represents the lowest they've ever been. They'd be lucky to recover a fraction of their prominence by any man's odds ... but they're no normal people. They are the heirs of Castan, heirs to Humanity's first Empire, heirs to a legacy a dozen times as long and glorious as any other polity can claim in the world! Castonath, the greatest city in Cannor and beyond, withstood all of Korgus Dookanson's fury for nineteen years, even when their dead carpeted the walls and their women were forced to man the crossbows they did not flinch nor cower! And if the Count's League has anything to say about it, their glory will be sung of forevermore.
- Adventurer Antagonism: As much as the Count's League may declare their own participation in the Greentide's defeat, even they must admit that it wouldn't have been possible without considerable contribution on behalf of foreign adventures. Still, they would very much appreciate it if they took their reward in coin and returned home instead of settling down and claiming Escanni land for themselves.
- Better Hate than Pain: There are no people in the world that loathes the Greenskins more than the Escanni, save perhaps the Dwarves with their ancient and unending grudges. Where others might apply a degree of pragmatism towards Orc or Goblin polities, or nuance regarding the handling of conquered populations, the Count's League knows they deserve naught but the end of a blade for their crimes.
- Shaky Foundation: Corleon Blacktower has taken over the League and lead it to victory, but his control over the organization isn't perfect, and things have already begun to unravel with the existential threat diminished. Not to mention, their home of Oldhaven is unsuitable to serve as any kind of center of power and may or may not actually be cursed. The Count's League will have to change to move into the future.

[ ] The Anbenncost Expedition: The City of the World's Desire, the de jure capital of Anbennar, the Heart of the Dameshead ... Anbenncost has many names. As of the end of the Lilac Wars, they can claim another title: Free City of the Empire, with the considerable privilege and autonomy it entails, granted to tear the heart out of the former Grand Duchy of Damaeria and ensure the new Wexnonard Emperor's symbolic crowning would go smoothly. The largest city in Cannor (now that Castonath has just begun to recover from a two-decade siege) looks into an uncertain future now having to deal with the bankers of Damescrown, halflings of Beepeck, and many other jealous contenders for the city's exalted status without the protection of the Silmuna's, but the merchants of Anbenncost are nothing if not proficient in seizing opportunity from danger - and they won't stay ahead of the competition through safe investments. An expedition has been outfitted and sent to Escann to colonize the depopulated region and create a realm to harness the trade once it renews with the rest of Cannor while simultaneously providing an outlet for the city's teeming population and an ever-restless horde of adventures. Should the plan pan out, Anbenncost will achieve a decisive advantage over their numerous rivals ... and perhaps find fertile ground to experiment with its 'unique' form of governance.
Leader: Republic, Adm: ? Dip: ? Mil: ?
Culture: Anbenncoster (Anbennarian)
Starting Location: Western Castanor

+ The Greatest City in Anbennar: Anbenncost is the center and pearl of the Dameshead Sea, the largest, richest, most important urban center in the known world (now that Castanoth is 'diminished'), and has significant motive to see the expedition succeed. The settlers will not want for coin, men, or anything else it's possible for money to purchase, although this support will depend on a pipeline to Anbenncost itself.
+ Meritocratic Traditions: Dameria was unusual for its unique parliamentary feudalism. Free Cities of Anbennar oft practice some form of plutocracy. And Adventurers are infamous for their lackadaisical attitude for any other qualification than talent. Individually, any of these components would create a less stratified society than is the norm in Cannor. Combined? The system 'Anbennland' will use is honestly a stone's throw from an actual democracy.
+ - Settler State: The purpose of the Expedition is to found a colony for Anbenncost. Although it has plenty of adventurers, it is not an adventurer-kingdom, for better or worse. It will consequently be better at managing colonization, trade, and other civilian matters, while worse at combat and lacking the unique edge extremely talented adventurer leaders can provide.
- Official Colony: The Expedition was not at the battle of Castonath, or participate in any of the conflict against the Greentide beforehand. It has come to Escann to turn part of it into a home for a foreign people, and makes no bones about it. This has, needless to say, not endeared them to the surviving Escanni, nor does it engender respect from its adventurer descended peers.
- Anbennarian Involvement: The Anbenncost Expedition is autonomous from its mother city in both fact and name, but eventually it will be expected to provide returns for the major investment it is, although this will not be for some time and won't be in the form of overwrought taxation or something equally banal. It will, however, have to contend with its close economic and political entanglement with the empire, with all that entails.

[ ] The Corintar: Corin was nothing but a peasant girl in the Borders when the people of Escann cried out for any assistance possible to combat the Greentide. The petty feudal lords and decadent magisters of Anbennar, wrapped up in the latest iteration of the Lilac Wars, spared no attention to what they saw as a distraction, sending only token troops and coin to assist against the orcs. Instead, the people of the civilized world, the Adventurers, took up arms in response to the call. It was they who marched far from their homes to fight and potentially die in a foreign land, and Corin, the peasant girl from nowhere, who stood amongst their ranks, was determined to contribute. Yet fate had a grander plan in mind, for when her team was ambushed and it seemed Corin would give her life to save her comrades, the Aspect of the disgraced God of War, Agrados, came upon her, and with its power, she smote the orcs where they stood! And filled with purpose, Corin knew only she could defeat Korgus Dookanson, her dark counterpart leading the hordes against the civilized world. So she set out across Escann, assembling a team of trusted companions during her efforts to organize a mighty army from all the forces embattled by the greenskins. And among these companions was Lothane Bluetusk, a half-orc who pledged himself to Corin's cause after she saved his life. Today, he is one of the only companions left, the others dead, disappeared, or returned to their homelands in obscurity. Lothane grieves for Corin, but even as they lower her body into the ground, his band of followers exalts! For it is written in the stars and the vanquishing of a demigod, Corin has ascended as the Regent Court's newest God of War. The priests and oracles may dither and debate over the details, but the newly founded Corintar knows in their hearts the Truth - that Good must be protected and Evil slain! "For all Evil needs to triumph, is Good men do nothing." And Escann is a land sorely in need of heroes ...
Leader: Lothane Bluetusk, Adm: 2 Dip: 4 Mil: 4 Traits: Companion, Pious, Benevolent Species: Half-Orc
Culture: Corintari (Escanni)
Starting Location: Inner Castanor

+ Face of a Faith: The Corintar is unique in its major involvement with religion, which provides significant opportunities for soft power that other factions totally lack. Although the Order isn't in charge of Corinite worship, it does have major legitimacy as its "face" and will face no rivals for the direction of the faith ... at least, initially. Although getting major nations involved as fellow worshipers provides its own benefits, of course.
+ Fear No Evil! : The followers of Corin honor her legendary courage and resolution in the face of impossible odds and will do Her no shame in similar circumstances. Maintaining high morale for both civilians and armies will be easier for the Order, and the people will remain firm in the face of disaster that would cower less resolute cultures.
+ Holy Order: As all adventure-kingdoms grow in size and complexity, they will need to face the difficult questions of governance and the systems to enact it. The Corintar will have access to a unique 'Holy Order' Government Type which will focus on enhancing martial prowess and religious involvement, specializing Corin's first followers into the sword and shield of Her faith.
- Theocratic Headaches: A large part of the Corintar's philosophy stems from discontent with the Regent Court's cults and their conduct, but they will soon discover the awkward reality of the situation. To put it simply, the demands of secular rulership conflict sharply with the doctrines of benevolent faiths, and it's a lot easier to suffer out of principle when thousands of people won't also be on the line.
- The Question of Canon: The Regent Court is used to absorbing new gods, even those ascended from mortals such as Munas Moonsinger, but there is a structure that has to be respected for two dozen different religions to effectively cohabitate. The Corintes have ... questionable beliefs about their diety's role in this hierarchy - but even the most audaciously heretical among them respect Castellos, the Ruler of Heaven. So long as he reigns, the whole issue should blow over as everybody gets used to the new status quo.
- That Being Said... : Should by some set of unforeseen circumstances things not calm down, or even worsen, the consequences would be ... extreme. The nations of Cannor have undergone much turbulence in the past few decades, and a major religious schism could unleash utter hell. And, if this were to occur, the Corintar would be at the very epicenter of the worst clusterfuck seen on Cannor since the Dragonwake. It won't be fun.

[ ] The Bronzehardt's Band: The Allenic peoples have always prided themselves on being an honest, forthright folk, and while the Wexonards of Anbennar didn't take their pride to quite such an extreme as their northern Gawedi cousins, it was nonetheless a value Roland Bronzehardt was raised on. But the labyrinthine politics of the Lilac Wars were no place for honest men, and early in his life, House Bronzehardt was called upon by their liege to betray the Grand Duchy of Dameria and its Silmuna masters. Roland lost many relatives in that war and was pushed to perform his aristocratic obligations at a young age, a hurriedly drafted administrator for some of his House's suddenly expanded holdings. The art of rulership is a stressful and difficult profession for grown men, let alone 15-year-old boys trying to manage a recently conquered fiefdom, but Roland did his best to be a good lord. He repaired the war damage, suppressed rampant brigandry, and eased taxation on the impoverished peasantry. But the Bronzehardt's had been bankrupted by the conflict and needed their new territories to provide returns immediately, and so pressured Roland to squeeze his fief dry of funds, forcing the new ruler to strike an impossible balance between his duty to his subjects and family. During this time, he barely noticed the young girl who proclaimed her intention to fight in Escann, giving the supplicant some coin, asking his guard for any volunteers, and never paying it another thought. Sometimes, however, minor kindness done for little people has a way of creating unintended consequences - so when his men returned a year later claiming of a reborn god, Roland was rather taken aback. But on the verge of being stripped of his position, the young lord decided he'd rather be a hero in a grand story rather than a minor failure, so he called his levies and knights to arms, kept the details vague, and promptly marched off to Escann with an army, a purpose, and nothing to lose. It has been many years since then. Many things are different now, but Roland Bronzehardt is once again at a precipice; his duty to the gods is satisfied and Corin is dead ... but the now acclaimed adventurer feels no enthusiasm to return to home. No, let his House send all the angry letters they want - the people of Escann still need help, and perhaps here he can create a place where virtue and duty are not made a farce.
Leader: Roland Bronzehardt, Adm: 6 Dip: 4 Mil: 4 Traits: Companion, Just, Lawgiver Species: Human
Culture: Wexonard (Allenic)
Starting Location: Lower Castanor

+ Acclaimed Hero: Roland Bronzehardt is one of the only Companions of Corin to survive the Greentide and remain in prominence, which on its own would already turn him into a figure of significant renown. Add in the fact that he's a noble, from Anbennar, not a half-orc, and House Bronzehardt is already commissioning paintings of him slaying dragons to boost their prestige by association? There are already salacious rumors about a romance with Corin Herself.
+ Able Lord: Roland is not a merchant, or a warrior, or a mage. He's a former feudal lord - and a good one, at that. He's practiced in leading men during peace as well as war and knows what it means to turn lofty ideals into written laws, how to return a devastated land to health, how to win over a civilian populace, handle clergy, set up a bureaucracy, assuage vassals ... all the complicated details of actually ruling a fief. This is, unfortunately, a very rare trait among the many former adventurers sprouting across the land, but provides a considerable advantage for the Band in skipping much of the "How to Rule" learning curve.
+ Blood Ties: House Bronzehardt may be a bunch of conniving, backstabbing, opportunistic motherfuckers who've burnt much of their suddenly favored scion's goodwill, but they're also a major force in the post-war Empire who're consummate pragmatists and political operators - they're already playing the situation to their advantage, and it won't take long to realize a mutually beneficial relationship is in the House's best interests.
- Sins of the Father: Intentionally or not, the 'Bronzhardt Band' has effectively become the non-Lorentish Rose Party representative in Escann. While serving as a useful source of allies and manpower, this also means the Band inherits the numerous grudges and vendettas created by the Lilac Wars, both petty and grave.
- One-Man Dream: As you might have noticed, the Band's advantages revolve around its exceptional leader. Should Roland perish before he can transform his talents into long-term benefits his people will be left sorely off, if his group doesn't outright dissolve completely.
- Uncertain Conception: The Bronzehardt Band was created through, when you get down to it, a Bavarian Fire Drill. Certain questions of legitimacy and lawfulness will have to be answered. Technically speaking, Roland is still the count of Asperage, and a good portion of his host hasn't seen their home in years, although with effort and bribery they might be convinced to settle down in Escann and bring over their families.

[ ] The Raven Banner: Corvuria is oft regarded as a destitute, oppressive shithole by foreigners. It's people, of course, know how false such a malign rumor is - the land of Shadows and Blood is far, far worse. But if there's one thing Corvuria is good at, it's beating off any and all comers who think to challenge this ancient state of affairs, whether they be arrogant Anbennarians, slavering Orcs, or imperialistic Gnolls. And so the Greentide was halted at the aptly named Death Pass, its leaders wisely choosing to break off in search of easier prey. Corvuria isn't, however, particularly used to going out and conquering its neighbors, preferring to shelter in the protection provided by the mountains of Dostanor's Range and swamps of Daravan's Folly. Still, there was so much free land ripe for the taking! In the king's infinite and eternal wisdom, an "Adventurer" "Company" was created to occupy what land it could near the border, in the former domain of the Blademarches - if nothing else it'd be a nice and petty slight against one of Corvuria's more obnoxious late rivals, and the setup would allow the kingdom to focus on their current grudge against Asheninande. Of course, in order to pull this scheme off the expedition would require a significant degree of autonomy, a privilege Corvurian kings were historically infamously loath to divulge, but the temptation of securing the comparatively lush lands of southern Castanor - a decisive edge to be leveraged against ambitious Anbennarian border princes - proved an enticing enough prize for an exception to be made. The Raven Banner sets off from the Death Pass to colonize the future eastern fringe of their motherland ... but even as they step out of Corvuria for the first time, the would-be colonists already begin to dream of more. Whether the Shadow King and his Blood Court realize it or not, their future would-be colony has a far greater degree of choice in its future than they ever intended.
Leader: Cezar Radu, Adm: 2 Dip: 4 Mil: 3 Traits: Careful, Silver Tongued, Expansionist Species: Human
Culture: Corvurian (Dostanorrian)
Starting Location: Lower Castanor

+ Nothing New: The Corvurian people are no strangers to hardship or suffering. Although the dangers of post-Greentide Escann are different than their homeland, at the end of the day they'll buckle down and endure whatever the world throws at them.
+ Low Expectations: The Raven Banner isn't really expected to accomplish anything other than plant flags and not die. Should its leadership actually start sending back coin or crops, winning battles, or treating its peasants like something other than dogshit, people will be ecstatic and they'll receive many accolades.
+ - The Blood Court: There are many ... rumors about Corvuria's darker secrets. Reasons the apparently dysfunctional backwater has persisted for so long in the face of at times indomitable enemies. Some may suspect the land of Shadow for breaking the Magisterium's code, but those in the know understand how deep the rabbit hole really goes. The Nightwalkers are a tremendous asset and allow the Raven Banner to punch well above its weight, but should their existence be revealed to the rest of the world, the results would be catastrophic. Let alone the danger of giving the Blood Court too much influence alone ...
- Preconceived Reputation: The Raven Banner will be perceived as an extension of their mother country with all that entails, at first. It will take time, effort, and deeds for the march to establish a name of its own and be treated as such.
- Lacking Adventurers: Corvunia is, unsurprisingly, not a land in which adventurers are particularly appreciated, and their own home-grown ones aren't impressive by the standards of the heroes of the Greentide. It will take time to adapt to the needs of this new land, and they will initially lack the extreme versatility talented adventurers can offer a state.

(These are but a handful of the many, many groups that will be attempting to carve out new lives and realms in the shattered Escann)​

AN: Welcome, everyone, to my second quest! Set in the world of Anbennar, a popular total-conversion mod for EU4, this is a story embracing its themes of a fusion between a classic D&D-inspired world going through all the turbulence and progress of the Renaissance. In specific, we will be focusing on Eastern Cannor, or as it's been colloquialized, Escann. It has just been saved by the Protagonist, Corin, but life doesn't just end with the Big Bad slain and the hero ascending to godhood - his mighty horde is still around and the grand coalition already begins to splinter. We will play as one of these adventurer bands as they battle the Greentide's remnants and begin the process of resettling the shattered land of Escann, but as they'll soon find, nation-building is a great deal more difficult than slaying monsters ...

 

[Taut_Templar]

Escann is a sub-region of the greater continent Cannor, and is the words 'Eastern Cannor' merged together. The land to its west, the home of the Dameshead Sea and Lencenor Peninsula, is still referred to as Western Cannor, and the final northern area, based around the Giant's Grave Sea, is known as Gerudia.
(Picture of Cannor)

Escann itself is landlocked, with the only major body of war being Lake Silvermere. It used to be completely covered by the Deepwoods (discount Athel Loren) which stretched to the Greatwood of the Allenic Frontier, until Castan Beastbane and his people migrated to the region and made battle with the Fey, burning down vast stretches of the eldritch forest to make a new homeland, and then proceeded to create the first human empire, which is why approximately everything begins with the word "Cast." This created the land we know today, one of fertile grasslands, gentle rivers, and mild forests - many actually believe it to be the birthplace of humanity, although in actuality they stemmed from Bulwar, the land of two rivers.

Escann, like Cannor, can be divided into three sub-regions: Inner Castanor, South Castanor, and West Castanor. There are no major differences between them, the geography of Escann is largely consistent and whichever place you pick to start won't drastically change the nature of the quest. That being said, they have been affected differently by the Greentide, and which nations/regions they border will matter once Escann rejoins the world.

Inner Castanor is best known as the source of the mighty Alen River, from which the Allenic people derive their name, and Castonath, the former capital of Castan's Empire, with its age only rivaled by Bulwari relics and certainly not its glory. When Castanor fell the region was divided between petty remnant states, of which the greatest were the kingdoms of Cast and Anor. For years they feuded, until they realized they'd grown to such strength that if the two joined together none could oppose them - and so it was, with marriage and an oath the Kingdom of Castellyr was born. The realm's might was considerable and regarded by many as the potential hegemon of Escann, but their grandeur proved futile in the face of the Greentide. Castellyr was the first and hardest hit by the orcs, possessing the largest border with the Serpantsreach including the Dwarven Hold of Khugidir whose fall marked the beginning of Kurgus's vile crusade, and endures the most numerous and organized tribes of the greenskins. Still, the grand metropolis of Castonath never fell despite a nearly two-decade siege and is one of the only urban centers left in Escann still filled with its original inhabitants, although admittedly diminished by starvation and war. The City of Stone stands as the ultimate prize for whoever wishes to unite Inner Castanor - already the orcs seek to assail its walls once again even as adventurers seek the glory and legitimacy it's defense - or ownership - will provide to their cause ...

Lower Castanor is often regarded as a less impressive version of its northern neighbor, with its lands being rich but lesser than Inner Castanor's sheer splendor. Its rivers are large, but can't hold a candle to the mighty Alen. Its realms were grand but ultimately unable to compete with Castellyr. Perhaps most notable is what the region borders - the Deepwoods to its south may be far from their heyday as a continent-spanning abomination, but don't expect anyone who wanders in to ever return. Corvuria has always been an inhospitable and dangerous neighbor and holds particular infamy to the Escanni for their involvement in Darravan's Folly and Black Castanor. Finally, a former dwarven bastion in the Serpantspine was taken over and repurposed by the branch of the Allenic people, who soon created the griffin-riding kingdom of Marrhold. Southern Castanor also was the homeland of the Blademarches, famous for their code and Gleaming Sword, but the order had fallen from the heights of their glory even before the Orcs put an end to it. On a positive note, the region was comparatively spared the devastation of the Greentide, with the highest rates of indigenous survivors and intact infrastructure in Escann, the Kingdom of Marrhold in particular simply holing up in their mountain-keep and waiting for things to blow over (although their famous griffin-riders fought with Corin at the final battle).

West Castanor is the most geographically divergent of the regions, with its territory being split into rolling grasslands, thick swamps, and cold forests. The Kingdom of Adenica, named for the god of Chivalry, Adeann, is credited with inventing the concept of knighthood and renowned for its cavalry, their prize warhorses bred on the flats west of Lake Silvermere. The Bale Mire straddles the border between Escann and Gawed, and is known for its hardy but strange inhabitants who paid nominal fealty to Adenica, and seem to have survived the Greentide intact, although nobody's inclined to march into their swamps and check. Finally, there are the unwelcoming northern forests leading to the former kingdom of Vorenmarch. That frigid northern realm was conquered by the Grey Orcs, the Green Orcs saner cousins who refused to honor Korgus as the son of the Great Dookan, and to their south sprawl orcish warbands and goblin tribes who've happily overtaken the Shivering Woods that was sparsely inhabited by humanity even when times were good in Escann. Most important of all, however, is what West Castanor borders: the Empire of Anbennar. Already dozens of bands of adventurers and settlers have crossed the border seeking to seize land for themselves even as tides of Escanni refugees desperately attempt to return to their homes through a shattered land. There will be no grace period for the region to recover before re-engaging with the world - anyone here must either contend with or be swept under foreign interests.

Finally, Lake Silvermere technically isn't a region but is so important to Escanni geography it demands a mention. Roughly the size of Lake Superior, it sits at the conflux of Escann, the drain of many of its rivers. It is the center of Escann's maritime activity and trade networks, with many of the land's wealthiest provinces and trade nodes orbiting around or on it. Of course, there are also exactly zero geographic barriers to protect any of this, making the rich lands also exceptionally vulnerable to invasion - as its former inhabitants found out at the hands of the greenskins and a thousand wars beforehand. Undoubtedly, the calm waters of the silver lake will see little more peace with Dookanson's death.

 

[Taut_Templar]

The Hero's Second​

Escann is a land of rivers, its rolling farmlands and lush forests crossed by dozens of tributaries and inlets, from mighty continent-spanning arteries to minor brooks named only by the village it borders. Normally, if one were to take a boat down one of these waterways they would meet many fellow travelers, farmers shipping their wares to downstream markets, fishers out to catch an early morning, or dignitaries making their way to one of Escann's famed tournaments.

Things haven't been normal in Escann for nineteen years.

As a vessel cuts through the gentle and empty waters of the Devaced river, its deck bears no load of crops or livestock. Instead, grim-faced men peer over the bow at black lines of smoke rising over the horizon, hands clenched around spear shafts or crossbows as they mutter uneasily. The crew of the boat, on the other hand, merely duck their heads and hasten their efforts. Many of them have grown up knowing nothing other than the terror and helplessness of the Greentide.

"I thought we'd broken the bastards at Vernham?" One soldier speaks up, turning to his fellows. The men bear the signs of a long campaign, all of them bearing some combination of scarred armor and purloined loot on their bodies. A bronze-colored tabard is slung over their gambesons, bearing the simple heraldry of their liege, cutting them a distinct figure amongst the adventurers of escann.

"Always more of 'em," another darkly mutters, not taking his eyes off the trails of smoke. "They just scatter once we crush a Warband. This'll only end when we drive off or slaughter the last of them."

This is unpleasant news to the men-at-arms, who grumble black curses at the situation, knowing it would probably be them rooting out the orcs from whatever hole they'd taken nest in. Gods knew the Escanni wouldn't be up to the task, they noted with a touch of contempt while glancing at the sailors resolutely ignoring whatever tragedy had occurred in the distance.

***

The vessel makes good time down the river, and soon their destination appears around a bend: Vernham, the forge of the Blademarches. That the town had fallen on hard times was immediately obvious from the half-collapsed walls and lines of refugee tents spilling out of openings in them, with more figures visible even from the river approaching the settlement. A modest keep overlooked it all, and from it hung a banner with the same heraldry that adorned the chests of the soldiers which now patrolled its halls. An oasis of civilization in a sea of madness, the men think, un-tensing at the sight.

As the boat approaches the docks and begins to slow, an officer appears from its bowels, blinking slightly at the sudden brightness. They're moving as soon as they touch land, hopping on the shore with only a mild stumble and immediately marching towards the keep - the crowds part before them without hesitation. The figure screams 'important' from as much their posture as the plate they wear, and even all the chaos and ruin of the greentide hasn't diminished the instinct of a commoner to avoid getting in the way of an impatient important person.

The streets of Vernham aren't in any better condition than their outskirts, bearing the signs of a sack like an unhealed wound. The formerly vibrant industry of the town lies looted and barren, the survivors more focused on repairing the roofs over their heads, and its current occupiers haven't even begun to approach the monumental task of repairing and relighting the forges. The Bronzehardt men-at-arms maintain a degree of order in the inner streets, although despite the strain at housing the army the locals seem more grateful for their presence than anything, and the officer receives respectful nods as they approach the appropriate keep. The years in Escann have eroded the line between levy and adventurer, they noted - back in Anbennar such familiarity would be positively scandalous.

Up close, it seems that Verham's keep bore the greentide a little more gracefully than its curtain walls, insofar that the building maintains its structural integrity. Still, judging by the gouges in bare halls where there might have once been decorations, successfully repel the orcs it did not. Too many Escanni fortifications were made to be pretty than defensible, the officer groused, and now they were neither. What luxuries remained were decayed and ill-maintained, the horde of servants needed to maintain them having long fled, been slain, or made slaves by the latest marauding band of greenskins to want service of their own.

Finally, the officer reached his destination: the chamberlain's chamber. It might be assumed that their liege would set up in the former lord's quarters, but allegedly the commander had thought it gauche to set up like the poor town's latest potentate, and instead operated out of the chief subordinate's quarters. Whether that symbolic gesture would have any real meaning was dubious, but there was probably some merit to parking yourself in the seat of the person who actually ran most of this setup.

Whatever had been intended, the Band ran Vernham now, and like any lord, its leader could be found holding court. When - after quietly asking for directions - the officer arrived, they found voices coming from behind a closed door and a line of petitioners nervously awaiting their turn. Mostly Escanni - although two adventurers stuck out like sore thumbs - the supplicants ran the gamut of society, or what remained of it in Escann. A peasant fidgeted with a wood carving while glancing at his fellows, clearly feeling out of place, while a noble stopped herself from rubbing on a visibly worn stretch of her dress, trying to ignore the indignity of the situation. All of them turned to face the newcomer, who had paused for a moment to take in the scene.

The officer was …

[ ] Niklas Kohlhaase: A retainer of House Bronzhardt, Niklas is a childhood companion of Roland, part of the assigned coterie any young lordling accumulates. Separated once his friend was suddenly picked to govern the county Asperage, Kohlhaase expected to return to his previous role as minor gentry subordinate to one of Anbennar's Great Houses if it weren't for Roland practically spitting in the eye of his family and leaving to go fight in the Greentide like some two-bit adventurer. While embarrassing, this wouldn't have been a huge deal except for the fact that he took an army as well as a small fortune in taxes earmarked for the House with him, putting the Bronzehardt's in a very awkward position of having to publicly claim responsibility or face humiliation in a time where they desperately couldn't afford to show weakness. Privately seething, it soon became clear no amount of threats, pleading, or bribery would convince their wayward scion to return home, and so the House turned towards alternative methods. Niklas, who was earmarked as someone with a personal connection not stemming from the family, found himself conscripted for the expedition to drag Roland back home, promised significant reward if he could successfully bring the House's embarrassment to heel. But when the expedition managed to track the Companion down, it was instead Niklas and his men who found themselves convinced of his old friend's righteousness, and he has since then served as a trusted confidant, conciliator towards the House, and talented general for the Band.

[ ] Venia: As the Bronzehardt Band has fought the Greentide, it's accumulated a non-insignificant amount of manpower besides the original levy. This has mostly included camp-followers and the like, a complex support structure emerging as the levy transformed into an increasingly dangerous and large military, but there are exceptions. Venia was a member of the Stalwart Band, a primarily Busilari adventurer group that found itself defeated by the Heartgrinder Orcs - only saved from complete annihilation by a timely intervention from Roland's followers. In gratitude, many of the survivors fell in with what would become known as the "Bronzehardt Band," and from among them emerged Venia of the Liongate, a former subordinate of the SB's captain. Swearing a traditional Busilari debt towards Roland for saving her life (despite the man not actually being present at the battle in question) Venia has hence dedicated her energies towards serving her new company, acting a liaison between the original levy and more independently minded adventurers, 'esoteric' problem-solver, as well as a capable warrior in her own right. Her status as a 'Little Corin' - a term female adventurers styling themselves off of Her legacy have become known by - and rumored unrequited crush on Roland have earned the woman controversy otherwise free from the Band's upper ranks.

[ ] Ser Percival Sebastian: During the Greentide, massive waves of refugees fled the slaughter in Escann, desperately attempting to reach any kind of safety as their world crumbled around their ears. Ser Percival was one of these broken men, a survivor of the early crushing defeats who made it out by cutting and running once the killing started. Haunted by his shame and cowardice, the former knight listlessly wandered the Borders of Anbennar as an itinerant sellsword, another one of Escann's erstwhile chivalry now reduced to scrambling to survive with the rest of their displaced countrymen. That he likely would have remained, if it weren't for Percival encountering the Roland by chance during his march to join Corin. The Band had come to a stop as its participants had come to realize what exactly their liege actually intended, with many threatening mutiny if they didn't return home. In response, Bronzehardt gave an impassioned speech to the assembled host, one which also had an unintended audience - brought to tears by the sight of strangers coming to fight for his homeland for the sake of honor and decency, Ser Percival swore his sword to Roland, and has faithfully served his new liege ever since, coming to lead the faction of former Escanni emigres finding the Wexonard noble a more palatable leader than the often abrasive adventurer companies who came to dominate the war.

A.N. - These will all be sub-commanders in the Band, you're just choosing which one is the most prominent and closest to Roland's ear. The individuals in question serve as representatives of the three main factions you'll be dealing with: the Bronzehardts, the Adventurers, and the Escanni. Ultimately, however, the mechanical impact is minor and this is functionally a vote of which character you like the most and want to have the greatest amount of screentime.

 

[Taut_Templar]

The Prelude​

To state when the Lilac Wars truly began is a somewhat difficult task, but the commonly agreed upon source of the conflicts was the troubled reign of Riannon Silmuna, elected sovereign of Anbennar at the grand age of five years old.

The reason for this is multifaceted: the crux of the matter was Riannon's unprecedented magical ability, readily apparent even as a babe. Although the magocratic traditions of the Empire had been abolished previously (being a powerful mage didn't translate into being a good ruler and the decentralized imperial princes disliked how much power the practice consolidated into the hands of the monarch) it still was seen as a potent boon, a sentiment bolstered by the widespread rumor that the young duchess bore the Aspect of the Dame, the Regent Court's Goddess of magic. There was another angle, however - the Silmuna dynasty had long held a special status amongst the members of the empire, and were loath to surrender a decades-spanning continuous monopoly due to an inconveniently timed death. Thus, a literal toddler was elected Empress of Anbennar.

It didn't go well.

House Silmuna had overplayed their hand by pushing through the election, causing many in the empire to turn against the Damarian hegemon, viewing their efforts as a prelude towards abolishing the electoral system as a whole. Additionally, Riannon was ... unstable. Whether that was due to her incredible magical powers addling an inexperienced user's mind or a simple consequence of turning a five-year-old child into the center of a political clusterfuck soon after losing a parent is unknown, but the empresses' destructive temper tantrums and general emotional instability swiftly became impossible to hide. Political opponents also began spreading rumors that Riannon's reign was meant to bring about a new magocracy, where the only qualification of a ruler was their magical talent. This is highly unlikely, but stories of evil witch-queens served to underscore an increasingly large wave of popular hysteria over the entire incident.

Finally, the entire situation culminated in a motion of no-confidence being held by the Electors in 1348, where it was agreed that the child-empress would be forced to abdicate and another election held. Upon hearing this, Riannon went completely ballistic, used her immense arcane prowess to murder much of the responsible nobility present, and locked herself and her closest retainers in the throne room once the inevitable retaliation arrived. When it became clear the vengeful armies of the nobility were determined to see her dead, an increasingly panicked empress cast a spell over much of Anbenncost's civilian populace to force them to attack her foes in a berserk fury, and personally slaughtered dozens of men when they attempted to break into the throne room. Horrified by the mass death and Riannon's utterly unhinged demeanor (ten-year-old children making grown knights chunky salsa while screaming about burning the realm to the ground makes even the most stalwart loyalist reconsider their choice of liege), one of the empress's own bodyguards stabbed her in the back, intended to bring the madness to an end. But in one last act of spite, Riannon detonated a magical explosive of incalculable might, completely destroying the palace, killing everyone present, and leveling a good section of the city as well.

Needless to say, the Empire was stunned by the event and House Silmuna's once exalted name was now mud, even as they scrambled for a new Grand Duke with the sheer amount of kinsmen slain in the bloodbath. But while Anbennar struggled to recuperate and re-summon the electors, foreign observers sought to take advantage of their weakness. To the North, Gawed once again attempted to reclaim the mouth of the Alen, and to the east Corvuria re-ignited their conflict with the breakaway princedom Ashienade. But it was the west that held the most dangerous threat: King Rean Siloriel of Lorent, the White Fox. Widely regarded as a canny and talented leader, in his youth Rean had done much to reign in the Rose Kingdom's unruly vassals and centralize the power of the monarch, and delivered several stinging defeats to the Gawedi barbarians in the Small Country. But as he aged, the king grew unsatisfied with his accomplishments. He wished to etch his name into history in a manner befitting a man of his stature, to do something so great that he would go down in history forevermore. And with Empress Riannon's extremely controversial reign, the king saw his opportunity. After all, there was no rule stating the emperor of Anbennar had to be elected from its ranks. And if Rean were to succeed, he would be the most powerful man in all of Cannor.

The White Fox had begun his campaign of charm and blackmail before the Imperial Palace was vaporized, but it served as a perfect opportunity for the Lorentish monarch to push his agenda - House Silmuna's diminished status left a power vacuum no one was quite able to fill, one that could be hypothetically replaced by the House of Siloriel. Indeed, to the princes on the west coast of the Dameshead, it didn't seem like such a bad deal, and the crucial vote of the Duke of Pearlsedge was won over to what came to be known as the 'Rose Party.' Prophetically, among this group stood the Marquiestate of Wesdam, Dameria's western shield.

But just as the Silmuna's before, King Rean's ambition got ahead of him. When he managed to snag the election through a razor-thin margin, the outcry was immense. If the thought of a Damerian hegemon was unpleasant to the lords of Anbennar, the reality of a Lorentish overlord proved outright revolting. Many of the member states blatantly refused to acknowledge the new emperor, and even the usually apolitical Magisterium voiced its opposition to the election. Nonetheless, 'Emperor' Rean had faced a similar reaction from his own vassals to his various reforms, and presumably believed he could bring his new subjects to heel in a similar manner. Undeterred, the White Fox made it clear he intended to go through with the traditional crowning in Anbenncost - although the Imperial Palace was still being rebuilt. However, when Rean attempted to sail to the Deamsear Isle, he found his passage barred by an imperial fleet, and when the Lorentese attempted to run the blockage, their vessel was boarded and the monarch humiliated by having to sail to shore in a rowboat. Vowing revenge, the would-be Emperor of Cannor turned to his Plan B - to seize his rightful prize by force ...

 

[Taut_Templar]

The First Lilac War​

The First Lilac War is something of an odd duck out compared to the rest of the conflicts that came to be swept under the term 'Lilac Wars.' The war was initiated by the Kingdom of Lorent, the House of Silmuna was a minor player for the first half of the war, the primary theater was a maritime struggle for the Dameshead Sea, the conflict was largely low-intensity and there were few notable major battles, the war ended in a genuine peace treaty that lasted for nearly a decade, the 'Wine Lords' of Lorent had little direct involvement, indeed, there was virtually no actual fighting on the Lencori peninsula until the very end. In many regards, the First Lilac War lacks the attributes and themes that define the Lilac Wars so significantly in popular and historical consciousness, and wouldn't really be associated with them ... except for the fact that its result was instrumental in the resulting eighty years of nigh-continuous warfare.

The war began with a surprise attack by the Kingdom of Lorent in conjunction with the turncoats they'd managed to secure among the Anbennarian lords, most notably the Duchy of Pearlsedge. This assault was a largely unqualified success, the royalist aggressors capturing much of the imperial fleet and burning the rest while overrunning the 'Moon Party' (although this term wouldn't be used until decades later) loyalists with little difficulty. Simply put, the forces of Anbennar on the western coast of the Dameshead had always been the weaker leg of the empire and were totally unable to withstand the applied military of the entire Lencori peninsula, a paradigm that would prove true through the rest of the Lilac Wars and even much further into the future during the Wars of Religion and Blackpowder Rebellions. Even the March of Wesdam, created specifically to defend Dameria's western flank, found itself defeated in short order, although its forces would go on to conduct a brutal guerrilla campaign for the rest of the conflict.

King Rean wasted no time capitalizing on this success, and within six months his troops had successfully conducted an amphibious invasion of the Damesear Isle (an island straddling the center of the Dameshead Sea). It was here that the rest of the empire had assembled their forces and attempted to meet the Rose Party in a pitched battle, but despite pouncing on the Lorentese forces fresh off their ships and achieving local quantitative superiority, the united imperial princes found themselves unable to overmatch the cream of Lorent's chivalry, and the divided command was dealt a swift and shocking defeat. The Grand Duke Aldres III Silmuna, the older half-brother of the child-empress, was killed in the ensuing conquest of the island, leading his men in a futile last stand to try and protect Anbenncost, whose walls had been damaged by Rionnan's death making defense unfeasible. With this House Silmuna's fortunes seemed to hit an all-time low, confined to their holdings on the east coast of the Dameshead, having suffered at another slain head of House, and the anti-Siloriel coalition falling apart almost as quickly as it had been formed. The White Fox took the time to consolidate his conquests with the successful capture of the imperial capital, giving himself the ceremonial crowning that had previously been denied and preparing for his next move.

It was at this time Vincen I Silmuna was anointed as the new Grand Duke of Dameria.

Vincen's reign did not get off to an auspicious beginning. Having taken up Munas Moonsinger's legacy at the age of fifteen, yet another child lord was seen as the last thing House Silmuna needed. Aware of the coalition's faltering morale, Vincen attempted to reverse the momentum of the war by boldly seizing the initiative while simultaneously re-asserting the Silmuna's pre-eminent role among the houses of Anbennar. The plan to accomplish this was an invasion to liberate the Damesear Isle, the logic being that they wanted to do it before the Rose Party had time to rest and fortify their position, and the sheer boldness of the ploy would catch the invaders off guard.

The new Grand Duke's plan was certainly seen as bold, but he had less success convincing his peers to accompany his counterattack. A sense of defeatism had infected the Anbennarians, with it becoming believed it was impossible to defeat Lorent's forces in an open battle. There was little enthusiasm to throw their troops back into a bloody mess the coalition had barely managed to escape from the first time, and the naval situation had only gotten worse since. King Rean's reputation for strategic genius had also only grown, so the possibility of seriously catching the king with his pants down was considered very unlikely. Even Vincen's own retainers and companions voiced reservations about the plan - it was agreed that a daring ploy was required to turnabout the war effort, but they'd also need to win for the plan to work - a glorious defeat was unlikely to accomplish anything more but worsen the situation. Still, the young prince remained resolute, determined to reverse the series of disasters that had overtaken his house and empire, and convinced his plan was the only way to see through the 'trials of the gods.'

The invasion technically wasn't a total disaster. Vincen Silmuna's audacious attack legitimately did take King Rean off guard, and his planned follow-up offensives ended up being stalled by the need to redirect troops and ships to address the incursion. That being said ... by any objective military analysis, the invasion was a catastrophic failure. Out of the 20,000 soldiers Vincen took with him, the bootstrapped reserves of an already exhausted House Silmuna, less than 800 managed to return home. The invasion force was set upon by the occupying garrison lead by the White Fox himself, and the result was a total slaughter, made worse by the naval forces piercing a trap behind the Damerian troops, shattering their fleet and leaving the landed forces trapped on the Damesear. There was an attempt by some of the survivors to go to ground and fight a resistance campaign like the men of Wesdam, but the confined terrain of the island made the tactic unfeasible, and the would-be guerrillas were rooted out and executed en-mass within a year. The Grand Duke himself attempted to go down fighting with his men, but ended up crippled when his steed was slain beneath him and collapsed on his leg.

The debacle ended in Vincen Silmua being dragged before King Rean in chains and what remained of his army surrendering. The failed counter-invasion and unexpectedly bitter autumn storms ended up delaying the planned additional offensive long enough they had to be called off for the year, but the victorious knights of Lorent weren't concerned. The war had thus far been a march from success to success, and it had become apparent that without the Silmuna's, the Annbenarians had no suitable leader - with the Damesear conquered and their foes' last desperate gambit crushed, it was only a matter of time before the 'rebellious' princes saw sense and bowed to Cannor's true hegemon. There was no need to rush the next parts of the war and potentially give their foes an easy victory that could rejuvenate faltering spirits. No, Lorent's army would winter in their occupied territories and continue wrapping up the war in the spring.

King Rean certainly had reason to be confident - indeed, the captured Silmuna youth may have given him a false impression of the rest of the Empire's willingness and ability to fight. The exact nature of Vincen's captivity is difficult to parse, as the Damerians and Lencori give very different accounts of what exactly happened. It's exceedingly unlikely the boy was actually tortured, which Silmuna historians would later claim caused the wounds he bore for the rest of his life, but Siloriel's claim that he took Vincen under his wing like a son only to be vindictively betrayed is also most likely a fabrication. Whatever the case, it seems Vincen spent at least some time with his captor and it may have been the cause of the White Fox's overconfidence. Or perhaps it was a deeper cultural misunderstanding - the kingdom of Lorent and Empire of Anbennar were two very different organizations, and Rean had only further pushed the centralized nature of Lencori monarchy, the source of much strife between it and the southern Wine Lords. With the imperials 'decapitated,' the invaders probably overestimated the effect it would have on the war effort and didn't feel the need to maintain the pressure, instead opting to begin trying to peel apart the coalition diplomatically over the winter.

But Anbennar was not like an 'Empire' in the Castanorian sense. A union formed in the aftermath of the war with Black Castanor, the empire is better described as a federation of dozens of aligned kingdoms, principalities, theocracies, and merchant republics. Despite efforts to change this, it had always been a strongly autonomous institution, which meant its states were not only used to but preferred to operate independently. With Dameria partially subjugated and the Silmuna's a non-factor, Anbennar splintered along regional lines ... but continued to refuse King Rean's authority and maintained a war footing. Ironically, the Duchy of Wex was one of these realms that rose to the occasion, rallying the princes and marches of the Borders to serve as a relatively untouched homefront, something that would earn it much prestige and reward in the aftermath, elevating the formerly secondary Allenic realms to the forefront of imperial politics as well as seeing a surge in the overall region's importance. Other areas proved less successful - the Grand Duke of Esmaria initially was one of the Moon Party's most strident supporters, but eventually was poisoned and his fiefs splintered into a vicious succession struggle, with candidates being supported by both factions of the war. In the North, the mercantile states of Damescrown and Vertesk suffered significantly from the disruption of trade in the Dameshead and erupted into hostilities between each other, while the Gawadi took the opportunity to snip away vulnerable border provinces, only seriously opposed by the Marquieste of Arbarran, which thus had little it could offer to fight Lorent. The Heartlands, finally, received the brunt of the subsequent warfare, Port Munas and the lands of Vern falling under direct assault by the Rose Party seeking beachheads to further push their advantage.

What absolutely was not happening, however, was peace - indeed, many parts of the empire took the opportunity to settle long-standing grudges between themselves. And to the Kingdom of Lorent, this was a problem. As previously mentioned, it's fully summoned might was incredible, but maintaining such a massive army and navy proved ruinously expensive. The levies of Lorent could be mustered away from home for a year or two, but only so many harvests could be missed before severe economic harm was inflicted, or in the worst cases, outright famine risked. Confident victory was just within his grasp, for over five years King Rean kept his nation on a full war footing, heavily taxing the halflings of the Small Country and his wealthy southern vassals to make ends meet in the meantime. Trade was seriously disrupted by the conflict, and the Lencori found themselves needing to ship in mass amounts of food to feed the now impoverished occupied citizens along the Dameshead's coast. Finally, a large part of the diplomatic effort to win over the lords of Anbennar consisted of sending them funds and arms in exchange for support, adding yet another necessary expense to the overburdened budget. The White Fox was eventually forced to concede the situation was untenable, but so long as the war continued, there was no way to fundamentally resolve the ruinous expense of maintaining such a large standing army overseas.

It was this financial crunch that probably lead to the overturning of the king's policy of refusing to accept ransoms while at war. A slew of captured nobility, some of which had been held in captivity for the entirety of the war, was released at extortionate expense as part of the Silistra's measures to produce funds. Among this group included Grand Duke Vincen Silmuna, the once would-be rival contender for the throne of Anbennar. Having reached his majority behind bars, the formerly vibrant prince appeared a shadow of his former self, his beauty marred through a vicious mace strike and only able to walk with the aid of crutches. It was as if the tragedy in his life had sucked the very spirit from him, gossiping Lencori nobility observed whenever the prisoner was trotted out during major events, leaving behind a shell of a former potential hero. Confident his demanded ransom would leave the already bereaved House Silmuna destitute, King Rean believed the broken prince would pose no further threat and signed off on his manumission, his mind already turning towards the next years newest offensive, intended to extinguish the fierce resistance of Istralore and finally tear out the heart of the Moon Party's cohesion. With the Heartlands subdued, the White Fox was sure that at last, the opposition to his rule would gutter out, even if it meant providing unpalatable concessions to various major regional actors such as Wex and Arbarran.

Ransoming Vincen Silmuna did not turn out to be the key to winning the war, however. Instead, it proved the worst mistake of King Rean Siloriel's life.

 

[Taut_Templar]

The First Lilac War - Part 2​

1363 represented the absolute height of Lorent's power in the First Lilac War. The Magisterium had begrudgingly accepted 'Emperor' Rean's legitimacy and restarted their normal operations. The war in the Heartlands had gone well, with Istralore beaten in the field and their last holdouts under siege. Similarly, the incursions on the Wyvern Gulf had been successful, albeit the insular and independent nature of Vernman city-states preventing a similar singular victory from being achieved. A combination of ransoming noble prisoners and a detente with Eborthil (an influential island kingdom on the Divenhal Sea) had served to alleviate the strain on their coffers, although domestic resentment against the war continued to be a problem. Rean's diplomatic efforts had also started to bear fruit - a number of western Anbennarian lords had been convinced to cooperate with the occupation, inroads had been made into the fracturing Grand Duchy of Esmaria, and the north was completely distracted by Gawed and their own petty squabbles. Although the Borders seemed likely to be a problem in the future, seemingly having fallen under the thrall of those "pseudo-allenic barbarians," the region was easily one of the least important parts of the empire.

It was to this situation that Vincen Silmuna returned home ... or rather, to the unoccupied eastern fringe of Dameria. It was to a duchy and empire teetering on the brink of collapse that met the returned prince, who seemed an almost alien figure to those who'd known him previously. The Grand Duchy's inner circle perhaps expected to be drafting articles of surrender when their liege summoned them to a private meeting.

Instead, they found him staring at a map, his posture completely changed.

As it turned out, Vincen didn't have a new grand plan to turn the war around. What he did have, however, was hate that Nerat himself couldn't extinguish, and a willingness to do anything to see Dameria restored and the invaders sundered. Hate like that revealed many options previously considered unpalatable or impossible, Vincen's advisors found, and for a time there was a serious discussion as to whether the young master needed to be 'removed' from his position and someone saner appointed to finally make peace. But they'd all suffered under Lencori depredations and felt the burn of wounded pride, so when they reconvened with Vincen it was not with an ultimatum but a plan. An unthinkable option that hadn't even been brought up at the first meeting half a decade ago. It was time to make a deal with Gawed.

Cannor has been defined by a triple division of power for as long as there'd been civilizations to fight over it. In antiquity, it was the Empire of Castanor, Gnomish Hierarchy, and Damerian Republic that formed the balance of power, but in the "Age of Ascendancy" this dynamic was fulfilled by three realms: the Empire of Anbennar, the Kingdom of Lorent, and the Kingdom of Gawed. Gawed was a relative newcomer to these high-level geopolitics, replacing the influence of Escann since its isolationist tendencies following Black Castanor's fall. Stemming from the Gawedi tribes of the Alennic frontier, they're primarily known for their "human-supremacist" attitudes (although in reality this can be better described as an antipathy towards the 'elf-philia' that's defined the southern realms since the Landing) and are often compared to the Allenic barbarians that were so infamous in antiquity. In particular, Gawed and Dameria had fought wars over the city-state of Vertesk, sitting at the mouth of the Alen river (the northern tip of the Dameshead Sea), ones that had pushed the Gawedi north and established the new frontier of the empire. There was much bad blood over the incident and other conflicts stemming from efforts to drag the Allenic people into the Anbennarian/Lencenorian cultural sphere or vice-versa, and the current ruling dynasty - House Gerwick - usurped the previous one under the promise of avenging their defeats and reclaiming the lost territories.

Needless to say, crawling to them for help was deemed both a terrible humiliation and unlikely to actually work, but the simple matter of fact was that the Silmuna's had no better options. The Escanni had already refused to get involved, Busilar and Corvuria were all but declared for Rean, and Lorent completely dominated their own home region - there was little hope of convincing nations like Reveria or the gnomish remnants to commit a glorified suicide. If the Moon Party wanted an ally with the means and motivation to take on the Kingdom of Lorent? They were either looking at Gawed or a pipe dream.

Initially, the envoys to Gaweton met an incredulous response, and in one case actually physically thrown out, but it didn't take long for the northerners to reconsider. In blunt terms, Dameria was offering to throw Vertesk under the bus by forming a semi-open alliance with Damescrown and Gawed with the intention of dividing northern Anbennar into respective spheres of influence and tacitly signing off on the territories Gawed had already conquered. While a far cry from the total victory the Gerwicks had promised, the proposal held an undeniable allure. Their attacks against Arbarran and Vertesk had made consistent gains, but thus far they had failed to take any of the important fortresses, with the Black Citadel, in particular, proving an impossible nut to crack. Additionally, while the Gawedi loathed the Anbennarian swine, they hated the Lencori just as much and were growing increasingly unnerved at how well Rean was doing. Plus, while the Small Country had been lost for some time, reclaiming it would provide House Gerwick just as much a boost to their legitimacy as defeating the Anbennarians, and quite possibly be a lot easier than pounding their heads against the empire's northern marches. Thus, after a month of more detailed negotiation, the two bitter enemies came to terms. Dameria would sign off on whatever land Gawed had managed to grab thus far, and in return they would back the Silmuna's in their war against Lorent, consisting of subsidies to make ends meet, "mercenaries," and later on, an outright invasion of the Small Country.

This was hardly the only thing the rejuvenated Damerians were doing, of course. While previously Vincen's attempts to rally the coalition consisted of badgering them to appoint him emperor, now he took a more utilitarian approach of winning over support. The First Lilac War turned into a chessboard between what became known as the Rose and Moon Parties, representing the sigils of the Siloriel and Silmuna dynasties. Nothing exemplified this tendency more than the fall of Esmaria - when the duke of the grand duchy fell to poison, both factions immediately backed their own claimants in the ensuring succession war. In the Heartlands, however, Vincen took a more direct course of action. The Duchy of Istralore was on the verge of collapse when the Damerians launched another counter-attack, but instead of a hail-mary at the Damesear, it instead consisted of surgical strikes at Lorent's strained logistical network, forcing the besieging forces to fall back to the coast. With House Silmuna's backing, the Duchy of Wex solidified their de facto hegemony over the Borders, funneling the experienced marcher troops to the frontlines and founding a line of manufactures to supply the war effort. Busilar, which had previously eagerly watched their long-time foes fortunes tank, were convinced to side against Lorent due to their negotiations with Eborthil (an even more hated rival), and Corvuria was intimidated by the fierce resistance displayed by Ashienade, eventually submitting to an ultimatum from Vincen to pull their troops out of the empire.

This back-and-forth went on for a number of years, but by 1368 the war had pretty obviously shifted against Lorent. Eastern Anbennar was completely liberated from Lencori invaders after the last army retreated from Verne, and the Rose Party found themselves unable to sustain the naval competition in the Dameshead, the maritime advantage that had enabled their early crushing successes slipping from their fingers with each port lost. This was clear even to the turncoat lords, and King Rean found the progress he had made winning over a plurality withered away each year he couldn't provide a victory or end to the war. Understanding the opportunity was slipping away from him, the White Fox called for a final surge of conscription to overwhelm Anbennar, burning every last favor and blackmail he had to push his country even further, but the proclaimed build-up of soldiers was abruptly and brutally aborted by Gawed's blitzkrieg into the Small Country, overwhelming the defenders which had been stripped thinner and thinner with each year the war continued and the Eagle of the North did nothing. Instead, Rean actually had to pull back men from the Dameshead lest Lorent completely loses control over the "Breadbasket of Cannor," all of which compounded the decline of Lorent's position and further encouraged the Moon Party.

The Second Liberation of the Damesear went a great deal better than the first, with the Grand Duke forcing himself back on a horse so he could see his greatest shame avanged in person. King Rean attempted to replicate his earlier success by attacking the landing forces before they could organize, but by this time Anbennar had grown familiar with Lorent's tactics - the battle was hard-fought and bloody, but by the time the next wave of reinforcement landed the beachhead was maintained. Meanwhile, another prong of the invasion sailed south of the island and attacked Anbenncost, with the intention of encircling the Lencori garrison and trapping the usurper himself. This attack was repulsed, but only through the mass sacrifice of Lorent's captured navy, further eroding their naval superiority. Recognizing the situation was lost, the White Fox didn't attempt to commit to another battle and instead ordered a full retreat, the Rose party completely conceding the Damesear and forming a new line of defense on the west coast.

Instead of attacking the heart of western Anbennar through Pearlsedge and securing the Damesneck like expected, however, Vincen leads the next campaign to Beepeck - where the Halfling Elector immediately switched sides yet again and surrendered without a fight (not doing their species' reputation any favors but probably saving a lot of people from unnecessary deaths). From there, he moved his soldiers south and liberated Wesdam in conjunction with an uprising of insurgents who'd been fighting for over a decade at that point. But when the Rose Party rushed troops north to stop the next attack south, to their shock they found no sign of their enemy - Vincen had taken his entire army and marched it into Lencanor itself, intended to take the war to the enemy in a way they'd never forget. Furious about being outwitted and the course of what was supposed to be his greatest legacy, King Rean Siloriel angrily ordered his army to pursue.

But at this point, Lorent was fed up with the conflict and Rean's inability to follow through with his promises. When Vincen arrives at Lorentaine expecting a brutal and rapid siege, instead finds Prince Kylian riding out with a peace offer. King Rean had been couped by his own vassals who put his son on the throne and demanded the war end (and their previous privileges be restored while they were at it). In order to ensure that the peace would be "genuine and long-lasting," the new Lorentish king promised the hand of his sister, Eilis Siloriel, to sweeten the deal. Vincen - to his credit - accepts the offer with a strained smile, restoring the status quo antebellum, as if nothing had ever happened at all. The Silmuna prince returns to Anbennar in victory, his grand gambit has paid off this time, and is promptly elected Emperor, restoring House Silmuna's prestige and position back to its pre-Riannon days. Feted as a hero and savior, Emperor Vincen sets about the lengthy process of restoring the damage inflicted on his empire and duchy while the former King Rean stews in house arrest, all of his accomplishments having been undone by the end of his days.

... Except things are never that simple, are they?

AN: I'll be wrapping up the vote in 12 hours.

 

[Taut_Templar]

Bean Counting​

Ser Percival was received by a room of confused stares, a common reaction to the former Castellyrian knight. In pretty much all regards he was the very image of Escanni chivalry, from his decorated armor to his grand mustachios, with one jarring exception: in the place of an Adenic arrow or Castanorian dragon, he bore a simple bronze tabard, its only decoration simple Allenic script. The same heraldry of noble whom they were petitioning, the banner upon which the city now hung over its gate: House Bronzehardt of Wex.

If Percival noticed the attention or found it unwelcome there was little indication, merely a polite nod to the petitioners as he marched up to the door and waited for a lull in the conversation before giving a quiet knock.

Inside the room, Millard of Vernham jolted as if the knight had kicked open the door, and immediately flushed as he realized what had happened. The very picture of a well-to-do burgher, Millard brought to mind one of the wealthier residents of an Imperial Free City rather than an Escanni merchant who oft-made pains to downplay their commercial nature instead of displaying it. He was also undeniably nervous, a palpable glean of sweat on his balding head, something that probably had to do with the fact he still wore fine clothing and bore an undeniable pouch; a striking contrast with the state of his surroundings and countrymen.

"Come in," said the man who sat behind the desk across from the burgher, unperturbed by the interruption. Roland Bronzehardt was the kind of person you'd expect to see on paintings slaying a dragon, a man who could give speeches about abandoning everything you'd ever known to fight in a foreign land for the sake of righteousness and be met by something other than awkward silence. Even sitting at a too-small desk squinting at outdated maps and trying to get a cowardly merchant to talk about the food they both knew he was hoarding, Roland cut a striking figure.

If you'd asked Percival what his idea of an Anbenarrian noble was like before the Greentide, he'd have given a depiction of a self-absorbed fop dying his hair fanciful colors to imitate the elves his culture adored, presumably having gotten his position through murdering a baby or some other horrifically dishonorable deed. The usually chauvinistic rivalries between the realms of Cannor had only been provoked through the unfettered brutality of the Lilac Wars, and any regard an Escanni might have left for their neighbors died when they were left to dry in face of the Greentide.

Roland didn't meet any of his preconceptions. If you'd told Percival that the noble he was meeting was a Wexonard, there'd be a few seconds of silence as that chugged through his memory, but eventually, he'd make the connection that the Wexonards were unique in the empire for being Allenic - and he'd immediately think of the Gawedi "barbarians" that exemplified the culture (much to the chagrin of the Wexonards, and Blue Reachmen, and Verteskers, and Marrodics, etc, etc). He'd imagine some broad-chested blonde thug, blustering about the negligible glory of his nation and bloodline while poorly hiding a desperate inferiority complex towards his southern neighbors. The Allenic tribes were just as proud of their long history of raiding Castanor as the Escanni were of being its successors, and Gawed was as infamous for its ability to make enemies as it was fighting them.

If this hypothetical questioner had then proceeded to expound upon Roland's professed attributes, Percivals mental imagine would have continued to change, eventually arriving at a pleasant Escanni knight with some foreign trappings - a silly accent and maybe some kind of weird curved sword, but essentially his idea of what an ideal lord should look like.

In-person, of course, Bronzehardt met none of these expectations. Artists, upon asking his parents what their son was supposed to look like after being commissioned for some prestige-boosting fodder, would be given a few general descriptors: young, brown-haired, fullbloodedly human, handsome, tall - to their frustration, Roland lacked any truly distinctive features such as Corin's famous red hair or Bluetusk's, well, tusks. Much like his homeland, he stood at an awkward fulcrum between cultures and stereotypes, leaving biographers with only poor half-analogies until the world adapted to an Emperor reigning from Wexkeep.

Percival could have told them about the persistent stress lines that had grown across his face, the way Roland would fidget with his blade whenever his hands weren't occupied, how his eyes would burn whenever he spoke about one of his many passions … but, to their detriment, it had long become clear Roland's family didn't know much about their son at all.

"My Lord," the Knight dipped his head, glancing at the merchant before continuing. "We have a situation." The momentary excitement in the noble's eyes died as soon as it lit up, and he leaned back into his chair.

"I take it the river isn't clear." Roland 'asked,' rooting through the desk for a few moments, searching for the correct map. Millard leaned back faintly, clearly uncomfortable at the sudden shift in the conversation.

"... No." Percival admitted, resisting the urge to lean against the wall or look for another chair - it had been a long, tiring journey, but appearances had to be maintained. "Goblins have set up at the Devaced pass, east of where it parts the Godshield, and at least two tribes of them. We didn't stick around long to overstay our welcome, but you know how bad the little bastards can get when they've had time to dig in." Roland's already grim expression tightened, and although Millard was no warrior, he did understand the trade implications, judging by the man's steadily paling face. "The river's completely blocked off, the greenskins have literally knocked trees down over several sections of it and seem to be trying to ambush any traders brave enough to come up the pass or anybody trying to flee down the river.

The noble stopped his drawer rustling and just took a second to rub the bridge of his nose, allowing a moment to pass before confronting the new situation.

"There's no way we can stay here for the winter, then." He eventually stated, looking back up. "The Band is already straining Vernham's food stores, and the refugees are still coming in. If we can't import Corvurian wheat, there'll be starvation on the streets." There was a moment of silence as the room reeled from the frank declaration, but when neither of the men spoke up to argue, Roland stood up. "I'm afraid we're going to have to continue our meeting another time, Freeman Millard - I must convene with the rest of my officers as soon as possible."

"M'lord," the merchant flustered, the reality of the situation dawning on him, "if word gets out that your soldiers are leaving, there'll be a panic!"

"I'm sure that the people here are used to making ends meet." Sir Percival also cautioned, clearly reluctant to abandon the safe area the Band had secured and maintained at no little effort, and perhaps a little less understanding of the logistical concerns his liege had been stressing over. At heart, he remained an Escanni knight.

"The smallfolk will die just as easily to famine or disease as an orc's blade," Roland said, although he remained standing above the desk, drumming his fingers against the fine wood as he ran the numbers through his head. "We simply have too many people concentrated in Vernham. Either we move to another area, open up a new source of food, or face starvation." Shaking his head, he glanced up at his close friend and second. "Ser Percival, go get the officers assembled for a council, I don't want to make a decision like this without everyone on board."

***

There are hundreds of adventurer bands roaming Escann in the aftermath of Dookanson's death, although the term encompasses groups barely over a few dozen glorified bandits to small armies funded by foreign states. Most of these ephemeral polities will perish or fade away with time, yet many more intend to settle down and lay roots in the land they helped save. The Bronzehardt Band is a unique amalgamation compared to the typical would-be adventurer-states seeking to carve out a dominion in Escann, originally a feudal levy that's grown through volunteers from home, recruitment of locals, and absorption of various small adventurer parties during the bitter fighting against the greenskins.

Starting out, the Band is guaranteed to have these many soldiers:

Roland's Retinue [200 Superheavy Infantry/Heavy Cavalry] (Count Roland Bronzehardt)
The County of Asperage's Levy:
-Wexonard Foot [1,000 Medium Spear Infantry] (Captain Mikalson)
-Wexonard Foot [1,000 Medium Spear Infantry] (Captain Vendrick)
-Wexonard Foot [1,000 Medium Spear Infantry] (Captain Lendry Flowers)
-Wexonard Men-at-Arms [1,000 Heavy Sword Infantry] (Captain York)
-Wexonard Flatbows [1,000 Crossbow Archers] (Captain Neville)
-Wexonard Flatbows [1,000 Crossbow Archers] (Captain Wends)
-Wexonard Knights [500 Heavy Cavalry] (Ser Charleston Toussaint)
-Wexonard Knights [500 Heavy Cavalry] (Ser Darrick Flax)
Percival's Paladins [200 Superheavy Cavalry] (Ser Percival Sebastian)
Kohlhaase's Regulars [200 Heavy Crossbow Archers] (Niklas Kohlhaase)
Venia's Myrmidons [200 Light Infantry, Irregular] (Captain Venia)

All of these units will have increased veterancy, loyalty, and morale due to being part of the original adventurer group, but will also be impossible to replace or recruit more of moving forward. You'll have access to a pool of 1,500 points to be allocated towards units that will retroactively have also been absorbed into the Band and benefit from these bonuses, or that can be spent on accruing various other advantages to the benefit of the proto-adventurer state. All of Roland's various competitors will have access to a similar menu that determined their starting forces and situation, albeit with different modifiers depending on the faction. Speaking of which …

Much of the domestic policy of the "Greentide Era" will be focused around balancing the needs and demands of the three primary factions which influence the transitionary stage between a nomadic adventurer band and a settled state: The Marchers, the Colonists, and the Locals.

The Marchers represent those who're the least enthusiastic about abandoning the adventurer lifestyle and wish for the band to retain a free-roaming, meritocratic, and violent disposition, taking what they want at the end of the sword and moving on to the next adventure. They're mostly composed of, well, adventurers, but can also represent those with a strongly martial outlook.

The Colonists represent foreigners who came to Escann not to fight monsters but to profit. Mostly - but not always - made up of people who arrived after Dookanson's death, they're composed of a wide gamut of folks, whether it be carpetbaggers looking to make a quick buck off of the suffering of a subcontinent or settlers trying to establish a new home for themselves. They're most notable for possessing a storing connection to the homeland of the band and represent ties to the outside world, in one manner or another.

Finally, the Locals represent the people that were on the land prior to the arrival of the band. In the majority of cases, this will mean Escanni survivors or refugees, whose relationship with the adventurers can be complex, but it can also refer to greenskin slaves or turncoats depending on the region and policy the band pursues. These folks are usually resigned to a foreign rule, but ultimately must be placated, oppressed, or removed should the band ever wish to truly rule the land.

Roland's unique trait is Heart of Bronze, which replaces the Colonists faction with House Bronzehardt. The new faction represents the Band's primary connection to Anbennar and will provide a number of advantages over the competition as befitting of an established noble, Roland's 'complex' current relationship with his family notwithstanding. Additionally, it allows a 50% discount on units purchased with the "Wexonard" tag.

***

1,500 Points total are available to be spent on purchasing units or acquiring boons. Be aware that eventually at least some of the Asperage levy will wish to return home, and that many of the boons can be replicated through dedicated effort in the quest. A large army will take more effort to supply but will also mean Roland can accomplish more things at once. Opportunity cost, however, cannot be avoided, so choose wisely.

The Marchers:

-Adventurer Companions: A diverse cast of characters united by bonds of camaraderie, a taste for blood, and an appreciation of coin. Armed with every weapon under the sun, they perform well in confused melees or other unusual situations, but struggle in the closed ranks of pitched battle or other endeavors requiring tight discipline. [1,000 Medium Infantry, Irregular] ($100)

-Adventurer Spellblades: Arcane talent is no small thing, and is carefully husbanded by the ruling class of civilizations across the world. But the call of adventure spares no man, and among the ranks of adventurers, you can find those able to call upon the winds of magic. A unique and versatile skillset, albeit difficult to maintain and undeniably inferior to the highly trained war mages of Anbennar, not that you'll be seeing any of the latter in Escann anytime soon. [200 Gish Infantry, Irregular] ($250)

-Adventurer Skirmishers: Many have unflatteringly named adventures no more than glorified bandits, and these brothers in arms push that blurry line further than most. Nonetheless, they're capable at harassing foes and dancing around the edges of the battlefield as well as "foraging" for supplies or scouting dangerous locations. [1,000 Skirmishers, Irregular] ($50)

-Adventurer Sharpshooters: Keen marksmen and prodigious braggers, these adventures have taken mastery of the bow to the next level and can hit targets from a distance with remarkable accuracy, and can handle themselves in a melee should the situation devolve. [500 Elite Archers] ($150)

-Adventurer Freeriders: These riders resemble an actual military unit more than the typical formation of adventurers, stemming from the long tradition of Cannorian outriders as much as the Greentide volunteers who were wealthy enough to own a horse and skilled enough to use it in battle. Not quite agile scouts or heavy lancers, the horsemen fill a niche between the two traditional roles of cavalry. [1,000 Medium Cavalry, Irregular] ($150)

-Buscannori Sword Dancers: A remnant of the Stalwart Band that survived particularly intact, these warriors turn the bloody business of war into an artform, displaying the exotic foreign traditions of their homeland through their startling dress and elaborate ceremonies. Although somewhat of a glass cannon, given a favorable target the dancers will reap an awful toll faster than the eye can catch. [1,000 Light Sword Infantry] ($250)

The Colonists House Bronzehardt:

-Wexonard Foot: The mainstay of any Anbenarrian army, these men march to war with spear, shield, and gambeson, although kettle helms and vanbraces have grown common over the Lilac Wars. Much of their focus lies on keeping ranks and maintaining a shield wall in the press of battle, acting as the anvil to the chivalric hammer. [1,000 Medium Spear Infantry] ($100) ($50)

-Wexonard Men-at-Arms: Armed and armored far better than their lowborn origins would suggest, these semi-professional soldiers were an invention of the Lilac Wars, fulfilling a need for quality infantry that could be deployed in numbers at a time when the sanctity of noble privilege was considered less important than winning the next battle. Tough and capable on both the offense and defense, these troops are thrown in the thickest fighting to swing battles in their favor. [1,000 Heavy Sword Infantry] ($150) ($75)

-Wexonard House Guard: The noble houses of Wex have integrated in many regards to the standards of Anbennar, but Allenic traditions such as the honor guard remain. Bearing flanged maces and stylized brigandine armor, these intimidating champions act as protection details for important figures and enforce the will of the house, as well as terrifying line-breakers when on the battlefield. [500 Superheavy Mace Infantry, Unbreakable] ($250) ($125)

-Wexonard Flatbows: Any true Wexonard will proudly insist that their flatbows' efficiency proved superior to the lauded Damarian Longbows during the Lilac Wars, and victory certainly grants merit to the argument. Decently armored and studiously professional, these soldiers are meant to give and receive punishment at a range, their complex weapons meant to puncture armor or slay mighty beasts. [1,000 Crossbow Archers] ($100) ($50)

-Wexonard Outriders: Another legacy of their Allenic past, the men of Wex maintain a strong tradition of light cavalry and talented outriders capable of traversing the Wexonard highlands and other difficult terrains with ease. Capable scouts and eager raiders, in battle these horsemen will harass flanks and punish exposed units with zeal. [1,000 Light Cavalry] ($100) ($50)

-Wexonard Knights: Garbed in pristine plate, mounted on massive warhorses and carrying a martial tradition spanning centuries, cannorian knights stand at the apex of current military doctrine and are the domain of the nobility. When at a charge with lances crouched there's little that can impede their way, and once their momentum is spent, the knights dismount to engage in melee with longsword and vigor. Such is their effectiveness, much of Cannor's dominant political and economic systems are bent around providing for their daunting price - fine steeds and sturdy plate armor aren't cheap. [500 Heavy Cavalry] ($300) ($150)

The Locals:

-Escanni Levy: The chivalric kingdoms of Escann considered war an ugly thing best kept as a ceremonial domain of the highborn, and while this may have left their realms peaceful and prosperous, it also meant little trace of Castanor's legendary legionaries can be seen in the conscripted peasantry called forth during times of crisis. [1,000 Light Spear Infantry] ($50)

-Escanni Squires: The concept of knighthood was invented in Escann, and it remained a deeply important and elaborate process as compared to their neighbors. Squirehood could often last well into adulthood, and during the Greentide, this unintentionally formed a block of foot-bound soldiers with decent equipment and training, an arrangement first made out of desperation that has now solidified into practice. [1,000 Medium Sword Infantry] ($150)

-Blademarcher Pike: Bordered by nations with strong cavalry traditions such as Marhold and Adenica, it's hardly a surprise the Blademarchers learned to make their spears long and foot disciplined. Although lost in the Greentide, the martial traditions of the realm remain and can be tapped to form new pike walls to defend where their predecessors failed. [1,000 Medium Pike Infantry] ($150)

-Escanni Bowmen: Hunters drafted into ranks out of necessity, these soldiers are decent shots and practiced bushmen, but unused to the needs of open battle - that is, getting shot at as much as doing the shooting. [1,000 Archers, Irregular] ($100)

-Escanni Knights: The homeland of chivalry, Escann possessed some of the finest cavalries in the world - but the Greentide has put two generations of Escanni nobility in the ground, and what's left is a tattered remnant of the region's past glory. Nonetheless, those that remain are fiercely motivated and call upon one of the greatest martial traditions in the world, determined to avenge their people and restore their own estates as well. [500 Heavy Cavalry, Unbreakable] ($300)

-Escanni Pilgrims: The people of Escann reacted to the Greentide in a multitude of ways, all some measure of shock and despair at the apocalypse that had sprung seemingly out of nowhere. With the death of Dookanson, however, some have been seized by a religious mania through the sacrifice of their savior, and consist of Corin's most zealous followers as the Regent Court's newest diety. These men in particular have devoted themselves to the holy cause of smiting her enemies and freeing Escann from the accursed greenskins. [1,000 Medium Greatsword Cavalry, Unbreakable] ($250)

Boons:

Orcs Decapitated: During the Band'searly exploits in the region, they launched several decisive blows against the local orcish tribes, succeeding in executing several of the major warlords the greenskins had been coalescing around in the aftermath of Dookanson's death. This has served to deplete the numbers, organization, and morale of the invaders which remain to harass the good people of Escann. [Neighboring Orc tribes weakened] ($200)

Goblins Intimidated: Roland's reputation as a Companion of Corin hasn't just spread among the civilized peoples, but also made the rounds through his foes. The Goblins in particular, never a race renowned for their stalwart nature, have become frightened of the famous human adventurer, and it wouldn't take much to convince the tribes that easier pickers are found elsewhere. [Neighboring Goblin tribes demoralized] ($200)

Escanni Impressed: Noting the strong loyalty shown to him by Ser Percival and his fellows, Roland has made a dedicated effort to woo over what Escanni notables remain to ensure their cooperation with his occupation stems from more than desperation and lack of viable alternatives. This seems to have paid off, with the nobles and peasants more willingly accommodating foreign eccentricities or excesses, and there have even been talks of absent titles being potentially filled with suitable alternatives. [Higher Locals faction loyalty] ($200)

Numerous Survivors: For one reason or another, the Vernham region was spared the most brutal ravages of the Greentide, and when the Band moved in, they found an unusually large population of indigenous survivors still remaining. This means a larger base population, but also the requisite difficulty in feeding and protecting it, as well as an increased amount of power still remaining in Escanni hands. [Higher initial refugee population, Locals Faction strength increased] (Free)

Letters From Home: "Blood is thicker than water," goes the popular misquote. Although Roland might still be estranged from his House at large, he's made an effort to remain in contact with siblings and other relatives he departed on good terms with, opening the potential for a much quicker reconciliation, ability to request favors in a pinch, and a semi-current read on the political situation back in the Empire. [Higher Bronzehardt faction loyalty, useful contacts back from home] ($200)

Tagalong Relatives: Roland's Escanni exile quickly earned him enormous notoriety in his house, but to his surprise, imitators as well. Cousins, nephews, and brothers-in-law began to join the Band, having heard of his exploits and seeking to earn glory and wealth of their own. While the retinues and expertise they bring are of substantial use, they also bring the interests and agenda of the House with them. [Bronzehardt faction strength increased, +500 points] (Free)

Adventurer Comraderie: Roland is a figure of significant respect in the community of adventurers which has been established in Escann for his deeds and as a Companion of Corin, but there's always been some inherent distance due to his nobility. Noting this, he's made a committed effort to ingratiate himself as "one of them," seeking to reinforce the oft fickle bonds that draw the wandering warriors to a lord. [Higher Marcher faction loyalty] ($200)

Stalwart Remnants: The Bronzehardt Band grew substantially in its early days through absorbing another group of adventures known as the Stalwart Band, Buscannori warriors seeking to one-up their perennial Sugamber rivals through participation in the Greentide. However, the remnants have banded together and retained their previous identity, acting as a unified political interest group and pushing to continue their former ambitions. [Marcher faction strength increased, x1 Blade Dancer unit] (Free)

Vernham's Legacy: Vernham was renowned as a manufacturing center, producing many steel weapons and tools for southern Escann. Dedicated effort and cooperative locals have revealed surviving caches of these goods which will make both outfitting current troops easier, as well as expediting potential efforts to restore the town's decayed blacksmithing infrastructure. [Military and civilian equipment shortages abated, urban infrastructure repair eased] ($100)

Rose Party Contacts: House Bronzehardt's participation in the Lilac Wars earned them many things, and one of them was friends among the wine lords of Lorent. Roland unexpectedly found an opportunity to use them during his time in the Greentide, striking up a friendship with some fellow Lencori adventurers that has blossomed into something more official with the death of Dookanson. [Full alliance and trade agreement with the Order of the Ashen Rose] ($100)

Deepwood Mysteries: Corin's adventures into the Deepwood and discovering the long-lost wood elves happen before Roland's arrival in Escann, but he nonetheless got to know some of the strange folk who followed the heroine afterward. While they have since disappeared back into their hellhole of a forest, Corin has opened a door that can't be shut, and geographic proximity might mean Roland's friendships could prove useful in cracking the isolationist tendencies of these elves. [Contacts with and knowledge of the Wood Elves] ($100)

Escanni Blood Ties: There's been a long history of intermarriage between the nobility of Escann and Anbennar, the Bronzehardt's being no different. Part of what drew Roland south was a search for the fate of a sister sent east for a betrothal, and while his sibling met a cruel end at the hands of orcish rapists, her progeny (both half-orc and legitimate) live on, providing a surprising local ally and dynastic claim for the House [Surviving Escanni relatives discovered alive] ($100)

***

A.N. It's been some time, folks, but I'm hoping to get this quest moving again. Feel free to ask questions or clarifications about the vote, and think carefully about the army size and composition as well as which boons are selected or ignored, it will all play a heavy role in determining the flow of the early game.

 

[Taut_Templar]

An Intermission​

While Roland's throwing around quite possibly the largest and best-outfitted military out of all the Adventurer Bands in the sub-continent, he's by no means without competition. Dozens of would-be lords set their gazes on the ripe lands of Eastern Cannor and dream of grand kingdoms, prosperous republics, and godly realms. Ambitions brew in the bellies of adventurers as the elation of Korgusson's defeat fades, and as the green tide recedes, a clash between these designs is inevitable. Corin's faithful followed her in the face of impossible odds, a hundred different cultures and creeds uniting in the face of unrelenting annihilation ... but Corin is dead, and it's only a matter of time before her coalition follows suit.

Let's take a glimpse at one of these future rivals, shall we?

[ ] The Warriors of Ancard: The marchers of Wesdam have always been hardy folk. Although the lands they rule may be lush and fertile, they have sat at the epicenter for every war on Lencenor since time immemorial, and the establishment of a march to protect the Damaerian heartland only exacerbated this tendency. To be a man in West Damaria is to be a warrior, whether you be a lowly farmer or a grand noble, and so they have grown experts at the gruesome art of war. During the Lilac Wars, it was not the coddled chivalry of the Damesear which struck fear into Lorentish hearts, but the long reach and harsh bite of a West Damerian longbowman, from the first war's futile occupation to the final war's desperate battles. So strong and feared did the marcher lords grow with each victory, that their ostensible masters sought to deny them the rightful fruits of their labor - and more than anything, this is what wrought the doom of House Silmuna. Now, adventurers stemming from Wesdam have banded together in cultural camaraderie to carve out a new home for themselves in this virgin land, replete with fearsome monsters to slay and a weak people to rule.

[ ] The Pioneer's Guild: Where there is a vacuum, there's an opportunity, and the one the Greentide has left in Escann is no exception. Free land for the taking is no small thing, after all, and although the adventurer bands may justify it through a thousand different excuses, at the heart of it, they're no different. The Pioneer's Guild is merely honest with itself and others about its fundamental motivations and acts to facilitate this goal with the greatest efficiency and profit feasible. It is a machine, which takes in prospective settlers eager to experience what it's like to own a farm of their own, ambitious merchants seeking to establish new business ventures, and aging adventurers looking for steady employment, and then provides them with both the raw material and means to accomplish their desires, producing a series of brand new villages and towns across depopulated lands with startling effectiveness. And should the Escanni object to this new arrangement? Well, if they wanted to keep their land, then they should've fought harder for it in the first place. The poor waifs can rest assured, however, that the Guild is no such laggard in the practice of organized violence.

[ ] The Order of the Ashen Rose: Out of all the realms of the known world, there is none grander than Lorent. It is only fitting, then, that their contribution to fighting the Greentide be commensurately majestic! And so the Order of the Ashen Rose rode out to Escann, leaving behind a vaunted history (and angry creditors) as only the mightiest of Lencanor's knightly orders can manage. Forming one of the largest and most organized adventurer contingents, the Order quickly established a reputation for both martial efficacy and preening haughtiness among their companions in arms, but Corin's charisma and divinity proved enough to win over the Lencenori chevaliers, and so they participated in her grand coalition to break the spine of the Greentide, playing a key role in the battle which resulted in Korgusson's demise. With the wretched animal and righteous maiden both slain, however, the knights of the Ashen Rose are free to once again pursue their rightful and glorious destiny ... and indeed, what more grand a prize than the City of Stone itself? Mediocrity ill-befits the scions of Lorent, after all.

[ ] The Company of the Thorn: Isobold sil Sorncost is a woman of many talents and accomplishments, but the title most would recently associate with her would be a Companion of Corin - no small thing at all. But where the rest of these exalted characters are subjects of song and celebration, about Lady Isobold, there's a distinctly less positive reception. Indeed, the superstitious peasantry is more likely to spread fearful, hushed tales, for every hero needs someone to handle unpleasant matters, and the Heiress of Agrados was no exception. Yet, Isobold is so much more than a deceased heroine's fixer, and where others see naught but tragedy in the destruction wrought by the Greentide ... the Lady of Thorns sees opportunity. The civilized lands of Cannor are such suffocating places of strict custom and moralizing pedants for unique individuals such as her, and she's no savage to camp out in the wilderness to properly indulge herself. Perhaps in the ruined lands of Escann, a realm can be constructed where there's no such need for secrecy and restraint, where similarly-minded personages can be elevated to their proper positions. It is the dawn of a new era, after all. It's only right that a new way of life arises from the ashes of the old.

[ ] The New Wanderers: These pilgrims are strangers in a strange land. Foreigners stemming from a place across the Divinhal Sea called "Kheterata," they migrated to Escann and joined the battle against Korgus Dookansson at the behest of a prophecy from their alien gods. Their mission fulfilled, these holy warriors have now settled down with the intention of creating a promised land and spreading the faith to the people they helped save. Although regarded as kooky, the Wanderers have earned themselves credit from both their fellow adventurers and the Escanni locals for their notable efforts in the darkest days of the Greentide, and reservations about their strange religion and murky intentions aside, in practice, the Khetist proselytizers are seen as yet another adventurer band. As the true scope of their great prophecy is gradually revealed, this is unlikely to remain the case.